NWA International Heavyweight Championship
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- This was a regional NWA championship based in Japan. For the WCW International World championship, see WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.
The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Wrestling Association, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the AJPW Triple Crown Championship in 1989.
Under Rikidozan the belt had a design similar to Lou Thesz's original NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt during the 1950s, but after Rikidozan's death, the belt given to Giant Baba had the design seen today on the belt part of the Triple Crown. The original design was later used on the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the UWFI belt (which was the original Lou Thesz belt), and a belt later given to Kazushi Sakuraba for show.
[edit] Title history
| Wrestler: | Times: | Date: | Place: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lou Thesz1 | 1 | November 1957 | |
| Rikidozan | 1 | August 27, 1958 | Los Angeles, California |
| The title was vacated on December 15, 1963 following Rikidozan's death from stab wounds suffered one week earlier in Tokyo, Japan. | |||
| Giant Baba2 | 1 | November 24, 1965 | Osaka, Japan |
| Bobo Brazil | 1 | June 25, 1968 | Nagoya, Japan |
| Giant Baba | 2 | June 27, 1968 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Gene Kiniski | 1 | December 3, 1970 | Osaka, Japan |
| Giant Baba | 3 | December 19, 1970 | Los Angeles, California |
| The title was vacated on September 2, 1972 when Baba left the Japan Wrestling Association to start All Japan Pro Wrestling. | |||
| Bobo Brazil3 | 2 | December 1, 1972 | Yokohama, Japan |
| Kintaro Ohki | 1 | December 4, 1972 | Hiroshima, Japan |
| After the JWA closed in 1973, Ohki took the belt to South Korea from where he defended it. He vacated the title on April 13, 1981 under orders from the NWA. | |||
| Dory Funk, Jr.4 | 1 | April 30, 1981 | Matsudo, Japan |
| Bruiser Brody | 1 | October 9, 1981 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Dory Funk, Jr. | 2 | November 1, 1981 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Bruiser Brody | 2 | April 21, 1982 | Osaka, Japan |
| Jumbo Tsuruta | 1 | August 31, 1983 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Stan Hansen | 1 | July 31, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Jumbo Tsuruta | 2 | October 21, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Bruiser Brody | 3 | March 27, 1988 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Jumbo Tsuruta | 3 | April 18, 1988 | Sendai, Japan |
| Unified with PWF Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship to create the AJPW Triple Crown Championship. | |||
1 Thesz was awarded the championship by the NWA. Houston NWA promoter Morris Sigel claimed that Thesz has won the title by defeating Antonino Rocca in 1949.
2 Baba defeated Dick the Bruiser for the vacant title.
3 Brazil defeated Kintaro Ohki for the vacant title.
4 Won tournament for the vacant title when Bruiser Brody is injured and unable to wrestle in the finals. Defeated Terry Funk for his first title defense instead.
