| WSW World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 WSW World Heavyweight Championship belt (2018–2022) | |||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||
| Promotion | World Series Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Date established | 5 October 2005 [1] | ||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Matt Cardona | ||||||||||||||
| Date won | 13 October 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
The WSW World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship contested for in the heavyweight division of World Series Wrestling (WSW).
On 5 October 2005, during WSW's first show, Rhino became the inaugural champion by defeating Jeff Jarrett, during a tour that took part in Melbourne, Victoria. [1] Rhino held the championship for three days before losing it to Jarrett on 8 October. [2] On 1 May 2007, due to Jarrett's commitments with Total Nonstop Action (TNA), WSW stippred him of the championship. [2] on 1 June, Bryan Danielson won the vacant championship by defeating Nigel McGuinness. [2]
On 31 August 2007, the championship was deactivated as WSW went to hiatus. Ten years later, on 25 November 2017, Ricochet won the now reactivated championship after defeating Austin Aries and Brian Cage in a three-way match. [3] In 2019, the championship was vacated with the previous titleholder being Marty Scurll. [4] [ citation needed ] On 8 July 2022, Johnny Downunder won the vacant championship after defeating Joey Janela in a no disqualification match. [5] Downunder has previously won the title under the ring name Johnny Impact. [6]
As of 17May2024, there have been 15 reigns between 12 wrestlers and two vacancies. Rhino was the inaugural champion. Austin Aries, Johnny Downunder (also known as Johnny Impact) and Matt Cardona, share the record for most reigns at two. Aries is the oldest champion at 40 years old, while Bryan Danielson is the youngest at 26 years old. Jeff Jarrett's reign is the longest at 570 days, while Brian Cage and Impact's first reign was the shortest at one day.
Matt Cardona is the current champion in his second reign. He won the title by defeating Shawn Spears in a street fight at the final day of Full Throttle on 13 October 2023, in Sydney, New South Wales.
| 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 | ||||
| 1 | Rhino | 5 October 2005 | International Assault Tour Day 1 | Melbourne, Victoria | 1 | 3 | Defeated Jeff Jarrett to become inaugural champion. | [1] |
| 2 | Jeff Jarrett | 8 October 2005 | International Assault Tour Day 3 | Newcastle, New South Wales | 1 | 570 | [2] | |
| — | Vacated | 1 May 2007 | — | — | — | — | WSW stripped Jeff Jarrett of the championship due to his commitments with Total Nonstop Action (TNA). | [2] |
| 3 | Bryan Danielson | 1 June 2007 | International Assault Tour Day 1 | Kensington, New South Wales | 1 | 2 | Defeated Nigel McGuinness to win the vacant championship. | [2] |
| 4 | Billy Kidman | 3 June 2007 | International Assault Tour Day 3 | Newcastle West, New South Wales | 1 | 89 | [2] | |
| — | Deactivated | 31 August 2007 | — | — | — | — | The championship became inactive after WSW went to hiatus. | [ citation needed ] |
| 5 | Ricochet | 25 November 2017 | International Assault Tour 2K17 Day 2 | Adelaide, South Australia | 1 | 2 | Defeated Austin Aries and Brian Cage in a three-way match to win the vacant championship. | [3] |
| 6 | Austin Aries | 27 November 2017 | International Assault Tour 2K17 Day 4 | Penrith, New South Wales | 1 | 207 | [7] | |
| 7 | Brian Cage | 22 June 2018 | International Assault Best of the Best 2K18 Day 1 | Ferntree Gully, Victoria | 1 | 1 | This was a three-way match, also involving Johnny Impact. | [6] |
| 8 | Johnny Impact | 23 June 2018 | International Assault Best of the Best 2K18 Day 2 | Ferntree Gully, Victoria | 1 | 1 | [6] | |
| 9 | Austin Aries | 24 June 2018 | International Assault Best of the best 2K18 Day 3 | Adelaide, South Australia | 2 | 155 | [6] | |
| 10 | Robbie Eagles | 26 November 2018 | International Assault the Elite Takeover Day 4 | Ferntree Gully, Victoria | 1 | 208 | [8] | |
| 11 | Marty Scurll | 22 June 2019 | International Assault Zero Fear Day 2 | Ferntree Gully, Victoria | 1 | N/A [lower-alpha 1] | [4] | |
| — | Vacated | 2019 | — | — | — | — | The championship was vacated for undocumented reasons. Marty Scurll was still a champion on 23 June. | [ citation needed ] |
| 12 | Johnny Downunder | 8 July 2022 | Phoenix Rising Day 1 | Adelaide, South Australia | 2 | 246 | Defeated Joey Janela in a no disqualification match to win the vacant championship. Downunder was previously known as Johnny Impact. | [5] |
| 13 | Matt Cardona | 11 March 2023 | Unleash Hell Day 2 | Melbourne, Victoria | 1 | 209 | [9] | |
| 14 | Shawn Spears | 6 October 2023 | Full Throttle Day 1 | Melbourne, Victoria | 1 | 7 | [10] | |
| 15 | Matt Cardona | 13 October 2023 | Full Throttle Day 6 | Sydney, New South Wales | 2 | 217+ | ||
| † | Indicates the current champion. |
| N/A | The exact length of a title reign is too uncertain to calculate. |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of Reigns | Combined Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Jarrett | 1 | 540 |
| 2 | Matt Cardona † | 2 | 426+ |
| 3 | Austin Aries | 2 | 362 |
| 4 | Johnny Downunder/Impact | 2 | 247 |
| 5 | Robbie Eagles | 1 | 208 |
| 6 | Billy Kidman | 1 | 89 |
| 7 | Shawn Spears | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Rhino | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Bryan Danielson | 1 | 2 |
| Ricochet | 1 | 2 | |
| 11 | Brian Cage | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Marty Scurll | 1 | N/A [lower-alpha 1] |
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