UWA World Heavyweight Championship

Last updated
UWA World Heavyweight Championship
UWA World Heavyweight Championship.png
The front of the championship belt
Details
Promotion Universal Wrestling Association
Mexican independent circuit
Date establishedAugust 15, 1977
Date retiredOctober 7, 2011
Statistics
First champion Lou Thesz
Final champion Dr. Wagner, Jr.
Most reigns El Canek (15 reigns)
Longest reignDr. Wagner, Jr. (2667 days)
Shortest reign Yamato (4 days)

The UWA World Heavyweight Championship (Campeonato Mundial peso Completo de UWA in Spanish) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally promoted by Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) until it closed in 1995. After UWA's closure, the title was sporadically, unofficially defended on the Mexican independent circuit. In the past the title has been defended in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) when the champion worked for those companies. Lou Thesz was the first UWA World Heavyweight champion, having been awarded the title after wrestling Mil Mascaras to a draw on the very first UWA show. El Canek has held the Championship the most times, 15 reigns all in all, 13 of those before the UWA closed. Canek is also the one that kept the championship active after the UWA closed, defending it on the independent circuit. Dr. Wagner, Jr. was the final UWA World Heavyweight champion having defeated Canek on June 18, 2004. During Dr. Wagner, Jr's time in AAA, they sometimes acknowledged the title, having had shown him with the belt on numerous occasions. [1]

Contents

As it was a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers. [a] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline, [b] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship, [c] or leaving the company. [d]

Title history

Key
No.Overall reign number
ReignReign number for the specific champion
DaysNumber of days held
N/AUnknown information
Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
+Current reign is changing daily
No.ChampionChampionship changeReign statisticsNotesRef.
DateEventLocationReignDays
Universal Wrestling Association (UWA)
1 Lou Thesz August 15, 1977 Live event N/A1377Thesz was awarded the title after wrestling Mil Máscaras to a time limit draw at the UWA's first event on July 26, 1976. [e]
2 El Canek August 27, 1978 Live event Mexico City1539 [e]
3 Tiger Jeet Singh February 17, 1980 Live event Mexico City156 [e] [7]
4 Antonio Inoki April 13, 1980 Live event Mexico City1194 [e] [8]
5 Tiger Jeet Singh October 24, 1980 Live event Okinawa, Japan2114 [e]
6 El Canek February 15, 1981 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico2523 [e]
7 Riki Choshu July 23, 1982 Live event Mexico City165 [e]
8 El Canek September 26, 1982 Live event Mexico City3219 [e]
9 Tatsumi Fujinami May 1, 1983 Live event Mexico City142 [e]
10 El Canek June 12, 1983 Live event Mexico City4252 [e]
Vacated October 4, 1983El Canek vacated the title to do an extended tour of wrestling in Japan. Tour is cut short and Canek returns in time for the tournament. [e]
11Enrique VeraOctober 23, 1983 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico1126Defeated El Canek and Dos Caras to win the vacant championship. [e]
12 Dos Caras February 26, 1984 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico1119 [e]
13 El Canek June 24, 1984 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico5310 [e]
14ScorpioApril 30, 1985 Live event Mexico City161 [e]
15 El Canek June 30, 1985 Live event N/A6548 [e]
16 Dos Caras December 30, 1986 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico2 [e]
17 El Canek April 1987(NLT) Live event N/A7 [e]
18The Killer1987 Live event N/A1 [e]
19 El Canek 1987 Live event N/A8 [e]
20 Perro Aguayo March 4, 1988 Live event N/A162 [e]
21 El Canek May 5, 1988 Live event N/A9566 [e] [9]
22 Big Van Vader November 22, 1989 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico1382 [e]
23 El Canek December 9, 1990 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico10420 [e]
24 Dos Caras February 2, 1992 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico3154 [e]
25 El Canek July 5, 1992 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico11210 [e]
26 Canadian Vampire Casanova January 31, 1993 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico1322 [e]
27 El Canek December 19, 1993 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico1275 [e]
28 Yamato March 14, 1994 Live event Puebla, Puebla 14 [e]
29 El Canek March 18, 1994 UWA Live event Nezahualcóyotl, México131976The UWA closed in 1995, however the title continued to be defended in other promotions. [e]
Mexican independent circuit
30Cadaver de UltratumbaAugust 15, 1999 Live event Tehuacán, Puebla 122 [e]
31 El Canek September 6, 1999AAA TV TapingTehuacán, Puebla14867 [e]
32 Cibernético January 20, 2002AAA TV Taping Salamanca, Guanajuato 1299 [10]
33 El Canek November 15, 2002AAA TV TapingOrizaba, Veracruz 15581 [10]
34 Dr. Wagner Jr. June 18, 2004CMLL Infierno en el Ring (2004)Mexico City12667This was a Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre event. [1] [11]
DeactivatedOctober 7, 2011The championship goes dormant following Dr. Wagner's successful defence against L.A. Park.

Combined reigns

¤The exact length of the title reign is uncertain.
RankWrestlerNo. of
reigns
Combined
days
1 El Canek 157,086¤
2 Dr. Wagner Jr. 12,667
3 Big Van Vader 1382
4 Lou Thesz 1377
5 Canadian Vampire Casanova 1322
6 Cibernético 1299
7 Dos Caras 3273¤
8 Antonio Inoki 1194
9 Tiger Jeet Singh 2170
10Enrique Vera1126
11 Riki Choshu 165
12 Perro Aguayo 162
13Scorpio161
14 Tatsumi Fujinami 142
15Cadaver de Ultratumba122
16 Yamato 14
17The Killer1N/A¤

Footnotes

  1. Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters" [2]
  2. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart" [3]
  3. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson" [4]
  4. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA." [5]
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Duncan & Will (2000) p. 397, Chapter: MEXICO: UWA World Heavyweight Title [Flores, Mora] [6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. issue 91.
  2. Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
  3. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
  4. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
  5. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
  6. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 397.
  7. Centinela, Teddy (February 17, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Mil Máscaras y Canek exponen sus respectivas versiones del Campeonato Mundial de Peso Completo". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  8. Centinela, Teddy (April 13, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Cartel súper internacional en El Toreo: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh — Fishman vs. Tatsumi Fujinami". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  9. F4W Staff (May 5, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 5): Bruno Vs. Gorilla in Puerto Rico, 2nd annual Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 "2002: considerar detrás". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 19, 2003. issue 2593.
  11. LuchaLibreDeMexico (2012-05-16), CMLL 6 18 2004 El Canek vs Dr Wagner, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2016-09-01