When was the World Wrestling Council established?
World Wrestling Council
The World Wrestling Council (WWC) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón Sr., Victor Jovica, and Gorilla Monsoon. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance until 1988. By the mid-1990s, the promotion had changed its name to the World Wrestling Council.
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is one of four major organizations which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). Many historically high-profile bouts have been sanctioned by the organization with various legendary fighters having been recognised as WBC World champions. All four organizations recognise the legitimacy of each other, and each have interwoven histories dating back several decades.
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was founded in 1948 after six professional wrestling promoters decided to join together and form a governing body to oversee the various members, later referred to as the NWA territories. The NWA Board of Directors agreed to all recognize one over all NWA World Heavyweight Championship and one NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship across all promotions. Beyond those two championships the Board allowed each promotion to create and promote whatever championship they wanted to. For example, in 1949 the first of many NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in the Los Angeles territory.
Undisputed championship
This all changed in July 1948, when the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was formed by multiple promotions and awarded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Orville Brown. After Brown suffered career-ending injuries in an automobile accident on November 1, 1949, the NWA recognised Lou Thesz as the champion. Thesz had earlier won the National Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship on July 10, 1948 from Wild Bill Longson.
WCW Hall of Fame
The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Hall of Fame was an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was established in 1993 to honor wrestlers who began their careers long before the 1990s, mostly alumni of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the predecessors of WCW. Inductees received commemorative plaques that had their names & portraits inscribed on it. Wrestlers were inducted by Gordon Solie, a senior announcer in professional wrestling, and received their plaque during the "Legends Reunion" segment at WCW's May pay-per-view event, Slamboree. The WCW Hall of Fame was the second hall of fame established to honor professional wrestlers, after the creation of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Hall of Fame in February 1993. After the 1995 Hall of Fame ceremony, WCW stopped the production of the Hall of Fame without a formal announcement. In 2001, after WCW filed for bankruptcy, the WWF acquired all of its assets; this led to the formal stoppage of the WCW Hall of Fame. The WWF, however, stopped producing its Hall of Fame ceremony after 1996. In 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the WWF's successor, reinstated the WWE Hall of Fame, which included inductees that were alumni of WWE, NWA, JCP, and WCW.
W*ING
Their first show took place on August 7, 1991, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. W*ING would also have a talent exchange relationship with Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council, as well as sharing WWC's Caribbean Heavyweight and World Junior Heavyweight Championships between the two promotions. On March 21, 1994, W*ING closed its doors due to the massive loss of money. Quinones would later form International Wrestling Association of Japan later that year.
WWE
WWE's origins can be traced back as far as 1952 when Roderick James "Jess" McMahon and Toots Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. (CWC), which joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1953. McMahon, who was a successful boxing promoter, began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing and wrestling at the third Madison Square Garden. It was not the first time McMahon had promoted wrestling cards, as he had already done so during the 1910s.
World Wrestling Association
Although inactive during the late 1990s, during which time much of its roster had left to compete in World Championship Wrestling and international promotions, the World Wrestling Association resumed operations in 2004.
World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
When WCW began operations in 1964, the promotion created the International Wrestling Alliance as a sanctioning body for WCW's original championships, the IWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships. WCW joined the National Wrestling Alliance in August 1969, but they continued to recognize the IWA World championships until 1971, when they were abandoned in favor of new NWA-sanctioned titles (see below).
International Wrestling Association (1970s)
The International Wrestling Association (IWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1970s. It was founded by Eddie Einhorn and Pedro Martinez in 1975. The company descended from the National Wrestling Federation. It was originally intended to be the first national wrestling promotion, but stayed primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. Einhorn offered his wrestlers more money and benefits than competing promotions, helping to lure big names such as Mil Mascaras (the company's heavyweight champion). Einhorn left the promotion later that year, and Johnny Powers took over as booker. The company scaled down and stayed in Virginia and North Carolina. After losing an antitrust lawsuit against the rival Jim Crockett Promotions, the IWA closed in 1978.
World Wrestling Clubs Cup
World Wrestling Clubs Cup is an international wrestling clubs competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The tournament was held on the proposal of the Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation in 2014 in Iran.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the original world title of the World Championship Wrestling promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It existed in WCW from 1991 to 2001.
World Light Heavyweight Championship (National Wrestling Association)
The National Wrestling Association World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship originally sanctioned by the National Boxing Association (NBA) and subsequently sanctioned by the National Wrestling Association (NWA), an offshoot of the NBA. The championship had an upper limit of , anyone above that limit was considered a heavyweight. The championship was created in 1930 and abandoned in the early 1960s.
World Wrestling Council
The World Wrestling Council was a member National Wrestling Alliance from 1979 until 1987.
NWA World Welterweight Championship
The championship predates the creation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948 and was initially known simply as the "World Welterweight Championship", promoted by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). When EMLL joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1952, the title was given the NWA prefix. In the late 1980s, EMLL withdrew from the NWA and changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). CMLL retained ownership of three NWA-branded championships which originated in the promotion. The other two were the NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. All continued to be billed as "Campeonatos de NWA".
History of WWE
The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was formed on January 24, 1963. On April 25, 1963, Buddy Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, supposedly winning an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.
World Wide Wrestling Alliance
Founded by promoter Richard Arpin, the promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance as NWA Ohio before being bought by promoter Dave Nelson in 2004. In mid-2005, the organization was renamed the World Wide Wrestling Alliance and held its first event in Circleville, Ohio featuring "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan winning the WWWA United States Heavyweight Championship defeating Scott Powers on August 21, 2005. Soon after, the promotion announced its wrestlers would receive contracts to wrestle exclusively for the WWWA. A tour of Iraq for the US Army was advertised as well as a later PPV was also scheduled to air on September 20, 2005.
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)
Between May 1955 and 1969 the professional wrestling promotion ABC Booking (later known as Georgia Championship Wrestling; GCW) promoted their own regional version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a professional wrestling championship for teams of two wrestlers. When the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was founded in 1948, its board of directors decided to allow any NWA member, referred to as an NWA territory, to use an NWA World Tag Team Championship within their region, essentially making it a regional championship despite the "World" label applied to it. Since the NWA World Tag Team Championships were professional wrestling championships, they were not won or lost in legitimate competitive matches but decided by booker(s) of a wrestling promotion instead.
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
In WCW, the WCW World Heavyweight Championships origin is traced back to a match which took place on January 11, 1991, where Ric Flair defeated Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. When WCW pulled out of the NWA in early 1991, Flair was recognized as the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship can be traced back to an incident in WCW's final split with the NWA in 1993, when Flair's NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign continued to be recognized as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. The two titles were unified in June 1994. The title was briefly defended in WWF following WWF's purchase of WCW in 2001 before being unified into the WWF Championship and retired.
Professional wrestling in the United States
The NWA was the most dominant wrestling body in the 1950s, and a large number of wrestling promotions had been under its leadership. Many promoters, however, viewed it as a crooked tyrant, holding back innovative changes in the sport. It was during this time that several promoters found reason to leave the organization, managing to find niches in the United States. The most prominent of these were the American Wrestling Association (AWA), which became the most popular wrestling promotion during the 1960s, and the New York-based World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), renamed WWF in 1979.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to the first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. The title has been competed for in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, later Extreme Championship Wrestling), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling).
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
According to the latest "PWI" almanac, "PWI" also recognizes select world title reigns from May 4, 1905 – January 28, 1946, prior to the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in July 1948.
List of current world boxing champions
The World Boxing Council (WBC) was founded in Mexico City, Mexico on February 14, 1963 in order to establish an international regulating body. The WBC established many of today's safety measures in boxing, such as the standing eight count, a limit of 12 rounds instead of 15, and additional weight divisions. More information about the WBC's titles including "Silver", "Diamond", "Emeritus", "Honorary", and "Supreme Champion" can be read at the WBC article.
Century Wrestling Alliance
In 1989, veteran wrestler and longtime on-air IWCCW personality Tony Rumble opened a small wrestling promotion, the Century Wrestling Alliance, with his wife Ellen Magliaro. Many of its stars chose to leave the Savoldi's for his new promotion including The Pink Assassin, "Surfer" Ray Odyssey, Vic Steamboat and "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas, then IWCCW Heavyweight Champion. As the IWCCW declined during the early 1990s, Rumble was able build up the CWA and eventually succeeded the former as the dominant independent promotion in the Greater Boston area. With help from personal friends such as World Wrestling Federation manager Jim Cornette and World Championship Wrestling booker Kevin Sullivan, he was able to bring in a number of wrestlers from both organizations throughout the decade. Rumble also developed a collection of local wrestlers as unique or entertaining "gimmick workers", referring to them as his personal "whack pack". He also displayed an ability to pick up "sold shows", events in which the promotion is hired by a school or private organization, and then continuously promote upcoming events from these shows.
Wrestling World Cup
Wrestling World Cup is an international wrestling competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The championships have been conducted every year since the 1973 tournament. The World Cup began as a dual-meet competition for the top teams on each continent, but now features the top teams in the rankings of the previous year's world championships.
USA Wrestling
In 1970, the new federation had a handbook, which set international rules, bylaws, the USWF national structure, international rules, honors for wrestlers and coaches, and advertising for summer wrestling camps and wrestling products. This was sent to more than 11,000 high school and college coaches. Senior and junior teams soon emerged from the federation to compete against other countries, and other countries agreed to wrestle members of the federation. Vince Zuaro from New York, an Olympic wrestling referee, established the United States Wrestling Officials Association. Technique and coaching clinics, membership forms, and event sanctions were established and in 1972 Bob Dellinger was appointed assistant executive director. In 1971, international responsibilities caused the federation to face financial difficulties; this was also the case in 1982, in which the federation was almost bankrupt. Olympic funds from Los Angeles soon handled the difficulties.
World Championship Wrestling
One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks; leaving Fusient to take that offer off the table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, the World Wrestling Federation founded W. Acquisition Company in late-2000 and began speaking to the new AOL Time Warner about acquiring the WCW brand. Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division, and deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image. As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT, leaving Vince McMahon's company, which at the time had an exclusive deal with Viacom, free to acquire the trademarks, video libraries and a few contracts of World Championship Wrestling through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company and was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards.
National Wrestling Association
in 1948 a number of wrestling promoters across the country decided to form the National Wrestling Alliance, a counterpart to the Association implementing a territory system amongst its Alliance members. The Alliance also consolidated the various "World Champions" in their territories, although unlike the Association the Alliance only regulated the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, allowing various territories to create their own versions of other "World titles," such as the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which were left to each territory to determine, leaving multiple World Tag Team champions across the country. In 1949 the Association's World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz was chosen by the Alliance to become their World Heavyweight Champion as well, after previous champion Orville Brown was forced to vacate the title after a car accident. On November 27, 1949 the Association version of the championship was abandoned, folded into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Heavyweight Championship to help clear up the world title picture. The Association also decided to fold the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship into the National Wrestling Alliance's World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
History of World Championship Wrestling
During the period that WCW operated with its own World Heavyweight Championship, while also recognizing the NWA's world title, Flair left the WWF on good terms and returned to WCW, regaining the NWA title from Barry Windham in July 1993. Immediately, the other, now smaller, member organizations of the NWA began demanding that Flair defend the title under their rules in their territories, as mandated by old NWA agreements. The title was later scheduled to be dropped by Flair to Rick Rude, a title change which was exposed by the pre-taping of matches at the Disney-MGM Studios, known as the Disney tapings. The NWA board of directors, working separately from WCW, objected to the title being changed without their vote and WCW finally left the NWA for good again in September 1993. WCW still legally owned and used the actual belt which represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, however, and Rick Rude even defended it as the "Big Gold Belt", but they could no longer use the NWA name. The title thus became known as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship as the World Heavyweight Championship as sanctioned by fictitious subsidiary WCW International. WCW claimed that WCW International still recognized the belt as a legitimate World Championship. For a short while, there were essentially two world titles up for competition in the organization, with Sting winning the WCW International title, while Flair captured the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Vader. The two titles were unified by Flair in a match on June 23, 1994, when the experiment was jettisoned. The Big Gold Belt was then used to represent the lone world championship in the company. It was used as such until WCW's closure in 2001, and for a time in the WWF.
Heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics
The growing popularity of boxing outside of the USA led to creation of various boxing organizations, each strengthening their influence (most notably BBBofC) and having their own champion. This resulted in a growing number of boxers claiming to be legitimate champions. The disruption in boxing was solved after the World War II when the World Championship Committee (WCC) was created with NBA as its unanimous authority. The committee, however, was disbanded in 1955 when NBA, along with its new members (which included the Orient, Mexican and South American federations and boxing commissions of the Philippines and Thailand) left WCC citing lack of control over the organisation. The NBA's voting scheme guaranteed one vote for each state commission as well as one vote for each foreign country. On August 23, 1962, the NBA officially became the World Boxing Association and moved their headquarters to Panama City, Panama.
WWE
The WWE name also refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. As of 2019, it is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 500 events a year, with the roster divided up into various globally traveling brands, and is available to about 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in major cities across the world.
Joe Pedicino
With the close of Fritz von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling the previous year, he and former USWA commissioner Max Andrews decided to start a new promotion and moved into the Dallas-area in June 1991. It was claimed that this new promotion, the Global Wrestling Federation, was an established wrestling organization that promoted events worldwide and intended to become a competitor of World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.
World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling was established in 1996 as a continuation of the Trans World Wrestling Federation and continued to be owned and operated by Afa Anoa'i. In 1998, the promotion held its first live televised supercard "Sportsfest '98" in Allentown, Pennsylvania which featured several wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation including Rocky Maivia, Mankind, Owen Hart, D'Lo Brown as well as former WWF wrestlers Doink the Clown, King Kong Bundy and The Bushwhackers.
List of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre tournaments
The Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; Spanish for "World Wrestling Council") has held a variety of different professional wrestling tournaments since it was founded in 1933. CMLL holds several annually recurring tournaments as well as tournaments to either determine who should hold a championship or who should challenge for a championship. CMLL has also held some uniquely "lucha libre" tournaments, such as a "Losers Advance" "Ruleta de la Muerte" ("Roulette of death") tournament when the loser of the final match would be forced to either unmask or have his or her hair shaved off. As professional wrestling tournaments, they are not won and lost legitimately; they are instead won via a predefined outcome of matches.
WWA World Lightweight Championship
The WWA World Lightweight Championship ("Campeonato Mundial de peso Ligero WWA" in Spanish) is an inactive professional wrestling championship promoted by the Mexican wrestling promotion World Wrestling Association (WWA) from 1987 until 1995. Being a professional wrestling championship it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. The official definition of the Welterweight weight class in Mexico is between and , but the weight limits are not always strictly adhered to. It was first won by Mano Negra in 1987 and defended throughout Mexico until 1995 when the title was first declared vacant and then later on inactive.
History of collegiate wrestling
The 1960s and 1970s saw major developments in collegiate wrestling, with the emergence of the United States Wrestling Federation (USWF) (later called the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and now known as USA Wrestling (USAW)). The USWF, with its membership of coaches, educators, and officials, became recognized eventually as the official governing body of American wrestling and as the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee, in place of the Amateur Athletic Union. Soon, the Division II wrestling team championship was established in 1963. Western State (Colorado) won the first team championship in that division. The Division III wrestling team championship was established in 1974 with Wilkes University winning the first team championship. Collegiate wrestlers in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s as usual made strides in the international styles, but were more well known for their scholastic and collegiate wrestling achievements. These wrestlers include Dan Gable, who won the Olympic gold medal in 1972 and was the Olympic freestyle coach in 1984, but was more famous for his 15 team championships as coach at the University of Iowa. John Smith also won gold medals at the Goodwill Games against a Soviet in Moscow and at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992. He is best known however for his two NCAA championships and his 90 straight victories for Oklahoma State University, where he later became a championship-winning coach. Ed and Lou Banach together won five individual NCAA championships for Iowa and were able to win gold medals at the 1984 Olympics. Wade Schalles of Clarion University earned a record of 821 victories, with 530 falls, which earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as amateur wrestling's "all-time winning and pinning leader." Other high-achieving collegiate wrestlers who have had national, international, and Olympic wrestling championship careers include Robin Reed, Kenny Monday, Cael Sanderson, Temoer Terry, Bruce Baumgartner, and Kurt Angle (who would also become a major star in professional wrestling).
International Wrestling Syndicate
Eddy joined with Manny Elefthriou and Nic Paterson to form the World Wrestling Syndicate. WWS had their first show Blood, Sweat & Beers at Wally's on June 17, 1999. The last WWS show was Praise the Violence on April 8, 2000.
Continental Wrestling Association
In 1988, plans were set in motion to actually merge the AWA and the CWA into one federation in an attempt to counter the World Wrestling Federation’s national expansion. The federation was renamed the Championship Wrestling Association in late-1987 when Lawler began co-promoting with Jarrett. Subsequently, all singles titles in the CWA (AWA Southern, CWA/AWA International and NWA Mid-America Heavyweight) were merged in order to recognize one CWA Heavyweight Champion.
International World Class Championship Wrestling
Originally known as International Championship Wrestling (not to be confused with the similarly named ICW promotion run by Angelo Poffo between 1978 and 1984), the promotion started holding events the Boston area sometime around 1984 or 1985. Initially ICW was affiliated with the Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council, recognizing the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship and the WWC Tag Team Championship as the top championships in the promotion. The titles were never clearly named as “WWC” titles on ICW television, nor were they presented as being owned by ICW. On February 27, 1985, Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Carlos Colón for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title in Bangor, Maine. It marked the first time that the WWC Universal Title changed hands outside of Puerto Rico. During the time WWC and ICW had a working relationship talent from both federations travelled to the other federation to compete. The working relationship brought such superstars as Abdullah the Butcher, the Invaders and Hercules Ayala to the New England Area. Angelo Savoldi’s grandson ”Jumping” Joe Savoldi won the WWC Tag-Team Championship alongside Al Perez (known as the New York Rockers) on January 6, 1985 when they beat Super Medico I and Black Gorman.
Professional wrestling in the United States
In the 1930s and 1940s, small wrestling promotions had fierce competition with each other, often stealing talents and "invading" enemy companies to win over fans. With inter-promotional matches occurring nationwide, the promotions were vying for dominance. In 1948, wrestling reached new heights after a loose confederation was formed between independent wrestling companies. This was known as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In the late 1940s to 1950s, the NWA chose Lou Thesz to unify the various world championships into a single "World Heavyweight" title. Thesz's task was not easy, as some promoters, reluctant to lose face, went so far as to shoot title matches to keep their own champions popular with the fans.
WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship
The WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was created on December 18, 1978, and awarded to NJPW mainstay Antonio Inoki by Vincent J. McMahon, upon Inoki's arrival in America. The title was known for being contested in matches billed as shoot wrestling fights. The WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was contested solely in NJPW after the promotion became unaffiliated with the WWF in 1985.
Undisputed champion
A year later NYSAC along with European Boxing Union and BBBofC supported creation of the World Boxing Council. WBC was officially established on February 14, 1963, in Mexico City, Mexico by 11 countries (the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil) that were invited by the President of Mexico Adolfo López Mateos to form an international organization to unify all commissions of the world to control the expansion of boxing. The reason for the move were concerns about WBA's alleged lack of desire to support professional boxing outside of the USA.
History of WWE
The history of WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). It underwent several name changes throughout the years, from World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002.
NWA United States Tag Team Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was founded in 1948 after six professional wrestling promoters decided to join together and form a governing body to oversee the various members, later referred to as the NWA territories. The NWA Board of Directors agreed to all recognize one over all NWA World Heavyweight Championship and one NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship across all promotions. Beyond those two championships the Board allowed each promotion to create and promote whatever championship they wanted to. In 1949 the first of many NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in the Los Angeles territory. In the 1950s tag team wrestling became more popular across the US, which lead to the introduction of various "second tier" championships promoted locally as the "American Tag Team Championship" or the "National Tag Team Championship". In 1950 the Midwest Wrestling Association, the NWA member promoting in and around Ohio, introducing Jack Kennedy and Lucky Simunovich as the American Tag Team Championship, only to later bill the same championship as both the National Tag Team Championship and the United States Tag Team Championship between 1950 and 1963 where the promotion closed.
WWA World Heavyweight Championship (Los Angeles)
The WWA World Heavyweight Championship, also known simply as the World Heavyweight Championship, was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Los Angeles, California-based Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA). The title was established as an offshoot of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when Édouard Carpentier became recognized as world champion in Los Angeles, when the promotion was then known as the North American Wrestling Alliance. The championship was renamed with the promotion in 1961, and was abandoned in 1968 after WWA joined the NWA and was renamed NWA Hollywood Wrestling.
United World Wrestling
United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling for men and women, as well as others. The flagship event of UWW is the Wrestling World Championships. It was formerly known as the FILA (), having assumed its current name in September 2014.
National Wrestling Alliance
In the Caribbean, long-time promotion the World Wrestling Council, owned by Carlos Colon and based in Puerto Rico, was a member from 1973 until 1988, when the territory concept became semi-obsolete due to WCW’s growth. Rival Puerto Rican promotion International Wrestling Association, founded in 1994 by Victor Quiñones, was a member of the NWA from its inception until its withdrawal in 2001. The Dominican promotion Dominicana de Espectáculos, led by Jack Veneno, was affiliated to the NWA as well in the 1970s and 1980s.
WWE Championship
The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member promotions. In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, its executives held a controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one fall match. Claiming the title can only be contested in a traditional two out of three falls match, the promotion disputed the title change, and thus seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro, supposedly defeating Antonino Rocca in the finals. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again, and "World" was dropped from the championship's name. In 1979, the WWWF was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the championship became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998.
List of women's wrestling promotions in the United States
World Women's Wrestling (WWW or Triple W) was founded in 2006 by Sheldon Goldberg. Their matches were promoted on numerous New England Championship Wrestling cards until the closure of WWW and NECW on November 6, 2010.
World Wrestling Council
On July 23, 2018, longtime talent Ramón Álvarez (a.k.a. El Bronco No. 1) and Engel Landolfi unveiled a spinoff based in the Dominican Republic, WWC DR, receiving the support of Colón and Jovica (who loaned both the trade name and logo for use). Its first event was scheduled for October 28, 2018, featuring talent from both WWC (such as Carlito, Gilbert, Thunder and Lightning) and local competitor WWL (Superstar Ash, Ángel Fashion and Vanilla Vargas).
NWA World Tag Team Championship
In 1948 six professional wrestling promoters in the United States joined together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a governing body for a number of different wrestling promotions, which then became known as the NWA territories. The promoters, (Pinkie George, Al Haft, Tony Stecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown and Sam Muchnick) formed a Board of Directors and decided that they would endorse two wrestling championships that all territories would recognize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next.
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
The subsequent legacy of the championship is not linear, with the champion being disputed among various promotions until the formation of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1948. The last several reigns are recognized by the NWA under the NWA World Heavyweight Championship's lineage. As such, the lineage of WWE's world championship can also be traced back to it.
WAR (wrestling promotion)
Wrestle Association R (formerly known as Wrestle and Romance and abbreviated as WAR) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded and run by Genichiro Tenryu as the successor to Super World of Sports, and which lasted from 1992 to 2000. The promotion initially established as Wrestle and Romance in 1992, had very few regular contracted workers, instead most of the workers were either freelance or employed in other promotions. Because of this WAR ran many all-star cards. It had interpromotional feuds against New Japan Pro Wrestling, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, the new Tokyo Pro Wrestling, and UWF International. WAR also continued, albeit in a loose fashion, SWS's old working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation, when they backed the WWF's first Japanese tour, in 1994.
Cruiserweight (professional wrestling)
After the World Wrestling Federation acquired the intellectual property of WCW in 2001, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was abandoned in favor of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and the title was renamed the WWF Cruiserweight Championship (and then WWE); however, the title was eventually retired, with Hornswoggle serving as the last champion before being stripped of the title for his own safety. Prior to acquiring WCW, the WWF sanctioned two cruiserweight titles of its own. In 1965, while operating under the name of the World Wide Wrestling Federation, the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship was created. Initially, the title was used from September 1965 until sometime in 1972. During this period, the title was held four times by Johnny De Fazio and was vacated after his retirement in 1972. The championship was reactivated in January 1978 with the first new champion being Carlos Jose Estrada. By this time, the company had renamed itself the World Wrestling Federation and engaged in a cross promotional agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Three days after Estrada won the vacant title, he was defeated by Tatsumi Fujinami. Going forward, the title was almost exclusively used by New Japan while the WWF retained ownership. The title was vacated and retired for the final time on October 31, 1985 as a result of New Japan and the WWF ending their working relationship.
WCWA World Heavyweight Championship
The WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Class Championship Wrestling. The title was originally created in June 1966 as the Texas version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship before being renamed the NWA American Heavyweight Championship in May 1968. When WCCW pulled out of the NWA in 1986, the championship was renamed the World Class Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship. The title was unified by Jerry Lawler with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1989 and continued as the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. World Class returned in September 1990 when the organization withdrew from the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), but the promotion ceased operations three months later.
Professional boxing
In the first part of the 20th century, the United States became the centre for professional boxing. It was generally accepted that the "world champions" were those listed by the "Police Gazette." After 1920, the National Boxing Association, or NBA, began to sanction "title fights." Also during that time, "The Ring" was founded, and it listed champions and awarded championship belts. The NBA was renamed in 1962 and became the World Boxing Association, or WBA. The following year, a rival body, the World Boxing Council, or WBC, was formed. In 1983, the International Boxing Federation, or IBF, was formed. In 1988, another world sanctioning body, the World Boxing Organization, or WBO, was formed. By the end of the 20th century, the World Professional Boxing Federation, or WPBF, was formed, and a boxer had to be recognized by the separate bodies to be the "Undisputed World Champion." Regional sanctioning bodies such as the North American Boxing Federation, the North American Boxing Council and the United States Boxing Association also awarded championships. "The Ring" Magazine also continued listing the World Champion of each weight division, and its rankings continue to be appreciated by fans.
World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), also known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA), was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president, Jack Adkisson, was better known as wrestler Fritz Von Erich. Beginning as a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), it went independent in 1986 in a bid to become a major national promotion, but was unsuccessful in its attempts and eventually went out of business in 1990. Rights to the pre-1989 WCCW tape library belong to WWE (the post-1988 rights are owned by International World Class Championship Wrestling) and select episodes from 1982 to 1988 are available on the WWE Network.
World Xtreme Wrestling
Originally formed in 1970 as the Trans World Wrestling Federation in association with the original Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center, the promotion's early history is unrecorded. However, Jules Strongbow and Yukon Jack have both been credited as former heavyweight champions. During the early 1990s, the promotion's roster included independent wrestlers such as Bam Bam Bigelow, Chief Dave Foxx, Billy Kidman, Chris Kanyon, Tony Stetson and Glen Osbourne.
National Wrestling Federation
The original National Wrestling Federation (NWF) was a wrestling promotion based in Buffalo, New York and owned by promoter Pedro Martínez. It ran from 1970 to 1974. The promotion was then revived in 1986 by Robert Raskin. The revived promotion closed in 1994.
New York State Athletic Commission
The NYSAC was founded in 1920, when the Walker Law legalized prizefighting. The National Boxing Association (NBA) was established in 1921 by other U.S. states to counter the influence of the NYSAC. Sometimes the NYSAC and the NBA recognized different boxers as World Champion, especially in 1927–40. In 1962, the NBA renamed itself the World Boxing Association, and in 1963 the NYSAC supported the formation of the World Boxing Council.
World Bowling
World Bowling (WB; known as the Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs between 1952 and April 2014) is the world governing body of nine-pin and ten-pin bowling. WB was founded in 1952 in Hamburg, Germany by officials of the International Bowling Association (founded 1926) to foster worldwide interest in amateur ten-pin and nine-pin bowling, as well as international friendship by encouraging world and zone tournaments and other competition between bowlers of different countries. WB has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee since 1979 as the governing body for bowling sports. Starting with five member federations in 1952, it grew to 141 in 2010.
Universal Wrestling Association
The UWA also reached out to promotions around the globe and forged working relationships with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the United States and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) in Japan. This working relationship resulted in a larger influx of foreign wrestlers than EMLL was ever able to produce and also led to the UWA actually gaining exclusive rights to promote a WWF branded championship, the WWF World Light Heavyweight Championship in the early 1980s, even if the promotion does not acknowledge the lineage in their official title history today. The UWA even began working with EMLL in the 1980s, co-promoting shows and allowing EMLL to book UWA wrestlers on their shows. By the early 1990s UWA began to struggle financially as several of their top wrestlers left the company to work for EMLL who could offer them more money. In 1992 Antonio Peña broke away from EMLL, much like the UWA had 18 years earlier, and formed a new company called Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) further affecting the UWA's profit margin. When the Peso lost its value in the mid-1990s the UWA was forced to close its doors in 1995.
USA Wrestling
The United States Congress later amended the Amateur Sports Act to include the provision that the USOC would not recognize any arbitration loser, and the federation was again in arbitration. On August 20, 1982, federal judge Ann Aldrich ordered the AAU to resign from and sever all ties with the United States Olympic Committee and FILA, and also ordered the USOC to remove the AAU as a Group A member. William E. Simon, the USOC's president at the time, convened on September 23 a panel to create the new United States Wrestling Association (USWA). The offices would be located in the Hall of Fame in Stillwater, with Combs as executive director and the departments of the USWF kept intact. Other committees would be added that emphasized the individual styles and the development and financing of the sport. An executive committee was created that included five representatives from the USWF, five from the AAU, and three elected by active wrestlers. The AAU eventually refused to participate, but the new executive committee established a board of directors and a national structure built on the state federations. The USWA sent its first international team in November of that year to Hungary for the Greco-Roman World Cup. After further conflicts with the AAU, the team from the USWA was finally permitted to wrestle by FILA.
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling Inc. (WCW) is a defunct American professional wrestling promotion, historically based in Atlanta, Georgia. WCW was established in 1988 when Turner Broadcasting System purchased the nearly bankrupt Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), which had been one of the major territories of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Turner initially renamed the company the Universal Wrestling Corporation and shortly afterward renamed it again as World Championship Wrestling, after the name of JCP's flagship television show. In its early years, WCW was buoyed by established NWA performers such as Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes, along with emerging stars like Lex Luger, and Sting, who would go on to be dubbed "The Franchise of WCW".
History of WWE
Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vincent J. McMahon assumed complete control of the organization in 1971. Later that year, The Mongols created controversy after they left the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Team Championship. The championship would be considered inactive as a result until Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler won a tournament to claim the championship. They then defeated the Mongols in November 1971, voiding any claim The Mongols had to the championship. In March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
WWE Championship
The original world championship of the promotion, it was established by the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on April 25, 1963 as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, following the promotion seceding from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers. Since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. It is the oldest championship currently active in the WWE, and is presented as being the promotion's most prestigious title, with many matches for the title having headlined pay-per-view events – including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania. In professional wrestling in general, it is considered by many to be one of the most prestigious championships of all time.
World Wrestling Council
By the mid 1990s, the organization changed its official name to World Wrestling Council. Women also began to have an ever-increasing presence in the organization during that decade.
Professional wrestling
The women's division of professional wrestling has maintained a recognized world champion since 1937, when Mildred Burke won the original World Women's title. She then formed the World Women's Wrestling Association in the early 1950s and recognized herself as the first champion, although the championship would be vacated upon her retirement in 1956. The NWA however, ceased to acknowledge Burke as "their" Women's World champion in 1954, and instead acknowledged June Byers as champion after a controversial finish to a high-profile match between Burke and Byers that year. Upon Byers' retirement in 1964, The Fabulous Moolah, who won a junior heavyweight version of the NWA World Women's Championship (the predecessor to the WWE Women's Championship) in a tournament back in 1958, was recognized by most NWA promoters as champion by default.
WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship is a defunct professional wrestling world heavyweight championship that was contested in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1993 and 1994. Although it was owned and controlled by WCW, the championship was presented as the highest accolade of "WCW International", a fictitious subsidiary. The championship was contested at WCW events and at several events in Japan under the aegis of New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
World Wrestling Council
Capitol Sports Promotions, with Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica and Gorilla Monsoon as promoters/co-owners of the organization, was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) until late 1988, when Gorilla Monsoon left. The company then went bankrupt (as confirmed by Victor Quiñones in an interview with prwrestling.com). Following this, Thomas Collado became the owner in 1976, before Carlos Colon and Victor Jovica.
Lou Thesz
In 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was formed, the purpose being to create one world champion for all the various wrestling territories throughout North America. Orville Brown, the reigning Midwest World Heavyweight Championship holder, was named the first champion. Thesz, at the time, was head of a promotional combine that included fellow wrestling champions Longson, Bobby Managoff, Canadian promoter Frank Tunney and Eddie Quinn, who promoted in the St. Louis territory where NWA promoter Sam Muchnick was running opposition. Quinn and Muchnick ended their promotional war, and Thesz' promotion was absorbed into the NWA. Part of the deal was a title unification match between Brown and Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, just weeks before the scheduled bout, Brown was involved in an automobile accident that ended his career, and he was forced to vacate the championship and the NWA awarded the title to the No. 1 contender, Thesz. Thesz was chosen for his skill as a "hooker" to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the planned finish for personal glory.
WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship
The WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the top title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. The championship was established in July 1982, as the WWC World Heavyweight Championship, when the company was named Capitol Sports Promotions. The championship received its current name following a match between Carlos Colón (WWC World Heavyweight Champion) and Ric Flair (NWA World Heavyweight Champion) where the "Champion of the Universe" was supposed to be determined. The first champion was Abdullah the Butcher, who was billed as champion upon the title's creation. Since being established, the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship has been held by forty-nine different wrestlers and has also been held up on nineteen occasions and vacated or stripped thirteen times.
WWE
Mondt left Capitol in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, Sr. quietly re-joined in 1971. Capitol renamed the World Wide Wrestling Federation to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979.
History of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that existed from 1988 to 2001. It began as a promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that appeared on the national scene under the ownership of media mogul Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia. The name came from a wrestling television program that aired on TBS in the 1980s, which had taken the name from an Australian wrestling promotion of the 1970s.
NWA World Welterweight Championship
The NWA World Welterweight Championship () is a professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and currently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was originally created by the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1946. The promotion had control of the championship from 1946 until 1996 and again from 2007 until 2010. From 1996 until 2007 the championship was promoted mainly in Japan, first as one of eight championships that made up the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) J-Crown Championship. After the J-Crown was discontinued the title remained in Japan being promoted by the Toryumon promotion up until 2007 when it returned to Mexico and CMLL. CMLL was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance up until the late 1980s but chose to keep the championship and the NWA prefix after leaving the NWA. As it is a professional wrestling championship, its holders are determined by promoters or promotions, not by athletic competition. The official definition of the welterweight weight limit in Mexico is to , but promotions have ignored the weight limit at times and crowned champions both heavier and lighter than the rules defined.
World Wrestling Association (Indianapolis)
The World Wrestling Association was an Indianapolis-based professional wrestling promotion which was operated by Dick "The Bruiser" Afflis and his business partner Wilbur Snyder. The WWA was affiliated with the larger American Wrestling Association and recognized its champions, though the WWA also had its own champions. The WWA also recognized the championships of the Indianapolis-based Powerful Women of Wrestling promotion as their women's champions in the late 1980s.
History of WWE
WWE was founded as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) on January 7, 1952 by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt. CWC was the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s northeastern territory. The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to several different professional wrestling promotions in the NWA. The championship was defended around the world. The NWA generally promoted strong shooters as champions, to give their worked sport credibility and guard against double-crosses. While doing strong business in the Midwest (the NWA's core region), these wrestlers attracted little interest in the CWC territory. In 1961, the NWA board decided instead to put the championship on bleach blond showman "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, a much more effective drawing card in the region. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the championship belt (championship holders at the time had to pay a deposit to insure they honored their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on January 24, 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon, and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process.
List of former championships in WWE
In professional wrestling, championships are competed for in scripted storylines by a company or promotion's roster of contracted wrestlers. WWE is a Stamford, Connecticut-based sports entertainment company primarily focused on professional wrestling. The promotion was founded in 1952 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). In the company's 50-year history, over twenty different unique championships have been operated and contended for. These titles consisted of divisional, special stipulations, and weight-class championships. Of these titles, nineteen have been retired and succeeded through replacement titles or title unifications. The first retired championship was in 1967 with the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (created in 1953), while the most recent was the WWE Divas Championship (created in 2008) in April 2016. The following is a compilation of the company's former championships that were once active and contended for by its roster.
World Light Heavyweight Championship
The World Light Heavyweight Championship was the first recognized professional wrestling world light heavyweight championship created in 1905
History of World Championship Wrestling
JCP had almost accomplished its goal of creating a national promotion. Between the purchasing of several NWA territories, World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas leaving the NWA in 1986 (and later merging with Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis to create the United States Wrestling Association brand), JCP was the last bastion of the NWA, and the last member with national television exposure. Although JCP and the NWA were still two separate legal entities, with Crockett as NWA President, the NWA was effectively reduced to an on-paper organization funded by Jim Crockett Promotions, and allowed JCP to use the NWA brand name for promoting.
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
The WWE Championship's origin can be traced back to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after an incident in which the Capitol Wrestling Corporation at the time left the NWA to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). This was after the WWWF refused to recognize Lou Thesz as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion after he beat Buddy Rogers in a one fall match – the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title matches usually followed a best-of-three fall format – Vincent J. McMahon, the WWWF's owner created the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship and awarded Rogers the championship belt proclaiming he won it in a (apocryphal) tournament in Brazil.
WWC Women's Championship
The WWC Women's Championship was the top title for women's professional wrestling in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. The championship was established on 1985. Though the championship was abandoned on 1999, it was revived on 2006.
WWE
The current entity, incorporated on February 21, 1980, was previously known as Titan Sports, Inc., which was founded that same year in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the World Wrestling Federation, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation, Inc. in 1998, then World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and finally the current World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. Since 2011, the company has officially branded itself solely as WWE though the company's legal name was not changed.
WWE Championship
In 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a member of the NWA, established the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to replace the NWA's world title. In 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into mainstream prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war, dubbed the Monday Night Wars. Near the end of the ratings war, WCW began a financial decline, which culminated in WWF purchasing WCW in March 2001. As a result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, WCW's championships. Thus, there were two world titles in the WWF: the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed the "World Championship".
World Wrestling League
The World Wrestling League (WWL), or Liga Mundial de Lucha Libre, is a wrestling promotion based out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2012 by businessman Richard Negrín with the cooperation of established wrestling figures such as Hugo Savinovich, the company developed a global scope, establishing alliances with over a dozen international promotions and holding shows throughout the Americas. In line with the traditional model of professional wrestling, WWL's shows do not feature legitimate sporting contests. Instead, its programs feature storyline-driven combat sport matches with predetermined outcomes and acrobatic and grappling maneuvers that are worked, which are publicly promoted as legitimate bouts to accentuate the entertainment.
Continental Wrestling Association
Due to controversies following the PPV, the CWA (and WCCW) broke off their relationship with the AWA, and Lawler was stripped of the AWA World title. In retaliation, Lawler kept the physical AWA World Heavyweight championship belt for not getting his payoff for SuperClash III. After the cooperative attempt with the AWA failed, Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW from the Von Erichs and unified the two promotions as the United States Wrestling Association in 1989, thus ending the era of Continental Wrestling Association.
World Boxing Union
The World Boxing Union (WBU) is a boxing sanctioning body. The original WBU was founded in January 1995 by IBF European representative Jon W. Robinson. It sanctioned boxing with various promoters worldwide.
National Wrestling Alliance
Since the NWA was founded in 1948, there have been twenty different presidents of the organization. In 2005, at its annual meeting, the position of President was abandoned in favor of the position of Executive Director. However, after a lawsuit against the organization and its now former management by one of its members, R. Bruce Tharpe, the organization came under Tharpe's ownership through a holding company he formed. Afterwards, the Executive Director position was abandoned in favor of a return to President. On October 1, 2017, Billy Corgan became new owner following acquisition of NWA from Tharpe.
Universal Wrestling Association
The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican "Lucha Libre" or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ("International wrestling") but outside of Mexico it is generally referred to as the UWA as it was the name of the fictional international sanctioning body that in storyline terms oversaw all championships promoted by the UWA. The company was founded by wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza, promoter Francisco Flores and investor Benjamín Mora, Jr. as when they broke away from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre to form their own promotion. The company had working agreements with wrestling promotions both in the United States and Japan as they worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP).
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, the weight limit was changed to 220Ibs). It was created on March 26, 1981 for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in a partnership between the WWF and UWA. On 16 June, 1995, the title moved to Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but due to WWF's ownership of the title, it was returned to the WWF in 1997, the year in which the WWE begins the championship's lineage. The inaugural champion in UWA was Perro Aguayo, however, the WWE considers the inaugural champion to be Taka Michinoku, with his reign beginning on . It was retired in November 2001 with X-Pac as the final champion.
List of Universal Wrestling Association Shows
The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) held their debut show on January 26, 1975 featuring a mixture of wrestlers who had joined the UWA founders from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and wrestlers from the independent circuit. In the main event Aníbal successfully defended the NWA World Middleweight Championship against former champion René Guajardo. Aníbal had taken the Middleweight championship belt with him when he left EMLL, but since the UWA were not members of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Aníbal was stripped of the title after making an unsanctioned defense at UWA's debut show. The show featured five matches in total, including a Best two out of three falls Six-man tag team match featuring one of the UWA founders, Ray Mendoza, teaming up with two up-and-coming wrestlers Mil Mascaras and El Solitario, both of whom would go on to have long distinguished careers. They faced the team of veteran Dory Dixon who had joined the UWA to attain one last run in the main event, teaming with North American wrestler Sunny War Cloud and the man who would later become synonymous with the UWA, El Canek. Mendoza, Máscaras and Solitario won the match in three falls. The undercard featured several other wrestlers who had been underutilized in EMLL but would go on to become famous for their work in the UWA: Rayo de Jalisco, Tinieblas, Dos Caras and Villano I.
National Wrestling Alliance
Several smaller promotions that were once cornerstones of the NWA ceased to exist as the WWF (now World Wrestling Entertainment) and WCW grew to national levels. Indeed the WWF (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation) was itself previously one of the NWA's biggest promotions. It initially started out in the NWA, and managed to dominate the Northeastern U.S. territory after withdrawing from the NWA through most of the 1960s. The WWWF quietly rejoined the organisation in 1971, after WWWF's biggest draw, Bruno Sammartino left the promotion and in 1979 changed the name from World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) to World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1983, the McMahons and associates all withdrew from the NWA, Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) was one of the main NWA territories into the 1980s, but, due to the aging of promoter Don Owen and dwindling profit, it closed down in 1992. Another territory that was once considered a main territory of the NWA was promoter and two-time NWA President Sam Muchnick’s St. Louis-based promotion, the St. Louis Wrestling Club, which ran until 1982 and was then sold to a promotion that Jim Crockett Promotions absorbed in 1985 in its attempt to create a national promotion. NWA Mid-America, booked by Nick Gulas, and the Continental Wrestling Federation, booked by the Fullers, both folded in the 1980s, but were long-time members. Southwest Championship Wrestling out of San Antonio was a member from 1978 until 1985, when it was bought by another NWA member promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). When wrestler and Detroit NWA member Ed Farhat made several appearances as The Sheik in an "outlaw territory", his promotion Big Time Wrestling was deemed to have violated the NWA charter and was expelled from the organization. Another American former NWA member is Ohio Valley Wrestling, which was a member until it was made a WWF developmental territory in 2001.
World Association of Wrestling
Ricky Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean formed WAW in 1994 in Norwich. Ocean left the business after approximately one year. In 2005, Ricky Knight and Sweet Saraya formed the World Association of Women's Wrestling, although the name was later changed to Bellatrix Female Warriors.
WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship has its origins in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the principal championship of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA was a syndicate of wrestling promotions who would book an overall champion. In 1991, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was Ric Flair, who held the title when he wrestled for WCW. Flair was simultaneously considered the WCW World Heavyweight Champion; he was stripped of both titles because he left to work for rival company World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Lex Luger won the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which would remain the promotion's primary title throughout WCW's existence until the company merged with WWF; Masahiro Chono won a tournament designed to crown the next holder of the NWA championship. As a result of WCW withdrawing its membership of the NWA in September 1993, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, now once again held by Flair, no longer carried the NWA name, but WCW retained the physical belt they had used to represent the title. This belt became the WCW International Heavyweight Championship. The NWA then appointed Eastern Championship Wrestling as the promotion in charge of booking an NWA champion.
WrestleWar
WrestleWar was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event series promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was held in the month of May in 1989 and 1992 and the month of February in 1990 and 1991. The first two events were promoted under the National Wrestling Alliance banner, the final two under the WCW name.
Century Wrestling Alliance
The Century Wrestling Alliance, formerly known as NWA Cold Front and NWA New England, is a New England-based American independent wrestling promotion located in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded by Tony Rumble in 1989, a retired wrestler and manager in International World Class Championship Wrestling, and included much of its roster prior to and following its close during the early 1990s. The promotion eventually replaced IWCCW as the dominant independent promotion in the Greater Boston area and, in 1997, became an affiliated territory of the National Wrestling Alliance. As of 2007, it is the longest-running independent wrestling promotion operating in New England under a single owner, Ellen Magliaro.
World Armwrestling Championship
World Armwrestling Championships is main arm wrestling championships in the World. It is organized by World Armwrestling Federation and was founded in 1944 by Thomas Hurst in West Chicago, Illinois.
World Middleweight Championship (National Wrestling Association)
The National Wrestling Association (NWA) World Middleweight Championship was a professional wrestling title sanctioned by the National Wrestling Association, an offshoot of the National Boxing Association (NBA). The title existed from 1928 through 1940, and is said to have connecting lineage to what would become the National Wrestling Alliance's World Middleweight Championship. The title had a weight range of to .
National Wrestling Association
By 1950 the National Wrestling Association no longer promoted their own specific championships, instead choosing to recognize several of the National Wrestling Alliance championships, including the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship promoted by the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) promotion. The Association continued to hold conventions through the 1960s, but by the end of the decade the National Wrestling Association existed in name only. The National Wrestling Association was officially abandoned in 1980.
History of professional wrestling
In 1948, wrestling reached new heights after a loose confederation was formed between independent wrestling companies. This was known as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In the late 1940s to 1950s, the NWA chose Lou Thesz to unify the various world championships into a single "World Heavyweight" title. Thesz's task was not easy, as some promoters, reluctant to lose face, went so far as to shoot title matches to keep their own champions popular with the fans.
World Association of Wrestling
World Association of Wrestling (WAW) is a British professional wrestling promotion founded by Ricky Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean in 1994 in Norwich, Norfolk. It is a sub-ordinate promotion of Real Quality Wrestling, along with and SAS Wrestling, and it is also affiliated with the all-female promotion Bellatrix Female Warriors. The promotion features British-style wrestling and uses British rules.