World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha)

World Heavyweight Championship
Details
Promotion American Wrestling Association
Date established June 14, 1957
Date retired September 7, 1963

The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship sanctioned by a group of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promoters led by the NWA affiliate in Omaha, Nebraska. These promoters chose to recognize Édouard Carpentier as NWA World Heavyweight Champion following his disputed win over NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz on June 14, 1957.[1] The majority of NWA promoters continued to recognize Thesz as their champion.

It was often contested alongside the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and the two titles were finally unified when AWA champion Verne Gagne defeated Omaha champion Fritz Von Erich on September 7, 1963.

Title history

Key
Symbol Meaning
No. The overall championship reign
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event The event in which the championship changed hands
N/A The specific information is not known
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
[Note #] Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details.
# Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 Carpentier, ÉdouardÉdouard Carpentier 1 June 14, 1957 421 Chicago, Illinois House show Recognized as champion after a disputed win over NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz. The majority of the NWA promotions continue to recognize Thesz as their champion. [1]
2 Gagne, VerneVerne Gagne 1 August 9, 1958 98 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
3 Snyder, WilburWilbur Snyder 1 November 15, 1958 [Note 1] Omaha, Nebraska House show    
4 Dick the Bruiser 1 1959 [Note 2] Omaha, Nebraska House show Sometime after January 27, 1959.  
5 Snyder, WilburWilbur Snyder 2 July 25, 1959 70 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
6 Dr. X 1 October 3, 1959 96 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
7 Jonathan, Don LeoDon Leo Jonathan 1 January 7, 1960 394 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
8 Dr. X 2 February 4, 1961 58 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
9 Jonathan, Don LeoDon Leo Jonathan 2 April 3, 1961 [Note 3] Omaha, Nebraska House show   [2]
- Vacated - April 1961 N/A N/A N/A Vacant after a disqualification loss to Bobo Brazil.  
10 Jonathan, Don LeoDon Leo Jonathan 3 May 20, 1961 119 Omaha, Nebraska House show Defeated Bobo Brazil to win the vacant title.  
11 Gagne, VerneVerne Gagne 2 September 16, 1961 318 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
12 Von Erich, FritzFritz Von Erich 1 July 31, 1962 25 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
13 Gagne, VerneVerne Gagne 3 August 25, 1962 174 Omaha, Nebraska House show    
14 The Crusher 1 February 15, 1963 155 Omaha, Nebraska House show Also won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Verne Gagne on July 9, 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota  
15 Gagne, VerneVerne Gagne 4 July 20, 1963 7 Minneapolis, Minnesota House show Won both the Omaha title and AWA title.  
16 Von Erich, FritzFritz Von Erich 2 July 27, 1963 42 Omaha, Nebraska House show Won both the Omaha title and AWA title.  
17 Gagne, VerneVerne Gagne 5 September 7, 1963 0 Omaha, Nebraska House show Won the AWA title from Fritz Von Erich on August 8, 1963 in Amarillo, Texas.  
- Title retired - September 7, 1963 Omaha, Nebraska N/A N/A The Omaha title was unified with the AWA title.  

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The exact date Snyder lost the championship is uncertain, putting his title reign at between 47 and 251 days.
  2. ↑ The exact date Dick the Bruiser won the championship is uncertain, putting his title reign at between 1 day and 179 days.
  3. ↑ The exact date the championship was vacated is uncertain, putting the title reign at between 1 and 28 days.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Canadian Hall of Fame: Edouard Carpentier". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  2. ↑ F4W Staff (April 3, 2015). "ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING TITLE CHANGE HISTORY: GOTCH VS. HACKENSCHMIDT, INOKI VS. HANSEN, GUERRERO VS. JERICHO". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
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