Date established November, 1957 First champion(s) Lou Thesz | Date retired April 18, 1989 Longest reign Giant Baba
(944 days) | |
Promotion Japan Wrestling Association, All Japan Pro Wrestling, NWA Hollywood Wrestling & Championship Wrestling from Florida Most reigns Giant Baba, Dory Funk, Jr., Bruiser Brody & Jumbo Tsuruta (3 reigns) | ||
The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in 1989. From 1981 to the creation of the Triple Crown, All Japan considered the NWA International title to be its top singles championship.
Under Rikidōzan the belt had a design similar to Lou Thesz's original NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt during the 1950s, but after Rikidōzan's death, the belt given to Giant Baba had the design seen on the belt part of the Triple Crown until 2013. 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.