The OVW 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 ...

heavyweight championship owned by the

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow and Matt Jones and Louisville mayor elect, Craig Greenberg. O ...

(OVW)

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 original championship was designed and created in 1997 by

Reggie Parks Reggie Parks (August 27, 1934 – October 7, 2021) was a Canadian professional wrestler and engraver, known for his work designing championship belts for wrestling, mixed martial arts, and boxing promotions. Parks began his wrestling career und ...

. The title was introduced on August 17, 1997 at an OVW

live event A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

, then known as the NWA-OVW Heavyweight Championship due to OVW's relationship with 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) governing body. OVW eventually parted ways with the NWA in October 2001, and the title was renamed the OVW Heavyweight Championship. OVW later became a developmental territory for the

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

organization, but their partnership eventually ceased on February 7, 2008. The title has no known weight-limit, even though it is a heavyweight championship. The title has also went through almost 3 different versions in its current twenty-four year run. With The first being made by Reggie Parks in 1997, which was then retired and vacated in early 2012. The second version would then be made by Reggie Parks and Dave Millican for OVW. The current version however was designed and created by Top Rope Belts, and ended up being used from 2012 to the present day. Title changes happen mostly at OVW-promoted events. The inaugural champion was a man known as Trailer Park Trash. His reign began on August 17, 1997, but ended in a vacancy for unknown reasons; it is also unknown how he became the first champion.

Nick Dinsmore Nicholas David Dinsmore (born December 17, 1975), better known by his ring name Eugene, is an American professional wrestler. Dinsmore's career began in 1996 in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he would become the OVW Heavyweight Champion a record ...

holds the record of most reigns, with ten. At 322 days, Rocco Bellagio's reign is the longest in the title's history. Rob Conway's fourth reign, Chet the Jett's second reign, and

Vladimir Kozlov Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius (russian: Олег Александрович Прудиус; uk, Олег Олександрович Прудіус, ''Oleh Oleksandrovych Prudius''; born April 27, 1979) better known by his ring name Vladimir Koz ...

's only reign are all tied for the record of shortest reign in the title's history at less than one day each.

's combined ten reign lengths add up to 529 days—the most of any wrestler. The current champion is Ca$h Flo; the previous champion was James Storm, who lost the championship on October 13, 2022. Overall, there have been 134 reigns shared between 73 wrestlers, with 13 vacancies. One of those vacancies was due to then-champion

Matt Cappotelli Matthew Lee Cappotelli (November 12, 1979 – June 29, 2018) was an American professional wrestler. After co-winning '' Tough Enough III'' with John Hennigan, he worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), the primary developmental territory for WWE ...

being diagnosed with a

malignant Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

, and thus he chose to vacate the championship.

Title history

Names

Reigns

Combined reigns

As of ,

References

;Specific ;General * *

External links