WWA World Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionWorld Wrestling Association
Date establishedApril 22, 1964
Date retired1989
Statistics
First champion(s)Dick the Bruiser
Final champion(s)Golden Lion
Most reignsDick the Bruiser (13 reigns)
Longest reignGolden Lion (938 days)
Shortest reignErnie Ladd (28 days)

The WWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Indianapolis-based World Wrestling Association from the promotion's formation in 1964 until the late 1980s.

Title history

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Dick the Bruiser April 22, 1964 WWA show Los Angeles, California 1 324 Defeated Freddie Blassie for the Los Angeles version of the championship; starts his own promotion in Indiana.
— Vacated March 12, 1965 — Indianapolis, Indiana — — After a match in which the Bruiser is disqualified against Johnny Valentine.
2 Dick the Bruiser April 10, 1965 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 2 133 Defeated Johnny Valentine in rematch.
3 Gene Kiniski August 21, 1965 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 126
4 Dick the Bruiser December 25, 1965 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 3 287 Loses a unification match against AWA champion Mad Dog Vachon on March 26, 1966 in Chicago, IL but continues to be recognized in Indianapolis and other WWA towns (WWA started working with AWA and AWA titles are recognized in Chicago thereafter).
5 Mitsu Arakawa October 8, 1966 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 357
6 Wilbur Snyder September 30, 1967 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 88
7 Blackjack Lanza December 27, 1967 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 611
8 Dick the Bruiser August 29, 1969 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 4 190
9 Baron von Raschke March 7, 1970 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 586 [1]
10 Dick the Bruiser October 14, 1971 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 5 43 Repeated on October 23, 1971 in Detroit, Michigan.
11 Baron von Raschke November 26, 1971 WWA show Detroit, Michigan 2 116 Repeated in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 29, 1971; Dick the Bruiser Defeated Raschke in a death match on March 18, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan but is stripped in April 1972 with the match having no falls.
12 Billy Red Cloud March 21, 1972 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 35 Raschke continues to be billed as champion in Elkhart, IN where he loses to Art Thomas on March 25, 1972; Thomas also recognized as champion in Detroit; the Detroit version is held-up after a match between Thomas and Baron Von Raschke on May 20, 1972 in Detroit, MI. [2]
13 Art Thomas April 25, 1972 WWA show Minneapolis, Minnesota 1 25
— Vacated May 20, 1972 — Detroit, Michigan — — After a match against Baron von Raschke.
14 Baron von Raschke June 3, 1972 WWA show Detroit, Michigan 3 301 Defeated Red Cloud for the recognition in Indianapolis; also Defeated Art Thomas for the held-up Detroit version on June 3, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan.
15 Bob Ellis March 31, 1973 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A
16 Jimmy Valiant January 1974 WWA show Detroit, Michigan 1 N/A
17 Bob Ellis May 12, 1974 WWA show Detroit, Michigan 2 90
18 Ox Baker August 10, 1974 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 476
19 Pepper Gomez November 29, 1975 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 154
20 Masked Stranger May 1, 1976 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 308
21 Dick the Bruiser March 5, 1977 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 6 56 [3]
— Vacated April 30, 1977 — — — — After a match against Ivan Koloff.
22 Ivan Koloff June 18, 1977 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 147 Wins rematch.
— Vacated November 12, 1977 — — — — After a match against Dick the Bruiser.
23 Dick the Bruiser December 26, 1977 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 7 488 Wins rematch.
— Vacated April 28, 1979 — — — — After a match against King Kong Brody.
24 Dick the Bruiser June 9, 1979 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 8 56 Defeated King Kong Brody.
25 King Kong Brody August 4, 1979 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 301
26 Dick the Bruiser May 31, 1980 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 9 126
— Vacated October 4, 1980 — Indianapolis, Indiana — — After a match against Ernie Ladd.
27 Ernie Ladd November 1, 1980 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 28 Wins rematch.
28 Dick the Bruiser November 29, 1980 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 10 147
29 Johnny Valiant April 25, 1981 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A
30 Dick the Bruiser April 1981 WWA show N/A 11 N/A
31 Bobo Brazil July 24, 1981 WWA show Bartonville, Illinois 1 79
32 Blackjack Mulligan October 11, 1981 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A
33 Bobo Brazil November 1981 WWA show Knoxville, Tennessee 2 N/A
— Vacated February 13, 1982 — — — — After a match against Harley Race where Race pins Brazil after using an illegal piledriver.
34 Harley Race April 24, 1982 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A Defeated Brazil in rematch; Brazil continues to defend in smaller towns.
35 Dick the Bruiser January 1983 WWA show N/A 12 N/A Awarded title.
36 Bobby Colt June 25, 1983 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 196
37 Spike Huber January 7, 1984 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A
38 Stormy Granzig July 1984 WWA show Terre Haute, Indiana 1 N/A Phantom title change—Huber is fired after splitting with Bruiser's daughter.
39 Greg Wojokowski October 1984 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 1 N/A
40 Dick the Bruiser January 29, 1985 WWA show Indianapolis, Indiana 13 N/A
41 Greg Wojokowski September 1985 WWA show N/A 2 N/A
42 Scott Rechsteiner August 14, 1986 WWA show Dearborn, Michigan 1 262
43 Greg Wojokowski May 3, 1987 WWA show Toledo, Ohio 3 N/A
— Vacated 1988 — — — — Wojokowski retired
44 Calypso Jim 1988 WWA show Fort Wayne, Indiana 1 N/A
45 Golden Lion April 16, 1989 WWA show Fort Wayne, Indiana 1 N/A
— Deactivated 1989 — — — — Promotion closed.

References

  1. ^ Hoops, Brian (March 7, 2020). "Daily Pro Wrestling history (03/07): Bruno Sammartino vs. Giant Baba". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  2. ^ Hoops, Brian (March 21, 2020). "Daily pro wrestling history (03/21): Flair vs. Fujinami at WCW/NJPW Supershow". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  3. ^ Hoops, Brian (March 5, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (03/05): The Hardy Boyz win WWF tag team gold". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 5, 2017.

External links

Categories