NWA World Heavyweight Championship

NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The current 10-pounds-of-gold title design.
Data
Title holder	Nick Aldis
since	October 21, 2018
owner	NWA
Introduced	July 14, 1948

The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is the highest individual title awarded to wrestlers by the National Wrestling Alliance , and the most historic title in wrestling . It is the successor to the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , giving the belt a legacy that goes back over 100 years. As usual in wrestling, the award of this title follows a previously worked out storyline .

history

Beginnings

The history of the “NWA World Wrestling Heavyweight Championship” can be traced back to the first “World Heavyweight Championship” and its first title holders Georg Hackenschmidt (1905) and Frank Gotch (1908). At the end of the 1920s, the National Wrestling Association introduced the first "NWA World Title", which was derived from the 1928 AWA title . From this first NWA title, the current world championship emerged.

In the early days of pro-wrestling, there were many independent territories spread across the United States . In July 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was founded as an umbrella organization. Promoters who joined the NWA agreed not to compete with each other and to recognize the NWA Champion as the parent and sole World Champion. Own world championship titles have been discontinued or converted into a regional title. The NWA World Champion traveled regularly to each area and defended his title against the local top challenger or regional champion. The champion's job was to make the challengers look good and still keep the title. The NWA Board of Directors consisted mainly of the owners of the regional leagues and it was agreed when and if a title should change. The former champion usually won his title back days or weeks later. In the 1950s, Lou Thesz was the main champion.

In the early 1960s there was increasing dissatisfaction with the decisions about the title holder and the frequency of title fights in the various territories. In 1960, the promoter and wrestler Verne Gagne , who worked in Minneapolis , withdrew from the NWA and founded the American Wrestling Association (AWA). Gagne's withdrawal was the model for a similar approach by promoters Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt, who are active in the northeastern United States . After their wrestler "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers had given the title back to Lou Thesz, McMahon and Mondt left the NWA and founded the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). Rogers was recognized as WWWF World Heavyweight Champion , which was justified by the fact that he had won a (actually fictional) tournament in Rio de Janeiro .

1980s

The three-time title holder Dusty Rhodes .

In the early 1980s, the NWA grew fierce competition when the WWF (since 1983 under the direction of Vincent K. McMahon ) expanded into a nationwide promotion that ignored the NWA's non-competition policy. Nevertheless, the NWA continued to enjoy great popularity, which was mainly due to the reign of Ric Flair as NWA World Champion, who continued the tradition of defending titles in all territories.

In the mid-1980s, Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling , at that time the largest promotion within the NWA, tried to expand nationwide, but could not hold its own financially against McMahon's WWF. A bankruptcy could only be avoided in 1988 by selling the promotion to the media mogul Ted Turner. Turner bought Mid-Atlantic because it had good ratings on its WTBS network . Turner began to shape the league according to his ideas. Crockett and Turner had agreed that the new league should now host the NWA World Championship Wrestling (WCW) . Turner, however, slowly pushed the name of the umbrella organization into the background from 1991 and now organized wrestling under the banner of World Championship Wrestling . The highest title was now called the WCW World Heavyweight Championship .

1990s

After a dispute with the Vice President of the WCW regarding his outstanding salaries, the then WCW and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair left the doctorate in 1991. The title belt (the Big Gold Belt ), which dates back to the NWA era, was in the possession of the respective champion, who had to deposit a deposit of 25,000 US dollars. As the WCW did not repay the deposit to Flair, the belt remained in his possession. Flair debuted soon after in the WWF; referring to the title belt he brought with him, he described himself as a “true champion”. Due to a lawsuit from WCW, the belt had to be made unrecognizable during television recordings. After WCW paid a total of 38,000 US dollars in Flair, the “Big Gold Belt” was returned to WCW.

The WCW had meanwhile equipped its own World Heavyweight Championship with a new belt. In 1992 a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion was determined through a cooperation between NWA, WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling , who carried the returned, old title belt. The title was declared vacant by the NWA on September 19, 1993 after the WCW left the NWA. The title belt remained the property of WCW and the WCW did not recognize the withdrawal. She renamed the title WCW International World Heavyweight Championship and continued to perform Flair as a champion. The title was, next to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, the second world championship title of the WCW. In 1994 the two titles were united through a title unification fight. However, the reigns from September 19, 1993 to June 23, 1994 are not recognized by the NWA and WWE .

The NWA, which had meanwhile lost all member promotions from their wedding, held a tournament in 1994 to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion after the union. Shane Douglas won the title but turned it down as the Eastern Championship Wrestling promotion broke away from the NWA and established its own world title, the ECW World Championship . After another tournament, first Chris Candido and then Dan Severn held the title, the latter rarely defending it in his four-year reign. The formerly prestigious title disappeared into insignificance and was no longer recognized as a world title by media such as Pro Wrestling Illustrated .

2000s

In 2002 Jeff and Jerry Jarrett founded the NWA-TNA ( Total Nonstop Action ) and negotiated with the NWA that they could use the NWA World Heavyweight and NWA World Tag Team Championship . Since the reigning champion Dan Severn could not take part in the first Pay Per View of the new promotion, the title was stripped from him and he was fought again in a gauntlet match . The first title holder in the NWA-TNA was Ken Shamrock .

The WWE introduced the World Heavyweight Championship with the Big Gold Belt design in 2002 . This belt was also previously used for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . According to the WWE Board of Directors , this belt, including the accompanying cover story, was a championship independent of the NWA. Although the title is a championship independent of the NWA, its legacy can be traced back to the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship .

After the NWA ended its partnership with TNA in May 2007, the title was declared vacant until a title tournament in summer 2007. Adam Pearce won this tournament. He defeated Brent Albright in the "Reclaiming the Glory" tournament final, which was played in Bayamón , Puerto Rico . Pearce replaced Bryan Danielson , who was originally planned as an opponent of Albright. In 2008 Blue Demon jr. defeat in the NWA Mexico Pearce, which he runs, and win the title. After about 15 months he had to give it back to Pearce at a title match.

Records

record	Record holder	unit
Most title wins	Ric flair	14 times
Longest reign	Lou Thesz	2300 days
Shortest reign	Shane Douglas	<1 day

List of title holders

Current title holder

#	Title holder	No.	Days	date	place	event	annotation
1	Orville Brown	1	692	January 5, 1948	Des Moines , IA	Houseshow	Defeated Sonny Myers . In July 1948 the current version of the NWA was established and Brown is recognized as the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Brown was the reigning Midwest Wrestling Association champion .
2	Lou Thesz	1	2300	November 27, 1949	N / A	N / A	Awarded after Brown's wrestling career was ended in a car accident on November 1, 1949. The title was associated with the World Heavyweight Championship of the National Wrestling Association . Thesz became the Undisputed Champion after winning the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium World Heavyweight Title, the only major world title of the time besides the NWA title. On March 22, 1955, Leo Nomellini defeated Thesz by counting in the second round and by disqualification in the third round. The California Athletic Commission recognizes the title change by disqualification, but both wrestlers see themselves as the title holder.
3	Billy Watson	1	239	March 15, 1956	Toronto , Canada	Houseshow
4th	Lou Thesz	2	217	March 15, 1956	St. Louis , MO	Houseshow	On June 14, 1957, Édouard Carpentier won the title by disqualification because Thesz could not finish the match due to a back injury. For 71 days, the NWA sees the title as a dispute between Thesz and Carpentier.
5	Dick Hutton	1	421	March 15, 1956	Toronto , Canada	Houseshow
6th	Pat O'Connor	1	903	March 15, 1956	St. Louis , MO	Houseshow	The AWA separated from the NWA under Verne Gagne and declared O'Connor their first World Champion in May 1960.
7th	Buddy Rogers	1	414	June 30, 1961	Chicago , IL	Houseshow	On August 2, 1962, Bruno defeated Sammartino Rogers in Toronto, but he refused to accept the title because Rogers entered with an injury.
8th	Lou Thesz	3	1079	January 24, 1963	Toronto , Canada	Houseshow	Promoters in the northeastern United States do not recognize Thesz's victory and start a new wrestling promotion, the WWE . Shortly thereafter, Rogers was named the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion .
9	Gene Kiniski	1	1131	7th January 1966	St. Louis , MO	Houseshow
10	Dory Funk	1	1502	February 11, 1969	Tampa , FL	Houseshow
11	Harley Race	1	118	March 24, 1973	Kansas City , MO	Houseshow
12	Jack Brisco	1	500	20th July 1973	Houston , TX	Houseshow
13	Giant Baba	1	7th	2nd December 1974	Kagoshima , Japan	Houseshow
14th	Jack Brisco	2	366	December 9, 1974	Toyohashi , Japan	Houseshow
15th	Terry Funk	1	424	December 10, 1975	Miami , FL	Houseshow
16	Harley Race	2	926	February 6, 1977	Toronto , Canada	Houseshow
17th	Dusty Rhodes	1	5	August 21, 1979	Tampa , FL	Houseshow
18th	Harley Race	3	66	August 26, 1979	Orlando , FL	Houseshow
19th	Giant Baba	2	7th	October 31, 1979	Nagoya , Japan	Houseshow
20th	Harley Race	4th	302	November 7, 1979	Amagasaki , Japan	Houseshow
21st	Giant Baba	3	5	4th September 1980	Saga , Japan	Houseshow
22nd	Harley Race	5	230	September 9, 1980	Ōtsu , Japan	Houseshow
23	Tommy Rich	1	4th	April 27, 1981	Augusta , GA	Houseshow
24	Harley Race	6th	51	May 1, 1981	Gainesville , GA	Houseshow
25th	Dusty Rhodes	2	88	June 21, 1981	Atlanta , GA	Houseshow
26th	Ric flair	1	476	17th September 1981	Kansas City , MO	Houseshow	On September 9, 1982, the masked Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair as "Midnight Rider" in a title match because he was suspended in Florida. But he gave the title back after the then NWA President Bob Geigel asked him to unmask or return the title. In September 1982, Jack defeated Veneno Flair in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After he refused to defend the title outside of his home country, the title was returned to Flair on September 7, 1982. Carlos Colón won the title on January 6, 1983. The title change is not recognized by the NWA. Victor Jovica defeated Flair on February 8, 1983 in Couva , Trinidad and Tobago , but the decision was reversed 3 days later because Jovica's feet were on the ropes during the pin.
27	Harley Race	7th	167	June 10, 1983	St. Louis , MO	Houseshow
28	Ric flair	2	118	November 24, 1983	Greensboro , NC	Starrcade (1983)	This was a steel cage match. Former champion Gene Kiniski was the special guest referee.
29	Kerry by Erich	1	18th	May 6, 1984	Irving , TX	Parade of Champions 1
30th	Ric flair	3	793	May 24, 1984	Yokosuka , Japan	Houseshow
31	Dusty Rhodes	3	14th	July 26, 1986	Greensboro , NC	The Great American Bash (1986)	In the Starrcade Main Event (1985), Flair was pinned by Rhodes, but the decision was later reversed (the original "Dusty Finish") and placed in a DQ because Ole and Arn Anderson intervened in the match. That's why the title was returned to Flair.
32	Ric flair	4th	412	August 9, 1986	St. Louis , MO	Houseshow
33	Ron Garvin	1	62	August 9, 1986	Detroit , MI	Houseshow
34	Ric flair	5	452	November 26, 1987	Chicago , IL	Starrcade (1987)	This was a steel cage match. On November 21, 1988, the WCW joined the NWA.
35	Ricky Steamboat	1	76	February 20, 1989	Chicago , IL	Chi-Town Rumble
36	Ric flair	6th	426	May 7, 1989	Nashville , TN	WrestleWar (1989)
37	Sting	1	188	July 7, 1990	Baltimore , MD	The Great American Bash (1990)
38	Ric flair	7th	69	January 11, 1991	East Rutherford , NJ	Houseshow	After winning this title, WCW Flair officially declared the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion . Flair's NWA and WCW reigns are viewed as one by the WWE .
39	Tatsumi Fujinami	1	59	March 21, 1991	Tokyo , Japan	WCW / New Japan Supershow I.	The title change was originally ignored in the US, but the WWE recognizes it.
40	Ric flair	8th	112	May 19, 1991	St. Petersburg , FL	SuperBrawl I	The title change was originally ignored in the US but was retrospectively recognized in 1993. The WWE does not recognize this.
-	Title vacant	-	-	September 8, 1991	N / A	N / A	Flair had to give up the title because of his contract with the WWF .
41	Masahiro Chono	1	145	August 12, 1992	Tokyo , Japan	Houseshow	Defeated Rick Rude in a tournament final.
42	The Great Muta	1	48	4th January 1993	Tokyo , Japan	WCW / New Japan Supershow III	Muta's IWGP Heavyweight Championship was also at stake and he was defending the title.
43	Barry Windham	1	147	February 21, 1993	Asheville , NC	SuperBrawl III
44	Ric flair	9	57	July 18, 1993	Biloxi , MS	Beach Blast (1993)
-	Title vacant	-	-	September 19, 1993	N / A	N / A	Title was declared vacant after WCW left NWA. The WCW continued to lead Flair as WCW International World Heavyweight Champion. WCW International World Heavyweight Regencies from September 19, 1993 to June 23, 1994 are not recognized by the NWA and WWE .
45	Shane Douglas	1	0	August 27, 1994	Philadelphia , PA	NWA / ECW supershow	Defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in a tournament final.
-	Title vacant	-	-	August 27, 1994	N / A	N / A	Immediately after winning the title, Douglas dropped the title because he refused to be the organizers' champion. Douglas then declared the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, which he already owned, to a world title. Eastern Championship Wrestling then separated from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling .
46	Chris Candido	1	97	November 19, 1994	Cherry Hill , NJ	NWA / SMW Championship Wrestling America	Defeated Tracy Smothers in a tournament final.
47	Dan Severn	1	1479	February 24, 1995	Cherry Hill , NJ	Houseshow
48	Naoya Ogawa	1	195	March 14, 1999	Yokohama , Japan	Houseshow
49	Gary Steele	1	7th	September 25, 1999	Charlotte , NC	NWA 51st Anniversary Show	Ogawa pinned in a three way match in which Brian Anthony was also involved.
50	Naoya Ogawa	2	274	October 2, 1999	Thomaston , CT	Houseshow
-	Title vacant	-	-	July 2, 2000	N / A	N / A	Ogawa dropped the title.
51	Mike Rapada	1	56	September 19, 2000	Tampa , FL	Houseshow	Beat Jerry Flynn in a tournament final.
52	Sabu	1	38	November 14, 2000	Tampa , FL	Houseshow
53	Mike Rapada	2	123	December 22, 2000	Nashville , TN	Houseshow
54	Steve Corino	1	172	April 24, 2001	Tampa , FL	Houseshow
-	Retain title	-	-	October 13, 2001	N / A	N / A	The title was suspended after a match against Shinya Hashimoto in St. Petersburg, FL when Corino was unable to continue due to an injury.
55	Shinya Hashimoto	1	84	December 15, 2001	McKeesport , PA	Houseshow	Defeated Corino and Gary Steele in a round-robin triangle match. Hashimoto won and was then attacked by a masked Dan Severn.
56	Dan Severn	2	80	March 9, 2002	Tokyo , Japan	Houseshow	The title match ended in controversy as the referee made a quick 3 count.
57	Ken Shamrock	1	49	June 19, 2002	Tokyo , Japan	TNA Weekly PPV # 1	Defeated Malice in the final of "Gauntlet for the Gold".
58	Ron Killings	1	105	August 7, 2002	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 8	Defeated Malice in the final of "Gauntlet for the Gold".
59	Jeff Jarrett	1	203	November 20, 2002	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 22	United in the WWA World Heavyweight Championship by beating Sting on May 25, 2003 in Auckland , New Zealand
60	AJ styles	1	133	June 11, 2003	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 49	This was a three-way match in which Raven was also involved.
61	Jeff Jarrett	2	182	October 22, 2003	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 67
62	AJ styles	2	28	April 21, 2004	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 91	This was a steel cage match.
63	Ron Killings	2	14th	May 19, 2004	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 95	This was a four way match in which Raven and Chris Harris were also involved.
64	Jeff Jarrett	3	347	June 2, 2004	Nashville , TN	TNA Weekly PPV # 97	This was a King of the Mountain match in which AJ Styles and Chris Harris were also involved. Ray González won the title on April 3, 2005. This title change is not recognized by either the NWA or TNA Wrestling.
65	AJ styles	3	35	May 15, 2005	Orlando , FL	TNA Hard Justice	Defeated Jeff Jarrett in a title match.
66	Raven	1	88	June 19, 2005	Orlando , FL	TNA Slammiversary	This was a King of the Mountain match in which Monty Brown and Sean Waltman were also involved.
67	Jeff Jarrett	4th	38	September 15, 2005	Oldcastle , Canada	BCW International Incident
68	Rhino	1	2	October 23, 2005	Orlando , FL	TNA Bound for Glory
69	Jeff Jarrett	5	110	October 25, 2005	Orlando , FL	TNA Impact
70	Christian Cage	1	126	February 12, 2006	Orlando , FL	TNA Against All Odds
71	Jeff Jarrett	6th	126	June 18, 2006	Orlando , FL	TNA Slammiversary
72	Sting	2	28	October 22, 2006	Plymouth , MI	TNA Bound for Glory
73	Abyss	1	56	November 19, 2006	Orlando , FL	TNA Genesis
74	Christian Cage	2	119	January 14, 2007	Orlando , FL	TNA Final Resolution
-	Title vacant	-	-	May 13, 2007	N / A	N / A	Cage was stripped of the title after the NWa and TNA Wrestling dissolved their partnership. The NWA regains control of the title.
75	Adam Pearce	1	336	September 1, 2007	Bayamón , Puerto Rico	Houseshow
76	Brent Albright	1	49	August 2, 2008	New York City , NY	RAW Death Before Dishonor VI
77	Adam Pearce	2	35	September 20, 2008	Philadelphia , PA	ROH Glory By Honor VII
78	Blue Demon, Jr.	1	505	October 25, 2008	Mexico City , Mexico	Houseshow
79	Adam Pearce	3	357	March 14, 2010	Charlotte , NC	Houseshow	This was a three-way elimination match in which Phill Shatter was also involved.
80	Colt Cabana	1	48	March 6, 2011	Hollywood , CA	NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
81	The Sheik	1	79	April 23, 2011	Jacksonville , FL	NWA Pro Wrestling Fusion "Subtle Hustle"
-	Title vacant	-	-	July 11, 2011	N / A	N / A	Sheik was stripped of the title after denying a title match against Adam Pearce on July 31, 2011.
82	Adam Pearce	4th	252	July 31, 2011	Columbus , OH	NWA at the Ohio State Fair	Defeated Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave and Shaun Tempers in a Four Way Match for the vacant title.
83	Colt Cabana	2	104	April 8, 2012	Glendale , CA	NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
84	Adam Pearce	05	0098	July 21, 2012	Kansas City , KS	MPW TV taping	This was a 2-out-of-3-falls match. Won the fourth match of a best-of-7 series against Cabana and thus the title.
-	Title vacant	-	-	October 27, 2012	Melbourne , Australia	NWA Warzone Wrestling Sept.	The title was declared vacant after the new leadership of the NWA was not satisfied with the brutality of the feud between Cabana and Pearce and the associated portrayal of the title, whereupon both of them after their last match by removing the title as a result of the NWA's decision at the game, left the belt in the ring.
85	Kahagas	01	0134	November 2, 2012	Clayton , New Jersey	NWA DAWG Wrath Of The Champions	Won the vacant title in a Nine Way Elimination Match
86	Rob Conway	01	0294	March 16, 2013	San Antonio , TX	NWA BOW A Monster's Ball
87	Satoshi Kojima	01	0149	4th January 2014	Tokyo , Japan	NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8
88	Rob Conway	02	0257	2nd June 2014	Las Vegas , Nevada	Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion Show
89	Hiroyoshi Tenzan	01	0196	February 14, 2015	Miyagi , Japan	NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai
90	Jax Dane	01	0419	29th August 2015	San Antonio , TX	NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling World War Gold
91	Tim Storm	01	0414	October 21, 2016	Sherman , TX	Houseshow
92	Nick Aldis	01	0266	December 9, 2017	Sewell , NJ	CZW Cage of Death 19
93	Cody	01	0055	1st September 2018	Hoffman Estates , IL	All in
94	Nick Aldis	02	00676+	October 21, 2018	Nashville , TN	NWA 70th Anniversary Show	This was a 2 out 3 falls match, which Aldis won 2-1.

statistics

Jeff Jarrett held the title six times for a total of 1005 days.

Christian Cage was the last title holder in TNA and held the title twice for a total of 245 days.

Current title holder

space	Surname	number	Days in total
01	Lou Thesz	03	3749
02	Ric flair	10	3114
03	Harley Race	08th	1801
04th	Dory Funk Jr.	01	1563
05	Dan Severn	02	1559
06th	Gene Kiniski	01	1131
07th	Adam Pearce	05	1078
08th	Jeff Jarrett	06th	1005
09	Pat O'Connor	01	0903
10	Jack Brisco	02	0866
11	Magnus	02	00942+
12	Buddy Rogers	01	0573
13	Rob Conway	02	0551
14th	Blue demon jr	01	0505
15th	Orville Brown	01	0501
16	Naoya Ogawa	02	0469
17th	Terry Funk	01	0424
18th	Dick Hutton	01	0421
19th	Jax Dane	01	0419
20th	Tim Storm	01	0414
21st	Christian Cage	02	0245
22nd	Billy Watson	01	0239
23	Sting	02	0216
24	AJ styles	03	0196
	Hiroyoshi Tenzan	01	0196
26th	Mike Rapada	02	0176
27	Steve Corino	01	0175
28	Colt Cabana	02	0152
29	Satoshi Kojima	01	0149
30th	Barry Windham	01	0147
31	Masahiro Chono	01	0145
32	Kahagas	01	0134
33	Ron Killings	02	0119
34	Dusty Rhodes	03	0107
35	Chris Candido	01	0097
36	Raven	01	0088
37	Shinya Hashimoto	01	0084
38	The Sheik	01	0079
39	Ricky Steamboat	01	0076
40	Ron Garvin	01	0062
41	Tatsumi Fujinami	01	0059
42	Abyss	01	0056
43	Cody	01	0050
44	Brent Albright	01	0049
	Ken Shamrock	01	0049
46	The Great Muta	01	0048
47	Sabu	01	0038
48	Giant Baba	03	0019th
49	Kerry by Erich	01	0018th
50	Gary Steele	01	0007th
51	Tommy Rich	01	0004th
52	Rhino	01	0002
53	Ray González	01	00<1
	Shane Douglas	01	00<1

Web links

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