Winning a championship in WWE is one of the ultimate goals of every pro wrestler in the industry, and many managed to live that dream by holding high-profile titles in the company over the years.
WWE has had multiple championships under different categories over the years, and while the important titles like the WWE Championship and the Intercontinental Championship continue to have a lengthy existence since it's inception, some titles went obsolete as the years went by and got erased from the fans' memories.
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With that said, let's take a look at seven WWE championships the fans completely forgotten about over the years.
7 The Intercontinental Tag Team Championship
During the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, WWE had working relationships with various Japanese promotions, and UWF-Japan was one of them. As a result of their professional relationship, WWE and UWF-Japan introduced the Intercontinental Tag Team Championship in 1991, which was supposed to be defended in both promotions.
Perro Aguayo and Gran Hamada were awarded the titles and recognized as the inaugural champions, but the titles got abandoned without any notice after WWE severed its ties with UWF-Japan in July 1991, and no-mention was made of the title ever since.
6 The International Tag Team Championship
The International Tag Team Championship came into existence in 1969 as part of the then World Wide Wrestling Federation. The title remained active for three years since its inception, and Mitsu Arakawa and Toru Tanaka were the inaugural champions.
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Bruno Sammartino was one of the big names to hold the title at the time, and it got deactivated for the first time in 1972. It got reactivated for a brief time in 1985 as a result of WWE's working partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling, but it got deactivated once again in October 1985 after the two companies ended their alliance.
5 The North American Heavyweight Championship
While fans are aware of the current NXT North American Championship, which made its debut in 2018, most would not be aware of its original version, which the company introduced back in February 1979, which was a month before the WWWF became the WWF.
The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase became the inaugural champion after he got awarded the title. Pat Patterson and Seiji Sakaguchi were the next two champions, and the latter held it for 532 days before the company abandoned it without any formal announcement.
4 The International Heavyweight Championship
The International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title introduced in 1959, recognized by WWE, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the Universal Wrestling Federation.
Antonino Rocca defeated Buddy Rogers to become the inaugural champion in July 1959, and wrestlers like Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Choshu held the title throughout its existence.
Tatsumi Fujinami was the last wrestler to hold the title as he relinquished it after wrestling Super Strong Machine to a double disqualification in July 1985. The title remained vacant until October 1985 before getting deactivated for good after WWE ended its working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
3 The Light Heavyweight Championship
The Light Heavyweight Championship was a title that was contended among wrestlers under 215 pounds. It made its debut in 1981 as a result of a working relationship between WWE and Mexican promotion Universal Wrestling Association.
While the title was contended mostly in the UWA throughout its early days, it traveled to New Japan Pro Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Japan after the UWA ceased its operations in 1995.
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However, NJPW had to return the title to WWE in 1997, as the company still owned the trademark, and WWE started promoting the title in the United States. Taka Michinoku was the first champion under the WWE banner, and superstars like Christian, Jeff Hardy, Dean Malenko, and X-Pac held the title before it got deactivated in March 2002.
2 The World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship
The World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was a title introduced by Vincent J. McMahon in December 1978, who awarded it to Japanese legend Antonio Inoki following his visit to the United States.
The title was defended in matches which were billed as shoot fights, and Inoki held it twice during its existence for a combined 4000 days. Shota Chochishvili the only wrestler other than Inoki to hold the title, and it became exclusive to NJPW after WWE severed ties with the company in 1985.
The title remained active until December 1989, before NJPW abandoned it, with Inoki being the last holder.
1 The Canadian Championship
International Wrestling (Lutte Internationale) promotion was a Montreal-based promotion which was active between 1980 and 1987, and had wrestlers like Andre the Giant, Rick Martel, and Dino Bravo as shareholders.
During its final years, Vince McMahon performed a talent raid and lured the company's top stars like King Tonga, The Rougeau brothers, and Dino Bravo. After he joined the WWE roster in 1985, the company billed the latter as the inaugural WWE Canadian Champion in some Canadian cities.
While there are no records of him defending the title against anyone, Bravo held on to it for approximately 157 days before WWE abandoned the title in January 1986 after Bravo left the company.
