Dustin Simpson with the IWE Championship
The IWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE). It is the world title of the Meltdown brand, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship of the Fusion! brand. It is the first world title established in IWE, having been introduced in 1963 as the International Wide Wrestling Federation (IWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. After ending its affiliation with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) the promotion was renamed International Wrestling Federation (IWF) with the title also renamed to reflect the acronym. In 2001, it was unified with the WCW Championship following the IWF's buyout of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and became the Undisputed Championship. In 2002, the IWF was renamed International Wrestling Entertainment and split its roster into two franchises, Meltdown and Fusion, in a brand extension. The title was then designated to the Fusion brand, while IWE established an alternate world title known as the World Heavyweight Championship for the Meltdown Raw brand. The IWE Undisputed Championship has been known as the WWE Championship since.
The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants usually execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. Some reigns were held by champions using a ring name, while others used their real name. The first champion was Buddy R., who won the championship in 1963. Overall, there have been 40 different official champions, with Triple K having the most reigns at eight.
Title History[]
Key
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
| # | Indicates what number the reign is |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won |
| N/A | The information is not available or is unknown |
| — | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| + | Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
Names[]
| Name | Years |
| IWWWF World Heavyweight Championship | April 29, 1963 –February 8, 1971 |
| IWWF Heavyweight Championship | February 8, 1971 –1979 |
| IWF Heavyweight Championship | 1979–1983 |
| IWF (World Heavyweight) Championship | 1983 –December 9, 2001 |
| IWF Undisputed Championship | December 9, 2011 –May 6, 2002 |
| IWF Undisputed Championship | May 6, 2002 –September 2, 2002 |
| IWE Championship | September 2, 2002 –Present |
Reigns[]
| # | Wrestlers | Reign | Date | Days Held | Location | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||||
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| 8 | |||||||
| - | |||||||
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| 9 | |||||||
| 10 | |||||||
| 11 | |||||||
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| 16 | |||||||
| 17 | Martin McAlmond | 1 | November 27, 1991 | ||||
| 18 | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| 19 | |||||||
| 20 | |||||||
| 21 | |||||||
| 22 | Bret Heart | 1 | October 12, 1992 | ||||
| 23 | |||||||
| 24 | |||||||
| 25 | |||||||
| 26 | Bret Heart | 2 | March 20, 1994 | ||||
| 27 | |||||||
| 28 | |||||||
| 29 | Bret Heart | 3 | November 19, 1995 | ||||
| 30 | Ryan Barnhart | 1 | March 31, 1996 | ||||
| 31 | |||||||
| 32 | Ryan Barnhart | 2 | January 19, 1997 | ||||
| - | |||||||
| 33 | Bret Heart | 4 | February 16, 1997 | ||||
| 34 | |||||||
| 35 | Martin McAlmond | 2 | March 23, 1997 | ||||
| 36 | Bret Heart | 5 | August 3, 1997 | ||||
| 37 | Ryan Barnhart | 3 | November 9, 1997 | ||||
| 38 | Steve Johnson | 1 | March 29, 1998 | ||||
| 39 | Chris LeGreca | 1 | June 28, 1998 | ||||
| 40 | Steve Johnson | 2 | June 29, 1998 | ||||
| - | Vacant | September 27, 1998 | 0 | ||||
| 41 | Sam Simkins | 1 | November 15, 1998 | ||||
| 42 | Mankind | 1 | December 29, 1998 | ||||
| 43 | Sam Simkins | 2 | January 24, 1999 | ||||
| 44 | Mankind | 2 | January 26, 1999 | ||||
| 45 | Sam Simkins | 3 | February 15, 1999 | ||||
| 46 | Steve Johnson | 3 | March 28, 1999 | ||||
| 47 | Martin McAlmond | 3 | May 23, 1999 | ||||
| 48 | Steve Johnson | 4 | June 28, 1999 | ||||
| 49 | Mankind | 3 | August 22, 1999 | ||||
| 50 | Triple K | 1 | August 23, 1999 | ||||
| 51 | Mr. Mayer | 1 | September 14, 1999 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - | September 20, 1999 | 0 | |||
| 52 | Triple K | 2 | September 26, 1999 | ||||
| 53 | The Big Marc | 1 | November 14, 1999 | ||||
| 54 | Triple K | 3 | January 3, 2000 | ||||
| 55 | Sam Simkins | 4 | April 30, 2000 | ||||
| 56 | Triple K | 4 | May 21, 2000 | ||||
| 57 | Sam Simkins | 5 | June 25, 2000 | ||||
| 58 | Matt Borske | 1 | October 22, 2000 | ||||
| 59 | Sam Simkins | 6 | February 25, 2001 | ||||
| 60 | Steve Johnson | 5 | April 1, 2001 | ||||
| 61 | Matt Borske | 2 | September 23, 2001 | ||||
| 62 | Steve Johnson | 6 | October 8, 2001 | ||||
| 63 | Kris McGowan | 1 | December 9, 2001 | ||||
| 64 | Triple K | 5 | March 17, 2002 | ||||
| 65 | |||||||
| 66 | Martin McAlmond | 4 | May 19, 2002 | ||||
| 67 | Sam Simkins | 7 | July 21, 2002 | ||||
| 68 | Rob Truax | 1 | August 25, 2002 | ||||
| 69 | The Big Marc | 2 | November 17, 2002 | ||||
| 70 | Matt Borske | 3 | December 15, 2002 | ||||
| 71 | Rob Truax | 2 | March 30, 2003 | ||||
| 72 | Matt Borske | 4 | July 27, 2003 | ||||
| 73 | Rob Truax | 3 | September 16, 2003 | ||||
| 74 | Brian McAlmond | 1 | February 15, 2004 | ||||
| 75 | John Goff | 1 | June 27, 2004 | ||||
| 76 | Dustin Simpson | 1 | April 3, 2005 | ||||
| 77 | Chris Gomez | 1 | January 8, 2006 | ||||
| 78 | Dustin Simpson | 2 | January 29, 2006 | ||||
| 79 | KGM | 1 | June 11, 2006 | ||||
| 80 | Chris Gomez | 2 | July 3, 2006 | ||||
| 81 | Dustin Simpson | 3 | September 17, 2006 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - | October 2, 2007 | ||||
| 82 | Kevin McAlmond | 1 | October 7, 2007 | ||||
| 83 | Triple K | 6 | October 7, 2007 | ||||
| 84 | Kevin McAlmond | 2 | October 7, 2007 | ||||
| 85 | Triple K | 7 | April 27, 2008 | ||||
| 86 | Chris Gomez | 3 | November 23, 2008 | ||||
| 87 | Josh Hooper | 1 | December 14, 2008 | ||||
| 88 | Chris Gomez | 4 | January 25, 2009 | ||||
| 89 | Triple K | 8 | February 15, 2009 | ||||
| 90 | Kevin McAlmond | 3 | April 26, 2009 | ||||
| 91 | Jesse Dern | 1 | June 7, 2009 | ||||
| - | Vacant | - | June 9, 2009 | ||||
| 92 | Kevin McAlmond | 4 | June 15, 2009 | ||||
| 93 | Dustin Simpson | 4 | September 13, 2009 | ||||
| 94 | Kevin McAlmond | 5 | October 4, 2009 | ||||
| 95 | Dustin Simpson | 5 | October 25, 2009 | ||||
| 96 | Garett | 1 | December 13, 2009 | ||||
| 97 | Dustin Simpson | 6 | February 21, 2010 | 0 | |||
| 98 | Jesse Dern | 2 | February 21, 2010 | ||||
| 99 | Dustin Simpson | 7 | March 28, 2010 | ||||
| 100 | Garrett | 2 | June 20, 2010 | ||||
| 101 | Kevin McAlmond | 6 | September 19, 2010 | 64 | Chicogo, ILL | Night of Champions (2010) | This was a Six-Pack Challenge Elimination match also involving Gomez, Dustin Simpson, Garrett, Kris McGowan and Daniel Gonzalez. |
| 102 | Joe Smith | 1 | November 22, 2010 | 160 | Orlando, FL | Meltdown | Joe Smith cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase after Kevin McAlmond successfully defended the IWE Championship against Daniel Gonzalez. |
| 103 | Dustin Simpson | 8 | May 1, 2011 | 78 | Tampa, FL | Extreme Rules (2011) | This was a Triple Threat Steel Cage match also involving Joe Linderman. |
| 104 | Justin Eldridge | 1 | July 17, 2011 | 1 | Chicago, IL | Money in the Bank (2011) | This was a singles match where Justin Eldirdge defeated Dustin Simpson. Since Eldridge "left Chicago with the title", Simpson, by the match stipulation, is fired. Eldridge is also no longer under IWE contract as of the end of the Money in the Bank (2011) pay-per-view. |
| - | Vacated | - | July 18, 2011 | 0 | Green Bay, WI | Meltdown | Vacated by Mr. Mayer at the top of the show due to Justin Eldridge's departure from the company. Eight man tournament to declare the new IWE Champion on the same night. |