The NWA United States Heavyweight Championship is a name used for several secondary

championships 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 ...

used by various

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...

(NWA) members since 1953. At least twelve different versions of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championships have been promoted in various regions across the United States. The NWA's bylaws allowed any NWA member, also known as an NWA territory, to create and control their own version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. The most well known version was the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling version, which later became the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, and is still active as the

WWE United States Championship The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American promotion WWE, currently defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster, along with the ...

History

The

(NWA) was founded in 1948 after six professional wrestling promoters decided to join together and form a governing body to oversee the various members, later referred to as the

NWA territories Formed in 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was the largest governing body in professional wrestling. Under the control of the NWA Board of Directors (consisting of various prominent, regional promoters), the organization oversaw the NWA ...

. The NWA Board of Directors agreed to all recognize one over all

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus (wrestler), ...

and one NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship across all promotions. Beyond those two championships the Board allowed each promotion to create and promote whatever championship they wanted to. For example, in 1949 the first of many NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in the Los Angeles territory. The earliest version of the NWA United States Heavyweight championship was promoted by

Fred Kohler Enterprises Fred Kohler Enterprises, Inc. was a company established by businessman Frederick Koch (1903–1969) – known professionally as Fred Kohler – to promote professional wrestling in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Kohler began promo ...

. It was known as the ''Chicago version'' from 1953 until 1959 and was later known as the ''Detroit version'' from 1959 until 1980. Various versions of an "American" or "United States" title had existed going back to 1881. The Detroit version was the primary singles championship within the NWA Detroit promotion. Over the course of its existence, the title was held by well known names such as

Bobo Brazil Houston Harris (July 10, 1924 – January 20, 1998) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one ...

, The Sheik, Wilbur Snyder, Johnny Valentine, and multi-time

AWA World Heavyweight Champions Awa (or variants) may refer to: People * Awa (given name), notable people named Awa or Hawa * Awá (Brazil), an indigenous people of Brazil * Awa-Kwaiker, an indigenous people of Colombia and Ecuador Languages * Awa language (China) or Wa (Va) ...

Verne Gagne Laverne Clarence Gagne (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer, and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestl ...

and

Dick the Bruiser William Fritz Afflis (June 27, 1929 – November 10, 1991) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and former NFL player, better known by his ring name, Dick the Bruiser. During his NFL days he played four seasons with the Green Bay Pac ...

. At around the same time, a version of the US title was established in the Rocky Mountains territory. First held by Gagne, it lasted until 1961. Five years later in 1958, a version was established in St Joseph with Gagne again as inaugural champion, lasted nearly a decade until it was last claimed by former World champion Lou Thesz in 1967. Five more versions were created of the title in the early 1960s. Prior to

Capitol Wrestling Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American sports promotion company. It was run by Vincent J. McMahon from 1953 to 1982. Operating as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing ...

leaving the

and becoming the WWWF, the company hosted a version of the championship for several months in 1960-1961. The only holder of this title was Buddy Rogers, who vacated the title upon winning the NWA World title from Pat O'Connor in Chicago in June 1961. (The WWWF subsequently hosted its own United States Heavyweight Championship from 1963 to 1976.) Over the next three years, versions were also established in the Central States, Hawaii, San Francisco and Toronto territories. The Central States version was defended in the

Central States Wrestling Heart of America Sports Attractions, also known as the Midwest Wrestling Association, Central States Wrestling and the World Wrestling Alliance, was an American professional wrestling promotion that ran shows mainly in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska ...

territory around

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. It existed from 1961 until 1968. The Hawaiian version was first held by

Nick Bockwinkel Nicholas Warren Francis "Nick" Bockwinkel (December 6, 1934 – November 14, 2015) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s. Bockwinkel ...

in 1962 and became the North American title in 1968. The San Francisco version was defended in NWA San Francisco and, later, Big Time Wrestling. The title, which originated as the American Wrestling Alliance United States Championship and was renamed in 1968, existed from 1960 until 1981. The Toronto version was defended in Frank Tunney's

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

-based

Maple Leaf Wrestling Maple Leaf Wrestling was the unofficial name in the 1970s and 1980s of the professional wrestling promotion run by Frank Tunney in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Queensbury Athletic Club The promotion, initially known as the Queensbury Athl ...

. It existed from 1962 until 1973 when the title was vacated by champion Tiger Jeet Singh after several years of intermittent activity. In 1966, Texas promoter/wrestler Jack Adkisson (aka

Fritz Von Erich Jack Barton Adkisson Sr. (August 16, 1929 – September 10, 1997), better known by his ring name Fritz Von Erich, was an American professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He was a 3-time world champio ...

) instituted a version of the title for his promotion,

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

(WCCW). Von Erich himself mostly held this title apart from losses to Johnny Valentine,

Brute Bernard James Prudhomme (June 6, 1921 – July 14, 1984), was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Brute Bernard or Jim 'Brute' Bernhard. He spent much of his career wrestling as part of a tag team with Skull Murphy. He compet ...

and The Spoiler. The title was renamed the NWA American Heavyweight Championship in May 1968. Later, when WCCW pulled out of the NWA in 1986, the championship was renamed the World Class Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship. The title was briefly unified by

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Ap ...

with the

AWA World Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight C ...

in 1988-1989 and continued as the

USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship The USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship formed in 1988, which consisted of the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship from World Class Championship Wrestling and the AWA World H ...

until the demise of the USWA in 1997. The most well known version of the championship to have existed is the Mid-Atlantic version. It was created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) run by

Jim Crockett Jr. James Allen Crockett Jr. (August 10, 1944 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1989, he was part owner of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Allian ...

Introduced on January 1, 1975,

Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federati ...

became the inaugural champion. The title quickly replaced the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship as the top singles title in the promotion. The Sheik, then-holder of the Detroit version of the title came to the Toronto territory in and 1974 and was awarded the local version of the title. He defended this as a separate title from his Detroit version, holding it until 1977 except for brief losses to

Thunderbolt Patterson Claude Patterson (born July 8, 1941) is an American retired professional wrestler, ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted ...

in late 1976 and

in early 1977, after which Maple Leaf Wrestling recognized the Mid-Atlantic version of the title from May 1978 until July 1984 when promoter Jack Tunney allied himself with the WWF. The closures of the Detroit and San Francisco territories in October 1980 and January 1981 spelled the end for each of their versions of the title, last held by The Sheik and Dusty Rhodes respectively. (The Sheik continued to claim the title in the Kentucky-based independent

International Championship Wrestling International Championship Wrestling was an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Lexington, Kentucky that operated from 1978 until 1984. It was run by Angelo Poffo, the father of Randy Savage and "The Genius" Lanny Poffo. Thro ...

in 1981-1984 and continued to wear the title belt for appearances in promotions such as the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and FMW as late as the early 1990s.) This left the Mid-Atlantic version as the only version active in the NWA. The title remained the primary championship within the Mid-Atlantic territory until 1986 when Crockett gained control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The United States title then became the secondary championship of the promotion. After

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he ...

bought the company and renamed it

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW) in November 1988, the title continued to be used and recognized as secondary to the World Championship. WCW began to pull itself away from the NWA, demonstrated by the company changing the name of the title to the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in January 1991. From the final break of WCW from the NWA in late 1993 until 2016 the only version of the title active in the NWA belonged to NWA Wildside which had a version of the title 1995-2005. Meanwhile, the former Mid Atlantic version was eventually acquired by the WWF in 2001 as part of its purchase of WCW. It was later unified with the WWF Intercontinental Championship in October 2001 before being relaunched as the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship in 2003. In February 2016, a new version of the title was established in Indiana, mostly held by bodybuilder and wrestler Josh Lewis. It has been vacant since

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band th ...

bought the NWA in October 2017.

List of NWA United States Heavyweight Championships

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) The NWA Toronto United States Heavyweight Championship was the version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship that was defended in Frank Tunney's Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling. It existed from 1962 until 1973. A different version ...

* NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Wildside version)

References

{{reflist National Wrestling Alliance championships

History

List of NWA United States Heavyweight Championships

See also

References