WSL World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||
Promotion | Wrestling Superstars Live | ||||||||||||
Date established | June 6, 1996 | ||||||||||||
Date retired | February 21, 2009 | ||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||
AWA World Heavyweight Championship AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
|
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.
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.
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA) | ||||||||||
1 | Jonnie Stewart | June 6, 1996 | House show | Rochester, Minnesota | 1 | 1,028 | Defeated 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 | 1 | 486 | ||||
— | Vacated | July 29, 2000 | House show | — | — | — | ||||
3 | Dale Gagne | July 29, 2000 | House show | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | Gagne, owner of AWA Superstars of Wrestling, stripped Bundy of the title and declared himself the new champion. | |||
4 | The Patriot | July 29, 2000 | House show | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | ||||
5 | Larry Gligorovich | July 29, 2000 | House show | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 309 | ||||
6 | Eric Priest | June 3, 2001 | House show | Hillside, Illinois | 1 | 292 | ||||
7 | Evan Karagias | March 22, 2002 | House show | Casa Grande, Arizona | 1 | 41 | ||||
8 | Danny Dominion | May 2, 2002 | House show | Cottonwood, Arizona | 2 | 2 | Previously won the championship as The Patriot. | |||
9 | Evan Karagias | May 4, 2002 | House show | Casa Grande, Arizona | 2 | 161 | ||||
10 | Horshu | October 12, 2002 | House show | Mercedes, Texas | 1 | 267 | Stripped of the title due to missing mandatory title defenses. | |||
— | Vacated | July 6, 2003 | — | — | — | — | ||||
11 | Evan Karagias | July 6, 2003 | House show | Lemoore, California | 3 | 567 | Defeated 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, 2005 | Zero1-Max Ground Max | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 139 | Defeated Steve Corino in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant championship. | |||
13 | Steve Corino | June 11, 2005 | House show | Bay City, Michigan | 1 | 225 | ||||
14 | Shinjiro Otani | January 22, 2006 | Zero1-Max Faithfully | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 69 | ||||
15 | Takao Omori | April 1, 2006 | Zero1-Max Yasukuni Shrine Festival | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 64 | ||||
16 | Ric Converse | June 4, 2006 | House show | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1 | 217 | ||||
17 | Steve Corino | January 7, 2007 | House show | Pottstown, Pennsylvania | 2 | 83 | On 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, 2007 | Zero1-Max Max Satisfaction | Yokohama, Japan | 3 | 209 | ||||
19 | Masato Tanaka | October 26, 2007 | Zero1-Max Innovation | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 50 | ||||
— | 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 | 1 | 249 | Awarded the title for being the final holder of the original AWA World Heavyweight Championship. | |||
† | Brian Logan | April 20, 2008 | House show | Fayetteville, West Virginia | 1 | 0 | Logan 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 | — | — | 2 | 174 | Title 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 | 1 | 133 | Title 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 | 1 | 0 | ||||
— | Deactivated | February 21, 2009 | — | — | — | — | The championship is retired when WSL goes out of business. |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jonnie Stewart | 1 | 1,028 |
2 | Evan Karagias | 3 | 775 |
3 | King Kong Bundy | 1 | 486 |
4 | Takao Omori | 3 | 412 |
5 | Larry Gligorovich | 1 | 309 |
6 | Steve Corino | 2 | 308 |
7 | Eric Priest | 1 | 292 |
8 | Horshu | 1 | 267 |
9 | Larry Zbyszko | 1(2) | 249 |
10 | Ric Converse | 1 | 217 |
11 | Ricky Landell | 1 | 133 |
12 | Shinjiro Otani | 1 | 69 |
13 | Masato Tanaka | 1 | 50 |
14 | The Patriot/Danny Dominion | 2 | 2 |
15 | Dale Gagne | 1 | 0 |
Keith Walker | 1 | 0 | |
— | Brian Logan | 1 | 0 |
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
American Wrestling Affiliates (AWA) | ||||||||||
1 | Brian Logan | April 20, 2008 | House show | Fayetteville, West Virginia | 1 | 195 | Logan 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] | ||
2 | Tony Givens | November 1, 2008 | House show | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 20 | ||||
3 | Brian Logan | November 21, 2008 | House show | Buckhannon, West Virginia | 2 | 70 | ||||
— | Vacated | January 30, 2009 | — | Kingsport, Tennessee | — | — | The championship is vacated after moving to the Championship Wrestling Alliance. | |||
Championship Wrestling Alliance (CWA) | ||||||||||
4 | Brian Logan | January 30, 2009 | House show | Kingsport, Tennessee | 3 | 120 | Logan, the reigning AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was awarded the CWA World Heavyweight title. | |||
5 | Robbie Cassidy | May 30, 2009 | House show | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 385 | [7] | |||
6 | Chris Richards | June 19, 2010 | House show | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 230 | ||||
— | Deactivated | February 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. |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Robbie Cassidy | 1 | 385 |
Brian Logan | 3 | 385 | |
3 | Chris Richards | 1 | 230 |
4 | Tony Givens | 1 | 20 |
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Jerry O'Neil Lawler, better known as Jerry "the King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract.
Rodney Begnaud is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by the ring name Rodney Mack. He is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he performs under the ring name Damage as a member of Blunt Force Trauma, and is currently one-half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions. He is best known for his time with WWE.
Curtis Michael Hennig, better known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by many peers, critics, and fans, he performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and NWA Total Nonstop Action. Hennig was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of wrestler Curtis Axel.
Matthew Robert Wiese is an American retired professional wrestler and actor. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed on its SmackDown brand under the ring name Luther Reigns.
Christopher Alan Pallies was an American professional wrestler, stand-up comedian and actor better known by his wrestling gimmick and ring name, King Kong Bundy. Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, trash-talking villain character.
Harley Leland Race was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer.
Don Muraco is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and was crowned the inaugural winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.
Charles Wicks is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled as Chad Toland in its Ohio Valley Wrestling affiliate and later as Chad Dick on its SmackDown! brand.
Lawrence Whistler, better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during the early 1980s as well as his work as a wrestler and color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. Among other accolades, he is a two-time world champion having twice held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Zbyszko was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015, by Sammartino.
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.
Ronald Heard was an American professional wrestler, best known under the name "The Outlaw" Ron Bass. His gimmick was a Texan cowboy who entered World Wrestling Federation (WWF) rings to the sound of a bullwhip.
Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL), previously known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA), was a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions that sanctioned various championships. It was founded in 1996 by Dale Gagne and Jonnie Stewart and closed in 2009.
Matthew Wade Osborne, known professionally as Matt Borne, was an American professional wrestler. Osborne was a second generation wrestler, the son of Tony Borne, and is best known as being the first wrestler to portray the character of Doink the Clown.
Kirby Mack is a retired American professional wrestler, known for his appearances on the independent circuit. He also wrestled for mainstream promotions such as World Wrestling Entertainment, Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
The AWA Japan Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship in the AWA Superstars of Wrestling promotion. It was spun off from the AWA Superstars of Wrestling version of the AWA World Women's Championship. The inaugural champion was Sherri Martel.
The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1. It is Zero1's top singles title. It was first introduced on December 15, 2007 when Zero1 ended their relationship with the AWA Superstars of Wrestling. The AWA Superstars of Wrestling Champion at the time, Masato Tanaka, was then recognized as the first Zero1 World Heavyweight Champion. To this day, Zero1 continues to use the AWA title belt, which reads "AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion", to represent their world heavyweight championship.
Ricky Landell is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for competing in various independent promotions, the most notable being Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX / Pro Wrestling Zero1 and AWA Superstars of Wrestling / Wrestling Superstars Live.
Keith Walker is an American professional wrestler who competes in North American and international promotions including Ring of Honor, Harley Race's World League Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.