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The USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship formed in 1988, which consisted of the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship from World Class Championship Wrestling and the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from the American Wrestling Association. The title was unified on December 13, 1988, when AWA World Champion Jerry Lawler defeated WCWA World Champion Kerry Von Erich in a unification match.
The NWA United States Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship contested for previously in the United States-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions, with the title now in current use by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title is only contestable by male tag teams and in tag team matches. In 1986, NWA President and JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr. introduced the championship to replace and consolidate the old NWA Mid-Atlantic and Georgia National titles, under the name "NWA United States Tag Team Championship", by announcing a tournament for the newly created title, which was won by Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff on September 28, 1986.
The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, are now owned by WWE. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute worked finishes rather than contend in direct competition.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in the American Wrestling Association from 1960 until the promotion folded in 1991.
The NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship was a singles championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's St. Louis Wrestling Club and Central States Wrestling promotions in the 1970s and 1980s. It was considered a "stepping stone" to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. A version of the Missouri Championship has been documented to exist in 1899, 1921, 1933 to 1934, 1937, 1947, 1950, and 1954 to 1955, but it was only in 1972 that a serious championship was established. Prior to the creation of the NWA the championship was not recognized outside of the region and used by regional promoters, it is even possible that competing Missouri Heavyweight Championships existed. The championship was abandoned in 1986, as the Central States promotion was being consolidated under Jim Crockett Promotions in order to counter the World Wrestling Federation's national expansion.
From January 8, 1957, through August 1960 the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club promoted the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as the main professional wrestling championship for tag teams on their shows held in and around Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from its formation in 1948, but left the group in 1960 to help form the American Wrestling Association (AWA). The NWA Board of Directors allowed each member, referred to as a NWA territory, to create and control its own individual "NWA World Tag Team Championship" to be defended within its territory. At one point in 1957, no less than 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were recognized across the United States.[Championships] As with all professional wrestling championships, this championship was not contested for in competitive matches, but in matches with predetermined outcomes to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.
The GWF North American Heavyweight Championship was the major title in the Global Wrestling Federation in Texas. The title existed from 1991 until 1994, when GWF closed. The title was featured on the promotion's show that aired nationally on ESPN.
The GWF Light Heavyweight Championship was the secondary title in the Global Wrestling Federation in Texas. The title existed from 1991 until 1994, when GWF closed. The title was defended on the promotion's show that aired nationally on ESPN.
The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF and lasted until 1987 when the company was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions. In 1988, the newly created Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), soon renamed Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF), picked it back up in 1988 and it continued its lineage through NWA Florida, until they ceased operations in 2006. In 2009, Pro Wrestling Fusion revived the title until they left the NWA in 2011. For several months in 2012, a new Championship Wrestling from Florida affiliated with the NWA, briefly reviving the title until NWA Florida Underground Wrestling took over the championship.
The WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area–based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally created in June 1966 by WCWA's predecessor NWA Big Time Wrestling (BTW), billed as the local version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship before being renamed the NWA American Heavyweight Championship in May 1968. In 1982, Big Time Wrestling rebranded themselves as "World Class Championship Wrestling" (WCCW) and the championship was renamed the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship. In 1986 WCCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance, creating the World Class Wrestling Association, replacing the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship with the WCWA Heavyweight Championship, replacing the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship as the top title recognized by the promotion. In 1989, the WCWA championship was unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship to become the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship as WCWA merged with the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) to become the United States Wrestling Association. In 1990 WCWA split from the USWA, but the promotion folded without determining a WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. As it is a professional wrestling championship, the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was not won by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match.
The NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has used a variety of different names over the years, which consists of initial changes to represent the various companies that have controlled the title at different times. Originally, it was simply known as the Texas Heavyweight Championship until its name was changed after the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948. For most of the title's existence, at least until the early 1990s, it was defended almost exclusively within the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio areas of Texas. From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, these cities and the surrounding towns were within the territory operated by Ed McLemore, which was known simply as Southwest Sports, Inc. at the time. After McLemore's death, the territory came under the control of Fritz Von Erich and was renamed as Big Time Wrestling. However, the promotion would be renamed World Class Championship Wrestling in the early 1980s, which is the name the territory is best remembered under today. The championship remained an NWA affiliated title until February 1986.
The AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title in the Continental Wrestling Association during the 1970s and 1980s. The title is part of a long lineage that was started when the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship, in use since 1939, was renamed the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Memphis version) in 1974. The title's name changed again in 1978, when it was renamed the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship due to a partnership with the American Wrestling Association. It was also called the Mid-Southern Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications, in order for this title to not be confused with Championship Wrestling from Florida's version of the title.
The USWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Memphis, Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA). The Continental Wrestling Association and World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) merged in 1989 to form the USWA. In the merger the USWA replaced both the WCWA World Tag Team Championship and the CWA Tag Team Championship with the USWA version. The promotion awarded Cactus Jack and Scott Braddock the championship after they won the WCWA championship on August 4, 1989. The USWA closed in 1997, with PG-13 as the final champions. There were a total of 116 reigns in the eight year lifetime of the championship.
The NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and is defended in the US state of Hawaii. The title, which is still currently defended, began in 1935. From February 1940 through 1942 the title was known as the Hawaii Junior Heavyweight Championship.
The Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and one of the three titles that make up the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. It was created in 1973 by All Japan owner Giant Baba, after he won a series of ten matches against Bruno Sammartino, Terry Funk, Abdullah the Butcher, The Destroyer, Wilbur Snyder, Don Leo Jonathan, Pat O'Connor and Bobo Brazil.
The NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) from its inception through 1977, when it was renamed the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship due to a partnership with the American Wrestling Association. The title existed until 1988 when it was replaced with the Continental Wrestling Association Tag Team Championship.
The NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship was the top singles championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Los Angeles territory, known officially as NWA Hollywood Wrestling, from 1968 until the promotion closed in 1982. The title was first established in 1967 as a secondary championship in NWA Hollywood's predecessor, Worldwide Wrestling Associates. Although the name of the title implies that it was defended throughout North, Central and South America, it was rarely defended outside of Southern California. As a result, the title was essentially a regional title rather than a national one. A number of NWA affiliated promoters at various points over the years have used their own regional versions or variations of "national" championships for the purpose of giving crowds the idea that the company was larger than it actually was, or that the company was the biggest or most successful within the ranks of the National Wrestling Alliance.
The NWA Americas Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA Hollywood Wrestling based out of Los Angeles, California.
The Amarillo version of the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship was a top singles title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Amarillo, Texas territory, Western States Sports. It lasted from 1957 until 1969, when it was replaced with the NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship.
References
- ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ↑ "GWF Tag Team Championship Tournament". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (July 31, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (July 31): Stan Hansen wins NWA International title, Giant Baba, Hulk Hogan in AWA". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- ↑ GWF Tag Team Title from wrestling-titles.com retrieved August 2, 2020
- ↑ GWF Tag Team Title from wrestling-titles.com retrieved August 2, 2020
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (February 26, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/26): Verne Gagne wins AWA title on his birthday". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (September 3, 2015). "ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY (SEPT. 3): RIC FLAIR VS. TERRY FUNK TEXAS DEATH MATCH, GREAT MUTA VS. STING, TED DIBIASE AND STAN HANSEN WINS AJPW TAG TITLES". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- ↑ "GWF Tag Team Championship Tournament". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-02-08.