The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was established under ECW in 1994 but was originally introduced in 1992 by the promotion's precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestling, a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka in 1992; however, WWE considers the inaugural world heavyweight champion to be Shane Douglas, with his reign beginning on August 27, 1994, when Eastern Championship Wrestling split from the NWA to become Extreme Championship Wrestling.