WWA World Heavyweight Championship (Indianapolis)
| WWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Association | ||||||||||||
| Date established | April 22, 1964 | ||||||||||||
| Date retired | 1989 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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
[edit]| 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
[edit]- ^ Hoops, Brian (March 7, 2020). "Daily Pro Wrestling history (03/07): Bruno Sammartino vs. Giant Baba". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.