World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)

History

George Hackenschmidt won a world championship tournament to become the first champion. Hackenschmidt won several other tournaments in Paris, France; Hamburg, Germany; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Elberfeld, Germany; and Berlin, Germany in the same year. He also won the European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship title from Tom Cannon on September 4, 1902 in Liverpool, England. He won the recognition of being the World Heavyweight Champion on January 30, 1904 in London, England by defeating Ahmed Madrali. Hackenschmidt defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, on May 4, 1905 in New York City, New York to become the recognized World Champion in North America.

Frank Gotch won the title from Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908. He held the title for five years until his retirement on April 1, 1913. He was the sixth longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion in history behind Bruno Sammartino, Jim Londos, Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne (who all held their World Titles for over seven years) and Bob Backlund (who held his for nearly six years).

Joe Stecher defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Charlie Cutler to become the first widely recognized world heavyweight champion after the retirement of Frank Gotch.

On April 15, 1925, Stanislaus Zbyszko defeated previous champion, Wayne Munn to win the championship. However, Munn continued to be recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in Michigan and in Illinois. Ed Lewis defeated Wayne Munn on February 2, 1928 in Michigan City, Indiana for the Michigan/Illinois World Heavyweight Championship version. Joe Stetcher then defeated Zbyszko to become widely recognized champion. The dispute ended when Lewis defeated Stetcher on February 21, 1928.

Gus Sonnenburg won the title from Lewis on January 4, 1929. However, the recognition of being the World Heavyweight Champion by the wrestling secion of the National Boxing Association was withdrawn from Sonnenberg for failing to meet real title contenders.

Lewis won the title again on April 13, 1931. Lewis was also AWA World Heavyweight Champion in Boston at the time, but lost that title by disqualification to Henri Deglane on May 4, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. However, Lewis was still recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in Illinois. Lewis then defeated Wladek Zbyszko (who was widely considered World Heavyweight Champion), on November 2, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, ending the dispute. Lewis then continued by winning the New York State Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Jack Sherry on October 10, 1932 for the vacant title. but lost it to Jim Browning.

Danno O'Mahony won the title from Lewis on July 30, 1935. O'Mahony defeated Londos to win the New York State Athletic Commission World Title. O'Mahony also won the AWA World title by defeating Ed Don George on July 30, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts to become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. On March 2, 1936 Dick Shikat beat O'Mahony in New York; however the AWA continued to recognize O'Mahony as champion, splintering the "undisputed" nature of the title once again.

Ali Baba won the title on April 25, 1936. Four days later it was announced by The New York Times that Baba would not be recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in New York State by The New York Athletic Commission. However it was announced that Baba and Shikat would face each other on May 5, 1936 at Madison Square Garden for the World Heavyweight Championship. Baba went on to win the bout and thus be recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion.

Bronko Nagurski won the title on June 29, 1937. Nagurski was recognized as the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion by "The Ring" magazine.

Londos won the title again on November 18, 1938 and retired as World Heavyweight Champion on January 28, 1946. Londos wrestled his last match on this date, defeating Lord Albert Mills.

Lou Thesz won the title on May 21, 1952. Thesz unified 3 championships to become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion: the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship (which he won on July 20, 1948 by defeating Bill Longson), the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship (which was awarded to him on November 27, 1949), and the Los Angeles version of the World title (which he won on May 21, 1952 by defeating Baron Michele Leone).

Whipper Billy Watson won the title on March 15, 1956 by defeating Thesz by countout.

Thesz won the title back from Watson on November 9, 1956. Édouard Carpentier defeated Lou Thesz by disqualification on June 14, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois once Thesz could not continue the match due to a back injury. The NWA rules stated that a title could not change on a disqualification, and Carpentier awarded the NWA title back to Thesz. Carpentier was still recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in Omaha, Nebraska and in Boston, Massachusetts. He was then later recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion by Worldwide Wrestling Associates in Los Angeles, California. This ended the last time the World Heavyweight Title was unified and to date has never been fully unified again. The Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship was later unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Lou Thesz defeated Carpentier in a rematch by disqualification on July 24, 1957 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the title.

The title was unofficially retired on July 24, 1957. Its lineage continued over to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Reigns

There were a total of 25 reigns and two vacancies. The first recognized World Heavyweight Champion was George Hackenschmidt, who officially won the championship on May 4, 1905 by defeating Tom Jenkins in New York City, New York, the championship remained active for the next 51 years with the last recognized reign beginning on November 9, 1956.

Ed Lewis holds the record for most reigns as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion with four. Lewis also holds the record for most combined days as champion with 3,073 days, while Jim Londos holds the record for longest reign at 2,628 days. Stanislaus Zbyszko holds the record for shortest reign at 45 days and is also the oldest champion, winning at the age of 46 years, 15 days, while Joe Stecher is the youngest champion, winning at the age of 22 years, 103 days.

The final reign was disputed between Ed Lewis and Edouard Carpentier. The latter was in his first and therefore, only reign.

Legacy

Various promotions have been home to world heavyweight championships with origins that can also be traced back to the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship

When the original World Heavyweight Championship was retired, its lineage was continued through the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Most of the following championships, all based in North America, arose out of the NWA championship; "World" heavyweight championships in Japan and Mexico were created ex novo after promotions started.

AWA World Heavyweight Championship

In AWA, the AWA World Heavyweight Championship was established in May 1960, after the AWA became a separate promotion from the National Wrestling Alliance, which had previously been a part of the NWA's Minneapolis-area presence. The first champion was Pat O'Connor, who was recognized as the first champion upon the AWA's secession from the NWA as O'Connor held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as well, which he won on January 9, 1959. The creation of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship along with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would pave the way for the creation of many other world championships in other wrestling promotions. American Wrestling Association and the title became inactive in 1990 and the organization officially closed down in 1991 with the title also being decommissioned.

WWE Championship

The WWE Championship's origin can be traced back to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after an incident in which the Capitol Wrestling Corporation at the time left the NWA to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). This was after the WWWF refused to recognize Lou Thesz as NWA World Heavyweight Champion after he beat Buddy Rogers in a one fall match – the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title matches usually followed a best-of-three fall format – Vincent J. McMahon, the WWWF's owner created the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship and awarded Rogers the championship belt proclaiming he won it in a (apocryphal) tournament in Brazil.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

In WCW, the WCW World Heavyweight Championships origin is traced back to a match which took place on January 11, 1991, where Ric Flair defeated Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. When WCW pulled out of the NWA in early 1991, Flair was recognized as the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship can be traced back to an incident in WCW's final split with the NWA in 1993, when Flair's NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign continued to be recognized as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. The two titles were unified in June 1994.

ECW World Heavyweight Championship

In ECW, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship's origin is attributed to a tournament which was held to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1994 in NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling. On August 27, 1994, Shane Douglas participated and won the tournament and discarded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship proclaiming himself the new Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. After this event ECW withdrew from the NWA and renamed itself Extreme Championship Wrestling. The championship was also competed for on the ECW brand of WWE.

WWE's World Heavyweight Championship

WWE created a new World Heavyweight Championship after then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to the SmackDown brand, refusing to face designated number one contender Triple H, who was a member of the Raw roster, and was awarded the newly established title. This championship was a successor to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship via the WWE Championship. WWE asserts its legacy extends back to the title created in 1905. Like the original World Heavyweight Championship, the title was not prefixed with the name of a promotion. It would be unified with the WWE Championship in December 2013.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) World Heavyweight Championship (the TNA World Heavyweight Championship) can also be traced back to the World Heavyweight Championship. TNA formed in May 2002 and formed a partnership with the NWA, allowing TNA control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship. On June 19, 2002 TNA crowned the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion under their banner, after Ken Shamrock won a Gauntlet for the Gold match at TNA's first weekly pay-per-view. On May 13, 2007 NWA severed ties with TNA after the then-current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage refused to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against wrestlers from other NWA territories. The TNA World Heavyweight Championship was first won by Kurt Angle who won it at TNA Sacrifice event by defeating Christian Cage and Sting.