The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 14

Edge: The Rated R Superstar collected titles for fun between 2006 and 2011
Edge: The Rated R Superstar collected titles for fun between 2006 and 2011

WWE Hall of Famer Edge is one of the most honored WWE superstars in history.

The "Rated R Superstar" won 31 titles in total during his 13-year career in the promotion. This includes a record seven World Heavyweight titles and 14 Tag Team titles, as well as Intercontinental and United States gold. He won the WWE Championship on four separate occasions.

His first title reign began on January 8, 2006, when he became the first man to cash in the Money in the Bank contract to win the the belt. He did so at the expense of John Cena in an unforgettable moment at the New Year's Revolution pay per view event.

Edge's initial title reign was significant for the massive boost it provided to WWE's television ratings. Edge's title reigns were almost always a successful affair, both at the box office and inside the ring. The title was a significant boost to the "Rated R Superstar"'s career and in each subsequent reign, Edge would boost the title's prestige. The perfect marriage of title and wrestler.

Edge became known as the "Ultimate Opportunist" due to the manner in which he won the majority of his World titles.

This was prevalent in his victory over an injured Ken Kennedy to win Kennedy's Money in the Bank contract, which he used to successfully cash in on an injured Undertaker to win the World Heavyweight Championship, and when he replaced a waylaid Jeff Hardy to steal the WWE crown away from Triple H during his gruelling battle with Vladimir Kozlov.

Edge made a career out of winning World titles although he was decidedly less successful in defending his belts.

His final two WWE Heavyweight Championship wins are covered in this part in my long-running series, covering every title change in the title's 56-year history.

Previous entries in my series can be found here:

Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12 and part 13.

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Triple H (April 27, 2008 - November 23, 2008)

Triple H: Reclaimed the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at Backlash 2008
Triple H: Reclaimed the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at Backlash 2008

Triple H's last WWE Championship reign lasted less than one night at No Mercy in October. His record-equalling seventh title run would conversely last for seven months.

"The Game"'s reign coincided with a stellar year on pay per view for WWE in 2008. Virtually every event was top drawer from the top of the card through the bottom.

Triple H's title-winning effort came in a decent Fatal 4 Way Elimination bout where he last pinned old foe Randy Orton to win back the title.

Next, he defended the strap against Orton at two consecutive events. He bested RKO in a passable Cage Match at Judgment Day and again at One Night Stand in June this time in a truncated Last Man Standing Match. The match was shortened due to a real-life injury sustained by Orton when Triple H dropped him awkwardly over the top rope.

Triple H next faced John Cena in a rematch of their WrestleMania 22 encounter at Night of Champions on June 29, 2008. The match lacked the atmosphere of their 'Mania battle but this time "The Cerebral Assassin" scored the clean pin following a Pedigree.

At The Great American Bash in July, Triple H defeated Edge in the pair's only ever singles collision on pay per view before defending the gold once more versus The Great Khali in an amazingly entertaining bout at SummerSlam.

Triple H survived the Championship scramble at Unforgiven 2008 wherein he temporarily lost the belt, only to regain it before the time limit expired, meaning officially his title run was unbroken.

"The Game" defeated Jeff Hardy at No Mercy and Cyber Sunday in competitive bouts before he entered Survivor Series to defend the belt supposedly against Hardy and Kozlov in a triple threat encounter.

Hardy was removed from the bout and replaced ten minutes into the contest with Edge, who duly terminated Triple H's title reign.

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Edge (November 23, 2008 - December 14, 2008)

Edge: Was the
Edge: Was the "Ultimate Opportunist" at Survivor Series 2008

2008 was a tumultuous year for Edge.

He had begun the year the World Heavyweight Champion but at WrestleMania, he had been defeated by The Undertaker and failed in multiple attempts to regain the strap from the Deadman.

In July, he wed Vickie Guerrero onscreen but his wedding was gatecrashed by Triple H, who revealed via hidden camera that Edge had been making out with Alicia Fox, who was then a Wedding Planner and not yet a wrestler.

A vengeful Guerrero then booked Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match with Undertaker which ended with Edge being chokeslammed through the ring canvas and engulfed by fire.

Edge was sidelined for several months but recovered just in time to join the Survivor Series WWE Championship bout between Triple H and Kozlov. Edge had reconciled with SmackDown General Manager Guerrero just in the nick of time. She added her husband to the contest with both combatants down. Edge, the "Ultimate Opportunist", pinned Triple H to win his fourth WWE Championship.

Edge's reign would be short-lived as he dropped it to Jeff Hardy in a triple theat encounter the following month.

"The Rated R Superstar" would be forced to retire from a career ending neck injury in April 2011, the night after WrestleMania XXVII. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.

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Jeff Hardy (December 14, 2008 - January 25, 2009)

Jeff Hardy: Finally realised his dream at Armageddon 2008
Jeff Hardy: Finally
realised
his dream at Armageddon 2008

Jeff Hardy debuted in WWE as an "enhancement talent" way back in 1994, when he was just 16 years old (he allegedly had told the company he was 18 in order to secure a tryout).

His first WWE bout took place on May 23, 1994 in a contest with Razor Ramon that was, predictably, a losing effort.

By 1998, however, Hardy and his brother Matt had become part of the main roster as The Hardy Boyz.

They won their first Tag Team Championship together in the summer of 1999 and became the innovators of the TLC Match with long-time rival teams Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boyz.

Hardy began wrestling in singles in 2001 and had collected a large array of singles titles prior to 2008.

He began the year with huge momentum. He had defeated Triple H in a Number One Contenders bout at Armageddon in December 2007 and unsuccessfully challenged Randy Orton for the title in a spirited showing at the 2008 Royal Rumble.

Hardy was the last man standing in the Elimination Chamber Number One Contenders Match at No Way Out in February and came within a whisker of winning the gold at Unforgiven 2008 in September and No Mercy and Cyber Sunday in October.

When December rolled around, Hardy finally broke through the glass ceiling and won the WWE Championship by pinning Edge in a triple threat encounter also featuring Triple H.

It was a long road to the title for Hardy and, unfortunately, his reign was to be extremely brief.

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Edge (January 25, 2009 - February 15, 2009)

Edge: Profited from brotherly discord at Royal Rumble 2009
Edge: Profited from brotherly discord at Royal Rumble 2009

Edge challenged Jeff Hardy for the WWE Championship in a No DQ battle at the 2009 Royal Rumble.

Hardy, who had only won the belt one month earlier had been in receipt of a series of sneak attacks in the run-up to the main show. He had blamed these on Edge, but the "Rated R Superstar" denied any wrongdoing.

During the title match itself, Hardy's brother Matt interfered, apparently to assist his brother but instead turned on Jeff, smashing him with a steel chair to cost his sibling the WWE Championship. It turned

This, understandably, caught fans off guard. That's because the original plan called for the returning Christian to be the mystery assailant instead. However, news leaked out regarding Christian's return to the company after a three-year absence and his involvement in the storyline with Hardy.

So much so, that WWE felt compelled to insert Matt into the spot instead. Christian had to wait a few more months for his WWE return and the Hardy brothers competed in a WrestleMania grudge match instead.

This was to be Hardy's only reign as WWE Champion although he would win the World Heavyweight Championship twice in 2009, before leaving the company and joining rivals TNA.

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Triple H (February 15, 2009 - April 26, 2009)

Triple H: Became the first eight-time WWE Champion in the company's history
Triple H: Became the first eight-time WWE Champion in the company's history

Triple H has had some great success in the Elimination Chamber over the years. Although he lost the World Heavyweight Championship in the inaugural Chamber bout at the Survivor Series in 2002 to Shawn Michaels, he won subsequent Chamber battles in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

He won another in February 2009 to win the WWE Championship.

Defending champion Edge was pinned by Jeff Hardy just a few minutes into the match ensuring that a new champion would be crowned. "The Game" last pinned The Undertaker to win the WWE Championship for a record-setting eighth time.

It was a significant victory, that surprisingly was not exaggerated or even alluded to on WWE television.

Despite the fact that his reign was not as celebrated as it could have been, Triple H would successfully defend the belt versus Randy Orton at WrestleMania the following month battle before dropping it to Orton at Backlash in a specially stipulaSix-Man Man Tag Team Match.

RKO punted Triple H in the head and pinned him to end "The Cerebral Assassin's" final World title run in seven years.

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Randy Orton (April 26, 2009 - June 7, 2009)

Randy Orton: Sidelined Triple H at Backlash 2009
Randy Orton: Sidelined Triple H at Backlash 2009

Randy Orton took out his long-time mentor and rival Triple H at Backlash 2009, when his Legacy team, consisting of himself, Ted DiBiase Jr and Cody Rhodes, downed the team of Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon.

It was a specially stipulated encounter where if Orton would win the title if any member of the champion's team was pinned, submitted, disqualified or counted out. As it turned out, Orton punted "The Game" in the head to win the WWE Championship once more.

This was Orton's third WWE Heavyweight title reign and his fourth World title overall.

Another of RKO's former Evolution stablemates Batista was next in line. Batista challenged Orton the following month. RKO edged past Batista via DQ in a singles match at Judgment Day, but fell to "The Animal" inside a Steel Cage at Extreme Rules in June.

Orton was scheduled to enjoy a long reign but it was interrupted due to the perception amongst creative in WWE that Batista failed too often in Championship matches.

Orton would not be separated from the WWE Championship for long; just six days in fact.

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Batista (June 7, 2009 - June 9, 2009)

Batista: Won his first WWE Championship at Extreme Rules 2009
Batista: Won his first WWE Championship at Extreme Rules 2009

Batista was no stranger to World titles: in 2009, he had worn the World Heavyweight Championship on four separate occasions between 2005 and 2008.

He won his first WWE Championship, however, versus long-time friend and rival Randy Orton inside a steel cage at Extreme Rules 2009. In doing so, Batista became the first wrestler to win the title in a Cage Match.

Batista's reign was not planned in advance. In fact, "The Animal" entered the contest with a torn left biceps and there was no chance of him enjoying a lengthy title run. However, the feeling in WWE was that Batista had come up short too many times in big title matches and that fans would lose faith in him if he lost again. Therefore the decision was made to award the big man the belt and immediately vacate it.

Randy Orton, the man from whom Batista won the title would regain it just six days after losing it on Raw.

Batista's first title run lasted just two days. His second would not come for another two years, in February 2010, just a few months before he retired from WWE for the first time, prior to short comebacks in 2014 and 2019.

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