ICW World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||
Promotion | Insane Championship Wrestling | ||||||||||
Date established | 15 October 2006 [1] | ||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Jack Jester | ||||||||||
Date won | 10 December 2023 | ||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||
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The ICW World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. The title was first established as the ICW National Heavyweight Championship at ICW's debut show on October 15, 2006, with Drew Galloway becoming the inaugural champion. [2] On February 7, 2015, the title was officially renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship after Galloway successfully defended the title in a match against Matt Hardy for the Family Wrestling Entertainment promotion in New York. [3] [4] [5] The championship has been defended in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Canada. In addition to these international title matches, defenses televised in 38 countries via Fight Network as well as an international presence on iPPV. [6] [7]
Overall, there have been twenty-seven reigns shared among twenty wrestlers, with three vacancies. The championship was vacant for 74 days as ICW had to strip Noam Dar of the title on 7 September 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. [8]
The championship was featured prominently in both the Insane Fight Club documentaries produced by the BBC. [9] [10]
Drew Galloway became the inaugural champion of Mark Dallas' ICW promotion on 15 October 2006 at their debut show "Fear & Loathing," having won a triple threat match against Darkside and Allan Grogan. [11]
Initially a regional heavyweight title in the Glasgow area, the title was defended outside Scotland for the first time by Jack Jester, who defeated Jimmy Havoc in London, England to retain the title on May 4, 2014. It was first defended overseas by Drew Galloway on December 20, 2014 in Denmark for Dansk Pro Wrestling promotion, when Galloway won a Title-for-Title Three-Way match against DPW Champion Michael Fynne and Chaos. [12] Galloway then announced his intention to take the title overseas more often and make it a World Championship. [11] [13] His second international title defense was booked for February 7, 2015 against Matt Hardy in New York, USA after which the title was officially renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. [11] The ICW World Heavyweight Championship was defended in Australia for the first time on March 20, 2015 when Galloway retained in a Title-for-Title match over OCW Championship Andy Phoenix at an Outback Championship Wrestling show. The title was first defended in Northern Ireland when Galloway retained over Joe Hendry, TRON and Luther Valentine in a four-way match at a Pro Wrestling Ulster. [14] [11] Galloway again defended the title in America on July 18, 2015 at a Warriors of Wrestling show in Staten Island where he retained over Joey Ace, Matt Macintosh and Logan Black. [15] Galloway defended the championship in Kiel, Germany at a Maximum Wrestling show on October 16, retaining in a Title-for-Title triple threat over UEWA European Heavyweight Champion Chaos and Apu Singh. [16] [11] [17] Big Damo would go on to win the championship from Chris Renfrew in Northern Ireland, before defending the title successfully in Wales and Ireland on ICW's 2016 tour. The title was defended in Italy for the first by Wolfgang on December 17, 2016. [18] Another notable international title defense saw Trent Seven retain the title over Wolfgang on April 2, 2017, at a WWE WrestleMania Axxess show. [11] [19] Leyton Buzzard made the first defences of the title in Sweden, Spain and Canada in 2022 and 2023. [20] [21]
In addition to these international title matches, numerous wrestlers from outside Scotland have challenged for the title domestically, including Kassius Ohno, [22] Sabu, Fergal Devitt, [23] Martin Stone, Doug Williams, Rhino, Colt Cabana, Tommy End, Noam Dar, Pete Dunne, Jordan Devlin, Dave Mastiff, Robbie Dynamite, Zack Gibson, Johnny Moss, Rampage Brown, Kris Travis, Keith Lee, Kassius Ohno, and Bram. [24] [25] The only non-Scottish wrestlers to hold the championship are Mikey Whiplash, Big Damo, Trent Seven and Leyton Buzzard. [26]
The title was defended in a pre-show Dark matches for the first time in its history on 17 October 2015 when Drew Galloway would retain the title three times in consecutive matches against Matt Daly, Stephen Hughes and Coach Trip. [11]
The title had to be vacated on June 19, 2019 due to Lionheart's death by suicide three days after his UEWA vs. ICW title match against Alexander Dean at ICW I Ain't Yer Pal, Dickface!. [27] [28]
As of November 2017, BT Gunn has the record for most reigns, with three. Darkside's first reign is the longest in the title's history, at 1028 days (the company was largely inactive during this period), while Joe Coffey's reign is the shortest, as he lost the title the same day. Drew Galloway currently holds the record for the most defenses, both within an individual reign and cumulatively. [11] [29] Joe Coffey holds the record for least successful defenses in a single reign, losing the championship to Wolfgang in his first defense. [30]
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
<1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
1 | Drew Galloway | 15 October 2006 | Fear & Loathing | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 280 | Defeated Allan Grogan and Darkside in a triple threat match to become the inaugural champion. | [31] [11] [32] |
2 | Darkside | 22 July 2007 | ReZerection | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 1,028 | This was a fatal five-way match also involving Jack Jester, Liam Thomson, and Wolfgang. | [33] |
— | Vacated | 15 May 2010 | — | — | — | — | Darkside was stripped of the title due to injury. | [34] |
3 | BT Gunn | 5 June 2010 | Menace 2 Society | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 91 | This was a four-way elimination match for the vacant title also involving Johnny Moss, Liam Thompson and Wolfgang. | [35] |
4 | James Scott | 4 September 2010 | Dazed and Confused | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 505 | Scott previously known as Darkside. | [36] |
5 | BT Gunn | 22 January 2012 | 1st Annual Square Go! | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 133 | [37] | |
6 | Red Lightning | 3 June 2012 | In Your Gaff | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 336 | Cashed in his "Square Go!". | [38] |
7 | Mikey Whiplash | 5 May 2013 | Reservoir Dogs | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 161 | Cashed in his "Square Go!". | [39] |
8 | Jack Jester | 13 October 2013 | Fear & Loathing VI - Welcome To Bat Country | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 385 | [24] [40] [41] | |
9 | Drew Galloway | 2 November 2014 | Fear & Loathing VII | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 378 | Title was renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship on February 7, 2015 following numerous international title defenses. | [31] [11] [42] |
10 | Grado | 15 November 2015 | Fear & Loathing VIII | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 70 | [43] [11] | |
11 | Chris Renfrew | 24 January 2016 | 5th Annual Square Go! | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 34 | Cashed in his "Square Go!". | [44] |
12 | Big Damo | 27 February 2016 | Hey Look! It's That Mad Wrestling Thing Aff The Telly Tour - The Big Elbowski | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 1 | 155 | [45] [46] | |
13 | Joe Coffey | 31 July 2016 | Shug's Weekender - Shug's Hoose Party 3 | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | <1 | [47] | |
14 | Wolfgang | 31 July 2016 | Shug's Weekender - Shug's Hoose Party 3 | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 189 | Cashed in his "Square Go!". | [47] |
15 | Trent Seven | 5 February 2017 | 6th Annual Square Go! | Newcastle upon Tyne, England | 1 | 70 | [48] | |
16 | Joe Coffey | 16 April 2017 | Barramania III | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 217 | Cashed in his "Square Go!". | [49] |
17 | BT Gunn | 19 November 2017 | Fear & Loathing X | Glasgow, Scotland | 3 | 161 | This was a winner takes all match, in which Gunn defended the ICW Zero-G Championship. | [50] [51] |
18 | Stevie Boy | 29 April 2018 | Barramania 4 | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 91 | Cashed in his "Square Go!" contract during a singles match between BT Gunn and Mikey Whiplash, converting it into a triple threat match and subsequently pinned Whiplash to win the match. | [52] [53] |
19 | DCT | 29 July 2018 | Shug's Hoose Party 5 - Night 2 | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 56 | This was a Loser Leaves The UK match. | [54] [55] |
20 | Jackie Polo | 23 September 2018 | Fight Club | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 70 | [56] | |
21 | Lionheart | 2 December 2018 | Fear & Loathing XI | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 199 | This was a title vs. career match. | [57] [58] |
— | Vacated | 19 June 2019 | — | — | — | — | Title vacated after Lionheart's death. | [59] |
22 | Stevie Boy | 28 July 2019 | Shug's Hoose Party 6 - Night 2 | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 189 | Defeated Wolfgang for the vacant title. | [60] |
23 | Noam Dar | 2 February 2020 | 9th Annual Square Go! | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 583 | [61] | |
— | Vacated | 7 September 2021 | — | — | — | — | Title vacated due to Dar being unable to defend the title because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | [62] |
24 | JAXN | 20 November 2021 | Fear & Loathing XIII - Night 1 | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 1 | Defeated Kez Evans for the vacant title. JAXN previously known as Jackie Polo. | [63] |
25 | Kez Evans | 21 November 2021 | Fear & Loathing XIII - Night 2 | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 364 | [64] | |
26 | Leyton Buzzard | 20 November 2022 | Fear & Loathing XIV | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 175 | Buzzard last pinned Kez Evans in Four-Way Elimination match. Also in the match were Stevie James and Craig Anthony. The event will air at a later date on the WWE Network. | [65] [20] |
27 | Aaron Echo | 14 May 2023 | Get The F Out | Glasgow, Scotland | 1 | 210 | Cashed in his "Square Go!" after Buzzard retained against Big Damo and Andy Roberts. | [20] [66] [67] |
28 | Jack Jester | 10 December 2023 | Fear & Loathing XV | Glasgow, Scotland | 2 | 3+ | This was a title vs. career King of Insanity match. | [68] |
As of December13, 2023.
† | Indicates the current champion |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Darkside/James Scott | 2 | 1533 |
2 | Drew Galloway | 2 | 658 |
3 | Noam Dar | 1 | 583 |
4 | Jack Jester† | 2 | 388+ |
5 | BT Gunn | 3 | 385 |
6 | Kez Evans | 1 | 364 |
7 | Red Lightning | 1 | 336 |
8 | Stevie Boy | 2 | 280 |
9 | Joe Coffey | 2 | 217 |
10 | Aaron Echo | 1 | 210 |
11 | Lionheart | 1 | 199 |
12 | Wolfgang | 1 | 189 |
13 | Leyton Buzzard | 1 | 175 |
14 | Mikey Whiplash | 1 | 161 |
15 | Big Damo | 1 | 155 |
16 | Jackie Polo/JAXN | 2 | 71 |
17 | Grado | 1 | 70 |
Trent Seven | 1 | 70 | |
19 | DCT | 1 | 56 |
20 | Chris Renfrew | 1 | 34 |
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