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GEW World Heavyweight Championship
Image of GEW World Heavyweight Championship
Details
Current champion Troy Gafgen
Date won 26th April 2009
Event Extreme Extravaganza 2009
Date created 2001
Date retired
Other name(s)
Statistics
First champion
Most reigns Triple H (10)
Longest reign James Magnum (300 Days)
Shortest reign The Rock (7 Days)

The GEW World Heavyweight Championship, also referred to as the GEW World Championship, GEW Heavyweight Championship or simply GEW Championship, is Global Extreme Wrestling's top title. It has been active continuously since late 2001, with only minor periods of being vacated.


Due to the GEW records fire in May 2006, much of the information on the title prior to that date is unknown; this page only lists champions from early 2005 onwards as information from prior to that point is too sketchy to be reliable. In addition to the reigns below, Knuckles is known to be a former champion. Currently, and pending further records being discovered, GEW management only recognises reigns by Knuckles, Jeff Hardy and Triple H prior to those on the list below. Eighteen different individuals are currently recognised as former or current World Heavyweight Champions by GEW.


The current champion is Troy Gafgen, who is in his first reign.


History[]

Shawn Michaels' first reign is the earliest on record, although the two men most associated with it both before and after this point were Triple H and Jeff Hardy. The pair were at the centre of the major, promotion-wide feud which occupied the first half of 2005, as Hardy and his allies in Batista and The Rock did battle with Triple H's Hidden Fears stable, including Undertaker, Edge, Christian and Eric Bischoff. Following a brief hiatus in GEW's programming, Triple H and Hardy would eventually set aside their differences as Michaels returned to the main event scene, becoming a common enemy of both men. Michaels, however, would finally be defeated by Christopher Daniels, whose first and only reign is considered the final reign of GEW's old era.


When GEW returned some months later the title was vacant and Triple H set about recovering it, only to be thwarted by Edge and Hollywood Bull. The three men feuded over the championship for some time, with Triple H emerging as the eventual victor. His next challenge came in the form of the young upstart K.C. McGrath, whose year-long rivalry with Triple H drew in many other main event superstars, including Michaels and Hardy, and is widely considered the single best feud in the promotion's history. Initially Triple H took McGrath under his wing, including giving McGrath a title shot after McGrath defeated (and butally beat) Michaels, which saw McGrath defeat Triple H for his first World Championship. A jealous Triple H would soon turn on McGrath and committed a number of atrocities against him including shooting him and running him down with a car. Triple H later defended his actions by alleging that he saw star potential in McGrath, and was trying to toughen him up. It would also emerge that McGrath had been having an affair with Triple H's wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.


Triple H stepped down from full-time competition at around the same time McGrath was injured, leaving the World Heavyweight Championship vacant. In response McMahon-Helmsley, acting General Manager at the time, declared a promotion-wide tournament to crown a new champion, culminating in an elimination fatal fourway at Extreme Extravaganza 2007. The finalists were Jeff Hardy, The Rock, Tony Wright and Klown. Wright and Klown were already bitter rivals and at Extreme Extravaganza, Wright last eliminated Klown to be crowned the new champion, and the first in many years not to be somehow involved with Triple H. Wright's fairly lengthy reign saw him feud with Randy Orton, 5-7-3 and Venom. Venom would eventually unseat Wright, before leaving GEW after a substantial reign of his own.


Newcomer Xavier Michaels was the next to attempt to claim the championship, but was challenged by the returning K.C. McGrath, now known as Kameron Chase. The battle between the two was exacerbated by claims that Xavier's sister Melissa Michaels (and it would later be revealed, his lover) had been raped by Chase. The feud between Chase and the Michaels siblings finally drew to a close when GEW Chaos Undisputed Champion Chase defeated World Heavyweight Champion Xavier in a unification match, only for former Chaos Undisputed Champion Randy Orton - bitter over having been denied the World Heavyweight Championship for years - to successfully exercise his rematch clause immediately after the match between Chase and Michaels.


Chase switched his attention to Orton, a situation complicated by Chase's long-term girlfriend being Orton's sister Becky. The pair feuded for several months until, during a championship ladder match between them, Triple H made a surprise return, quickly followed by Jeff Hardy. The four men soon revealed a common goal: to rid GEW of the hardcore matches which had caused them so much injury over the years. They were opposed by The Dead Precedents, a stable of young hardcore wrestlers led by Baby Dogg and Phreak, and allied with Shawn Michaels, who had declared his intention to finally step of Triple H's shadow. During this period, as well as suspecting his team-mates of coveting his championship, Orton would battle Phreak, ultimately successfully.


The stable war seemed to be over when Chase was named General Manager of Chaos by new owner Xavier Michaels, and revealed his part in it had been a double bluff, firing both Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Chase named newcomer Elijah Burke as #1 contender to Orton's title and in a shocking upset, Burke unseated Orton. Burke was defeated in turn by Adam Cage, who himself quickly lost the World Heavyweight Championship to the returning Triple H. Triple H and Chase's enmity reignited, and the pair went on to feud over the World Heavyweight Championship once more. Chase would eventually defeat Triple H for the title, but soon relinquished it due to successive injures. Chase steered his girlfriend Reese Black towards the championship, but she was defeated by James Magnum when Chase accidentally struck Black with a chair during the title match between Black and Magnum. Magnum has since gone on to have the most successful single reign in GEW history, holding the title for more than double the length of the next longest reign and defeating the likes of Black, Shawn Michaels, X-ecutioner, Scott Savage, Sah'ta Thor and Mark Chapman. At Extreme Extravaganza 2009, he was unseated by Baby Dogg after a three hundred day reign. Dogg successfully defeated Magnum in the rematch, but lose the belt back to him at a later date. Magnum defended the belt against Scott Simmonds which would prove to be a set-up, as Simmonds aligned himself with Magnum, but at the following pay-per-view, Magnum was defeated by his former friend and tag team partner Shane Tallin, whom Magnum had previously cost the GEW International Championship. Magnum later regained the title, entering his third reign, and successfully held it until Extreme Extravaganza 2010 where he lost to Troy Gafgen in a fourway concrete cage match also involving Tallin and Thor.


List of Champions[]

# Wrestler: Reigns: Date: Days held: Location: Event: Notes:
Sortable list of GEW Heavyweight Champions
1 Shawn Michaels 1 Unknown Unknown Unknown GEW Royal Rumble This is the earliest GEW Heavyweight Championship reign still on record. Michaels won the Rumble match to win the title.
2 Triple H 5 19 January 2005 42 Unknown GEW Chaos This was a battle royal between every member of the GEW roster. Triple H last eliminated Jeff Hardy. Triple H's fifth championship win set the record for the most times the title had been held by an individual.
3 The Rock Unknown 2 March 2005 7 Unknown GEW Chaos -
4 Jeff Hardy 5 9 March 2005 Unknown Unknown GEW Chaos -
5 (Vacated) (1) Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Records between the 9th of March and the 10th of September no longer exist. At some point during this time, GEW went on a brief hiatus, and the title was vacated.
6 Jeff Hardy 6 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Records start again from the 10th September, at which point Hardy was already in his sixth and final reign, having been awarded the title as the last person to hold it before the break.
7 (Vacated) (2) 15 September 2005 5 Unknown Unknown Hardy vacated the title due to injury.
8 Triple H 6 20 September 2005 2 Unknown GEW Chaos Defeated Shawn Michaels and Christopher Daniels in a triple threat match to win the vacant championship.
9 Shawn Michaels 2 22 September 2005 24 Unknown GEW Inferno -
10 Christopher Daniels 1 16 October 2005 Unknown Unknown GEW Pushed to the Limit 2005 -
11 (Vacated) (3) Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Vacated when GEW went on hiatus. The exact date of this is unknown, as records between 16 October 2005 and 14 May 2006 no longer exist. However, Daniels is known to have been the final champion prior to this point.
12 Hollywood Bull 1 28 June 2006 25 Unknown GEW Deadly Game 2006 Defeated Triple H to claim the vacant title.
13 Triple H 8 23 July 2006 40 KC Stadium, Hull, England GEW Extreme Extravaganza 2006 This was a triple threat match also involving Edge.
14 Hollywood Bull 2 3 August 2006 10 Nassau Coliseum, New York NY, USA GEW Chaos This was a hell in a cell lumberjack match, featuring nWo as the lumberjacks.
15 Triple H 9 13 August 2006 52 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford CT, USA GEW Payback 2006 This was a triple threat match also involving Edge.
16 K.C. McGrath 1 5 October 2006 32 Unknown GEW Chaos -
17 Shawn Michaels 3 5 November 2006 11 Georgia Dome, Atlanta GA, USA GEW Pushed To The Limit 2006 This was a three strikes match, as chosen by GEW owner Triple H.
18 Triple H 10 16 November 2006 38 Unknown GEW Chaos The championship was contested, and changed hands, in a game of tiddlywinks.
19 K.C. McGrath 2 24 December 2006 46 AlamoDome, San Antonio TX, USA GEW Winter Bash 2006 This was an iron man match also for McGrath's GEW Extreme Chaos Championship. When the match ended in a draw, Triple H ordered it to continue in sudden death overtime. Triple H won the first fall and the Extreme Chaos Championship. McGrath won the second fall and the GEW World Heavyweight Championship.
20 (Vacated) (4) 8 February 2007 59 Unknown GEW Chaos Vacated when McGrath was declared medically unable to compete. A promotion-wide tournament was announced to inaugurate a new champion.
21 Tony Wright 1 8 April 2007 77 KC Stadium, Hull, England GEW Extreme Extravaganza 2007 Defeated fellow GEW Championship tournament winners Klown, Jeff Hardy and The Rock in a no-disqualification fatal fourway match for the vacant title.
22 Venom 1 24 June 2007 57 Unknown GEW Bloodbath 2007 This was a triple threat first blood elimination match also featuring Randy Orton.
23 (Vacated) (5) 20 August 2007 26 N/A N/A Vacated when Venom was released from GEW.
24 Xavier Michaels 1 16 September 2007 45 Scottrade Center, St. Louis MO, USA GEW Collision Course 2007 Defeated Kameron Chase in an I Quit match to win the vacant championship.
25 Kameron Chase 3 30 October 2007 <1 Unknown GEW Pushed to the Limit 2007 This was a unification match with Chase's GEW Chaos Undisputed Championship.
26 Randy Orton 1 30 October 2007 101 Unknown GEW Pushed to the Limit 2007 Used his rematch clause for the Undisputed Championship to challenge Chase immediately after Chase's match with Michaels.
27 Elijah Burke 1 8 February 2008 15 WVU Coliseum, Morgantown WV, USA GEW Chaos -
28 Adam Cage 1 23 February 2008 13 Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh PA, USA GEW MK Ultra 2008 -
29 Triple H 11 7 March 2008 79 Oracle Arena, Oakland CA, USA GEW Chaos -
30 Kameron Chase 4 25 May 2008 22 Unknown GEW Deadly Game 2008 This was a triple threat match also involving Randy Orton.
31 (Vacated) (6) 15 June 2008 15 N/A N/A Vacated when Chase declared his temporary retirement from active competition.
32 James Magnum 1 29 June 2008 300 Philips Arena, Atlanta GA, USA GEW Payback 2008 Defeated Reese Black to win the vacant championship.
33 Baby Dogg 1 26 April 2009 91 Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh PA, USA GEW Extreme Extravaganza 2009 First female champion.
34 Magnum 2 26 July 2009 77 Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan GEW Payback 2009 This was a triple threat match also involving Kameron Chase.
35 Shane Tallin 1 11 October 2009 42 Qwest Center, Omaha NE, USA GEW Collision Course 2009 -
36 Magnum 3 - 154 - - -
37 Troy Gafgen 1 - 85+, as of 18/07/2010 - GEW Extreme Extravaganza 2010 -


Records[]

  • Most Reigns - Triple H - 11
  • Longest Total Combined Reigns (Known Total) - James Magnum - 531 days
  • Heaviest Champion - Adam Cage - 295 lbs / 134 kg
  • Lightest Champion - Baby Dogg - 145 lbs / 66 kg

List of Champions by Combined Reign Length[]

Note that this table only covers those reigns for which the total number of days is known.


# Wrestler: Reigns: Days held:
Sortable list of GEW World Heavyweight Champions by Combined Reign Length
1 James Magnum 3 531
2 Triple H 11 (6 count towards this list) 247
3 Kameron Chase 4 106
4 Randy Orton 1 101
5 Baby Dogg 1 91
6 Tony Wright 1 77
7 Troy Gafgen 1 73+, as of 06/07/2010
8 Venom 1 57
9 Xavier Michaels 1 45
10 Shane Tallin 1 42
11= Hollywood Bull 2 35
11= Shawn Michaels 3 (2 count towards this list) 35
13 Elijah Burke 1 15
14 Adam Cage 1 13
15 The Rock Unknown (1 counts towards this list) 7
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