Date established February 12, 1979 First champion(s) Don Fargo Longest reign Don Fargo (595 days) | Date retired 2006 Most reigns N/A | |
Promotion American Wrestling Association (AWA) | ||
The AWA Brass Knuckles Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the American Wrestling Association (AWA) promotion. The championship was introduced on February 12, 1979 at a Mid-South Coliseum live event. It was active until May 1981 when the title belt was abandoned after Crusher Lisowski left the promotion.
Contents
It debuted as a part of a storyline to introduce Don Fargo to the Memphis wrestling territory; this allowed Fargo to challenge various wrestlers in hardcore-themed matches. Like most professional wrestling "brass knuckle" championships, both wrestlers would heavily tape their fists to give the impression that each participant were wearing brass knuckles; the title was generally defended in no-disqualification matches and it was legal to punch an opponent. Fargo and Lisowski were the only champions during its original run, with Gino Martino as the first and last champion of the revived AWA Superstars version.
History
The AWA Brass Knuckles Championship was first defended on February 12, 1979 at the Mid-South Coliseum, in a match between Don Fargo and Robert Gibson. Fargo was billed by the promotion as the "World Brass Knuckles Champion", however, the title mostly defended in the Continental Wrestling Association. Together with manager Al Greene, Fargo would use the title to engage in wild brawls with other stars of the Memphis territory. During his 1979-80 run with the CWA and his brother Jackie Fargo were allies of Jerry "The King" Lawler; Fargo also formed tag teams Chris Colt, The Destroyer, and Dennis Condrey. One of his most notable matches as AWA Brass Knuckles Champion was against Jimmy Valiant on September 29, 1980, who defeated Fargo via disqualification. The title was abandoned after Fargo left the Memphis territory at the end of the month.
On October 20, 1980, Crusher Lisowski won the vacant title after defeating "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lisowski defended the title in the American Wrestling Association for five months until leaving the promotion in the summer of 1981, after having suffered a career-ending injury at the hands of Jerry Blackwell, and the title became abandoned once again.
The title remained inactive for 25 years until being revived by AWA Superstars in late-2005. The storyline behind this title began in Millennium Wrestling Federation, then the AWA affiliate promotion for New England, during the feud between "The Extreme Strongman" Gino Martino and Ox Baker. Baker claimed that he and The Crusher got into a brawl at Lisowski's bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1981, leaving with the brass knuckles title after knocking out Lisowski in the bar-room brawl. Baker then had the title, in actuality a trophy, melted down into a championship belt. He then used the brass knuckles title to lure Martino into a match with a member of Ox Baker's Army. On September 24, Martino won the title after defeating Kamala the Ugandan Giant in a "King of the Jungle" death match at the MWF's "Road to the Gold" in Lynn, Massachusetts. A title defense against The Missing Link at "Soul Survivor III" on November 5, 2005, ended in a no-contest. In the next few two months he also defended the title against The Outpatient, Leo Venis, and Makua of The Big Islanders in both No Disqualification and Falls Count Anywhere matches.
It was considered an "unsanctioned" championship by the MWF and was defended not only in the AWA's eastern Canadian affiliate, CWA Montreal, but in rival New England promotions as well. On November 19, 2005, Martino defeated The Outpatient in a Cape Cod Collision Match at an interpromotional show for the MWF and Paulie Gilmore's New World Wrestling in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. He was later awarded the NWW Undisputed Brass Knuckles Championship several months later given that Martino also held the AWA and NWA New England Brass Knuckles Championship.
On January 16, 2006, Martino made his first title defense in CWA Montreal successfully defended the title in a Bloodbath match against Pierre "The Beast" Vachon. In the following months he also wrestled Hellraiser Payne and Abdul Hannish before the title was abandoned in March 2006. The championship was permanently deactivated when AWA Superstars was forced via a court order to rescind the sanctioning rights for the MWF and most of its other affiliates the following year.
Reigns
Don Fargo was the first champion in the title's history. He also held the record for longest reign at 595 days. Gino Martino's only championship reign lasted about 5 months. There were three wrestlers who each had one reigns in the title history.