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The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship
Now in paperback—a celebration of fifty years of no-holds-barred sports entertainment!
Suddenly it’s over, and in the center of the ring, one man is victorious. The referee raises his hand, and from somewhere (you’re not quite sure where because you’re still cheering), the shining symbol of this momentous win appears. With the crowd still roaring, the winner stands alone in the ring and raises the championship belt high over his head. The lights shine off the WWE Championship title belt, and in that instant, the winner’s life will be changed forever.
For over half a century, Superstars have battled to win the WWE Championship. While the name may have changed, the prestige attached to the championship has exploded. That is due in no small part to the immortals of wrestling who have held this coveted title—Bruno Sammartino taking the title from the first holder, Buddy Rogers...the totally unexpected win of “Superstar” Billy Graham...Hulk Hogan’s win over the Iron Sheik, who had refused a payoff to injure Hogan...Andre the Giant’s surrender of the title to Ted DiBiase...the newcomer win of the Undertaker...the commanding wrestling abilities of Bret Hart...Shawn Michaels’s win in Montreal...the stunning victories of Stone Cold Steve Austin...the triumph of the People’s Champion, The Rock...Triple H playing the game...the never-surrender attitude of John Cena.
This is the chronicle of how the title that is now known as the WWE Championship became sports-entertainment’s most coveted prize.
Suddenly it’s over, and in the center of the ring, one man is victorious. The referee raises his hand, and from somewhere (you’re not quite sure where because you’re still cheering), the shining symbol of this momentous win appears. With the crowd still roaring, the winner stands alone in the ring and raises the championship belt high over his head. The lights shine off the WWE Championship title belt, and in that instant, the winner’s life will be changed forever.
For over half a century, Superstars have battled to win the WWE Championship. While the name may have changed, the prestige attached to the championship has exploded. That is due in no small part to the immortals of wrestling who have held this coveted title—Bruno Sammartino taking the title from the first holder, Buddy Rogers...the totally unexpected win of “Superstar” Billy Graham...Hulk Hogan’s win over the Iron Sheik, who had refused a payoff to injure Hogan...Andre the Giant’s surrender of the title to Ted DiBiase...the newcomer win of the Undertaker...the commanding wrestling abilities of Bret Hart...Shawn Michaels’s win in Montreal...the stunning victories of Stone Cold Steve Austin...the triumph of the People’s Champion, The Rock...Triple H playing the game...the never-surrender attitude of John Cena.
This is the chronicle of how the title that is now known as the WWE Championship became sports-entertainment’s most coveted prize.
- GenresSportsNonfiction
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 23, 2010
33 people are currently reading
830 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Sullivan
13 books8 followersA graduate of Fairfield University, Kevin Sullivan began his sports-entertainment career in 1998 when he accepted a position within WWE. Over the course of the next decade, he played an integral role in WWE.com’s content creation process, most recently as the site’s Content Director. He also served as managing editor of WWE’s Raw Magazine.
Sullivan left WWE on a full-time basis in 2008, but continues to work closely with the company’s publishing department. His first book, the WWE Encyclopedia, became an instant hit and peaked at No. 8 on the New York Times best sellers list. From there, Sullivan teamed with Simon & Schuster to put out The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. The 320-page narrative tracks wrestling’s most prestigious prize from its first days in 1963 all the way up to today.
Sullivan also wrote the New York Times best-selling WWE 50 book and co-authored the second edition of the best-selling WWE Encyclopedia. Additionally, Sullivan has penned seven children’s books for WWE, including biographies on Undertaker, John Cena, and Big Show.
Sullivan left WWE on a full-time basis in 2008, but continues to work closely with the company’s publishing department. His first book, the WWE Encyclopedia, became an instant hit and peaked at No. 8 on the New York Times best sellers list. From there, Sullivan teamed with Simon & Schuster to put out The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. The 320-page narrative tracks wrestling’s most prestigious prize from its first days in 1963 all the way up to today.
Sullivan also wrote the New York Times best-selling WWE 50 book and co-authored the second edition of the best-selling WWE Encyclopedia. Additionally, Sullivan has penned seven children’s books for WWE, including biographies on Undertaker, John Cena, and Big Show.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 20, 2016
Of course I would like books like this, but I didn't think this was really interesting. I'm trying to be fair on the three stars, but three stars might be an exaggeration. My friend recommended this book to me because it has to do with wrestling, but I shouldn't listen to him anymore because we have different opinions about everything. I do recommend this book because I am different than other people.
March 22, 2018
Being an old-school fan from the AWA territory days, this cumulative history begins with the truly rich history of this belt and its respective champions but you'll notice the change as I did in the lineage and descriptions...
The larger than life characters and performers of the 50's thru the early 90's are all gone and anyone still remaining is quite in reserve (i.e. - Mark Callaway's Undertaker), wrestling now only three to four times per year.
Just like the original WCW, once Vince/Shane put this belt on "The Miz", at best a true B-card wrestler, this belt died...absolutely no mystique and no draw... and today, I applaud his work ethic and career but Mike is simply not "it".
After every new "era", there has been for the longest time, a small group that stepped up and became the next decent generation of superstars...those days are over because this new "movement" today is worse than ever before and getting even worse. I guess I can't blame the writers too much because there simply isn't much to work with these days.
Again, this book recalls some of the greatest, larger-than-life champions and for that, it's a great read but when you reach the mid-90's, you'll find something better to read...don't pay more than $7 for this book :)
The larger than life characters and performers of the 50's thru the early 90's are all gone and anyone still remaining is quite in reserve (i.e. - Mark Callaway's Undertaker), wrestling now only three to four times per year.
Just like the original WCW, once Vince/Shane put this belt on "The Miz", at best a true B-card wrestler, this belt died...absolutely no mystique and no draw... and today, I applaud his work ethic and career but Mike is simply not "it".
After every new "era", there has been for the longest time, a small group that stepped up and became the next decent generation of superstars...those days are over because this new "movement" today is worse than ever before and getting even worse. I guess I can't blame the writers too much because there simply isn't much to work with these days.
Again, this book recalls some of the greatest, larger-than-life champions and for that, it's a great read but when you reach the mid-90's, you'll find something better to read...don't pay more than $7 for this book :)
January 21, 2022
The WWE Championship is the among the most prestigious championships in all of professional wrestling. Historically, January has been one of the months in which the WWE title has most often changed hands. This can be attributed largely to the fact that the Royal Rumble is held in January and it is the beginning of the buildup to WrestleMania. In fact, 2022 began with the crowning of a new WWE Champion when Brock Lesnar won a fatal five-way match at the Day 1 pay-per-view to capture the championship for the sixth time.
This current week alone (1/18 to 1/24) has seen 7 title changes between 1971 and 2016. This includes Ivan Koloff’s shocking upset of Bruno Sammartino in 1971 (1/18/71), the birth of Hulkamania as Hulk Hogan dethroned The Iron Sheik in 1984 (1/23/84), and Ric Flair’s historic Royal Rumble win to capture the vacant title in 1992 (1/19/92).
This week the Literary Squared Circle blog takes a look the history of the WWE Championship by reviewing the 2011 book The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship by Kevin Sullivan (Gallery Books, 2011).
The WWE Championship is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in wrestling history. Although he refers to the title as simply the “WWE Championship” throughout the book, the author Kevin Sullivan (no, not THAT Kevin Sullivan!) traces the history of the championship from Buddy Rogers reign as the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1963 to Sheamus’ second reign as WWE Champion in 2010.
Though all this information is available on the internet with the click of a mouse, old school wrestling historians such as myself will enjoy having a physical record book to refer to when doing research. There are great photos and some behind-the-scenes stories about the title changes from those who were involved in the matches.
The only downside is that the book is very much a World Wrestling Entertainment publication. There is a noticeable focus on the modern day, and anything that goes back more than 20 years is somewhat glossed over. The book is just over 300 pages long, but the pre-Hogan years (1963 to 1983) are covered in just 37 pages. To contrast, post-Montreal Screwjob years (1997 to 2010) are allotted 147 pages.
In the back of the book, there is a “WWE Championship Timeline” which chronologically lists each champion along with the date and location of their title win. Interestingly, the first entry is April 29, 1963 in Rio de Janeiro, when Buddy Rogers defeated Antonino Rocca. The footnote reads, “Note: Buddy Rogers beat Antonino Rocca in the finals of a tournament to be crowned the first-ever WWE Champion.” This, of course, never happened. Rogers was simply recognized as the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Champion without winning the fictional tournament.
Personally, I would have liked more statistics. Longest reign, shortest reign, most reigns, etc. I did find it interesting that in the last chapter, the author speculated as to who might be a future WWE Champion. In 2011, Sullivan correctly predicted that The Miz, Kofi Kingston, and Drew McIntyre were future champions. The only one he got wrong was Ted DiBiase (Jr.).
Overall, I enjoyed The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. Despite its flaws, it was an interesting retrospective of the history surrounding the title. A more accurate and academic study of the title may have come off as dry and turned off potential readers. As the WWE tends to do, it spiced up the history of the WWE Championship with photos and some tall tales. The focus may have been on entertainment over accuracy, but The WWE Championship is still a fun read.
5 Stars out of 5
This current week alone (1/18 to 1/24) has seen 7 title changes between 1971 and 2016. This includes Ivan Koloff’s shocking upset of Bruno Sammartino in 1971 (1/18/71), the birth of Hulkamania as Hulk Hogan dethroned The Iron Sheik in 1984 (1/23/84), and Ric Flair’s historic Royal Rumble win to capture the vacant title in 1992 (1/19/92).
This week the Literary Squared Circle blog takes a look the history of the WWE Championship by reviewing the 2011 book The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship by Kevin Sullivan (Gallery Books, 2011).
The WWE Championship is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in wrestling history. Although he refers to the title as simply the “WWE Championship” throughout the book, the author Kevin Sullivan (no, not THAT Kevin Sullivan!) traces the history of the championship from Buddy Rogers reign as the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1963 to Sheamus’ second reign as WWE Champion in 2010.
Though all this information is available on the internet with the click of a mouse, old school wrestling historians such as myself will enjoy having a physical record book to refer to when doing research. There are great photos and some behind-the-scenes stories about the title changes from those who were involved in the matches.
The only downside is that the book is very much a World Wrestling Entertainment publication. There is a noticeable focus on the modern day, and anything that goes back more than 20 years is somewhat glossed over. The book is just over 300 pages long, but the pre-Hogan years (1963 to 1983) are covered in just 37 pages. To contrast, post-Montreal Screwjob years (1997 to 2010) are allotted 147 pages.
In the back of the book, there is a “WWE Championship Timeline” which chronologically lists each champion along with the date and location of their title win. Interestingly, the first entry is April 29, 1963 in Rio de Janeiro, when Buddy Rogers defeated Antonino Rocca. The footnote reads, “Note: Buddy Rogers beat Antonino Rocca in the finals of a tournament to be crowned the first-ever WWE Champion.” This, of course, never happened. Rogers was simply recognized as the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Champion without winning the fictional tournament.
Personally, I would have liked more statistics. Longest reign, shortest reign, most reigns, etc. I did find it interesting that in the last chapter, the author speculated as to who might be a future WWE Champion. In 2011, Sullivan correctly predicted that The Miz, Kofi Kingston, and Drew McIntyre were future champions. The only one he got wrong was Ted DiBiase (Jr.).
Overall, I enjoyed The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. Despite its flaws, it was an interesting retrospective of the history surrounding the title. A more accurate and academic study of the title may have come off as dry and turned off potential readers. As the WWE tends to do, it spiced up the history of the WWE Championship with photos and some tall tales. The focus may have been on entertainment over accuracy, but The WWE Championship is still a fun read.
5 Stars out of 5
June 17, 2018
Kayfabe in a book aimed at adults.
"We in the WWF, think that you the audience are, quite frankly, tired of having your "intelligence insulted". - VKM
"We in the WWF, think that you the audience are, quite frankly, tired of having your "intelligence insulted". - VKM
June 12, 2023
This book details the history of the WWE Championship from its 1963 inception up until mid-2010, and is especially helpful towards new or mid-level fans but had a lot of content and information I already knew about. This was written well by author Kevin Sullivan (who also does the incredible WWE Encyclopedias) and detailed the actual history well, chronicling title changes, reigns, storylines, the climate of the industry at the time, etc. I do wish this had more quotes, though. Some are sprinkled throughout but most only last a paragraph or so, and most of the book is a title reign or match explained by the author when I really clamored for more input by the former champions. This is a good (albeit outdated today) chronicling of the most illustrious world championship in wrestling, but you could also get all this information through a WWE documentary in half the time.
May 18, 2025
Growing up with WWF, there were a lot of memories that stuck out to me. One of the first "shock" incidents was Undertaker v. Hogan, which had the follow-up at Tuesday In Texas.
Now, I've read my fair share of books that pull back the curtain. This, most definitely, is NOT one of them. The book sticks hard with avoiding saying anything is predetermined. There are occasional comments that poke fun at fan theories (Hulk's jetski accident, for example). But, other than that, "So-and-so just couldn't manage to keep (different) so-and-so down that night and lost the title."
So, why 4 stars? Because I grew up with it. I suspend disbelief when I watch wrestling. That's also what I did when reading this on a cool Sunday afternoon after picking it up for $5 at a flea market. Well worth the trip down memory lane, although the last recorded champ is Sheamus in 2010.
Now, I've read my fair share of books that pull back the curtain. This, most definitely, is NOT one of them. The book sticks hard with avoiding saying anything is predetermined. There are occasional comments that poke fun at fan theories (Hulk's jetski accident, for example). But, other than that, "So-and-so just couldn't manage to keep (different) so-and-so down that night and lost the title."
So, why 4 stars? Because I grew up with it. I suspend disbelief when I watch wrestling. That's also what I did when reading this on a cool Sunday afternoon after picking it up for $5 at a flea market. Well worth the trip down memory lane, although the last recorded champ is Sheamus in 2010.
February 8, 2020
Best championship book ever!! Best part is the latest WWE Championship winners of every title belt!!
Read
April 30, 2020vvv
March 31, 2011
I think this book is AWESOME. I'm a huge fan of Wrestling and Lamborghinis. Thus I can really connect and learn a lot from this book. My favorite Wrestler is The Undertaker and Bret 'Hitman' Hart, and with this book I can learn more about The Undertaker and The Hitman, and the rich history of the WWE/F.
I really recommend this book to Wrestling fans. It's interesting to learn more about the WWE/F. I'm half way through the book and really finding this book fun to read. I never found a book that I really like, but this book actually makes me not feel forced to read.
This book doesn't dissapoint. I can safely say that I enjoy reading this book.
I really recommend this book to Wrestling fans. It's interesting to learn more about the WWE/F. I'm half way through the book and really finding this book fun to read. I never found a book that I really like, but this book actually makes me not feel forced to read.
This book doesn't dissapoint. I can safely say that I enjoy reading this book.
Read
September 13, 2012This author called Kevin Sullivan wrote this book called wwe championships .thisbook is awesome because it tells os the history of who had the wwe championship and who made it. All the wwe fans should read is book because its very interesting . This isna fiction book &there. Really is no mood to this book because it's just about wrestling . John cena Randy orton had the wwe champion ship at least 5 times already in here whole entire career . All this takes place in a wrestling arena that is build all around the whole united states.
January 21, 2014
Ugh. I've read Wikipedia entries that are more informative than this book.
"The WWE Championship" is virtually worthless. There are some revealing quotes from former champions spread throughout the book to offer some insights on their championship wins, but that is honestly the only good thing about this one. It is a simplistic, superficial, and pedestrian history of the most important championship of the most important wrestling promotion in the world, and that is a shame.
"The WWE Championship" is virtually worthless. There are some revealing quotes from former champions spread throughout the book to offer some insights on their championship wins, but that is honestly the only good thing about this one. It is a simplistic, superficial, and pedestrian history of the most important championship of the most important wrestling promotion in the world, and that is a shame.
April 14, 2012
I feel that as a wrestling fan it's an awesome read. It gives such an indepth account of every title reign and title holder since the very first champion Buddy Rogers. But to be honest if you are not a wrestling fan like I am it's not something you would enjoy.
May 1, 2011
The author got fantastic access to the wrestlers, but what bothers me is the fact that some give quotes in character and some don't. Not worth the $25 I spent on this.
Read
September 2, 2011i like that book and i want read because i think what is interesting
Read
September 8, 2011i thought it was a book just right for me
August 27, 2012
Haha what a subject...but well written nevertheless
September 25, 2012
I am really into wwe so This book was very interesting.
I would recomend this book to any WWE fans out there.
I would recomend this book to any WWE fans out there.
October 23, 2012
Love the wwe
January 9, 2013
AWESOME
August 21, 2014
This is sweat
January 30, 2015
I like this book because i really know about the topic and it really enjoy learning about the history of this company. this book is about the the history of the first champion in wwe
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2015
Garbage. Largely written from within the fictional context with little in the way of facts.
November 17, 2015
I started watching wrestling in 2006 when i was just 5 years old and throughout the wwe experienced,i've looked back at the past and i have learned a lot. This book is very interesting and i love it.
Read
October 27, 2012it is the best book i seen so far because it's on T.v thank you Kevin Sullivan
December 21, 2017
Decent report on the WWE Championship since his inception to 2010, based upon some superficial analisys and argumentations although sometimes interesting; in fact, the majority of them are much of the same WWE corporative assumpted dogmas, another point that keeps the book under the ceiling along the aforementioned first points.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews