Footnotes:

^[1]: Rogers defeated Rocca in the finals of a fictitious tournament to be crowned the first-ever WWWF World Heavyweight Champion.

^[2]: Bruno’s eight-year long title reign is a record that still stands today as the longest title reign ever.

^[3]: Immediately after Andre won the title from Hogan thanks to some refereeing hijinks, Andre gave up the belt and handed it over to Ted DiBiase. This of course did not stand as an actual title change and due to the controversy over Andre’s title win, the belt became and a title tournament was scheduled for WrestleMania IV.

^[4]: This was a tournament final.

^[5]: Because of all the shenanigans that had caused the WWF title to change hands over the past week, WWF President Jack Tunney declared the title vacant and that the winner of the Royal Rumble would be crowned the new champion.

^[6]: Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Sid Justice to win the vacant WWF title.

^[7]: On February 13, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw when WWF champion Shawn Michaels announced that he had “Lost His Smile”, he decided to vacate the championship. The real reason being though was he had suffered a knee injury.

^[8]: This match also included Steve Austin and Vader for a four-man battle royal.

^[9]: Shawn Michaels was the special guest referee.

^[10]: This was the night of the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” incident/angle. You know, whichever side you’re on.

^[11]: On the night after the Undertaker and Kane simultaneously pinned Austin at the In Your House: Breakdown PPV, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon declared the title vacated.

^[12]: This was a tournament final.

^[13]: Shane McMahon was the special guest referee.

^[14]: This was a triple-threat match, which also included Triple H. Jesse Ventura served as the special guest referee.

^[15]: Shane McMahon was the special guest referee.

^[16]: This was a six-pack challenge match, which also included The Rock, Kane, Mankind, Big Show and the British Bulldog. Steve Austin also was included the special enforcer.

^[17]: This was a triple-threat match which also included The Rock.

^[18]: This was a 60-minute ironman match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.

^[19]: This was a six-man tag team match with the Rock, Undertaker and Kane on one side taking on Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and the WWF Champion Triple H. Rock pinned Vince McMahon to win the title.

^[20]: In one night, Chris Jericho managed to defeat the World Champion The Rock and WWF Champion Steve Austin to become the first-ever (in the WWF) Undisputed World Champion.

^[21]: This was a triple-threat match which also included Kurt Angle.

^[22]: Because of Raw and Smackdown becoming seperate “brands” or TV shows and due to the re-creation of the World Championship title awarded to Triple H which was exclusive to Raw, it was during Brock’s first title reign title when this belt was no longer considered an undisputed championship and became simply known as the WWE title which became exclusive to Smackdown.

^[23]: This was a triple-threat match which also included Big Show.

^[24]: With the WWE champion John Cena being drafted to Raw on June 6, 2005, the WWE title switched brands and now became exclusive to Raw.

^[25]: After waiting for nine months, Edge wisely cashes in his “Money in the Bank” briefcase which guarantees himself a title shot for any title at any moment that he wants to use it that he won at WrestleMania 21 on John Cena right after he regained his WWE title in an elimination chamber match.

^[26]: Since Rob Van Dam wrestled on the ECW TV show, the WWE title becomes a part of ECW.

^[27]: Cena was stripped of the title on the October 1, 2007 edition of Raw due to a torn pectoral tendon injury.

^[28]: Since Randy Orton was scheduled to face John Cena for the WWE title anyway, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon awards Orton the WWE title since Cena could not compete.

^[29]: This was a four-man elimination match which also included John Cena and JBL. The title would finally return to Smackdown when WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to Smackdown on the June 23, 2008 edition of Raw.

^[30]: This was a triple-threat match which also included Vladimir Kozlov. Jeff Hardy was originally scheduled to compete, but was unable to compete. Edge returned as Hardy’s surprise replacement halfway into the match and won the WWE title for the third time.

^[31]: This was a triple-threat match which also included Triple H.

^[32]: This was an elimination chamber match including WWE champion Edge, Vladimir Kozlov, Big Show and Jeff Hardy. It came down to Triple H pinning The Undertaker with the Pedigree to win his eighth WWE title.

^[33]: Randy Orton regained the WWE title in a six-man tag match after pinning Triple H. Orton’s team consisted of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. against the former WWE champion Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon.

^[34]: Oddly enough, this is the first time the WWE title has ever changed hands in a cage match.

^[35]: The night after Extreme Rules, Batista forfeited the title because of a legit bicep tendon tear that happened PRIOR TO THE TITLE CHANGE. Not sure why they even went through with the title switch in the first place, but they did. The title was put up for grabs a week later in a fatal four way match where Orton pinned Big Show. The match also included Triple H and John Cena. Aaaaand we return to square one. Also just for reference, this would be the seventh time the belt has changed hands in seven months. The most in a seven month period since November 1998 into June 1999! WHAT THE F!

^[36]: This was an elimination chamber match which also included the former champ Sheamus, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr., and Kofi Kingston.

^[37]: This was a fatal four-way match which also included the former champ John Cena, Edge, and Randy Orton.

^[38]: This was a six-pack challenge which also included the former champ Sheamus, Edge, Wade Barrett, Chris Jericho, and John Cena.

^[39]: The Miz cashed in his “Money in the Bank” briefcase for a WWE title shot right after the Nexus severely beat down Randy Orton.

^[40]: This was a cage match which also included John Morrison.

^[41]: With only a little over an hour left on his WWE contract, CM Punk pinned John Cena clean in the middle of the ring to win the WWE title. Once it became twelve midnight on July 18, CM Punk was no longer the WWE champion, had no status as WWE champion, and the title that he took with him (whether in storyline terms or legitimately) became meaningless. Therefore on July 18, a new WWE champion had to be crowned and an eight-man tournament was started. However, the Rey Mysterio/Miz tournament finals were then postponed until July 25.

^[42]: This was the tournament final to crown a new WWE champion.

Credit goes to: PWI Almanac, wrestling-titles.com, and ProWrestlingHistory.com