The History of the WWE's Raw World Heavyweight Title: 2000 - 2007

The 90's ended with The Big Show as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. As we move into the 2000's there wouldn't be quite as many title changes but the wrestlers at the top would start to pile up their number of title reigns. It started early in 2000 when Triple H won the WWE World Title for the third time.

Triple H went on a pretty hot streak. First Triple H retired Mick Foley by defeating him in a Hell in the Cell match. Then Triple H became the first heel to win at Wrestlemania when he defeated the Rock. The Rock would eventually win the WWE World Heavyweight Title for a fourth time, only to lose it back to Triple H who won it for a fourth time. Then The Rock would win the title yet again for a fifth time, tying him with Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart for the most World Heavyweight Title reigns.

Late in 2000 Kurt Angle surprised everybody by defeating the Rock at No Mercy. Even though Kurt Angle was the champion he seemed to be the underdog in each of his next three PPV wins. The first was at the Survivor Series where he beat The Undertaker. The following month he defeated five other wrestlers in a Hell in the Cell and at the Royal Rumble he defeated Triple H. Kurt Angle's reign would finally end at No Way Out when The Rock won his sixth WWE World Heavyweight Title.

The Rock and Steve Austin once again faced off at Wrestlemania. Steve Austin shocked everybody by turning heel and aligning himself with his long time rival Vince McMahon. The following summer plans changed several times. The Rock was gone shooting a movie so Steve Austin and Triple H were going to team up and dominate the WWE. They first defeated Kane and the Undertaker and then began a feud with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. During a tag match between the two Triple H was injured and was sidelined. The feud then became a three-way feud between Steve Austin, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. When Chris Benoit also went down with an injury the Steve Austin and Chris Jericho feud was dropped and Steve Austin feuded with Kurt Angle instead. Kurt Angle would win the title from Steve Austin but like so many times before Steve Austin would win the title back just one month later.