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The Rock is renowned as being one of the greatest and is certainly the most famous professional wrestler in history. However, despite the fact he enjoyed a total of 10 World title reigns, his fifth, won on June 25, 2000 still remains his longest.
His fifth World title run lasted 119 days and he successfully defended the championship at three separate pay per view events.
119 days in 2019 seems like a brief footnote as a reign but in the summer and fall of 2000, it was the longest such reign since Shawn Michaels' final WWE Championship run which ended at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, such was the brevity of the majority of World title runs in the Attitude Era.
However, the most significant record that The Rock earned as WWE Champion, was that The Great One was the first ever Superstar to win six WWE Championships. That title reign began at No Way Out in February 2001, breaking the long-time record jointly shared by Hulk Hogan and Bret "Hitman" Hart. Stone Cold would also become a six-time champion later in 2001.
The six-time champion distinction was not celebrated on television, which was surprising in hindsight, but was typical of the car crash television during the Attitude Era.
In this installment, we also cover the crowning of the first ever Undisputed Champion, when WWE unified the WCW World Championship with the WWE Championship.
Previously in part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8 and part 9 we covered every single WWE Championship reign from 1963 through to the new millennium.
In this installment, we review every title reign from the summer of 2000 until WrestleMania X-8 in March 2002.
In the upcoming part 11, we look at the beginnings of the original Brock Lesnar era of dominance with the WWE Championship.
The Rock (June 25, 2000 - October 22, 2000)
The Rock/Triple H feud had ran out of steam by June 2000, so in order to prolong the feud, WWE added the McMahons and The Undertaker and Kane to the title bout at King of the Ring.
The booking plan worked. King of the Ring 2000 pulled 475,000 buys, the highest ever number for a King of the Ring pay per view.
The Rock pinned Vince McMahon, tag team partner of WWE Champion, Triple H to win his fifth WWE World crown.
Rock's title reign was a box office sensation. His title defences at Fully Loaded, SummerSlam, Unforgiven and No Mercy pulled 420,000, 570,000, 605,000 and 550,00 buys respectively.
His title defence versus Chris Benoit was a superlative effort at Fully Loaded. Rock won after a restart. Rock was a third wheel in the SummerSlam headliner, playing a supporting role in the Triple/Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon love triangle that was occupying the other two participants in the match. Rock would pin Triple H to retain the gold.
At Unforgiven, Rock put the belt on the line against the triumvirate of Chris Benoit, The Undertaker and Kane. In an entertaining if slightly disjointed Fatal 4 Way match-up, Rock pinned Benoit to successfully defend the title.
This was by far the longest Rock title reign of the champion's career. However, he would lose it in a shocking result to Angle in a colossal upset at No Mercy. Their encounter was a stunning in-ring effort and Rock selflessly put the Olympian over in a big way.
A glorious and hugely successful title reign was over.
Kurt Angle (October 22, 2000 - February 25, 2001)
Kurt Angle debuted properly in WWE at Survivor Series 1999. He had previously wrestled a couple of times on Sunday Night Heat in the spring.
Eleven months later, the 1996 Olympic Gold Medallist was a WWE Champion. It was a meteoric rise from a man who only turned pro two years earlier.
Angle took to pro-wrestling like a duck to water. Mastering promos and the character aspect to sports entertainment as well as the in-ring aspect, Angle quickly won European and Intercontinental Titles as well as the 2000 King of the Ring.
At No Mercy 2000, on October 22, he won the big one.
In a terrific match-up, he ended The Rock's fifth WWE Championship reign and embarked on a memorable title run.
He retained via screwjob at Survivor Series, when his brother, Eric masquerading as Angle was pinned instead, enabling the Olympian to surprise and pin the American Bad Ass.
However, he was much more impressive the following month, when he retained the strap in a six-way Hell in a Cell bout, outlasting The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, The Undertaker and Rikishi.
He retained versus Triple H in a decent encounter at the 2001 Royal Rumble, albeit one that was bereft of heat, as a heel versus heel bout.
However, his title losing match versus The Rock at No Way Out 2001 was even better than their No Mercy stunner. Angle's reign was a week longer than Rock's fifth title run and the longest since Shawn Michaels's third reign which ended in March 1998.
Angle: the main eventer, had arrived.
The Rock (February 25, 2001 - April 1, 2001)
The most significant things about The Rock's sixth WWE Championship reign were twofold.
Firstly, The Rock's title victory over Kurt Angle at No Way Out 2001 was a record. Rock ended Hulk Hogan and Bret "Hitman" Hart's long standing record of five WWE Championship reigns. The Rock hit that mark in a speedy 27 months.
His title winning effort was a fine bout, but the second most memorable thing about Rock's record title run was the way it ended.
It was a reign that lasted a paltry five weeks, necessitated by Rock taking time off from WWE to film his first starring role in The Scorpion King. A movie part that would lead to Rock leaving the company for Hollywood permanently just two years later.
In his final title defence versus Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania X-7, The Rock fell victim to Austin's heel turn when the Rattlesnake aligned himself with Vince McMahon.
The Brahma Bull attempted to regain the belt the next night on Raw but was beaten down by Austin and new ally Triple H. McMahon then suspended Rock in the storyline for his "own safety."
However, it would not be too long before Rock would break the WWE Championship record once again.
Stone Cold Steve Austin (April 1, 2001 - September 23, 2001)
WWE purchased their long time rivals, WCW on March 26, 2001. In the storylines, it was revealed that Shane McMahon had purchased the company under the nose of his father, Vince McMahon.
WCW would later "invade" WWE. The Invasion, as it would become known would play a major role in Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE Championship reign.
That began on April 1, 2001. It was the culmination of a six-month long story after Stone Cold returned from potentially career ending spinal surgery.
Austin, in the storyline had grown insecure and did not believe he could win the WWE Championship fairly. Therefore he made a pact with the devil and formed an alliance with his long-time enemy, Vince McMahon. Together, they screwed The Rock and to further entrench Austin as the top man, he allied with his other sworn enemy, Triple H to form the Two Man Power Trip.
The Austin heel turn, though highly entertaining did not translate well to the box office. After setting records at WrestleMania X-7 with The Rock, with over one million pay per view buys, Austin and his next opponent, The Undertaker pulled a paltry (in comparison) 375,000 orders at Backlash and 405,000 at Judgment Day.
Backlash, the previous year had drawn 675,000 orders and Judgment Day drew 420,000.
After Vince had tried and failed to convince any network to screen a McMahon booked version of WCW, which was to be Shane's pet project, incidentally, The Chairman attempted to reverse sagging ratings by booking a WCW invasion of his company.
That saw Austin turn face again on the July 16, Raw in a stunning moment. However, it didn't last. Stone Cold would turn heel once more at the Invasion pay per view on July 22, when he aligned with the invaders who were bolstered by the forces of ECW, to form the Alliance.
As WWE did not purchase the contracts of many of WCW's main event crew such as Goldberg, Sting, Kevin Nash etc... they had little option but to appoint a bonafide headliner in Austin as the head of the invaders. If not him, then who?
DDP and Booker T, the only headliners from WCW who did come on board, were quickly treated as out of depth losers and had zero credibility with WWE's fanbase. DDP would retire the following year, whereas Booker spent several years in the mid-card before earning his way back to the main event, five years later.
Intrigue about the Invasion saw a spike in pay per view orders and Invasion pulled a massive 760,000 orders (still a non-WrestleMania pay per view record) and SummerSlam built around Stone Cold's WWE Championship defence versus Kurt Angle and The Rock's WCW World title bout with Booker T, drew in 520,000 orders.
Alas, it was to be Angle, who would terminate, Austin's longest World title run the following September, albeit after immensely tragic circumstances.
Kurt Angle (September 23, 2000 - October 8, 2001)
September 11, 2001.
That is a date that will forever live in the memory of those that witnessed it. The terrorist attacks on America's landmarks such as The Pentagon and the World Trade Center shocked the world.
It shook America and seeking a feel good ending for his next pay per view offering, Vince McMahon decided to switch the WWE title belt to the American hero, Olympic Gold Medal winner, Kurt Angle to spread some goodwill amongst fans.
Angle, who had been feuding with Austin ever since Invasion was not originally booked to win the belt, but coming just 12 days after the tragedy, the Olypic Gold Medallist's victory was a memorable event for everyone watching. The card drew 350,000 orders.
The Austin/Angle battle was a stunning match-up and a highlight of the card. However, storylines determined, that The Rattlesnake needed to be champion and WWE switched the belt back to Austin a fortnight later on Raw.
Angle who had earlier in the summer reigned as WCW Champion for a week had his second brief World title run in the space of two months.
Stone Cold Steve Austin (October 8, 2001 - December 9, 2001)
Stone Cold Steve Austin won a joint-record sixth, and his final, WWE Championship two weeks after he lost his fifth title to Kurt Angle.
In a super heated rematch on the October 8, 2001 episode of Raw, Austin, with assistance from turncoat, William Regal won the title and returned it to the possession of the Alliance squad.
With Austin as champion, the Alliance held the WWE Championship whereas, the WWE team conversely held the WCW World belt.
Stone Cold defended the belt successfully at No Mercy on October 21, 2001 against Angle and Rob Van Dam in a Triple Threat encounter and was still recognised as champion when Team WWE defeated Team WCW/ECW at Survivor Series 2001 in a Winner Take All encounter.
Austin turned face once more, the night after Survivor Series and marched into Vengeance on December 9, 2001 looking to defend his title versus Angle, which he did and become the first Undisputed Champion.
However that wasn't possible when Booker T interfered and cost Stone Cold the chance to unify the WWE Championship with the World Championship (the WCW World title was renamed the World title following Survivor Series).
Stone Cold had lost his final WWE Championship to Chris Jericho. He would never regain it. He walked out of WWE five months later after becoming dissatisfied with the way he was being booked and returned in February 2003, for a month comeback before retiring from the grap game for good at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, 2003.
Chris Jericho (December 9, 2001 - March 17, 2002)
WWE reset after the 2001 Survivor Series and it's four-man tournament at Vengeance, held on December 9, 2001, took place to amalgamate the WWE Championship with the WCW World title.
The Undisputed Title combined the two title histories and retired the WCW World belt.
The Rock lost the WCW World title to long time mid-carder, Chris Jericho after Stone Cold had successfully defended versus Kurt Angle.
Jericho would then defeat Austin after outside interference to become the first Undisputed Champion in WWE history.
The cowardly heel, Jericho was not the audience's preferred choice to win the belts and his booking as champion did nothing to boost his credibility as a headliner.
Jericho needed assistance to defeat The Rock and Austin in rematches and became a sideshow in a feud between Royal Rumble winner, Triple H and his estranged wife, Stephanie McMahon in the storyline.
The issue between the WrestleMania headliners was between the "Game" and his soon to be ex-wife. Jericho was merely the in-ring muscle for Stephanie.
Jericho's run as champion was not a success and following his loss to Triple H at WrestleMania X-8, he was booted back down to the mid-card, where he would stay for another seven years.
He would win the World Heavyweight title several times later that decade but would never regain the WWE strap.
