The Shimmy 2.25.08: The History of the World Heavyweight Title (Part One)

Posted by Andy Clark on 02.25.2008

In 2002 World Wrestling Entertainment brought back the "big gold belt," naming it the World Heavyweight Title and instantly making it one of the top two prizes in the industry. This week The Shimmy looks back at the beginnings of this title and the men that competed for it.

We already discussed how in 2002 the WWE Title situation was in disarray. The Undisputed Title was no longer undisputed and the WWE Champion became exclusive to SmackDown. As such Raw was in need of a new champion. That champion would be Triple H and that title would be the newly created World Heavyweight Title, using the old WCW Championship belt as its representative piece. Triple H had defeated Undertaker to become the No. 1 Contender for Brock Lesnar's WWE Title so it only made sense that Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff would name Triple H the inaugural champion. Still, Triple H being named champion didn't sit well with others in the Raw locker room, namely the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. On the night that Triple H was named the new champion Flair challenged him for the new title. Flair would come up short that evening, a trend that would eventually cause him to side with Triple H, but by the end of the night Triple H would also end up with another enemy: Rob Van Dam. RVD would defeat Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, and Big Show in an elimination match to become the new No. 1 Contender and even pinned Triple H in tag team match. At Unforgiven the two men clashed but it would be an interfering Ric Flair, turning his back on RVD, that would make the difference, ensuring that "The Game" walked away with the gold intact.

With RVD preoccupied with Flair, Triple H was in the market for a new challenger. Bischoff decided that there only needed to be one champion on Raw and decided to unify the World and Intercontinental Titles. First Triple H had to successfully defend his title his title against a surprisingly game Bubba Ray Dudley (which he did) and then Chris Jericho had to successfully defend his IC Title against Kane (which he didn't). That set up Triple H vs. Kane in a title unification match for No Mercy. This unfortunately also set up the whole Katie Vick debacle that is better served for being discussed at another time. Kane was unable to defend his honor at No Mercy, though, and Triple H unified the two titles (at least until the IC Title was resurrected seven months later).

While Eric Bischoff may have been the reason Triple H won the World Heavyweight Title, he would also be the reason he lost it. At Survivor Series Bischoff came up with a new idea for a match: the Elimination Chamber. He invited the three men that Triple H had most recently defeated (Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, & Kane) to join feuding main eventers Chris Jericho and Booker T to challenge the champion inside the hellacious confines of the new match. One by one they all fell eventually leaving Triple H and Michaels. In only his second match in four years HBK defeated Triple H yet again and snagged his first World Heavyweight Title and fourth world title overall. Michaels claimed that he would be a fighting champion, even defending his title in a "dream match" against Rob Van Dam on Raw. Unfortunately a vengeful Triple H would spoil the match and take out both individuals. Triple H would defeat RVD in a No. 1 Contender's Match (with Michaels forced to serve as the referee) and the two former friends would hook up one more time at Armageddon. This time they would meet in a Three Stages of Hell Match with the first fall being a Street Fight, the second fall being a Steel Cage Match, and the third fall being a Ladder Match. Triple H would take the first fall, avenging his Street Fight loss to Michaels at SummerSlam, but HBK would fight back to win the second fall inside the Steel Cage. It all came down to the Ladder Match, an HBK specialty. Unfortunately HBK never had to worry about being pushed off a ladder into four stacked tables before, but in this match he did, allowing Triple H the opportunity to pull down the belt and regain the title.

The way Triple H dismantled the Raw main event scene in just a matter of months should have meant it would be clear sailing all the way to WrestleMania XIX. That would not be the case however. In order to entice Scott Steiner to come to Raw instead of SmackDown Bischoff promised Steiner a shot at the World Heavyweight Title. This shot game at the Royal Rumble. The less said about this match the better, but I will let you know that Triple H retained his title by losing by disqualification. A few weeks later Steiner defeated Chris Jericho in a No. 1 Contender's Match and got yet another shot at Triple H. From a quality standpoint this match was a tad better but Steiner still didn't win the title, this time falling to interference from the newly formed Evolution. With Steiner out of the way Triple H needed to turn his attention to WrestleMania, emanating from Seattle. In order to determine the new No. 1 Contender there was a brandwide Battle Royal which saw Booker T eliminate newly acquired Raw superstar The Rock thanks to a little distraction by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Booker survived the run up to WrestleMania despite borderline racist comments by Triple H (and by borderline I mean blatant) and it seemed like this may be his time. Well it wasn't. Booker gave Triple H all he could handle but ultimately he fell to the Pedigree (and by ultimately I meant that they managed to screen Titanic from the point that Triple H hit the pedigree until the time he actually covered Mr. T). After Mania Booker would get one more shot at Triple H but guest referee Shawn Michaels would actually disqualify Triple H instead of, you know, letting Booker T beat him.

Booker was old news to Triple H by this point and he had a new problem to deal with: and old friend turned foe named "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash. Nash had returned to try and patch things up between he, Michaels, and Triple H but when it was apparent that Triple H wouldn't be apart of any reunion Nash decided the next best thing would be to gun for Triple H's title. Well, after Triple H hit him in the head with a sledgehammer. Twice. Nash's first quest for the gold didn't go so well for him as Triple H yet again got himself intentionally DQ'd to retain his title. Nash answered him by putting him through the announce table. Triple H was so beaten up that when he was forced to defend his title the next night on Raw Co-GM Steve Austin allowed him to pick his own challenger so long as it was a former World Champion. Triple H picked his good buddy Ric Flair to challenge him, thinking that Naitch would just roll over for him. He didn't take into consideration that this was Greensboro, North Carolina, Flair country. Flair took Triple H to the max and very nearly won the title, but his younger counterpart was just a little bit better on this night. Nash found himself back in the title mix, though, losing to Triple H in a Street Fight at the UK only Insurrextion show and then losing once again in a great Hell in a Cell Match with Mick Foley as the guest referee.

Eric Bischoff would soon be back to his old tricks again, trying to make money and ratings by putting on special showcases. He would book Triple H vs. Kane in a Title vs. Mask Match (albeit inspired by Kane's foolish tag team partner Rob Van Dam). Kane would be fighting for his life, or at least his mask, but unfortunately that was not enough. Yet again Triple H walked away victorious and Kane was forced to unmask, REALLY pissing him off. The next week Rob Van Dam took his partner's spot in a rematch (some partner) and fought Triple H in a No DQ, Falls Count Anywhere Match for the title. Kane showed up and beat the hell out of his former buddy allowing Triple H to retain. RVD and Kane would continue to feud on their own away from the title, freeing Triple H up to defend his title against a man that he had heat with for a few years but never actually faced: Goldberg. Fresh off of defeating The Rock and Chris Jericho (while managing to languish in the midcard in between) Goldberg was announced as Triple H's opponent at SummerSlam. A combination of overlapping feuds and a groin injury to Triple H caused Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Kevin Nash, and Chris Jericho to be added to the match as it was turned into an Elimination Chamber Match. For all intents and purposes this should have been where Triple H's reign ended. He was hobbled, and Goldberg dismantled Orton, Michaels, and Jericho in short order (Nash had already been eliminated). "Da Man" was in there with a hurt champion, it should have been over. One sledgehammer shot later and Triple H was still your World Heavyweight Champion.

Goldberg would still get one more shot at Triple H however. At Unforgiven the two men met in a stipulation riddled match. Goldberg put his career on the line against Triple H's title, and the title could change hands on a disqualification or a countout. Triple H's Evolution teammates were also barred from ringside. In the end Goldberg's career didn't end and he didn't even need the other stipulations. Goldberg had ended the ninth month reign (year long reign if you don't count the few weeks Shawn Michaels held the belt) of Triple H.

To be continued…

PPV in Review: No Way Out

I guess I was wrong about the internet not exploding last week, huh? Anyhow, onto the reaction!

I actually really enjoyed Chavo-Punk. I'm not really sure I like Chavo retaining only because that pretty much means we'll get Chavo and Punk AGAIN at WrestleMania, but if their match is anything like it was at No Way Out I think it could be a real gem on the WrestleMania card.

The SmackDown Elimination Chamber was really good. Khali and Big Daddy V did their thing and it was fine (I'm not a hater like most) but it really got good with the final four. That was a hell of a bump for MVP to be taking but fortunately he seemed to walk away unscathed. Finlay really had me believing there for a second, and when you're in a feud with Mr. McMahon you never know. Batista and Undertaker continued to bring the goods against one another and add my name to the list of people that loved the counter into the Tombstone.

Flair vs. Kennedy was what it was. This was probably my least favorite match on the card but there really wasn't anything wrong with it. Next.

Edge vs. Rey was kind of painful to watch because I knew Rey shouldn't have been in there. I know, I'm callous enough to say that I really wasn't that concerned when Angle wrestled with a broken neck at WrestleMania a few years back, but that was Mania, I could live with that kind of determination. This was just silly. Then THE angle came. I still feel badly that Rey wrestled (and the fact he wrestled again on SmackDown is absurd) but I loved the Big Show return and Mayweather segment. This was just a perfect segment and I really hope it does well in the future. I'm not entirely sure that this angle is going to do the big business that it necessarily should but I'm still excited to see where it goes.

Orton-Cena I thought was rather clever. The crowd was hot (I really wouldn't mind WrestleMania XXV being in Vegas, the crowd was awesome all night) and it had a big match feel (like pretty much ALL of Cena's big matches). I like that they teased a cheap finish a few times in the match before actually going with the cheapest of cheap finishes. It worked because they actually put it over as an awful finish instead of trying to get us to accept a cheap finish as a legitimate way to end things. I am surprised at myself that the next night on Raw I found that Orton-Triple H at Mania wouldn't have really been that bad for me, but I trust that in the next five weeks WWE will sufficiently pump me up for the Triple Threat Match.

The Raw Elimination Chamber was hands down match of the night. It didn't get REALLY good until JBL was eliminated but it was still a great match even before then. Everyone in this match looked great but Jeff Hardy was a true star here. I was really starting to bite on the idea of Hardy winning and when he kicked out of the Pedigree I actually shouted at my TV in joy. While Triple H winning may have been a bit deflating I think it could still be a good move and I think WWE knows they have something in Jeff Hardy. Barring injury I fully expect him to become a World Champion by the end of 2008. I was kind of disappointed that we STILL haven't seen all six men in a Chamber Match at once.

Andy Enjoyment Index: No Way Out

1) Raw Elimination Chamber
2) SmackDown Elimination Chamber
3) Orton-Cena
4) Chavo-Punk
5) Edge-Rey
6) Flair-Kennedy
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The Shimmy Likes It Raw!

What's on tap for tonight's show?

JBL Addresses the Fans: Why did he destroy poor little Hornswoggle last week, especially after he said all those nice things about him on SmackDown? What will Finlay and Mr. McMahon have to say? And just what is little Horny's condition?

What went down at the press conference? There is a big WrestleMania press conference at the STAPLES Center in LA at 3:00 today, what is the big news?

Will there be any more Money in the Bank Qualifying Matches? I predict Chris Jericho gets his WrestleMania stamp tonight.

There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men

One Tree Hill has found its Season 5 groove, and this week Peyton Sawyer finally became watchable again. Check it all out at An Unkindness of Ravens!

That's it for me, kiddies. Next week I'll continue my look at the World Heavyweight Title. Until then, don't die. Clark…out.