samoa joe was the world heavyweight champion of wwe.
who is the world heavyweight champion of wwe?
samoa joe
on december 16 at , del rio turned into a fan favorite for the first time in his wwe career, when he saved ricardo rodriguez and the spanish announcers from 3mb (drew mcintyre, heath slater, and jinder mahal). later in the event, del rio teamed with the miz and the brooklyn brawler to defeat 3mb in a six-man tag team match. the next night on "raw", del rio and miz teamed up with tommy dreamer to defeat 3mb in another six-man tag team match. on the december 28 episode of "smackdown", ricardo rodriguez was awarded a title match against world heavyweight champion big show, but show knocked rodriguez out backstage. del rio was then awarded the title match in rodriguez's place, however, the match ended in a no contest after sheamus attacked big show. on the december 31 episode of "raw", show chose to defend his title against ricardo rodriguez. as rodriguez was about to lose the match, del rio attacked show from behind, causing a disqualification and re-igniting a feud between del rio and show. on the january 11 episode "smackdown", as del rio's character transitioned into a hero of the latino fanbase, he defeated show in a last man standing match to win his first world heavyweight championship. del rio made his first successful title defense on january 27 at the royal rumble, defeating show in another last man standing match, after rodriguez duct taped show's legs to the ropes. after repeated attacks from show to both himself and rodriguez, del rio and show faced off in a singles match on february 17 at elimination chamber, where del rio submitted him to the cross armbreaker to retain his title. del rio then began a feud with his new number one contender, jack swagger, over his opposing political views regarding immigration in america. the feud escalated on the march 18 episode of "raw", when swagger broke rodriguez's ankle with his "patriot lock" submission. del rio continued feuding with swagger on the april 1 episode of "raw", defeating swagger's manager zeb colter via disqualification after colter hit del rio with ricardo rodriguez's crutch. on april 7 at wrestlemania 29, del rio defeated swagger via submission to retain the world heavyweight championship. the next night on "raw", del rio defeated swagger and zeb colter in a two-on-one handicap match after forcing swagger to submit to the cross armbreaker. after that, del rio lost the world heavyweight champion to dolph ziggler who cashed in his money in the bank briefcase, ending his reign at 90 days. after the loss of the world heavyweight title, del rio would continue feud with swagger and ziggler over the title. on the april 29 episode of "raw", ricardo rodriguez defeated big e langston and zeb colter in a three-way match to give del rio the right to choose the stipulation of his three-way match at extreme rules and chose a ladder match. however, ziggler would suffer a legitimate concussion at a "smackdown" taping, thus removing their match from extreme rules. in result of ziggler's injury, del rio instead would be booked to face swagger in a number one contender "i quit" match at the pay-per-view on may 19, which del rio won. in the following weeks, del rio would face ziggler's enforcer big e. langston in a series of matches, which del rio won 3-2.
alberto del rio
following the end of the first brand extension in 2011, both the world heavyweight champion and wwe champion could appear on both "raw" and "smackdown". in 2013, the night after survivor series, then-world heavyweight champion john cena made a challenge to then-wwe champion randy orton to determine an undisputed wwe world champion. randy orton defeated john cena in a tlc match at the pay-per-view on december 15, 2013, to unify the titles. subsequently, the wwe championship was renamed wwe world heavyweight championship. the unified championship retained the lineage of the wwe championship, and the world heavyweight championship was retired. with his victory over john cena, randy orton became the final world heavyweight champion. like with the undisputed championship, the big gold belt was used in tandem with the wwe championship belt to represent the wwe world heavyweight championship until a single belt was presented to then champion brock lesnar in august 2014.
world heavyweight championship (wwe)