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The WWE World Heavyweight Championship was created in September 2002, on-screen by Raw General Manager, Eric Bischoff as a rival to the WWE Heavyweight Championship which in storyline had become exclusive to Smackdown when champion Brock Lesnar signed a huge money deal with Smackdown boss, Stephanie McMahon.
Even back in 2002, Lesnar was all about the money!
The title was awarded to Triple H, who at the time was deemed the number one contender for Lesnar's title.
Initially struggling to gain acceptance as a credible headline title, Triple H in particular did a sterling job over the subsequent years to bring the belt up to the level of the more established WWE Heavyweight title.
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However, when WWE entered the 2010's the title began to lose some of it's lustre. Gone were the days when only the company's top stars contested the championship such as: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, The Undertaker, Edge and Batista.
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In their place were less luminary names such as Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, Christian and Dolph Ziggler who all reigned as World Heavyweight Champion as the belt became a test run for a mid-carder to see of they could run with the WWE Heavyweight Championship which still retained it's importance as the premier title in all of wrestling and did not suffer any significant devaluing even when performers such as The Miz failed on top.
The World Heavyweight Championship was discontinued in December 2013 when then World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena lost a unification match to WWE Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton.
It was the WWE Championship established in 1963 that survived the unification process and Orton reigned as champion until Wrestlemania XXX wherein he dropped the belt to the white-hot Daniel Bryan.
In this slideshow, SK looks at five World Heavyweight Champions you likely don't remember.
#5 Rey Mysterio
Some longtime WWE fans may recall that Rey Mysterio won the World Championship at Wrestlemania 22 in a triple threat bout with the champion, Kurt Angle and fellow challenger, Randy Orton, for all the wrong reasons.
Following the tragic death of Eddie Guerrero at the age of just 38 in November 2005, Mysterio was given the 2006 Royal Rumble win as a tribute to his deceased friend.
What ensued was an unpleasant storyline in which Orton blackened the deceased Guerrero's name and Mysterio used every opportunity to talk about his dead friend.
It was borderline exploitative and turned the fans off Mysterio's valiant title chase and victory. Realising they were on to a loser, WWE scrapped the Mysterio title reign and booked him to drop the title to King Booker in July.
Mysterio dropped out of title contention altogether for the next few years before surprisingly being chosen to terminate Jack Swagger's title run in June 2010. His reign lasted exactly four weeks before he dropped the belt to Kane, cashing in his newly won Money in the Bank briefcase.
His second reign was literally a blink and you missed his championship run.
#4 The Great Khali
The Great Khali made his debut for WWE on the April 7, 2006 episode of Smackdown, attacking The Undertaker to set up his first feud in the promotion.
Khali shockingly pinned Undertaker clean at Judgment Day 2006 but lost to the "Deadman" in their re-match which was booked to occur at Summerslam 2006, but was moved to the taped Smackdown show, in the days prior to the event after WWE officials did not trust Khali to wrestle competently on live television.
Therefore, it was a colossal shock then, that less than 12 months later at the July 20, 2017 Smackdown taping, Khali won a Battle Royal to win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.
Even more astonishingly, Khali managed to hold on to the strap for two months before dropping the belt to Batista at Unforgiven in September.
Khali's reign was a such a great success, that he was never considered for a title run again and became a comedy character before 2007 was over; a position he would retain until he left the company in 2012.
This title reign has been removed from most people's memory.
#3 Christian
Christian was not originally in contention to be World Heavyweight Champion in WWE. Despite enjoying success as NWA World Heavyweight Champion whilst wrestling for TNA between 2005 and 2008, Christian was deemed too small and nondescript by WWE boss, Vince McMahon to be booked as a legitimate headline talent.
However, plans changed when Christian's storyline brother, Edge suddenly retired following his successful title defence versus Alberto Del Rio at Wrestlemania 27.
With no obvious title program set up; original plans called for an Edge versus Del Rio re-match to take place the following month, Christian was slotted into Edge's spot instead.
In a Ladder Match at the Extreme Rules pay per view on May 1, 2011 Christian won the title thanks to an outside distraction from Edge.
That Christian needed assistance to win the belt and did not even have to pin or submit his challenger owing to the rules of the match, did not bode well for his long term title credentials.
And so it proved. Just five days later, he dropped the strap to established main eventer, Randy Orton on the next episode of Smackdown.
Despite his first title run ending before it started, it did lead to a Christian heel turn which was staggeringly entertaining as the obnoxious and conceited challenger regained the title via DQ after he spat in Orton's face at the July Money in the Bank pay per view which led to Orton battering his foe mercilessly and hitting him with an illegal low blow. A special pre-match stipulation dictated that the title could change hands on a DQ and the sneaky Christian exploited Orton's short fuse.
While the logic of the title change made sense for Christian's character, it did nothing to build his credibility with the WWE Universe. He dropped the title back to Orton four weeks later at Summerslam and never challenged for the belt again.
#2 Dolph Ziggler
At one point in time, Dolph Ziggler looked like he might be a breakout star for WWE but those days seem a long time ago now.
The former Spirit Squad member was given a new lease of life with the Ziggler gimmick and "won" the World Heavyweight Championship on the February 15, 2011 episode of Smackdown when Smackdown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero stripped her husband Edge of the belt due to him using his Spear finisher, which his ex-wife boss had vengefully banned him from using in his matches.
Ziggler was simply awarded the title and his reign lasted all of ten minutes as he immediately dropped the belt back to Edge. Many long time fans have no idea Edge's title reign of December 2010 to April 2011, was interrupted prior to Wrestlemania 27.
When Ziggler won the Money in the Bank briefcase in July 2012 looked like he was finally destined to break through WWE's glass ceiling and that two years of sterling in ring performances had earned him the opportunity to headline in WWE.
He seemingly made the transition to main event star on the post-Wrestlemania Raw on April 8, 2013 when he defeated Alberto Del Rio to a thunderous reception from the live crowd.
However, it wasn't meant to be. Ziggler was injured and sidelined for two months. WWE elected to keep the belt on him until he could defend it, which seemed to suggest the company had long term plans for him as champion.
That mindset proved unfounded however, when Ziggler lost the title in his first defence versus the man he had won it from in Del Rio.
It was a memorable performance from both and actually saw them swop sides in the face and heel dynamic, with Ziggler turning face and Del Rio heel. However, despite the success of the match, the cold hard fact was that Ziggler was no longer champion. He never would be again and his two World title runs had yielded exactly zero successful defences.
#1 Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger was pegged as the next Kurt Angle when he made his debut for WWE under the ECW brand, wherein he quickly became ECW Champion.
Boasting a background in Football and Amateur Wrestling, Swagger was a strong natural athlete and possessed the height and muscular width, WWE owner, Vince McMahon usually demands from his top stars.
Swagger seemed destined for a long and successful headline career in WWE, which appeared to begin when he won the Money in the Bank briefcase at Wrestlemania 26. Swagger then cashed in the contract to become champion at the March 30 Smackdown taping, defeating Chris Jericho.
Swagger's title credentials seemed to be underlined when he cleanly defeated Randy Orton in a sterling Extreme Rules match at the April pay per view show of the same name.
However, for some reason, WWE lost interest in the Swagger project and he lost the belt to Rey Mysterio in June and failed to regain the strap in a rematch at Money in the Bank in July.
From there, Swagger fell down the card and despite some brief respite in early 2013 when he won an Elimination Chamber match to become the number one contender for Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship, never did regain the traction that his early WWE career had.
Swagger became a glorified jobber before he asked for (and received) his release from the company in March 2017.
Swagger was little more than a comedy character for so long, that memories of his brief World title run have almost been completely erased.
