List of NWA World Heavyweight Champions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title. It is the highest ranked championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. The title is currently being defended as the top championship in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

[edit] History

This is a list, by ring name, of people that have been NWA World Heavyweight Champion before and during the belt's time in TNA. (The championship's lineage is unclear and this list may possibly be incomplete and/or inaccurate)

Wrestler:	Reigns:	Date:	Place:	Notes:
Orville Brown	1	June 27, 1940	Columbus, OH	Held Midwest Wrestling Association World Titles in Kansas City, MO and Columbus, OH. After the MWA was dissolved into the NWA in 1948, Brown was recognized as having become the NWA champion upon winning the MWA belts.
Sonny Myres	1	November 3, 1947	Des Moines, IA
Orville Brown	2	January 5, 1948	Des Moines, IA
Lou Thesz	1	November 27, 1949		Awarded when Brown suffers career-ending injuries in an automobile accident on November 1. The title is also unified with the World Heavyweight Championship (National Wrestling Association).
Whipper Billy Watson	1	March 15, 1956	Toronto, Ontario	Won by countout.
Lou Thesz	2	November 9, 1956	St. Louis, MO
Édouard Carpentier†	#	June 14, 1957	Chicago, IL
Lou Thesz	2	July 24, 1957	Montreal, Quebec	Carpentier withdrew his claim to the title when his manager resigned from the NWA.
Dick Hutton	1	November 14, 1957	Toronto, Ontario
Pat O'Connor	1	January 9, 1959	St. Louis, MO
Buddy Rogers	1	June 30, 1961	Chicago, IL
Bobo Brazil	1#	August 18, 1962
Buddy Rogers	1	October 30, 1962		Bobo Brazil refused the title because of an groin injury that Rogers had claimed to have. However, on September 6, 1962, Brazil is declared the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion because a doctor had determined that Rogers hadn't suffered an injury.^[1]
Lou Thesz	3	January 24, 1963	Toronto, Ontario	Promoters in the northeast United States refuses to recognize Rogers' one-fall loss to Lou Thesz, thus breaking away from the NWA to form a new promotion, the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Rogers is declared the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion soon after.
Gene Kiniski	1	January 7, 1966	St. Louis, MO
Dory Funk, Jr.	1	February 11, 1969	Tampa, FL
Harley Race	1	May 24, 1973	Kansas City, MO
Jack Brisco	1	July 20, 1973	Houston, TX
Giant Baba	1	December 2, 1974	Kagoshima, Japan
Jack Brisco	2	December 8, 1974	Toyohashi, Japan
Terry Funk	1	December 10, 1975	Miami, FL
Harley Race	2	February 6, 1977	Toronto, Ontario
Dusty Rhodes	1	August 21, 1979	Tampa, FL
Harley Race	3	August 26, 1979	Orlando, FL
Giant Baba	2	October 31, 1979	Nagoya, Japan
Harley Race	4	November 7, 1979	Amagasaki, Japan
Giant Baba	3	September 4, 1980	Saga, Japan
Harley Race	5	September 9, 1980	Ohtsu, Japan
Tommy Rich	1	April 27, 1981	Augusta, GA
Harley Race	6	May 1, 1981	Gainesville, GA
Dusty Rhodes	2	June 21, 1981	Atlanta, GA
Ric Flair	1	September 17, 1981	Kansas City, MO	Wrestled to a double countout against WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund on July 4, 1982 in Atlanta, GA.
The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes)†	#	February 9, 1982	Tampa, FL	Rhodes, wrestling under a mask as The Midnight Rider due to being under suspension in Florida, returned the title belt when NWA President Bob Geigel asked the Midnight Rider to unmask or return the belt (NWA rules of the time forbade masked wrestlers from holding the World Heavyweight title).
Ric Flair	1*	February 9, 1982	Tampa, FL
Jack Veneno†	#	September, 1982	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Ric Flair†	1*	September 7, 1982	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Carlos Colón†	#	January 6, 1983	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Ric Flair†	1*	January 23, 1983	Miami, FL
Victor Jovica†	#	February 8, 1983	Couva, Trinidad
Ric Flair†	1*	February 11, 1983	Manatí, Puerto Rico
Harley Race	7	June 10, 1983	St. Louis, MO
Ric Flair	2*	November 24, 1983	Greensboro, NC
Harley Race	8	March 21, 1984	Wellington, New Zealand
Ric Flair	3*	March 23, 1984	Singapore
Kerry Von Erich	1	May 6, 1984	Irving, TX
Ric Flair	4*	May 24, 1984	Yokosuka, Japan
Dusty Rhodes	3	July 26, 1986	Greensboro, NC
Ric Flair	5*	August 9, 1986	St. Louis, MO
Ron Garvin	1	September 25, 1987	Detroit, MI
Ric Flair	6*	November 26, 1987	Chicago, IL
Ricky Steamboat	1	February 20, 1989	Chicago, IL
Ric Flair	7*	May 7, 1989	Nashville, TN
Sting††	1	July 7, 1990	Baltimore, MD
Ric Flair	8*	January 11, 1991	East Rutherford, NJ
Tatsumi Fujinami	1	March 21, 1991	Tokyo, Japan
Ric Flair	9*	May 19, 1991	St. Petersburg, FL
Stripped		September 8, 1991		Flair was stripped of the title upon signing with the World Wrestling Federation. This was the first time in the championship's history that it was vacant.
Masahiro Chono	1	August 12, 1992	Tokyo, Japan	Defeated Rick Rude in tournament final.
The Great Muta	1	January 4, 1993	Tokyo, Japan	Won in a Title vs Title match as Muta's IWGP Heavyweight Title was also on the line.
Barry Windham	1	February 21, 1993	Asheville, NC
Ric Flair	10*	July 18, 1993	Biloxi, MS
Vacated		September 19, 1993		NWA recognition dropped when World Championship Wrestling withdraws from the NWA. WCW continues to recognize Flair as their champion, as the WCW International World Heavyweight Champion.
Shane Douglas	1	August 27, 1994	Philadelphia, PA	Defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in tournament final.
Vacated		August 27, 1994	Philadelphia, PA	Douglas refused the NWA Title in favor of the Eastern Championship Wrestling Title, which he already held. ECW withdraws from the NWA, and becomes Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Chris Candido	1	November 19, 1994	Cherry Hill, NJ	Defeated Tracy Smothers in tournament final.
Dan Severn	1	February 24, 1995	Erlanger, KY
Naoya Ogawa	1	March 14, 1999	Yokohama, Japan
Gary Steele	1	September 25, 1999	Charlotte, NC	Pinned Ogawa in a three-way match also involving Brian Anthony.
Naoya Ogawa	2	October 2, 1999	Thomaston, CT
Vacated		July 2, 2000		Ogawa vacates the title.
Mike Rapada	1	September 19, 2000	Tampa, FL	Defeated Jerry Flynn in tournament final.
Sabu	1	November 14, 2000	Tampa, FL
Mike Rapada	2	December 22, 2000	Nashville, TN
Steve Corino	1	April 24, 2001	Tampa, FL
Held up		October 13, 2001	St. Petersburg, FL	Held up after match against Shinya Hashimoto.
Shinya Hashimoto	1	December 15, 2001	McKeesport, PA	Defeated Corino and Gary Steele in a three-way ironman match.
Dan Severn	2	March 9, 2002	Tokyo, Japan	The referee gave a fast count. Was stripped of the championship on May 28 when he couldn't make a title defense for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's inaugural event on June 19
NWA World Heavyweight Championship is made exclusive to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Ken Shamrock	1	June 19, 2002	Hunstville, AL	Won a Gauntlet for the Gold match, last defeating Malice.
Ron Killings	1	August 7, 2002	Nashville, TN
Jeff Jarrett	1	November 20, 2002	Nashville, TN	Unified the title with the WWA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Sting on May 25, 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand.
A.J. Styles	1	June 11, 2003	Nashville, TN	Defeated Jarrett and Raven in a Triple Threat.
Jeff Jarrett	2	October 22, 2003	Nashville, TN
A.J. Styles	2	April 21, 2004	Nashville, TN	This was a Steel Cage match.
Ron Killings	2	May 19, 2004	Nashville, TN	Defeated A.J. Styles, Raven, and Chris Harris in a Deadly Draw.
Jeff Jarrett	3	June 2, 2004	Nashville, TN	Defeated A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, Raven and Chris Harris in a King of the Mountain match.
A.J. Styles	3	May 15, 2005	Orlando, FL
Raven	1	June 19, 2005	Orlando, FL	Defeated A.J. Styles, Abyss, Monty Brown and Sean Waltman in a King of the Mountain match.
Jeff Jarrett	4	September 15, 2005	Oldcastle, Ontario	Took place under Border City Wrestling.
Rhino	1	October 23, 2005	Orlando, FL
Jeff Jarrett	5	October 25, 2005	Orlando, FL
Christian Cage	1	February 12, 2006	Orlando, FL
Jeff Jarrett	6	June 18, 2006	Orlando, FL	Jarrett won the title due to interference by referee Earl Hebner. Jim Cornette stripped Jarrett of the belt later that week, then returned it to him the following week on the condition that he face the winner of a #1 contender match being held at Victory Road on July 16, 2006.
Sting††	2	October 22, 2006	Plymouth, Michigan
Abyss	1	November 19, 2006	Orlando, FL	Won via disqualification
Christian Cage	2	January 14, 2007	Orlando, FL	Defeated Sting and Abyss in a Three Way Elimination match.

* Flair's total does not include four "unofficial" reigns from the Caribbean in 1983.
†Unofficial title changes not recognized by the NWA.
††Sting is the only wrestler who has won the NWA Heavyweight Championship before and after TNA's inception.