List of Former Championships in WWE - History - 2000-present

2000-present

In March 2001, the WWF acquired all assets of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including its championships. Of these titles, the WWF operated the WCW World Heavyweight, World Tag Team, and Cruiserweight championships. In late 2001, WWF discontinued the WCW World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships while the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was retired in favor of the Cruiserweight, which would also be retired in 2008. In 2002 WWF was renamed to WWE and during this year, WWE discontinued the WWE Hardcore and European Championships after they were unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

WWE also acquired all assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2003, and implemented the ECW brand in 2006, along with the reactivated the ECW World Heavyweight Championship; however, when the brand closed in 2010, the title was retired after Ezekiel Jackson became the last champion on the final episode of the ECW on Syfy series. The World Tag Team Championship, established in 1971 as WWE's original tag team title, and WWE Tag Team Championship, introduced in 2002, were unified on April 9, 2009, maintaining separate title histories as the "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship". However, on August 16, 2010, the older title was retired in favor of keeping the newer title as the sole tag team championship contended for in WWE. The champions, The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd) were awarded a new set of belts that represented the 2002 championship, and were thus recognized as the final holders of the original World Tag Team Championship.

The WWE Women's Championship, established in 1956 as WWE's original women's title, and the WWE Divas Championship, introduced in 2008, were unified on September 19, 2010, maintaining the title history of the Divas Championship. The older title was retired in favor of keeping the newer title as the sole championship contended for in WWE by the Divas. The self-professed co-Women's Champion Michelle McCool defeated Divas Champion Melina at Night of Champions (2010) to become the unified champion, thus making Layla the final holder of the Women's Championship.

Read more about this topic:  List Of Former Championships In WWE, History