List of WWE Champions

The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE, currently on the SmackDown brand. It is the first world title established in WWE, having been introduced in 1953 as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. The title was renamed the WWF World Heavyweight Champion in 1983 upon the company changing its named to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The title was then renamed the WWF Championship in 1995 before becoming the WWE Championship in 2002 upon the WWF being renamed the WWE. In 2001, it was unified with the World Championship (formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) following the WWF's buyout of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and became the Undisputed WWF Championship.

The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. Some reigns were held by champions using a ring name, while others use their real name. The first champion was Buddy Rogers, who won the championship in 1953. The champion with the single longest reign is Bruno Sammartino with a reign of 2,803 days, while the record for longest combined reign is also held by Sammartino at 4,040. The current champion is Cody Rhodes, who is in his first reign. He won the championship by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura on November 19, 2017 in his Money in the Bank cash-in match at Survivor Series.