A Decade Of The World Heavyweight Championship

[Cool King]

Ten years ago today, Eric Bischoff introduced us all to the World Heavyweight Championship as he awarded it to Triple H.

Since then, we've had 24 different champions and reigns ranging from almost a year long to just 45 seconds. We've had memorable title changes, moments such as Shawn Michaels winning the first ever Elimination Chamber match to become World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit making Triple H tap out at WrestleMania XX and also "that hug" with WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero, to Randy Orton becoming the youngest holder of the title at the age of 24.

So, I ask you, who do you think is the best World Heavyweight Champion in the title's 10 year history? What are your favourite title matches? Most memorable moments that involved the title? Which current superstars can you see becoming World Heavyweight Champion in the future?

Though it's not all positive. Along with your favourite, I also ask for your thoughts on the worst reigns. Champions that shouldn't have, in your opinion, held the title when they did, or perhaps, ever. Storylines revolving around the championship that made you just want to bury your face in your hands and say "please stop". Superstars that you wanted to win the championship but just could never win the title match.

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[Shisen Kopf]

Great Khali is the best ever.

[Gertner]

Daniel Bryan was without a doubt the worst champion and worst drawing. His title reign couldn't even fill the high school gyms he should be wrestling in.

[MoFo]

Voted Trips but wish I voted Mark Henry.

[Shisen Kopf]

Daniel Bryan was without a doubt the worst champion and worst drawing. His title reign couldn't even fill the high school gyms he should be wrestling in.

Daniel Bryan is just a taller version of Hornswoggle.

[mike adamle]

Probably Edge, every Edge match felt important

[Theo Dious]

Daniel Bryan was without a doubt the worst champion and worst drawing. His title reign couldn't even fill the high school gyms he should be wrestling in.

There's no way he drew less than Ziggler.

[XCaliber]

Have to go with Trips he was pretty much the one to legitamize it and probbably had some of the best feuds with it like Micheals, Nash, Goldberg, Orton, Batista, etc.

[ace3025]

Voted Goldberg since he's my childhood favorite, but other than HHH Mark Henry was probably the most meaningful and entertaining reign out of everyone on the list. He was probably one of few people who's reign was all about the title. Kinda feel a little cheated over the years for not seeing it sooner.

[#1-norm-fan]

Pretty sad that Henry didn't get a longer run. WWE doesn't get the monster heel right often and his feud with Sheamus and the Orton feud where he won the title were just perfect.

Loved Orton as champion too. Can't decide between him or Triple H. Or maybe Angle for that series of matches with Taker.

I can't decide.

[Emperor Smeat]

Worst - Somewhat tough choice since it was down to Swagger, Mysterio and Khali but felt Swagger was the worst. Way too early to have been pushed that high up and it showed especially with how bad he was with promos.

Mysterio's felt more as a pity reign for Eddie dying and him being an underdog in every match got old fast. Khali's problem was his knees made him really limited in the ring.

Best - Toss up between Punk, Jericho, Batista's 1st, Henry, and Bryan. Went with Punk mostly because of it leading to one of the best heel runs in a while especially how much the crowd hated him for "stealing" Jeff Hardy's spotlight. Might also be one of the best cashing in moments along with Edge in terms of the MitB case.


The triple threat from Mania XX was pretty amazing and one of my favorite Mania matches of all time. Punk cashing in on Jeff Hardy was amazing and probably the closet to Vickie Guerrero type heat from all the mocking he did afterwards.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Triple H is the best.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Oh and King Bookahhhhhhhh was pretty swell too.

[St. Jimmy]

Rey Mysterio should never have held a Heavyweight Championship.

[Keith]

Triple H without a doubt.

That was the World Heavyweight Championship at its highest point, IMO.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Khali was probably the worst with Daniel Bryan in 2nd for me. Benoit would probably be up there too but I wasn't watching at that time so missed it all.

Can't even remember Swaggers title reign properly but I don't really like it when they just throw the title on guys who aren't ready so I probably didn't pay attention because of that.

[Lock Jaw]

I don't think an argument can be made for anybody BUT Triple H. Unless you are some kinda stupe for having a different opinion.

He single-handedly established the title and gave it credibility, while carrying the show on his Massive Entertaining Back.

Ever since he lost the belt, it has gone nowhere but downhill in terms of importance/credibility.

[Savio]

Ziggler had the worst reign fuck outta here. Don't consider him a champ.

[Keith]

I don't think an argument can be made for anybody BUT Triple H. Unless you are some kinda stupe for having a different opinion.

He single-handedly established the title and gave it credibility, while carrying the show on his Massive Entertaining Back.

Ever since he lost the belt, it has gone nowhere but downhill in terms of importance/credibility.

Exactly. If it can't be said that the WHC was bigger than the WWE Championship, then it was at least as big.

[James Steele]

I'm pretty damn proud of this forum right now. This thread gives me hope that most of you aren't complete jackasses.

[DaveBrawl]

I'd agree that HHH made the title the most prestigious at any point in it's history. I voted for Henry though since Hunter has a nice lead and Mark actually made the title scene interesting for the first time in quite a while (probably since HHH) when he was in it.

[Tazz Dan]

This was a tough one for me between HHH and Edge. To me though, Edge made that title his own more than HHH did, IMO anyway.

[Cool King]

I'm pretty much with Tazz Dan on this one.

Like it's been said before, Triple H did a great job legitimising it and his feuds over the title were great, apart from the one with Kane, though it was good at that time seeing Kane in the title picture. I always enjoyed every match that Triple H was defending the title in.

But then you have Edge, who's held the belt seven times. Just like Triple H, I've enjoyed all his matches and feuds over the title, apart from when he did the whole "Spear! Spear! Spear!" chant thing. I was lucky enough to see the title be defended between Edge and The Undertaker in what was a great match. It was at a house show, but it still doesn't take anything away from it.

Honourable mentions go to Mark Henry and his title reign. I thought his title reign was fantastic and his monster heel thing was pretty much a "breath of fresh air". I wouldn't mind seeing another reign from him.

I also enjoyed Kane's run with the title, along with Booker, Benoit and even Swagger's, to an extent. Though I will admit that Swagger clearly wasn't ready but his matches were good and his promos and stuff were pretty entertaining.

As for matches, I will say that Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker at No Way Out 2006, is most likely my favourite World Heavyweight Championship match.

[BollywoodSingh]

It was probably most prestigious when Triple H had it in 2002-2003, but overall I didn't like his reign because most of his feuds resulted in his opponents being buried. Booker T, RVD, and Kane came off worse after feuding with Triple H, rather than being elevated in any way. Especially Booker T and RVD, who both had potential to be breakout main event stars at that point.

So I chose Chris Benoit as the best champion for the quality of matches he had during his reign.

[mike adamle]

My favorite World Heavyweight Title match has to be the first Elimination Chamber match

[Mr. Nerfect]

Am I the only one who is going to say that Triple H's runs with the belt were boring and very often paled in comparison to the WWE Championship stories on SmackDown at the time? I'm not bashing Triple H as an overall performer, and I understand why they went with Triple H dominating RAW for the period he did, but I personally found it boring.

Batista, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton all had pretty impressive World Title wins, but none of them really had reigns that I was particularly fond of. I think when it comes to general reigns, I found none more interesting than CM Punk's second and third World Heavyweight Title reigns. His cashing in of his second Money in the Bank briefcase on Jeff Hardy before turning full-fledged heel was a brilliant time in SmackDown's history, and I do wish the WWE had kept the big gold belt on Punk for a bit longer, since I felt there was still plenty left to accomplish with him as champion.

Also, Daniel Bryan's World Heavyweight Title run earlier this year was pretty amazing. I remember it, which is far more than I can say about the specifics of a lot of other World Title reigns. It was mainly the evolution of Bryan as a character that made it great, however.

Jack Swagger's World Title reign is vastly underrated, by the way.

[James Steele]

No, Noid. Just no.