Wrestling promotions have no intention of keeping things the same from their inception, which is why the championships are renamed to match the narrative.
When wrestlers enter wrestling promotions, they would like to get their hands on a championship. Winning a WWE World Championship it’s the pinnacle, but not every fighter is lucky enough to win one. Also, some championships do not keep their name through their lineage. Sometimes there is a unification match that causes the championships to be renamed.
Championships have sometimes been renamed to improve them, but there have been times where the title being renamed didn’t click. However, once the unified championships have been split up as separate entities, the championships revert to their original names.
10 SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was born in Reaction 2016 with Heath Slater and Rhyno defeating The Usos to become the inaugural champions. That was a surprising choice, but The New Day has held the title seven times.
In the May 20, 2022 issue of Slap, The Usos, who were the reigning SmackDown Tag Team Champions, defeated Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro to become the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions. With the victory, the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was renamed the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship, and The Usos were the longest reigning champions at 622 days with their reign reduced by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in the main event of WrestleMania 39 Saturday.
9 diva championship
Michelle McCool became the first Divas Champion in the great american party 2008, and a couple of years later, McCool was involved in a landmark match that featured the Divas Championship. Layla was recognized as the WWE Women’s Champion, but McCool defended the title on her behalf against Melina, who was the Divas Champion in a title unification match at Night of Champions 2010.
McCool prevailed with the Women’s Championship withdrawn. McCool was officially recognized as a two-time Divas Champion, and the title was briefly called the Divas Unified Championship with both members of LayCool defending the title, both holding their own belts.
8 wcw championship
The WCW Championship is one of the most prestigious world championships in professional wrestling history. Originally owned by WCW, Mr. McMahon purchased WCW in March 2001 and it became the property of WWE.
During Invasion’s history, the likes of The Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Booker T all got their hands on the title. However, after survival series 2001, with the Alliance out of business, the WCW Championship was renamed the World Championship. Chris Jericho defeated Steve Austin at Revenge 2001 to unify the WCW and WWE Championships, with no WCW Championship anymore.
7 WWE Tag Team Championship
The WWE Tag Team Championship was exclusive to SmackDown in 2002 with Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeating Edge and Rey Mysterio in the tournament finals at Mercilessly to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. However, there was a title unification match in WrestleMania 25 with The Colons defeating World Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison to become the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions.
It was not called the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship forever, as the World Tag Team Championship lineage was retired in 2010. The WWE Tag Team Championship was renamed the Raw Tag Team Championship during The New Day in 2016.
6 ECW Championship
In 2006 WWE revived ECW but it was a flop as they were never going to revive the old days of ECW. Rob Van Dam was the current WWE Champion and Paul Heyman awarded RVD the ECW Championship, becoming the first man to hold both championships simultaneously.
The championship was called the ECW World Championship, but the title was renamed the ECW Championship during John Morrison’s championship reign in the summer of 2007. Kane and Mark Henry held the ECW Championship under the WWE banner, and Ezekiel Jackson was the last ECW. Champion, with Jackson beating Christian for the title.
5 WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The original WWE Cruiserweight Championship was retired in the fall of 2007, but nine years later, WWE reintroduced a new Cruiserweight Championship in 2016. It was a new lineage, and while the old cruiserweight division was exclusive to Slapthe new one was exclusive to Raw.
The cruiserweight division on the main roster had some brilliant spells, but it didn’t take off as WWE had hoped. The championship was renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, as the 205 live and on the NXT brand. There was a title unification match between NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes and NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong, and Hayes defeated Strong to unify the two championships.
4 WWE Women’s Championship
Fans rejoiced when the Divas Championship was retired in WrestleMania 32 in favor of the new WWE Women’s Championship. WWE Hall of Famer and four-time Women’s Champion Lita introduced the new championship. However, Charlotte Flair fought Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match to become the first WWE Women’s Champion.
Charlotte and Sasha feuded over the title for most of 2016 with the title changing hands multiple times. Shortly after SummerSlam 2016, the championship was exclusive to Raw and was called the Raw Women’s Championship. SmackDown created the SmackDown Women’s Championship with both brands holding their respective Women’s Championships.
3 universal championship
Finn Balor was the inaugural Universal Champion after defeating Seth Rollins for the title at summer festival 2016. However, his title reign was not long as he had to relinquish the title just 24 hours later due to injury. It wasn’t the best start to establishing a new World Championship, but the title underwent several changes: The title changed from red when it was on Raw to blue when the championship moved to SmackDown.
Roman Reigns is the current and longest-reigning Universal Champion in WWE history. He has held the championship for a record 953 days as of this writing and counting. From WrestleMania 38the Universal Championship has been called the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship when Reigns defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a title unification match.
2 World Tag Team Championship
The original World Tag Team Championship was introduced in 1971, and a host of all-time great tag teams have held that title. The likes of Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz, who had a record eight reigns to their name, enjoyed successful runs as Tag Team Champions.
In 2002, the brand division was introduced and the World Tag Team Championship was called the WWE Tag Team Championship for a short time. Carlito and Primo unified the WWE and the World Tag Team Championship, with both titles being renamed the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship and both lineages continued. That was until the legendary championship was retired in 2010, with the WWE Tag Team Championship now favored as the primary Tag Team Championship in WWE.
1 wwe championship
The WWE Championship is the most prestigious in WWE history. The WWE Championship was renamed the WWE Undisputed Championship at Vengeance 2001 when Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin on the same night to unify the WWE and WCW Championships.
The WWE Championship was no longer contested as the World Heavyweight Championship came into being in September 2002. 11 years later, Randy Orton defeated John Cena in a TLC match to retire the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship. WWE was renamed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The title changed names a couple more times, with the WWE Championship being called the WWE World Championship in 2016, and is currently called the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship, with Roman Reigns as the holder.