The NWF Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship used as part of the National Wrestling Federation and later New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
| NWF Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||
| Promotion | National Wrestling Federation New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||||||||||
| Date established | 1970 | ||||||||||
| Date retired | January 4, 2004 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
History
The NWF (National Wrestling Federation) Heavyweight Championship was created by wrestling promoter Pedro Martinez for his NWF promotion in New York in 1970. The title was mainly defended in the New York/Eastern Canada area, until then-champion Johnny Powers took the belt with him on a tour of Japan with Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Powers would eventually lose the title to Antonio Inoki, who would take the belt with him when he founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Inoki became the wrestler most associated with the title due to his high profile defenses of the title, defeating the likes of Stan Hansen, André the Giant, Tiger Jeet Singh, and Ernie Ladd while champion. Recognized as a four-time NWF Heavyweight champion, between the years of 1973 and 1983, Inoki was champion for all but six months. Inoki's fourth reign was actually due to the decision to hold up the championship, following a defense against Stan Hansen on April 17, 1981 that ended in a no contest. Inoki later regained the title on April 23, 1981 by defeating Hansen in a rematch. He retired the NWF title immediately after the match due to his desire to enter the 1983 IWGP League.[1]
As part of a NJPW storyline, the NWF Heavyweight championship was revived in August 2002. Mixed martial arts fighter Kazuyuki Fujita held a tournament to crown a new champion to rival the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The tournament participants were announced to be wrestlers with a background in MMA, including Fujita, Yoshihiro Takayama, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, and Tadao Yasuda. Takayama won the tournament on January 4, 2003, beating Kosaka with a knee kick in the finals to become the first champion in over two decades. Takayama later lost the NWF Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura exactly a year later to unify the NWF and IWGP titles. Nakamura formally announced his vacating of the NWF Heavyweight title on January 5, 2004, retiring the belt for a second time during its history.[2]
Title history
| No. | The overall championship reign |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands |
| N/A | The specific information is not known |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
| No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnny Powers | 1 | 1970 (NLT) | [Note 1] | Los Angeles, California | Live event | Defeated Freddie Blassie to become inaugural champion. | |
| 2 | Waldo Von Erich | 1 | November 20, 1971 | 18 | Akron, Ohio | Live event | ||
| 3 | Dominic DeNucci | 1 | December 8, 1971 | 28 | Buffalo, New York | Live event | ||
| 4 | Waldo Von Erich | 2 | January 5, 1972 | 156 | Buffalo, New York | Live event | ||
| 5 | Ernie Ladd | 1 | June 9, 1972 | 15 | Cleveland, Ohio | Live event | ||
| 6 | Abdullah the Butcher | 1 | June 24, 1972 | [Note 2] | Akron, Ohio | Live event | ||
| 7 | Victor Rivera | 1 | September 1972 (NLT) | [Note 3] | N/A | Live event | ||
| 8 | Abdullah the Butcher | 2 | October 1972 (NLT) | [Note 4] | N/A | Live event | ||
| 9 | Johnny Valentine | 1 | October 19, 1972 | 49 | Cleveland, Ohio | Live event | ||
| — | Vacated | — | December 7, 1972 | — | N/A | N/A | After a match against Johnny Powers, Valentine left the NWF in January 1973 | |
| 10 | Jaques Rougeau | 1 | January 24, 1973 | [Note 5] | Buffalo, New York | Live event | Defeated Waldo Von Erich in finals of tournament for the vacant title. | |
| 11 | Johnny Valentine | 2 | August 1973 (NLT) | [Note 6] | N/A | Live event | ||
| 12 | Johnny Powers | 2 | October 1973 (NLT) | [Note 7] | N/A | Live event | Powers took the title to Japan for a tour with Tokyo Pro Wrestling | |
| 13 | Antonio Inoki | 1 | December 10, 1973 | 429 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | ||
| — | Vacated | — | February 12, 1975 | — | N/A | N/A | Inoki vacated the title as refusal of an NWF ordered defense against Tiger Jeet Singh. | |
| 14 | Tiger Jeet Singh | 1 | March 13, 1975 | 105 | Hiroshima, Japan | Live event | Singh defeats Inoki for the vacant title. | |
| 15 | Antonio Inoki | 2 | June 26, 1975 | 1,688 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | Ordered by the NWA to stop referring to belt as a world title at annual NWA meeting on August 7, 1976. | |
| 16 | Stan Hansen | 1 | February 8, 1980 | 55 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | ||
| 17 | Antonio Inoki | 3 | April 3, 1980 | 434 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | [3] | |
| — | Vacated | — | April 17, 1981 | — | N/A | N/A | Vacated after a defense against Stan Hansen ends in a no contest. | |
| 18 | Antonio Inoki | 4 | April 23, 1981 | [Note 8] | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | ||
| — | Vacant and inactive | — | 1981 | — | N/A | N/A | Inoki vacated the title following the match to enter the NJPW IWGP League. | |
| 19 | Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | January 4, 2003 | 365 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | Defeated Tsuyoshi Kosaka in a tournament for the vacant title at Wrestling World | |
| 20 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 1 | January 4, 2004 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | Nakamura officially unifies NWF title with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling World | |
| — | Abandoned | — | January 1, 2004 | — | N/A | N/A | Championship merged with IWGP Heavyweight Championship, no longer promoted as a separate title |
Footnotes
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 324 and 688 days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was lost is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and Error: Second date should be year, month, day days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and Error: Second date should be year, month, day days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 47 days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 218 days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 319 days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 319 days.
- ^ The exact date the championship was won is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 15 days.
References
- ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ Tanabe, Hisaharu. "N.W.F. Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
- ^ F4W Staff (April 3, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling title change history: Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt, Inoki Vs. Hansen, Guerrero Vs. Jericho". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
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