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Originally known as the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) World Heavyweight Championship until Vince (K.) McMahon bought the company from his father and renamed it. After this it was called the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) World Heavyweight Championship, however it was often simply called the WWF Heavyweight Championship or WWF Championship.
It was unified with another title, then called the World Championship (though more commonly known through lineage as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship), on December 9, 2001 by Chris Jericho at the WWF Vengeance pay-per-view event in San Diego, California. While unified both title belts were used and they were collectively defended as the WWF Undisputed Championship until April 1, 2002 when Ric Flair presented then title holder Triple H with a unified belt which continued to be defended as the WWF Undisputed Championship. During the title reign of Hollywood Hulk Hogan, legal matters caused the company to change its name to WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment) and the title was likewise renamed. The WWF logo on the belt was replaced with the new WW logo (that is not a typo, the logo is WW even though the company is WWE). That belt style remained in use and the title was known as the WWE Undisputed ChampionshipFrom December 9, 2001 until September 3, 2002 WWE Undisputed Championship was the name of the top championship of World Wrestling Entertainment, a unification of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. History Chris Jericho first won until the champion at the time, Brock Lesnar, refused to defend the title against a WWE Raw brand wrestler following a number one contender's match. Lesnar claimed he'd only defend his title against WWE SmackDown brand wrestlers, despite previous tradition that the champion would defend against wrestlers from either brand.
Following Lesnar's actions, the World Heavyweight Championship was reinstated by Raw brand General Manager Eric BischoffEric Bischoff (born May 27, 1957) is a performer for World Wrestling Entertainment. He is the former president of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He started his career in professional wrestling as an announcer in the 1980s for the American Wrestling A and awarded to Triple H on September 3September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years). There are 119 days remaining. Events 301 San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus. 590 St. Gregory, 2002, leaving the former Undisputed Champion Brock LesnarBrock Edward Lesnar (born on July 12, 1977 in Webster, South Dakota) is a former professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment. He won several WWE championships, but also gave his name to the slang verb to brock or mess up the final scripted mo as simply the SmackDown brand WWE Champion. Since then, the likes of Big Show, Kurt Angle, and Eddy Guererro have also held the belt; the current WWE Champion is JBL (John 'Bradshaw' Layfield).