ESPN to introduce new WWE championship during SummerSlam weekend

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It’s often said that wrestling promotions have too many championships. WWE isn’t usually one of them, or at least isn’t at the top of the list of offenders. But they have one I already can’t wait to see follow the NXT Heritage Cup belt into the archives. Or in this case, the trashcan. Here’s a press release from Disney’s sports media brand: ESPN will introduce a custom ESPN championship title as part of its new “Moment of the Night” recognition, celebrating the most impactful performance, storyline or match moment from each WWE Premium Live Event. The title will also be incorporated into fan-facing content, creator integrations and on-site activations throughout SummerSlam weekend. Denise Salcedo has pics: After each night of SummerSlam this weekend, ESPN will be unveiling an "ESPN Moment of the Night" where the WWE Superstar involved will be presented with this custom ESPN WWE Championship belt!@espn @WWE pic.twitter.com/5puzTnbuZC — Denise 'Hollywood' Salcedo (@_denisesalcedo) July 30, 2026 No mention yet of when the ESPN belt will be awarded, but based on the “SportsCenter” sideplate, we’re guessing it’ll be on the edition of that show that streams after PLEs on ESPN Unlimited. The issues with this seem pretty obvious to me, so I’ll leave it to y’all other than to say… bring on the dumpster of history. We only have to wait until someone outbids ESPN for domestic media rights to WWE premium live events, which could happen as soon as 2030.