CWA World Heavyweight Championship

This article is about the German/Austrian wrestling championship. For the Tennessee-based wrestling championship, see CWA World Heavyweight Championship (Memphis).
CWA World Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionCatch Wrestling Association
Date establishedAugust 2, 1977
Date retiredDecember 4, 1999
Statistics
First champion(s)Otto Wanz
Most reignsOtto Wanz and Rambo
(4 reigns)
Longest reignOtto Wanz
(3,172 days)
Shortest reignBull Power
(111 days)

The CWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the top title of the German professional wrestling promotion Internationalen Berufsringer Verbandes (IBV), later renamed the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in the title's honour. The title was created on August 2, 1977 and deactivated on December 4, 1999. The championship was contested under 15 three-minute rounds. It was replaced by the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP) World Heavyweight Championship when that organisation was founded in 2000 to replace the CWA.

It was originally claimed that the championship was sanctioned by a fictitious Canadian Wrestling Association and that it had previous lineage in North America. The title changed hands in four countries South Africa, Austria, the United States, and Germany and three continents - Africa, Europe, and North America.

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Otto Wanz August 2, 1977 House show Cape Town, South Africa 1 30 Defeated Jan Wilkens to become the first champion. [1]
2 Don Leo Jonathan September 1, 1977 House show Johannesburg, South Africa 1 317    
3 Otto Wanz July 15, 1978 House show Graz, Austria 2 3,172    
4 Bull Power March 22, 1987 House show Denver, Colorado, United States 1 111   [1]
5 Otto Wanz July 11, 1987 House show Graz, Austria 3 772   [1]
6 Bull Power August 21, 1989 House show Vienna, Austria 2 123    
7 Otto Wanz December 22, 1989 Catch Cup Bremen, Germany 4 190    
— Vacated June 30, 1990 — Graz, Austria — — Championship vacated when Wanz retired.  
8 Bull Power December 22, 1990 House show Bremen, Germany 3 196 Defeated Rambo to win the vacant title. Bull Power (Big Ban Vader) also held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in Japan and the UWA World Heavyweight Championship in Mexico in the same time.  
9 Rambo July 6, 1991 Catch Cup Graz, Austria 1 532    
10 Road Warrior Hawk December 19, 1992 Euro Catch Festival Bremen, Germany 1 196    
11 Rambo July 3, 1993 Clash of the Champions Graz, Austria 2 896    
12 Ludvig Borga December 16, 1995 Euro Catch Festival Bremen, Germany 1 371    
13 Rambo December 21, 1996 Euro Catch Festival Bremen, Germany 3 196    
— Vacated July 5, 1997 — N/A — — Vacated when Rambo left CWA for the World Wrestling Federation  
14 Marshall Duke August 16, 1997 Catch Cup Vienna, Austria 1 442 Defeated Ulf Herman to win the vacant title.  
— Vacated November 1, 1998 — N/A — — Championship vacated for undocumented reasons  
15 Rambo December 19, 1998 Euro Catch Festival Bremen, Germany 4 350 Defeated Big Titan to win the vacant title.  
— Deactivated December 4, 1999 Euro Catch Festival Bremen, Germany — — The event marked the last time that the title was defended. CWA closed after the event.  
  1. ^ a b c Oliver, Greg (September 14, 2017). "Former AWA World champion Otto Wanz dies". SLAM Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.