UWA World Welterweight Championship

Last updated
UWA World Welterweight Championship
UWA World Welterweight Championship.jpg
The original championship belt
Details
Promotion Universal Wrestling Association
Mexican independent circuit
Japanese Independent circuit
Date establishedDecember 14, 1975
Date retiredOctober 14, 2004
Statistics
First champion(s) Villano III
Final champion(s) Takeshi Minamino
Most reigns Black Man / Celestial (3 times) [1]
Longest reign Super Crazy (851 days)

The UWA World Welterweight Championship is a championship in professional wrestling that is primarily contested for in various Lucha Libre promotions in Mexico. In 1993, the championship was recognized by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Michinoku Pro, following Super Delfin's victory over then champion Celestial. In 1995, Gran Hamada was stripped of the championship, because he exceeded the weight limit. The championship returned to being primarily contested for in Mexico, and it wasn't until Taiji Ishimori's victory over Super Crazy in 2003 that a Japanese wrestler would hold the championship again.

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. [lower-alpha 1] 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, [lower-alpha 2] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship, [lower-alpha 3] or leaving the company. [lower-alpha 4]

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
 1 Villano III  December 14, 1975 Live event Mexico City 1 532Defeated Huracán Ramírez to become the first UWA World Welterweight Champion. [6] [7] [8]
 2  El Solar  May 29, 1977 Live event Mexico City 1 413 [6] [7] [9]
 3 Bobby Lee July 16, 1978 Plaza de Toros UWA ShowMonterrey, Nuevo León 1 343 [6] [7]
 4  El Signo  June 24, 1979 Live event Tijuana, Baja California 1 294 [6] [7] [9]
 5 Garringo April 13, 1980 Live event Monterrey, Nuevo León 1 147 [6] [7]
 6  El Texano  September 7, 1980 Live event Mexico City 1 521 [6] [7]
Vacated  February 10, 1982The Championship was vacated for undocumented reasons. [6] [7]
 7 Lobo Rubio May 30, 1982 Live event Mexico City 1 140Defeated El Matematico to win the championship. [6] [7]
 8  El Matematico  October 17, 1982 Live event Mexico City 1 791 [6] [7]
 9 Blue Panther  December 16, 1984  UWA Carnaval de Campeones Mexico City 1 420 [6] [7] [10] [11]
 10 Black Man  February 9, 1986 Live event Mexico City 1 571 [1] [6] [7]
 11 Ray Richard September 3, 1987 Live event Mexico City 1 330 [6] [7]
 12  Yoshihiro Asai  July 29, 1988 Live event Mexico City 1 103 [6] [7] [12]
 13 Charles Lucero November 9, 1988 Live event Monterrey, Nuevo León 1 534 [6] [7]
 14  El Hijo del Santo  April 27, 1990 Live event Monterrey, Nuevo León 1 746 [6] [7] [13]
 15 Espanto Jr.  May 12, 1992 Live event Monterrey, Nuevo León 1 44 [6] [7]
 16  Celestial  June 25, 1992 Live event Monterrey, Nuevo León 2 326Previously held the championship under the name "Black Man" [1] [6] [7]
 17 Super Delfin  May 17, 1993 Live event Tokyo, Japan 1 68 [6] [7]
 18 Great Sasuke  July 24, 1993 Live event Moioka, Japan 1 31 [6] [7]
 19 Super Delfin  August 24, 1993 Live event Tokyo, Japan 2 4 [6] [7]
 20  Celestial   Live event Mexico City 3 155 [1] [6] [7]
 21  Karloff Lagarde Jr.   Live event Naucalpan, México  1 115 [6] [7]
 22  El Hijo del Santo  May 25, 1994 Live event Tlalnepantla de Baz  2 177 [6] [7] [13]
 23  Norio Honaga  November 18, 1994 Live event Hiroshima, Japan 1 25 [6] [7]
 24  Shinjiro Otani  December 13, 1994 Live event Osaka, Japan 1 124 [6] [7]
 25  Koji Kanemoto  April 16, 1995 Live event Hiroshima, Japan 1 159 [6] [7]
 26 Gran Hamada  September 22, 1995 Live event Nagoya, Japan 1 52 [6] [7]
Vacated  Gran Hamada is stripped of the championship, after exceeding the weight limit. The UWA Closed shortly afterwards [6] [7] [14]
 Super Crazy  November 17, 1995 Live event Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico State 1  [lower-alpha 5] It is unclear how the physical UWA World Welterweight Championship belt returned to Mexico. Super Crazy defeated Rey Bucanero to win the vacant championship [6] [7]
  Kid Guzmán  October 1997 Live event Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico State  1  [lower-alpha 6] [6] [7]
 Super Crazy  June 15, 1998 Live event Hakata, Japan  2 851 [6] [7]
  El Oriental  October 13, 2000 Live event Torreon, Mexico  1 111 [7] [15]
Vacated  February 1, 2001El Oriental was stripped of the Championship due to injury. [7] [16]
  Nemesis  September 23, 2001 Live event Tulancingo, Hidalgo  1 203Teamed with Crazy Boy and Rey Cuvero against El Impostor, El Cazador and Poder Gitano, captain of the team won the championship. [7] [16]
 Rey Cuervo April 14, 2002 Live event Tulancingo, Hidalgo  1 1115 [7] [17]
Vacated  May 3, 2003 [7] [18]
  Taiji Ishimori  May 11, 2003 Live event Mexico City 1 476Defeated Super Crazy to win the vacant championship [7] [18] [19]
Vacated  August 29, 2004The Championship was held up, after an inconclusive match against Takeshi Minamino [7]
  Takeshi Minamino  September 9, 2004 Live event Tokyo, Japan 1 35Defeated Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda to win the vacant championship [7]
Deactivated October 14, 2004The Championship was vacated and later abandoned [7]

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. The exact date in October 1997 where Kid Guzmán won the championship has not been documented. Which means that the title reign lasted between 411 and 775 days.
  6. The exact date in October 1997 where Kid Guzmán won the championship has not been documented. Which means that the title reign lasted between 227 and 257 days.

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References

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