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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 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 National Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the U.S.-based, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
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.
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 Detroit United States Heavyweight Championship was a version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship contested in Big Time Wrestling from 1959 until 1980. It was first introduced as the Chicago version of the championship and contested on shows produced by Fred Kohler Enterprises before moving to Big Time Wrestling in Detroit six years later. While the National Wrestling Alliance recognized only one World Heavyweight Champion, there were multiple "NWA United States Heavyweight Champion"s, as many NWA-affiliated promotions/"territories" across the U.S. each had its own version of an "American" or "United States" championship. For most such territories -- including Detroit -- the U.S. Title was the promotion's primary singles championship. Over its history, the title was held by stars including Bobo Brazil, The Sheik, Wilbur Snyder, Johnny Valentine, and multi-time AWA World Heavyweight Champions Verne Gagne and Dick the Bruiser.
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 GCW Heavyweight Championship is the major title in the Georgia Championship Wrestling professional wrestling promotion. It started in 1964 and was unified in 1981 with the NWA National Heavyweight Championship.
The Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Championship was the major title in the Canadian professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling. From its establishment in 1968 until 1972, it was Stampede's secondary singles championship, becoming the top title in 1972 after the previous top championship, the Calgary version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship, was abandoned.
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 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 NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship was the main tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling or NWA Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast tag team championship is the successor for GCCW's version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship that was promoted in the Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi region from 1955 until 1967 where it was replaced by the "NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship. The Gulf Coast Tag Team championship was promoted from 1967 until 1978 where Southeast Championship Wrestling took control of the title renaming in back to the "NWA Southern Tag Team Championship" and promoted it in its "Southern Division" in 1978 and 1979. In 1980 the Southern Division was abandoned and the Northern Division of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship became the main title of SECW.
The WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship is a secondary title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council (WWC).
The Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship was established in 1962 as the top tag team title in NWA All-Star Wrestling. The title held that status until late summer 1985, when the title was renamed the UWA Tag Team Championship upon All-Star Wrestling's departure as a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, aside from the period from June 1966 to December 1967, when the promotion had a version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which was abandoned after that time.
The Georgia version of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Southern Heavyweight Championship was a secondary singles championship used in Georgia Championship Wrestling off-and-on from 1948 to 1972. The title is one of many versions of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. Other versions have been used in Florida and the Tennessee cities of Knoxville and Memphis.
References
- ↑ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (February 7, 2017). "On this day in pro wrestling history (Feb 7): Bobby Roode & Austin Aries wins tag gold". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (February 28, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/28): Andersen & Hansen win NWA Tag Titles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (January 23, 2020). "Pro wrestling history (01/23): Hulk Hogan defeats Iron Sheik for WWF title". Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (November 24, 2019). "Daily Pro Wrestling history (11/24): The First Starcade". Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved November 24, 2019.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (January 16, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/16): Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton win WCW Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (February 10, 2017). "DAILY PRO WRESTLING HISTORY (02/10): MASA SAITO WINS AWA GOLD AT THE TOKYO DOME". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (August 4, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (August 4): Lex Luger beats Huk Hogan for WCW title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
- ↑ Hoops, Brian (June 29, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: 2nd Steve Austin WWE title reign begins, infamous Stan Hansen AWA title belt stripping story". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 19, 2017.