The WCWA Brass Knuckles 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 ...

and promoted primarily in the Texas territory. Initially the championship saw wrestlers literally using

brass knuckles Brass knuckles (variously referred to as knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, knucklebusters, knuckledusters, knuckle daggers, English punch, iron fist, paperweight, or a classic) are "fist-load weapons" used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles ...

during matches, but was later modified to simply be "No Disqualification" matches. The brass knuckles championship was promoted from 1953 through 1987, and was defended primarily in the Dallas–Fort Worth area as part of Southwest Sports, Inc. It continued to be used after the promotion changed its name to Big Time Wrestling and, finally,

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 ...

. In 1987, a year after WCCW left the NWA and became the

World Class Wrestling Association 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 ...

, the title was abandoned. As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match. The NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship was created in 1953 in the Houston, Texas

(NWA) territory Southwest Sports, promoted by Ed McLemore. The first champion was "Wild"

Bull Curry Fred Thomas Koury Sr. (May 2, 1913 – March 8, 1985) was an American of Lebanese descent who was best known as a professional wrestler under the name ”Wild Bull” Curry. He is recognized as the originator of the hardcore style predating leg ...

, who defeated

Danny McShain Danny McShain (October 30, 1912 – July 14, 1992) was an American professional wrestler. He competed in the southern United States from the 1930s to the 1960s. Early life McShain was born on October 30, 1912, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He made hi ...

in the finals of a tournament. The "Brass Knuckles" title was originally created for Curry, who used a very hard hitting, brawling

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

style of wrestling, with a "no disqualification" stipulation for all championship matches. Over the years Bull Curry would win the championship a record setting 24 times, with

Mark Lewin Mark Lewin (born March 16, 1937) is an American retired professional wrestler. Early life Lewin was born in Buffalo, New York. He had two elder brothers, Donn and Ted, both of whom also became professional wrestlers. He attended Lafayette High ...

and

Bruiser Brody Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, The Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. Over the yea ...

tied for second most reigns at eight total. Due to a lack of documentation, especially from the 1950s to the 1970s, it is possible that Curry won the championship more than 24 times. In 1966,

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 champion ...

bought Southwest Sports from McLemore, and continued to promote the brass knuckle championship in the renamed "Big Time Wrestling" promotion. In 1982 Big Time Wrestling was rebranded as "World Class Championship Wrestling", including all the championships dropping the "NWA" prefix for "WCCW". In 1986 WCCW left the NWA completely and was renamed "World Class Wrestling Association" WCWA and renamed all championships as well. Abdullah the Butcher was the last wrestler to win the championship in Texas, defeating

The Great Kabuki , better known as , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is famous as the first to blow Asian mist in his opponents' faces. Professional wrestling career Mera was born on September 8, 1948 in Nobeoka, Japan. He started wrestling in 19 ...

on July 4, 1986. The championship was not promoted again until WCWA announced that

Tony Atlas Anthony White (born April 23, 1954) better known by his ring name Tony Atlas is an American bodybuilder, powerlifter, and professional wrestler who has held multiple titles and championships in each sport. He is also known by his bodybuilding ti ...

had won the championship at a non-WCWA show in Montreal, Canada. No record exists of Montreal show, leading to the possibility that the Atlas title victory was fictitious and used to explain why the championship was no longer used. Over the years the championship has been vacated several times, often with a tournament held to determine the next champion, only details of the 1968 tournament, won by Kurt Von Hess, and the 1969 tournament, won by

Baron Von Raschke James Donald Raschke (born July 30, 1940) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Baron von Raschke. Early life Raschke was a three-year letterman with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Cornhuskers wrest ...

have been found.

Title history

Championship tournaments

NWA Brass Knuckles Championship Tournament (1968)

The NWA Brass Knuckles Championship Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held on August 6, 1968, for the vacant NWA Brass Knuckles Championship.

NWA Brass Knuckles Championship Tournament (1969)

The NWA Brass Knuckles Championship Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

on June 3, 1969, for the vacant NWA Brass Knuckles Championship.

Footnotes

References