NWA World's Heavyweight Championship

NWA World's Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship belt (1973–1986, 1994–2021); the current version of the belt, introduced in 2021, replaced the Australian flag with the United Kingdom flag
Details
PromotionNational Wrestling Alliance
Date establishedJuly 14, 1948
Current champion(s)Thom Latimer
Date wonAugust 31, 2024
Other name(s)
  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1948–2016)[1]
  • NWA World's Heavyweight Championship (2016–present)
Statistics
First champion(s)Orville Brown
Most reignsRic Flair
(9 reigns)[2]
Longest reignLou Thesz
(2,300 days)
Shortest reignShane Douglas
(3½ minutes)
Oldest championTim Storm
(51 years, 173 days)
Youngest championChris Candido
(22 years, 243 days)
Heaviest championTyrus
(375 lb (170 kg))
Lightest championKahagas
(205 lb (93 kg))

The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion.

Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to the first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world.[3]

The title began as a governing body's world championship and has been competed for in multiple major promotions around the world, including the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (which seceded from the NWA and became World Wide Wrestling Federation, now WWE), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and the now-defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP, later called World Championship Wrestling, WCW), Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, later Extreme Championship Wrestling), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), and many other defunct wrestling promotions.

In October 2017, the NWA governing body was purchased by Billy Corgan and gradually evolved into a stand alone wrestling promotion with the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship as its premier title.[4][5][6]

  1. ^ "And NEW NWA WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION..." NWA on YouTube. December 10, 2017. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  2. ^ "NWA World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  3. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance History". www.legacyofwrestling.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  4. ^ "Report: NWA & ROH No Longer Working Together; Nick Aldis Not Advertised For Summer Supercard". Fightful. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  5. ^ Jamie Greer (July 24, 2019), NWA Looking To Join Weekly TV Line Up, Last Word on Wrestling, event occurs at 01:11:50, retrieved July 19, 2013
  6. ^ NWA Announces First TV Tapings For Planned Series, August 7, 2019, retrieved August 13, 2019