World Class Heavyweight Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The World Class Heavyweight Championship was the major title in World Class Championship Wrestling. It started out as the NWA American Heavyweight Championship and was also called the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship. When WCCW pulled out of the NWA in 1986, it became the World Class Wrestling Association Heavyweight Championship. The title was unified by Jerry Lawler with his version of the AWA title in 1989 and continued as the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. World Class returned in September 1990 when the organization withdrew from the USWA, but the promotion ceased operations three months later. Kevin Von Erich is the official last World Class champion, winning the title on November 23, 1990; which eventually was the last World Class card.
[edit] Title history
| Wrestlers: | Reigns: | Date: | Place: |
| NWA/WCCW American Heavyweight Title | |||
| Fritz Von Erich | 1 | June 6, 1966 | Texas (Defeated Brute Bernard) |
| Johnny Valentine | 1 | June 9, 1966 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 2 | August 4, 1966 | Texas |
| Brute Bernard | 1 | 1966 or 1967 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 3 | March 27, 1967 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| The Spoiler | 1 | April 1968 | Houston, TX |
| Held Up | April 1968 | Title held up due to interference by manager Gary Hart | |
| Fritz Von Erich | 4 | June 3, 1968 | Ft. Worth, TX (Won rematch) |
| Kenji Shibuya | 1 | 1968 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 5 | 1968 | Texas |
| Johnny Valentine | 2 | May 2, 1969 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 6 | August 4, 1969 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Held Up | August 5, 1969 | Title held up after match against Johnny Valentine | |
| Fritz Von Erich | 7 | October 21, 1969 | Dallas, TX (Won rematch) |
| Vacated | 1970 | Title vacant | |
| Boris Malenko | 1 | May 18, 1970 | Texas (Defeated Mil Mascaras in tournament final) |
| Fritz Von Erich | 8 | June 14, 1970 | Texas |
| Baron Von Raschke | 1 | 1970 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 9 | 1970 | Texas |
| Toru Tanaka | 1 | December 18, 1970 | Houston, TX |
| Fritz Von Erich | 10 | February 22, 1971 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Toru Tanaka | 2 | February 23, 1971 | Dallas, TX |
| Wahoo McDaniel | 1 | March 5, 1971 | Houston, TX |
| The Spoiler | 2 | December 11, 1971 | San Antonio, TX |
| Billy Red Lyons | 1 | June 24, 1972 | Irving, TX |
| Johnny Valentine | 3 | August 7, 1972 | Texas |
| Missouri Mauler | 1 | March 2, 1973 | Chicago, IL |
| Fritz Von Erich | 11 | August 7, 1973 | Dallas, TX |
| The Texan (AKA Blackjack Mulligan) | 1 | March 19, 1974 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 12 | April 18, 1974 | Texas |
| Blackjack Lanza | 1 | December 2, 1974 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 13 | December 29, 1974 | Texas |
| Bruiser Brody | 1 | January 3, 1977 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 14 | April 12, 1977 | Texas |
| Bruiser Brody | 2 | April 13, 1977 | Texas |
| Captain USA (AKA Big John Studd) | 1 | July 25, 1977 | Texas |
| Ox Baker | 1 | September 30, 1977 | Texas |
| Fritz Von Erich | 15 | December 12, 1977 | Texas |
| Bruiser Brody | 3 | September 11, 1978 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Kevin Von Erich | 1 | December 25, 1978 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| The Spoiler | 3 | April 1, 1979 | Puerto Rico |
| Wahoo McDaniel | 2 | May 13, 1979 | Houston, TX |
| The Spoiler | 4 | June 2, 1979 | Houston, TX (Awarded due to injury to Wahoo) |
| El Halcon | 1 | August 5, 1979 | Dallas, TX |
| The Spoiler | 5 | October 7, 1979 | Dallas, TX |
| Bruiser Brody | 4 | November 30, 1979 | Houston, TX |
| Ox Baker | 2 | January 2, 1980 | San Francisco, CA |
| Kevin Von Erich | 2 | January 12, 1980 | Dallas, TX |
| Toru Tanaka | 3 | April 20, 1980 | Dallas, TX |
| Kevin Von Erich | 3 | April 28, 1980 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Gino Hernandez | 1 | May 25, 1980 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Held Up | December 20, 1980 | Title held up after match against Kevin Von Erich | |
| Kerry Von Erich | 1 | December 28, 1980 | Dallas, TX (Subbed for injured Kevin & won rematch against Hernandez) |
| Ken Patera | 1 | 1981 | Texas |
| Masked Superstar | 1 | 1981 | Texas |
| Kerry Von Erich | 2 | 1981 | Texas |
| Ernie Ladd | 1 | May 11, 1981 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Kerry Von Erich | 3 | June 4, 1981 | New Orleans, LA |
| Great Kabuki | 1 | September 25, 1981 | Lawton, OK |
| Bugsy McGraw | 1 | December 26, 1981 | Columbus, OH |
| Kerry Von Erich | 4 | March 8, 1982 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| King Kong Bundy | 1 | May 5, 1982 | Lawton, OK |
| Fritz Von Erich | 16 | June 14, 1982 | Irving, TX |
| Vacated | June 14, 1982 | Fritz won the title in his retirement match-vacated immediately | |
| King Kong Bundy | 2 | June 15, 1982 | Awarded when Fritz retired |
| Kevin Von Erich | 4 | September 5, 1982 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Terry Gordy | 1 | January 21, 1983 | Dallas, TX |
| Kevin Von Erich | 5 | March 4, 1983 | Dallas, TX |
| Held Up | July 11, 1983 | Title held up after match against Jimmy Garvin | |
| Jimmy Garvin | 1 | July 25, 1983 | Ft. Worth, TX (Won rematch) |
| Chris Adams | 1 | November 24, 1983 | Dallas, TX |
| Jimmy Garvin | 2 | December 25, 1983 | Dallas, TX |
| Chris Adams | 2 | January 30, 1984 | Texas |
| Jimmy Garvin | 3 | April 2, 1984 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Chris Adams | 3 | April 4, 1984 | Texas |
| Jimmy Garvin | 4 | April 1984 | Texas |
| Gino Hernandez | 2 | May 18, 1984 | San Juan, PR |
| Mike Von Erich | 1 | August 4, 1984 | Dallas, TX |
| Gino Hernandez | 3 | September 3, 1984 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Kerry Von Erich | 5 | October 29, 1984 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| Chris Adams | 4 | February 8, 1985 | Dallas, TX |
| Iceman King Parsons | 1 | July 5, 1985 | Dallas, TX |
| Rick Rude | 1 | November 4, 1985 | Ft. Worth, TX |
| renamed WCWA Heavyweight Title 2-20-86 | |||
| Chris Adams | 5 | July 4, 1986 | Dallas, TX |
| Black Bart | 1 | September 15, 1986 | Dallas, TX (was billed as taken place in Los Angeles; title awarded when Chris Adams left WCCW) |
| Kevin Von Erich | 6 | October 12, 1986 | Dallas, TX |
| Al Perez | 1 | August 21, 1987 | Dallas, TX (Won by forfeit) |
| Kerry Von Erich | 6 | March 6, 1988 | Dallas, TX |
| Iceman King Parsons | 2 | March 25, 1988 | Dallas, TX |
| Kerry Von Erich | 7 | May 9, 1988 | Irving, TX |
| Jerry Lawler | 1 | October 23, 1988 | Memphis, TN |
| Kerry Von Erich | 8 | November 4, 1988 | Dallas, TX |
| Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | December 9, 1988 | Tokyo, Japan (Von Erich bleeding too heavily to continue) |
| Kerry Von Erich | 9 | December 10, 1988 | Title returned when Fujinami refuses it because of ending |
| Jerry Lawler | 2 | December 13, 1988 | Chicago, IL (Lawler already was AWA World Champion. In January 1989, he was stripped of the AWA title but continued to claim both the World Class and the AWA titles (the latter based on based on CWA)as Unified World Heavyweight Champion. |
| Held Up | April 5, 1989 | Title held up after match against Kerry Von Erich | |
| Jerry Lawler | 3 | April 14, 1989 | Defeats Kerry Von Erich in rematch, finally unifying the World Class and his version of the AWA title into the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. |
| Kevin Von Erich | 7 | November 23, 1990 | winning the title on the last World Class card |
