The MLW National Openweight 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 ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

created and promoted by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW). The title was unveiled on April 18, 2019. The title's

openweight Openweight, also known as Absolute, is an unofficial weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. It refers to bouts where there is no weight limit and fighters with a dramatic difference in size can compete against each other. It is d ...

nature, a division more common in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

, means that both heavyweight and

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.

History

On April 18, 2019,

(MLW) announced the creation of the MLW National Openweight Championship, a division more common in

ese

, since MLW already had a

division. Also announced was a four-man

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

that would culminate on June 1 with the crowning of the first champion. The tournament to crown the inaugural champion was later advertised on ''

MLW Fusion ''MLW Fusion'' is a professional wrestling television program produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW) that originally premiered on April 20, 2018 on beIN Sports USA. On November 10, 2022, the series began streaming on Pro Wrestling TV. A thir ...

'', while being announced four wrestler to participate in the tournament, which was announced on May 4 by ''MLW Fusions Executive Producer

Salina de la Renta Natalia Class (born February 6, 1997) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and valet better known by her ring name Salina de la Renta. She is a free agent most recently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW). As Salina de la Renta she has rec ...

. The title was unveiled on May 17. On June 1 at ''Fury Road'',

Alexander Hammerstone Alex Rohde (born January 17, 1991), better known by his ring names Alexander Hammerstone or simply Hammerstone is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling, where he is the current MLW World Heavyweight ...

defeated

Brian Pillman Jr. Brian Zachary Pillman (born September 9, 1993), better known by the ring name Brian Pillman Jr., is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also known for his time in Major League Wrestling (MLW). Pil ...

in the finals of the tournament to become the inaugural MLW National Openweight Champion.

Inaugural championship tournament

Reigns

As of , , there have been three reign between three champions and one vacancy.

was the inaugural champion. Hammerstone's reign is the longest at 865 days, while

Alex Kane Alex Kane (born October 21, 1993) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling where he is the current MLW World Champion in his first reign he's also a one time MLW National Openweight Champion. Pro ...

's reign is the shortest at 229 days.

Davey Richards Wesley David Richards (born March 1, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), under the ring name Davey Richards, and is the current MLW National Openweight Champion in his first reign. ...

was the oldest champion when he won it at 39 years old, while Alex Kane was the youngest champion at 28 years old. Davey Richards is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Alex Kane at

Battle Riot IV Battle Riot IV was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW) that took place on June 23, 2022 at the Melrose Ballroom in New York City. It was the fourth event under the Battle Riot chronology. Matches fr ...

on June 23, 2022, in

New York City, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Combined reigns

As of , . AHammerstoneMLW2019

References

External links

MLW National Openweight Title History
at Cagematch.net {{MLW National Openweight Championship National Openweight National professional wrestling championships Openweight wrestling championships 2019 introductions