The TNA World Heavyweight Championship was a short-lived

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

world heavyweight championship created and promoted by

Impact Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busine ...

. As part of a storyline in April 2020,

Moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

began to refer to himself as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion and carrying around the title belt that last represented the championship before it became known as the

Impact World Championship The TNA World Championship is a professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world championship created and promoted by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It is the promotion's principal championship. Like mo ...

. On February 23, 2021, Impact officially sanctioned Moose's TNA World Heavyweight Championship as a separate title from the Impact World Championship. Impact Wrestling Executive Vice President

Scott D'Amore Scott Francis D'Amore (born August 8, 1974) is a Canadian professional wrestling manager, promoter, booker and retired professional wrestler, best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he served as the president an ...

claimed that the championship carried the lineage of the title formerly known as the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but how much of that lineage was unclear. It would be a short-lived championship, as at

Sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

on March 13, 2021, Impact World Champion

Rich Swann Richard Anthony Swann (born February 15, 1991) is an American professional wrestler. he is best known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2020–2021), ...

defeated Moose in a

championship unification Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title. History In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a giv ...

match, deactivating the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The Impact World Championship became briefly known as the Impact Unified World Championship, and was represented by both title belts, until reigning champion

Christian Cage William Jason Reso (born November 30, 1973) is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Christian Cage and is the leader of The Patriarch ...

retired the TNA belt on the August 19, 2021, episode of '' Impact!'', returning to a single belt.

History

was originally known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The promotion was originally affiliated with the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

(NWA), and controlled the booking over the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professiona ...

. In 2007, the agreement between TNA and the NWA ended, leading to the creation of the

TNA World Heavyweight Championship The TNA World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It is the promotion's principal championship. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won ...

. TNA changed its name and became Impact Wrestling in March 2017, and the championship was renamed accordingly. In early 2020, Impact started a storyline where

dubbed himself "Mr. TNA," claiming to represent the company's history while battling former stars. During the second part of

Rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

(taped April 8–10 and

aired Air is the name given to the atmosphere of Earth. Air or AIR may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''Air'' (Maillol), a sculpture by Aristide Maillol * ''Air'' (painting), a painting by Jan van Kessel the Elder Films * ''Air'' ...

on April 28), Moose defeated Hernandez and

Michael Elgin Aaron Michael Frobel (born December 13, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Michael Elgin. He is known for his work with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a List of IWGP Intercontinent ...

in a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

which was originally scheduled to be for the Impact World Championship, but reigning champion

Tessa Blanchard Tessa Blanchard (born July 26, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where she is a former Impact World Champion, and a former Impact Knockouts Champion. She previously performed for ...

was absent due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Following the match, Moose brought back the championship belt that represented the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from 2011 to 2017 and declared himself the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. While Impact did not officially recognize Moose as champion, Moose defended his self-appointed title several times. The following year on the February 23, 2021, episode of '' Impact!'', the promotion's Executive Vice President

announced that Moose's self-proclaimed championship was officially sanctioned as a separate title from the Impact World Championship with Moose immediately recognized as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. D'Amore stated that the championship also carried the lineage of the title formerly known as the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, though how much of that lineage was unclear. After this, D'Amore scheduled a

match for

on March 13, 2021, in which Impact World Champion

would face TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose to determine Impact's undisputed world champion. At the event, Swann defeated Moose to unify the titles. The TNA World Heavyweight Championship was deactivated, while the Impact World Championship became briefly known as the Impact Unified World Championship with Swann carrying both championship belts. Subsequent Impact World Champions

Kenny Omega Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983), better known by the ring name , is a Canadian-born professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AEW International Champion in his first reign. He also works as an ...

and

also carried both title belts, until Cage formally retired the TNA belt on the August 19, 2021, episode of ''Impact!''.

Reigns

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2020-2021) Total Nonstop Action Wrestling championships World heavyweight wrestling championships Unsanctioned championships

History

Reigns

See also

References