AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version)

This article is about the regional championship contested from 1928–1952. For the championship contested from 1960–1990, see AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
AWA World Heavyweight Championship
Details
Date establishedFebruary 21, 1928
Date retiredNovember 1952
Statistics
First champion(s)Ed Lewis
Final champion(s)Don Eagle
Most reignsSteve Casey (6 reigns)
Longest reignFrank Sexton (1791 days)
Shortest reignDon Eagle (3 days)
Final champion Chief Don Eagle

The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship promoted by Paul Bowser in Boston.[1]

The title was created by Bowser after Gus Sonnenberg, who had beaten Ed Lewis for the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1929,[2] was stripped of recognition as champion by the National Boxing Association. Browser continued to recognize Sonnenberg as champion and named his championship after the "American Wrestling Association" governing body, which hitherto did not actually exist.[3] Rival promoters, including Jack Curley, countered by forming the National Wrestling Association and its NWA World Heavyweight Championship.[4]

During Don Eagle's second reign, splinter titles were created by regional promoters in Chicago and Ohio. Bowser abandoned the championship later in Eagle's reign, while he was rendered inactive due to injuries in November 1952.[5]

  1. ^ "American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title". Pro-Wrestling Title Histories.
  2. ^ "Gus Sonnenberg Captures World Wrestling Championship From Strangler Lewis". The Hartford Courant. May 1, 1929. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  3. ^ Solomon, Brian (2015). Pro Wrestling FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the World's Most Entertaining Spectacle. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1617135996.
  4. ^ Beekman, Scott (2006). Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Praeger Publishing. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0275984014.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference HOF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).