The WCWA World 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 ...

world heavyweight championship promoted by the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

area–based

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 ...

(WCWA). The championship was originally created in June 1966 by WCWA's predecessor NWA Big Time Wrestling (BTW), billed as the local version of the

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship The NWA United States Heavyweight Championship is a name used for several secondary championships used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1953. At least twelve different versions of the NWA United States Heavyweight Champions ...

before being renamed the NWA American Heavyweight Championship in May 1968. In 1982, Big Time Wrestling rebranded themselves as "World Class Championship Wrestling" (WCCW) and the championship was renamed the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship. In 1986 WCCW withdrew from 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 ...

, creating the World Class Wrestling Association, replacing the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship with the WCWA Heavyweight Championship, replacing the

NWA Worlds 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, who is in ...

as the top title recognized by the promotion. In 1989, the WCWA championship was unified 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 ...

to become 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 Heavy ...

as WCWA merged with the

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ref ...

(CWA) to become the

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Wrestling ...

. In 1990 WCWA split from the USWA, but the promotion folded without determining a WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. As it is a professional wrestling championship, the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was not won by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match. The first recognized Texas based NWA United States Champion was

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 ...

, introducing the championship to his Southwest Sports promotion as the top championship in his territory. Fritz Von Erich would go on to win the championship a record setting 20 times. At the time it was not unusual for the promoter, if he was also an active wrestler, to hold the championship multiple times, being that he would always be available to work shows and face off against various "outsiders". Fritz' last reign was on June 4, 1982 16 years after his first title victory.

Rick Rude Richard Erwin Rood (December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999), better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American professional wrestler who performed for many promotions, including World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling ...

was the last WCCW American Heavyweight Champion and announced as the first WCWA World Heavyweight Champion on February 21, 1986.

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 Apr ...

was the final champion, winning it on April 14, 1989, followed by the announcement that the championship had been unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Champion in September 1990. The longest confirmed reign, Fritz Von Erich's fifth reign over all, lasted from March 27, 1967 to April 5, 1968 for a total of 375 days. Von Erich's final reign was also the shortest in history, as he vacated moments after winning it in the main event of the

Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show The Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show was a major professional wrestling show held by World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) at the Texas Stadium on June 4, 1982. As the name indicates the show marked Fritz Von Erich's retirement from in ring comp ...

. With his last title victory Fritz became the oldest champion, at 52 years of age. Fritz's second-youngest son,

Mike Von Erich Michael Brett Adkisson (March 2, 1964 – April 12, 1987) was an American professional wrestler under the ring name Mike Von Erich. His four brothers, David, Kerry, Kevin and Chris, also wrestled. He was the son of longtime Texas wrestler and wres ...

, was the youngest champion at just (20 years, 5 months, 2 days). At , Mike was the lightest champion, while

King Kong Bundy Christopher Alan Pallies (November 7, 1955 – March 5, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, actor and stand-up comedian, better known by his wrestling gimmick and ring name, King Kong Bundy. Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, ...

, tipping the scale at was the heaviest.

Title history

Explanatory notes

References

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Citations

{{World Class Championship Wrestling Continental professional wrestling championships Heavyweight wrestling championships National professional wrestling championships National Wrestling Alliance championships United States professional wrestling championships World Class Championship Wrestling championships World heavyweight wrestling championships

Title history

See also

Explanatory notes

References

General references

Citations