Date retired December 26, 1986 | First champion(s) Pat O'Connor | |
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Promotion National Wrestling Alliance
Jim Crockett Promotions
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Date established October 13, 1970 (Re-established in 1996) Most reigns Wahoo McDaniel (7 times) Longest reign Buff Bagwell (1,807 days) | ||
The NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship contested for in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a territory-promotion governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was only contestable by male individual wrestlers. Since 1974, JCP was also known as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" (MACW), which is why all of its championships included "Mid-Atlantic" in their names. Being a professional wrestling championship, it was not won legitimately; it was instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. In 1970, the championship was introduced as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship during a taping of Championship Wrestling on October 13, 1970. It was announced that the Missouri Mauler had defeated the defending champion Pat O'Connor in New York City to win the title; this title change was fictitious and a storyline to introduce the championship to the promotion; nevertheless, O'Connor's reign is denoted as the first official reign. Because it was fictitious, further information regarding O'Connor's reign is unavailable.
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On the September 6, 1973 taping of Championship Wrestling, JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr. announced the retirement of the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship and the establishment of the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship; this coincided with the rebranding of JCP as MACW. At the time of this change, Jerry Brisco was in his fourth reign as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Champion, and as a result of never losing the title, he was recognized as the first NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. Because Brisco's fourth reign did not end, being awarded the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title is not counted as a new reign overall in the title's history. On December 26, 1986, Ron Garvin, after winning JCP's version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with Barry Windham, vacated the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title and handed the belt to Crockett, Jr. on a taping of World Championship Wrestling. Crockett, Jr. deactivated the championship for unknown reasons, and eventually, JCP was sold to Ted Turner in 1988. As a result, Garvin was the final wrestler to hold the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title. In the late 1990s, a group of promoters was given permission by the NWA to establish a territory called "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW)"; however, this territory has not claimed any connection to the original JCP/MACW. As a result, their prime championship, called the MACW Heavyweight Championship, has no connection to this original JCP/MACW championship.
Overall, there were 60 reigns shared between 29 wrestlers. Fifteen of those reigns occurred while the title was called the "NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship", while 46 occurred under the "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship" name. The title had only one official vacancy, which occurred in July 1985. Jack Brisco and Wahoo McDaniel had the most reigns as champion, with six; Jerry Brisco and Rip Hawk had the second-most, with four. Ken Patera's second reign was the longest in the title's history, at 334 days; the Missouri Mauler had the second-longest, at 275 days. Johnny Valentine ranks first in combined reigns by length, at 504 days with 2 reigns; Patera ranks second, at 495 days with 4 reigns. All title changes occurred at JCP–promoted events: live events, pay-per-view events, and on televised events that aired on broadcast delay.