The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was 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 ...
sanctioned by the
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Founded in 1948, the NWA ...
(NWA). For the majority of its existence the title was promoted by Mexican promotion
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...
(CMLL), where it was known as the ''Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de NWA''. It began as an official
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Founded in 1948, the NWA ...
(NWA) title and was given to the NWA's
Mexican affiliate, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), to control. The title was also promoted in
NWA Hollywood Wrestling
NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...
until its closure in 1982. The title remained under the control of EMLL even after EMLL pulled out of the Alliance and changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Due to its history, it was considered the most important title in EMLL/CMLL.
As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a
storyline. The official definition of the
light heavyweight weight class in Mexico is between and , but is not always strictly enforced.
[The most recent case of this is ]Mephisto
Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition.
Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Méphisto'', a 1931 French film
* Mephisto (1981 film), ''Mephisto'' (1981 film), a German- ...
's holding the NWA World Welterweight Championship
The NWA World Welterweight Championship ( es, Campeonato Mundial Welter de NWA) is an inactive professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and most recently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was ori ...
, a belt with a upper limit, despite weighing .
The first champion was
Gypsy Joe
Gilberto Meléndez (December 2, 1933 – June 15, 2016) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler better known under the ring name Gypsy Joe. While attaining much of his United States success in the Tennessee area, Meléndez also gained a following ...
, who won the title on November 6, 1952. In 1957 the NWA stripped Frank Stojack of the title for lack of NWA-mandated title defenses, but Stojack kept the physical belt and defended the title for over a year until the NWA regained possession of the actual Championship belt. After Stojack was stripped of the title, the NWA Executive board decided to give
Salvador Lutteroth
Salvador Lutteroth González (21 March 1897 – 5 September 1987) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's organization, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), was the dominant Mexican wrestling p ...
and Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre control of the championship in 1958.
The first champion under Lutteroth's authority was
Dory Dixon
Dorrel "Dory" Dixon (born February 1, 1935) is a Jamaican retired professional wrestler who worked for the majority of his career in Mexico, where he eventually became a Mexican citizen. He is currently a pastor for the Seventh-day Adventist Churc ...
, who had worked for EMLL for many years. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the title was also defended in the Los Angeles area until that promotion closed in the early 1980s; from then on the title has only been defended in Mexico.
In March 2010,
Blue Demon, Jr.
Blue Demon Jr. (born July 19, 1966) is a Mexican professional wrestler. He is the adopted son of the original Blue Demon and is the first Mexican and the second masked wrestler to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship thus making him a one- ...
, the president of NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, telling them to stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. NWA Mexico had previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. The promotion did not directly respond to the latest claim either; the NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL. Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new
NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Historico de Peso Semicompleto de la NWA'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). CMLL had held the NW ...
and returned the old title to NWA.
There have been a total of 64 reigns shared between 39 wrestlers.
Ray Mendoza
José Díaz Velázquez (July 6, 1929 – April 16, 2003) was a Mexican ''Luchador'', or professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Ray Mendoza. Diaz had great success in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he was a five time W ...
has held the Championship the highest number of times with six title reigns;
Gory Guerrero
Salvador Guerrero Quesada (January 11, 1921 – April 18, 1990), better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier Mexican American professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside Mexico ...
's two reigns combined come to 1,963 days, the highest total of any champion.
Roddy Piper is the champion with the shortest reign, 2 days; while the longest title reign belongs to Frank Stojack with 1,573 days.
Title history
Reigns by combined length
;Key
Footnotes
*The NWA endorsed another
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence the title was promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libr ...
in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
in 1997 and 1998, referred to as the "New Jersey version"; this short-lived title was not connected to the CMLL version.
See also
*
List of National Wrestling Alliance championships
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion operating via its parent company Lightning One, Inc. The following is a list of its active and inactive/unofficial/defunct championships. The professional wrestling ...
References
;General source for title changes before 2000
'' -
;Specific
External links
*
NWA Title Histories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwa World Light Heavyweight Championship
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre championships
Light heavyweight wrestling championships
National Wrestling Alliance championships
World professional wrestling championships