WSL World Heavyweight Championship
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The WSL World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world championship in the Wrestling Superstars Live promotion. It was originally known as the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
| WSL World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||
| Promotion | Wrestling Superstars Live | ||||||||||||
| Date established | June 6, 1996 | ||||||||||||
| Date retired | February 21, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||
AWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
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In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former American Wrestling Association (AWA) employees, filed corporate papers to license the AWA name in the state of Minnesota and formed an organization known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling. On June 6 of that year, Gagner and Stewart created their version of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, recognizing all previous AWA world champions.
In April 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner and Jonnie Stewart, citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned all "American Wrestling Association" properties due to their purchase of the company after the original AWA's closure.[1][2][3] In October 2008, a court ruled against Gagner and Stewart and ruled in favor of WWE. The court ruling prohibited Gagner and his associates from exploiting or trading on the AWA name or any other derivatives.[4] As a result, the organization was renamed to Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL). Due to there no longer being connections to the original AWA, WSL began only recognizing championship reigns from 1996 and forward.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonnie Stewart | 1 | 1,028 |
| 2 | Evan Karagias | 3 | 775 |
| 3 | King Kong Bundy | 1 | 486 |
| 4 | Takao Omori | 3 | 412 |
| 5 | Larry Gligorovich | 1 | 309 |
| 6 | Steve Corino | 2 | 308 |
| 7 | Eric Priest | 1 | 292 |
| 8 | Horshu | 1 | 267 |
| 9 | Larry Zbyszko | 1(2) | 249 |
| 10 | Ric Converse | 1 | 217 |
| 11 | Ricky Landell | 1 | 133 |
| 12 | Shinjiro Otani | 1 | 69 |
| 13 | Masato Tanaka | 1 | 50 |
| 14 | The Patriot/Danny Dominion | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Dale Gagne | 1 | 0 |
| Keith Walker | 1 | 0 | |
| — | Brian Logan | 1 | 0 |
American Wrestling Affiliates version
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie Cassidy | 1 | 385 |
| Brian Logan | 3 | 385 | |
| 3 | Chris Richards | 1 | 230 |
| 4 | Tony Givens | 1 | 20 |
- ^ Browning, Dan (2007-04-28). "World Wrestling sues promoter". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28.
- ^ "News and Notes, May 4, 2007". GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. 2007-05-04.
- ^ 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. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- ^ "WWE wins trademark infringement lawsuit over AWA". wrestleview.com. 2008-10-28.
- ^ "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- ^ "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- ^ "American Wrestling Affiliates (2008/04-2009/01)Championship Wrestling Alliance (2009/01-2011/02) World Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Pro Wrestling Zero1's top heavyweight championship 2004–2007 |
Succeeded by |