NWA United States Television Championship | |||||||||
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Details | |||||||||
Promotion | Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) | ||||||||
Date established | 1957 / 1958 | ||||||||
Date retired | July 25, 1962 | ||||||||
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The NWA United States Television Championship was a professional wrestling television championship owned and promoted by the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), the predecessor of WWE. The championship was either introduced in 1957 or 1958, [1] [2] making it the first singles championship introduced overall by the CWC and WWE.
Over the championship's five-year history, there have been nine reigns between five champions. Johnny Valentine was the inaugural champion, and also held the record for most reigns at five times. Valentine was also the last champion, after CWC abandoned the title.
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
1 | Johnny Valentine | 1957 / 1958 | House show | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | 1 | N/A [lower-alpha 2] | It is uncertain who Valentine defeated to become the inaugural champion. Sources suggested that Valentine won the title during a tournament in 1957, or by defeating Verne Gagne in 1958 in Chicago, IL. | [1] |
2 | Don Joyce | March 10, 1959 | House show | Baltimore, MD | 1 | 28 | [1] | |
3 | Johnny Valentine | April 7, 1959 | House show | Baltimore, MD | 2 | 458 | [1] [3] [4] | |
4 | Don Curtis | July 8, 1960 (NLT) | House show | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | 1 | N/A [lower-alpha 3] | Curtis won the championship sometime after May 29. | [1] |
5 | Johnny Valentine | July 1960 | House show | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | 3 | 15–45 [lower-alpha 4] | [1] | |
6 | Kurt Von Heidleberg | August 15, 1960 | House show | Richmond, VA | 1 | 38 | [1] | |
7 | Johnny Valentine | September 22, 1960 (NLT) | House show | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | 4 | N/A [lower-alpha 5] | [1] | |
8 | Crusher Lisowski | August 24, 1961 (NLT) | House show | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | N/A [lower-alpha 6] | [1] | |
9 | Johnny Valentine | September 28, 1961 (NLT) | House show | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | 5 | N/A [lower-alpha 7] | [1] | |
— | Deactivated | July 25, 1962 | — | — | — | — | Johnny Valentine was the final champion after the CWC abandoned the title on July 25, 1962 without a formal announcement. | [1] |
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