The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
The title was deactivated in 2001 when ECW went out of business. ECW was then purchased by WWE two years later during the summer of 2003. In 2006, WWE reactivated the championship as the world title of their newly established ECW brand. It was a third concurrently-active world championship in the promotion, complementing the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship of the other two brands, Raw and SmackDown. The ECW Championship briefly appeared as the sole world title of the Raw brand in 2008 as a result of that year's draft. When WWE disbanded the ECW brand in 2010, the championship was subsequently retired.
Reigns:[]
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Jimmy Snuka | April 25, 1992 | Live event | Mount Tabor, PA | 1 | 1 | Snuka defeated Salvatore Bellomo in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion. | |
| 2 | Johnny Hotbody | April 26, 1992 | Live event | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 79 | ||
| 3 | Jimmy Snuka | July 14, 1992 | Live event | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 78 | ||
| 4 | Don Muraco | September 30, 1992 | Live event | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 47 | ||
| 5 | The Sandman | November 16, 1992 | Live event | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 138 | ||
| 6 | Don Muraco | April 3, 1993 | Hardcore TV | Radnor, PA | 2 | 127 | ||
| 7 | Tito Santana | August 8, 1993 | Hardcore TV | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 32 | ||
| 8 | Shane Douglas | September 9, 1993 | Hardcore TV | Roanoke, VA | 1 | 23 | ||
| 9 | Sabu | October 2, 1993 | Bloodfest | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 85 | ||
| 10 | Terry Funk | December 26, 1993 | Holiday Hell | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 90 | ||
| 11 | Shane Douglas | March 26, 1994 | Ultimate Jeopardy | Devon, PA | 2 | 385 | ||
| 12 | The Sandman | April 15, 1995 | Hostile City Showdown | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 196 | ||
| 13 | Mikey Whipwreck | October 28, 1995 | Hardcore TV | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 42 | ||
| 14 | The Sandman | December 9, 1995 | December to Dismember | Philadelphia, PA | 3 | 49 | ||
| 15 | Raven | January 27, 1996 | Hardcore TV | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 252 | ||
| 16 | The Sandman | October 5, 1996 | Ultimate Jeopardy | Philadelphia, PA | 4 | 63 | ||
| 17 | Raven | December 7, 1996 | Holiday Hell | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 127 | ||
| 18 | Terry Funk | April 13, 1997 | Barely Legal | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 118 | ||
| 19 | Sabu | August 9, 1997 | Born to be Wired | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 8 | ||
| 20 | Shane Douglas | August 17, 1997 | Hardcore Heaven | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 3 | 60 | ||
| 21 | Bam Bam Bigelow | October 16, 1997 | Hardcore TV | New York, NY | 1 | 45 | ||
| 22 | Shane Douglas | November 30, 1997 | November to Remember | Monaca, PA | 4 | 406 | ||
| 23 | Taz | January 10, 1999 | Guilty as Charged | Kissimmee, FL | 1 | 252 | ||
| 24 | Mike Awesome | September 19, 1999 | Anarchy Rulz | Villa Park, IL | 1 | 89 | ||
| 25 | Masato Tanaka | December 17, 1999 | ECW on TNN | Nashville, TN | 1 | 6 | ||
| 26 | Mike Awesome | December 23, 1999 | ECW on TNN | White Plains, NY | 2 | 112 | ||
| 27 | Taz | April 13, 2000 | ECW on TNN | Indianapolis, IN | 2 | 9 | Taz had signed with the World Wrestling Federation following his title loss to Mike Awesome on September 19, 1999. However, Awesome unexpectedly signed with World Championship Wrestling in 2000 while still being champion and threatened to bring the title onto WCW television. | |
| 28 | Tommy Dreamer | April 22, 2000 | CyberSlam | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | <1 | ||
| 29 | Justin Credible | April 22, 2000 | CyberSlam | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 162 | ||
| 30 | Jerry Lynn | October 1, 2000 | Anarchy Rulz | Saint Paul, MN | 1 | 35 | ||
| 31 | Steve Corino | November 5, 2000 | November to Remember | Villa Park, IL | 1 | 63 | ||
| 32 | The Sandman | January 7, 2001 | Guilty as Charged | New York, NY | 5 | <1 | ||
| 33 | Rhino | January 7, 2001 | Guilty as Charged | New York, NY | 1 | 94 | ||
| — | Deactivated | April 11, 2001 | — | — | — | — | ECW closed on April 4, 2001, and World Wrestling Entertainment purchased its assets in 2003. | |
| World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) | ||||||||
| 34 | Rob Van Dam | June 13, 2006 | ECW | Trenton, NJ | 1 | 21 | The title was revived by WWE for the ECW brand. Van Dam was awarded the title by Paul Heyman for winning the WWE Championship. | |
| 35 | Big Show | July 4, 2006 | ECW | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 152 | ||
| 36 | Bobby Lashley | December 3, 2006 | December to Dismember | Augusta, GA | 1 | 147 | ||
| 37 | Mr. McMahon | April 29, 2007 | Backlash | Atlanta, GA | 1 | 35 | ||
| 38 | Bobby Lashley | June 3, 2007 | One Night Stand | Jacksonville, FL | 2 | 8 | ||
| — | Vacated | June 11, 2007 | Raw | Wilkes-Barre, PA | — | — | The championship was vacated due to Bobby Lashley being drafted to the Raw brand. | |
| 39 | Johnny Nitro/John Morrison | June 24, 2007 | Vengeance: Night of Champions | Houston, TX | 1 | 69 | Nitro, who substituted for Chris Benoit due to his death (unknown at the time), defeated CM Punk to win the vacant championship. His ring name was changed to John Morrison during his reign on the July 17, 2007 episode of ECW. Beginning in August 2007, the title would be referred to simply as the ECW Championship. | |
| 40 | CM Punk | September 1, 2007 | ECW | Cincinnati, OH | 1 | 143 | ||
| 41 | Chavo Guerrero | January 22, 2008 | ECW | Charlottesville, VA | 1 | 68 | With Chavo being a member of the SmackDown roster, the title becomes shared between SmackDown and ECW. | |
| 42 | Kane | March 30, 2008 | WrestleMania XXIV | Orlando, FL | 1 | 91 | Kane was a member of the SmackDown brand at the time he won the title, thus making the title exclusive to SmackDown. The title was returned to ECW when Kane defected to the ECW brand two days later. Then the title was exclusive to the Raw brand when Kane was drafted to Raw on June 23, 2008. This gives Kane the distinction of being the only wrestler to carry one championship across all three brands. | |
| 43 | Mark Henry | June 29, 2008 | Night of Champions | Dallas, TX | 1 | 70 | Title is once again exclusive to ECW due to Mark Henry being a member of the ECW roster. | |
| 44 | Matt Hardy | September 7, 2008 | Unforgiven | Cleveland, OH | 1 | 127 | ||
| 45 | Jack Swagger | January 12, 2009 | ECW | Sioux City, IA | 1 | 104 | ||
| 46 | Christian | April 26, 2009 | Backlash | Providence, RI | 1 | 42 | ||
| 47 | Tommy Dreamer | June 7, 2009 | Extreme Rules | New Orleans, LA | 2 | 49 | ||
| 48 | Christian | July 26, 2009 | Night of Champions | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 205 | ||
| 49 | Ezekiel Jackson | February 16, 2010 | ECW | Kansas City, MO | 1 | <1 | ||
| — | Deactivated | February 16, 2010 | ECW | Kansas City, MO | — | — | The title was retired once again immediately after Ezekiel Jackson won it due to the ECW brand being discontinued. | |