The ICW World Heavyweight Championship is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

world heavyweight championship owned by Scotland's

Insane Championship Wrestling Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Mark Dallas in 2006. It mixes elements of traditional sports entertainment with hardcore wrestling; thus admittance is restricted ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. The title was first established as the ICW National Heavyweight Championship at ICW's debut show on October 15, 2006, with

Drew Galloway Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June 1985) is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre. McIntyre is a two-time WWE Champion, one-time WWE Int ...

becoming the inaugural champion. On February 7, 2015, the title was officially renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship after Galloway successfully defended the title in a match against

Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his time with WWE. With his real life brother Jeff, Hardy gained notoriety in WWF's tag team d ...

for the

Family Wrestling Entertainment Family Wrestling Entertainment, also known as FWE, was an independent professional wrestling promotion. The company was based and ran shows in New York. They hosted a show about every four months. All of their shows are available on iPPV and also ...

promotion in New York. The championship has been defended in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In addition to these international title matches, defenses can be seen televised in over 30 countries via

Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wre ...

as well as an international presence on iPPV. Overall, there have been twenty-six reigns shared among ninteen wrestlers, with three vacancies. The championship was vacant for 74 days as ICW had to strip

Noam Dar Noam Dar (; born 28 July 1993) is an Israeli-Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, and is a record setting two-time NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion. He also wrestles for Scottish promotion Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW ...

of the title on 7 September 2021 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions. The championship was featured prominently in both the Insane Fight Club documentaries produced by the

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History

Drew Galloway became the inaugural champion of

Mark Dallas Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Mark Dallas in 2006. It mixes elements of traditional sports entertainment with hardcore wrestling; thus admittance is restricted ...

' ICW promotion on 15 October 2006 at their debut show "Fear & Loathing," having won a triple threat match against Darkside and Allan Grogan. Initially a regional heavyweight title in the Glasgow area, the title was defended outside Scotland for the first time by Jack Jester, who defeated

Jimmy Havoc James McAhren (born 19 March 1984) is a British former professional wrestler best known under the ring name Jimmy Havoc. He is known for his work with Progress Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), Major League Wr ...

in London, England to retain the title on May 4, 2014. It was first defended overseas by Drew Galloway on December 20, 2014 in

for Dansk Pro Wrestling promotion, when Galloway won a Title-for-Title Three-Way match against DPW Champion Michael Fynne and Chaos. Galloway then announced his intention to take the title overseas more often and make it a

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. His second international title defense was booked for February 7, 2015 against

in New York, USA after which the title was officially renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. The ICW World Heavyweight Championship was defended in

for the first time on March 20, 2015 when Galloway retained in a Title-for-Title match over OCW Championship Andy Phoenix at an Outback Championship Wrestling show. The title was first defended in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

when Galloway retained over

Joe Hendry Joseph Samuel Hendry (born 1 May 1988) is a Scottish Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler, Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, and musician better known as Joe Hendry. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). H ...

, TRON and Luther Valentine in a four-way match at a Pro Wrestling Ulster. Galloway again defended the title in America on July 18, 2015 at a Warriors of Wrestling show in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

where he retained over Joey Ace, Matt Macintosh and Logan Black. Galloway defended the championship in

Kiel, Germany Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

at a Maximum Wrestling show on October 16, retaining in a Title-for-Title triple threat over UEWA European Champion Chaos and Apu Singh. Big Damo would go on to win the championship from Chris Renfrew in

, before defending the title successfully in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

on ICW's 2016 tour. The title was defended in Italy for the first by Wolfgang on December 17, 2016. Another notable international title defense saw Trent Seven retain the title over Wolfgang on April 2, 2017, at a WWE WrestleMania Axxess show. In addition to these international title matches, numerous wrestlers from outside Scotland have challenged for the title domestically, including

Kassius Ohno Cassius may refer to: People * Cassius, an ancient Roman family name, see Cassia gens **Gaius Cassius Longinus (died 42 BC), Roman senator and a leader of Julius Caesar's assassination ** Avidius Cassius (130–175), usurper Roman Emperor * Cassi ...

, Sabu,

Fergal Devitt Fergal or Feargal are Irish, male given names. They are anglicized forms of the name Fearghal.Mairéad Byrne, Irish Baby Names – 25 Apr 2005 The arts *Fergal Keane, OBE (born 1961), Irish writer and broadcaster *Feargal Sharkey (born 1958), for ...

, Martin Stone, Doug Williams,

Rhino A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same d ...

Tommy End Tom Budgen (born 19 May 1985) is a Dutch professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Malakai Black. He is also known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Aleister Black from 2017 ...

Pete Dunne Peter Thomas England (born 9 November 1993) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Butch. He is a former WWE United Kingdom Champion and also a former NXT ...

Jordan Devlin Jordan Devlin (born 15 March 1990) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name JD McDonagh. He previously performed in NXT UK, where was a one-time and the longest re ...

Dave Mastiff David Minton (born 21 July 1984) is an English professional wrestler. He is most known for his time in WWE, where he performed on its NXT UK brand under the ring name "Bomber" Dave Mastiff. Professional wrestling career Total Nonstop Action ...

Robbie Dynamite Robbie Dynamite (born Robert Berzins) is a British professional wrestler. He is the current and five-time British Mid-Heavyweight champion and has also held the British Open Tag Team Championship and Unified British Tag Team Championship with M ...

Zack Gibson Jack Rea (born 8 August 1990) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Rip Fowler. He is also known for his work as Zack Gibson on the UK independent circuit. He f ...

, Johnny Moss,

Rampage Brown Oliver Biney (born 8 August 1983) is a British professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, performing under the ring name Rampage Brown. He is known for his work throughout the European and British independent wrestling circuit. However, R ...

Kris Travis Kris Travis (16 December 1983 – 31 March 2016) was a British professional wrestler. He was a staple of the UK and European independent wrestling scenes, working for companies such as PROGRESS Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling, Preston C ...

and

Bram Bram may refer to: People * Bram (given name) * Bram (surname) * Bram (wrestler) (born 1986), ring name of professional wrestler Thomas Raymond Latimer * Bram Tchaikovsky (born 1950), stage name of British musician Peter Bramall * Bram Stoker Iris ...

. The only non-Scottish wrestlers to hold the championship are Mikey Whiplash,

Trent Seven Benjamin Maurice Webb (born 21 August 1981), better known by the ring name Trent Seven, is an English professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and actor. He was signed to WWE on their NXT UK brand, where he is a former NXT UK Tag Team Champion ...

and

Big Damo Damian Mackle (born 20 February 1985) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Killian Dain and since his departure from WWE he has reverted back to his ring name on the indep ...

. The title was defended in a pre-show "Dark" segment for the first time in its history on 17 October 2015 when Drew Galloway would retain the title twice in consecutive matches against Matt Daly and Stephen Hughes and Coach Trip.

Statistics

As of November 2017, BT Gunn has the record for most reigns, with three. Darkside's first reign is the longest in the title's history, at 1028 days (the company was largely inactive during this period), while Joe Coffey's reign is the shortest, as he lost the title the same day. Drew Galloway currently holds the record for the most defenses, both within an individual reign and cumulatively. Joe Coffey holds the record for least successful defenses, losing the championship to Wolfgang in his first defense.

Title history

Combined reigns

As of , .

References

External links

ICW World Heavyweight Championship
{{Insane Championship Wrestling Insane Championship Wrestling championships World heavyweight wrestling championships 2006 in professional wrestling