WSL World Heavyweight Championship

Last updated
WSL World Heavyweight Championship
Details
Promotion Wrestling Superstars Live
Date establishedJune 6, 1996
Date retiredFebruary 21, 2009
Other names
AWA World Heavyweight Championship
AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
Statistics
First championJonnie Stewart
Final champion Keith Walker
Most reigns Takao Omori (3)
Longest reignJonnie Stewart (1,028 days)
Shortest reignDanny Dominion (<1 day)

The WSL World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world championship in the Wrestling Superstars Live promotion. It was originally known as the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.

Contents

History

In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former American Wrestling Association (AWA) employees, filed corporate papers to license the AWA name in the state of Minnesota and formed an organization known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling. On June 6 of that year, Gagner and Stewart created their version of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, recognizing all previous AWA world champions.

In April 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner and Jonnie Stewart, citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned all "American Wrestling Association" properties due to their purchase of the company after the original AWA's closure. [1] [2] [3] In October 2008, a court ruled against Gagner and Stewart and ruled in favor of WWE. The court ruling prohibited Gagner and his associates from exploiting or trading on the AWA name or any other derivatives. [4] As a result, the organization was renamed to Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL). Due to there no longer being connections to the original AWA, WSL began only recognizing championship reigns from 1996 and forward.

Title history

Key
No.Overall reign number
ReignReign number for the specific champion
DaysNumber of days held
+Current reign is changing daily
No.ChampionChampionship changeReign statisticsNotesRef.
DateEventLocationReignDays
AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA)
1Jonnie StewartJune 6, 1996 House show Rochester, Minnesota 11,028Defeated Larry Gligorovich to win the inaugural AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. [5]
2 King Kong Bundy March 31, 1999 House show Oshkosh, Wisconsin 1486
— Vacated July 29, 2000 House show ———
3Dale GagneJuly 29, 2000 House show Pine Bluff, Arkansas 10Gagne, owner of AWA Superstars of Wrestling, stripped Bundy of the title and declared himself the new champion.
4The PatriotJuly 29, 2000 House show Pine Bluff, Arkansas 10
5Larry GligorovichJuly 29, 2000 House show Pine Bluff, Arkansas 1309
6Eric PriestJune 3, 2001 House show Hillside, Illinois 1292
7 Evan Karagias March 22, 2002 House show Casa Grande, Arizona 141
8Danny DominionMay 2, 2002 House show Cottonwood, Arizona 22Previously won the championship as The Patriot.
9 Evan Karagias May 4, 2002 House show Casa Grande, Arizona 2161
10 Horshu October 12, 2002 House show Mercedes, Texas 1267Stripped of the title due to missing mandatory title defenses.
— Vacated July 6, 2003————
11 Evan Karagias July 6, 2003 House show Lemoore, California 3567Defeated Eric Priest to win the vacant title. Karagias was fired in January 2005 by Dale Gagne for misconduct and refusing to defend the title as scheduled.
— Vacated January 23, 2005————
AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA) / Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (Zero1-Max)
12 Takao Omori January 23, 2005Zero1-Max Ground Max Tokyo, Japan 1139Defeated Steve Corino in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant championship.
13 Steve Corino June 11, 2005 House show Bay City, Michigan 1225
14 Shinjiro Otani January 22, 2006Zero1-Max Faithfully Tokyo, Japan 169
15 Takao Omori April 1, 2006Zero1-Max Yasukuni Shrine Festival Tokyo, Japan 264
16 Ric Converse June 4, 2006 House show Indianapolis, Indiana 1217
17 Steve Corino January 7, 2007 House show Pottstown, Pennsylvania 283On March 23, 2007, Corino lost the title to TNT at an AWF event in Sydney, Australia; however, on March 28, the AWA Superstars of Wrestling Board of Directors returned the title to Corino when the proper paperwork authorizing the title match could not be found.
18 Takao Omori March 31, 2007Zero1-Max Max Satisfaction Yokohama, Japan 3209
19 Masato Tanaka October 26, 2007Zero1-Max Innovation Tokyo, Japan 150
— Vacated December 15, 2007————The championship is vacated after Zero1-Max ended its business relationship with AWA Superstars of Wrestling on December 15, 2007. Zero1-Max, however, continued to recognize Tanaka's reign as the first reign of the Zero1-Max World Heavyweight Championship.
AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA)
20 Larry Zbyszko February 5, 2008— Minneapolis, Minnesota 1249Awarded the title for being the final holder of the original AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
†Brian LoganApril 20, 2008 House show Fayetteville, West Virginia 10Logan defeated Zbyszko and Ricky Landell in a triple threat match. Shortly thereafter, Mountaineer Wrestling Association of West Virginia, the promotion for which Logan primarily performed, pulled out of AWA Superstars of Wrestling to form the American Wrestling Affiliates with several other promotions. The title was returned to Zbyszko, and Logan's reign was never officially recognized by AWA Superstars of Wrestling. Logan is recognized as the inaugural American Wrestling Affiliates World Heavyweight champion due to this victory.
Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL)
† Larry Zbyszko April 20, 2008——2174Title returned to Zbyszko; AWA Superstars of Wrestling considered this a continuation of Zbyszko's previous reign.
21 Ricky Landell October 11, 2008 House show Indianapolis, Indiana 1133Title becomes known as the WSL World Heavyweight Championship when the promotion is forced to rename to Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL).
22 Keith Walker February 21, 2009 House show Michigan City, Indiana 10
—DeactivatedFebruary 21, 2009————The championship is retired when WSL goes out of business.

Combined reigns

RankWrestlerNo. of
reigns		Combined days
1Jonnie Stewart11,028
2 Evan Karagias 3775
3 King Kong Bundy 1486
4 Takao Omori 3412
5Larry Gligorovich1309
6 Steve Corino 2308
7Eric Priest1292
8 Horshu 1267
9 Larry Zbyszko 1(2)249
10 Ric Converse 1217
11 Ricky Landell 1133
12 Shinjiro Otani 169
13 Masato Tanaka 150
14The Patriot/Danny Dominion22
15Dale Gagne10
Keith Walker10
—Brian Logan10

American Wrestling Affiliates version

Key
No.Overall reign number
ReignReign number for the specific champion
DaysNumber of days held
+Current reign is changing daily
No.ChampionChampionship changeReign statisticsNotesRef.
DateEventLocationReignDays
American Wrestling Affiliates (AWA)
1Brian LoganApril 20, 2008 House show Fayetteville, West Virginia 1195Logan defeated Zbyszko and Ricky Landell in a triple threat match to win the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World title. Shortly thereafter, Mountaineer Wrestling Association of West Virginia, the promotion for which Logan primarily performs, pulled out of AWA Superstars of Wrestling to form American Wrestling Affiliates with several other promotions. Logan is recognized as the inaugural world champion of the American Wrestling Affiliates. [6]
2Tony GivensNovember 1, 2008 House show Kingsport, Tennessee 120
3Brian LoganNovember 21, 2008 House show Buckhannon, West Virginia 270
— Vacated January 30, 2009— Kingsport, Tennessee ——The championship is vacated after moving to the Championship Wrestling Alliance.
Championship Wrestling Alliance (CWA)
4Brian LoganJanuary 30, 2009 House show Kingsport, Tennessee 3120Logan, the reigning AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was awarded the CWA World Heavyweight title.
5Robbie CassidyMay 30, 2009 House show Kingsport, Tennessee 1385 [7]
6Chris RichardsJune 19, 2010 House show Kingsport, Tennessee 1230
—DeactivatedFebruary 4, 2011— Kingsport, Tennessee ——The CWA World Heavyweight Championship was retired and replaced with the NWA Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Championship on February 4, 2011 when the CWA joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and became NWA Smoky Mountain.

Combined reigns

RankWrestlerNo. of
reigns		Combined days
1Robbie Cassidy1385
Brian Logan3385
3Chris Richards1230
4Tony Givens120

References

  1. ↑ Browning, Dan (2007-04-28). "World Wrestling sues promoter". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28.
  2. ↑ "News and Notes, May 4, 2007". GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. 2007-05-04. Archived from the original on 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  3. ↑ Ryder, Bob (2007-04-26). "WWE Files Lawsuit Against "Gagne" For Trademark Violations Associated With AWA". 1wrestling.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  4. ↑ "WWE wins trademark infringement lawsuit over AWA". wrestleview.com. 2008-10-28.
  5. ↑ "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  7. ↑ "American Wrestling Affiliates (2008/04-2009/01)Championship Wrestling Alliance (2009/01-2011/02) World Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Pro Wrestling Zero1's top heavyweight championship
2004–2007		Succeeded by
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