<P> When WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion John Cena at the TLC pay - per - view on December 15, 2013, the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship, resulting in the retiring of the former and the renaming of the latter to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship . On June 27, 2016, the name was shortened back to the WWE Championship before assuming the WWE World Championship name on July 26, when the brand extension returned . It became designated to the SmackDown brand and WWE again established an alternate world title known as the WWE Universal Championship for the Raw brand . In December 2016, WWE again shortened the title's name back to WWE Championship . </P> <P> 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 1963 . 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 AJ Styles, who is in his second reign . He won the championship by defeating Jinder Mahal on SmackDown in Manchester, England on November 7, 2017 . </P> <P> Overall, there have been 50 different official champions, with John Cena having the most reigns at thirteen . Seven men in history have held the championship for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, John Cena and CM Punk . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Name </Th> <Th> Years </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWWF World Heavyweight Championship </Td> <Td> April 25, 1963--February 8, 1971 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWWF Heavyweight Championship </Td> <Td> February 8, 1971--March 1, 1979 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWF Heavyweight Championship </Td> <Td> March 1, 1979--December 26, 1983 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWF World Heavyweight Championship </Td> <Td> December 26, 1983--June 29, 1998 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWF Championship </Td> <Td> June 29, 1998--December 9, 2001 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Undisputed WWF Championship </Td> <Td> December 9, 2001--May 6, 2002 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Undisputed WWE Championship </Td> <Td> May 6, 2002--May 19, 2002 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE Undisputed Championship </Td> <Td> May 19, 2002--September 2, 2002 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE Championship </Td> <Td> September 2, 2002--December 15, 2013 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE World Heavyweight Championship </Td> <Td> December 15, 2013--June 27, 2016 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE Championship </Td> <Td> June 27, 2016--July 25, 2016 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE World Championship </Td> <Td> July 26, 2016--December 9, 2016 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> WWE Championship </Td> <Td> December 10, 2016--present </Td> </Tr> </Table>

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