AWA World Heavyweight Championship


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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 Championship, are now owned by WWE. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute worked finishes rather than contend in direct competition.

AWA World Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionAWA
Date establishedMay 18, 1960
Date retiredDecember 12, 1990
Statistics
First champion(s)Pat O'Connor
Final champion(s)Larry Zbyszko
Most reignsVerne Gagne (10 reigns)
Longest reignVerne Gagne (2625 days)
Shortest reignVerne Gagne, Mighty Igor Vodic and Dick the Bruiser (7 days)

The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was established in May 1960, after the AWA was formed by the departure of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-area territory from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Pat O'Connor was conditionally recognized as the first champion upon the AWA's secession from the NWA as O'Connor held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which he had won on January 9, 1959, though he was ordered to defend against Verne Gagne within 90 days or he would forfeit the AWA title to Gagne.

The creation of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship along with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would pave the way for the creation of many other world championships in other wrestling promotions. The AWA and the title became inactive in late 1990 and the organization officially closed down in August 1991 with the title also being decommissioned. The championship is featured in the video games WWE '13 as a downloadable title and as an unlockable title in WWE 2K14 and the seventh-generation console versions of WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, and WWE 2K17.

Trademark infringement

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In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former AWA employees, began using the AWA name in the state of Minnesota and formed a promotion known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling, infringing on the AWA name. The promotion also created their own version of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. In April 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned all American Wrestling Association properties due to their purchase after the AWA's closure,[1][2][3] including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. In October 2008, the court ruled in favor of WWE. The court ruling prohibits Gagner from exploiting or trading on the AWA name or any other derivatives.[4]

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
† Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
 
Inaugural champion Pat O'Connor
 
Record 10-time, longest reigning and longest combined champion Verne Gagne
 
Final champion Larry Zbyszko
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns 		Combined
days
1 Verne Gagne 10 4,677
2 Nick Bockwinkel 4 2,990
3 Mad Dog Vachon 5 776
4 Larry Zbyszko 2 616
5 Rick Martel 1 595
6 Curt Hennig 1 373
7 Jerry Lawler 1 256
8 Mr. M 1 224
9 Stan Hansen 1 181
10 The Crusher 3 122
11 Pat O'Connor 1 90
12 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 81
13 Mr. Saito 1 57
14 Otto Wanz 1 41
15 Gene Kiniski 1 28
16 Dr. X 1 14
17 Fritz Von Erich 1 12
18 Dick the Bruiser 1 7
Mighty Igor Vodic 1 7
— Mr. Wrestling 1 6
Hulk Hogan 1 6
  1. ^ Browning, Dan (2007-04-28). "World Wrestling sues promoter". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28.
  2. ^ "News and Notes, May 4, 2007". GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. 2007-05-04. Archived from the original on 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  3. ^ Ryder, Bob (2007-04-26). "WWE Files Lawsuit Against "Gagne" For Trademark Violations Associated With AWA". 1wrestling.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02.
  4. ^ "WWE wins trademark infringement lawsuit over AWA". wrestleview.com. 2008-10-28.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. ^ Hoops, Brian (July 20, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: Brisco beats Race for NWA title, Gagne beats Crusher for AWA title, Robinson vs. Gagen". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  7. ^ Hoops, Brian (February 26, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/26): Verne Gagne wins AWA title on his birthday". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Hoops, Brian (May 10, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: Gagne retires as AWA champion, Austin's ex-wife beats Lesnar's wife for WWF title, Steamboat & Youngblood, Thesz Vs Rogers". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Oliver, Greg (September 14, 2017). "Former AWA World champion Otto Wanz dies". SLAM Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  10. ^ Hoops, Brian (February 22, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/22): Sting defeats Hogan to win vacant WCW title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  11. ^ Hoops, Brian (May 13, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 13): Rick Martel wins AWA gold, Kurt Angle wins TNA title, Nash & Hall beat one man to win tag titles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  12. ^ Hoops, Brian (June 29, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: 2nd Steve Austin WWE title reign begins, infamous Stan Hansen AWA title belt stripping story". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  13. ^ "The Grappler's Cagematch Profile". cagematch.net. 2019-01-21.
  14. ^ "Lead up to Lawler's AWA title win 1". YouTube.
  15. ^ Hoops, Brian (February 7, 2017). "On this day in pro wrestling history (Feb 7): Bobby Roode & Austin Aries wins tag gold". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  16. ^ Hoops, Brian (February 10, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (02/10): Masa Saito wins AWA gold at the Tokyo Dome". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.