Great video. As an “80s kid”, I only recognized the NWA title as THE world championship until the moment WCW introduced their world title. At that point, I recognized WCW and the WWF as both having true world title status. I never recognized the AWA being more than a regional title.
the true legitimate title is still the nwa title as it carries the lineage, prestige and honour. the wwf title had lost its prestige due to the montreal screwjob. as for wcw title... it gone down the drain when hogan finger poke of doom kevin nash.
SigmaTV not just because of him, but he is definitely a huge part of it. His booking has really helped. Billy Corgan has been great for NWA and wrestling in general. I thought the angle with Cody Rhodes winning the belt and defending a few times before losing it back to Aldis actually added prestige to it too because it was done the right way, not just him winning it and then immediately losing it back like the first win was a fluke. Instead he won it, defended a few times around the world against quality opposition and then lost it back to Aldis in an amazing and close competition. NWA booking is very, very good with sound logic and respect for titles’ prestige and history. Good on Corgan for actually caring about wrestling.
when you talk about pro wrestling was dead dont just think about in usa.today pro wrestling is bigger than what you think.other contries that did not have history of pw have their own promotian such as at south east asia
I misread you were right about WCCW. I was thinking of JCP having complete control of the NWA title by 1986 after they bought the TBS slot from McMahon.
The first NWA world champion I remember was Harley Race with the red leather belt around 1968-69... The NWA world title is the true undisputed belt it has more than proven itself as that by its holders and longevity over 114 years.
Thanks for the map of the old territories. Wrestling hasn't been the same since the territory system broke down. I miss the old Central States Heavyweight Championship battles that were in my area.
like all wrestling nwa or wwe old school my question does anyone know where the Atlantic coast tag team heavyweight championship belts are real or copy need for my collection thanks Charlie catdaddy315@aol.com
ricky usa Vince McMahon forgot something: Variety is the spice of life. He got greedy, and bought out all of the territories that he could. He's responsible for so many wrestlers, and also responsible to so many of the big wigs, that it's a wonder that he can even sleep at night, what with all of those things to think about. He probably has money dreams, sometimes, and who wouldn't? If only he hadn't been so greedy.....he could sleep well, and we'd have more wrestling organizations to choose from, but, no! Vinnie Mac just HAD to be the end all, be all owner of everything here in the U. S. Sleep well, Vince. if you can!!!
Actually, the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion was a wrestler named Orville Brown. Lou Thesz would become the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion after Orville Brown was unable to compete due to severe injuries he suffered in a car accident that abruptly ended his career.
@@stupullenchannel3525 wrong the NWA was never the IWA. The NWA was a Governing body for pro wrestling not a promotion. The Original World title and the NWA Titles are separate titles. But the NWA got the Idea from the Original World title concept that George had. That's why NWA doesn't recognize Hackenshmidt as a NWA Worlds Champion.
You forgot to mention when Fritz Von Eric's WCCW broke away from the NWA to Garner its own World championship, which eventually led to a unification match with the AWA title before both federations folded.
It's a matter of opinion for sure if I had to pick a lineage to follow I would say the NWA because without the NWA and the leaving the NWA you would not have any of the current North American Championship lines, now factoring in Japan and other countries which I think overseas defenses need to happen more often I would definitely say NWA has the bigger claim. But wrestling is no longer about championships it's about money.
It's a combination of After Effects and Photoshop. Then it was all put together in Premiere. We have others planned to come out soon. We're glad you liked it.
I usually don't leave comments very often but I feel obligated to let you know how great of a video you made here. Entertaining and informative! I hope you create others like it. What program did you use by the way? Seems really professional.
The titles that I recognize as legit world championships (some of them more so than others) are....the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the WWE Championship, the AEW World Championship, and the WWE Universal Championship.
It's actually fairly simple. The NWA is the only brand that has the claim of the world heavyweight championship because of their lineage and history. Several of those other companies either partner with them or broke off from them. This alone solidifies the NWA. When a company breaks off they no longer have claim to the NWA championship or lineage which solidifies the NWA again.
Just a little extra note on the AWA world title. World Class Championship Wrestling broke away from the NWA in 1986 to create their own World Title and unified the World Class Title with the AWA Title to create the Unified World Championship held by AWA & World Class Champion Jerry Lawler who defeated Curt Henning for the AWA title and Kerry Von Eric for the World Class Title. Then Lawler and Jerry Jarrett bought World Class and Turned into the USWA then Vern stripped Lawler of the AWA Title AFTER THE UNIFICATION and awarded it to his son in law Larry Zybysko. So Lawler had a new belt made the Unified World Heavyweight Championship. The AWA title ended with Larry Zbyszko who is Vern's son in law when the AWA folded and Larry went too WCW. Honestly the NWA Title is the only quote "Real" (and I use that word loosely) World Title in Wrestling because everything else is either an off shoot of the NWA Title including the Japanese Titles, and South American Titles or it's just a promotional Title. Just like boxing which has 4 major world titles the only one that matters is is the WBC which has a true lineage to the original National Boxing Association sure the WBA says they were first but Rings magazine has always said that of the 2 break away titles after the National Boxing Associations demise that the WBC is the rightful linage of the original World championship. MMA is Lucky they don't really have this issue since the oldest promotion has claim to the original world titles the UFC which unified most of it's titles with the only other promotion to claim original world titles as well PRIDE fighting Championships (which was 3 years behind the original UFC titles). But Light-heavy weight middleweight, were unified and the lower weight classed of lightweight to bantamweight were promoted from World Extreme Cagefighting championships to UFC world championships. So anything that comes after the UFC title is just a promotion championship with no real claim to a WORLD championship. But as far as wrestling the NWA World Championship may not be the biggest but it's still the original and all others are secondary.
I am afraid to burst people's bubbles here but the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is the only World Title these days that is defended around the world, PERIOD! When was the last time the WWE defended the WWE World Heavyweight Title in England or Japan or Canada or New Zealand or South Korea here? This is when "Nature Boy" Ric Flair was the NWA World Champion he defended it all over the world and hell, back in 1984/85 in Tokyo, Japan, there was a match between him and AWA World's Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel and if Flair had beat Martel by pinfall or submission he would of been the only man in Pro Wrestling History without a doubt to hold the NWA and AWA World's Heavyweight Championships simultaneously BUT when Jerry "The King" Lawler pulled off that feat by being the AWA and USWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, he was in a match for the WCWA (World Class Wrestling Association) World's Heavyweight Championship against the late Kerry Von Erich at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago and Lawler won that title too so he was recognized as the only "UNIFIED" Worlds Heavyweight Champion until he was stripped of the titles for not defending it within the mandatory 30 day period! Between Lawler and Flair those are the two that recognized as the greatest World Champions of all time besides Verne Gagne here and Sting and Triple H is right there with them even if I HATE THE WWE
Todd Belanger Actually it is and at house shows the titles in WWE are defended, only difference is, You would never loose your title on one and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title would indeed change hands on house shows.
THE REAL TRUTH: None of them are legitimate world championships as professionals wrestling is not a legitimate competitive sport. These titles are merely props awarded in performances with pre-determined outcomes. I could make my own belt and declare myself World Heavyweight Champion, it’s that simple.
great video. one of the best ive seen to kind of clarify the title itself briefly. if i can also add..before tna i think you left out a few viable notions. yes smoky mountain was involved, they kinda just hosted the world title defense on a "big stage. the nwa title was showcased majorly on independents and indy promotions whom were nwa affiliates in NJ where the tourney was held in cherry hill. dennis coraluzzo was the head of the nwa at the time. . chris candido was their nwa champ and wrestled for cornette in smoky. from candido it went to dan severn. after smoky closed, severn and the nwa with cornett landed in the wwf to do an angle i think around 1997 or 98. thats when windham, severn, and a few other nwa guys came in for the angle with it not going well so the nwa split from working with wwe. severn lost the nwa belt in japan, but then won it back..severn i think lost it by not appearing for the nwa title tourney so it was given to shamrock.
There are so many world heavyweight titles left out of this video it is beyond funny. The CWA World Heavyweight Championship (Austin Idol's big square belt), the WWA WHC, WCWA......I could go on and on.
By the time Ric Flair the NWA i had been out of business since 1989. Once again WCW was the only promotion left in NWA in 1989 as WWF has destroyed the smaller promotion so WCW just simply rename it the WCW World title i won't go into the rest of the TRUE HISTORY. But Lou Thesz is recognized as a 6 TIME NWA WORLD CHAMPION basically he own it from 1937 to 1966 only losing it when he wanted some time off.
Incorrect. Vince Sr. broke away from the NWA in 1963. He rejoined the NWA again shortly after Bruno dropped the WWE championship. By the time Morales became champion, it was seen as a regional title.
@@Aphelion_k9f Bruno was never WWE Champ, he was WWWF Champ. Vince Sr rejoined the NWA in 1971. The WWF left when Vince Jr bought it from his dad in 1983.
@@MrNWA4Life And yet Vince still recognizes Bruno as being a WWE champion. I get what you're saying, but if the WWE itself recognizes Bruno as a WWE champ, then he's a WWE champ. You can say either WWWF champion or WWE champion, because the linage is the same.
Loved that you brought up the 1st 'real' champion Edwin Bibby that brought about the World Champion, you did skip over the Gold Trio though that brought about the NWA and that was Toots Mondt (promoter), Billy Sandow (Booker) & Ed 'The Strangler' Lewis (The Champ) that led to the most underrated champion of all time, Jim Londos who more than likely had more sellouts than Thesz,Sammartino,Hogan & Flair COMBINED as he was huge in Los Angeles AND New York City as well as Greece. The WWWF technically being part of the NWA from 1973 to 1980 always puzzled me, they had some inter promotional matches but never really 'fit in'
2010-present WWE has: - World Heavyweight Championship (2002 - 2013 Original) - WWE (World Heavyweight or World) Championship (2014 - present) - WWE Universal Championship (2016 - 2024) - NXT Championship (2012 - present)(During Drew McIntyre's reign in 2017, it was recognizes as a World Championship) - World Heavyweight Championship (2023 - present, Current) AEW has: - AEW World Championship (2019 - present)
in my opinion the nwa world heavyweight title will always be the best it doesn't matter if gets defended in bingo halls or whatever it will ALWAYS be the best
Big deal Jeff Jarrett returned to TNA and changed its name to GFW. AAA has a few splinter groups in Lucha Underground (Prince Puma 1st champion) and CMLL has Elite (Michael Elgin 1st champion) as a splinter group. NJPW is the top Japanese promotion now considering that All Japan and NOAH are having trouble. the true World Heavyweight Champion right now is IWGP champion -- Okada. Nobody respects Impact champion who drops his belt on twitter for stupid reasons. Nobody seems to care about WWE champion that drops belts every 3 weeks. And some might consider ROH, Revolution Pro , CMLL as partners with NJPW to give the IWGP championships more prestige but then again they created so many new belts....
I remember Rodgers lost to Lou Thesz in 2 straight falls in Canada. I was at the wrestling matches in Florida when they announced it! A few weeks later Buddy shows up in WWWF with a new belt and loses to Sammartino in less than a minute with the bear hug.
This is a wonderful very well explained video but there are a few things I want to point out. First, the Raw after Survivor Series 2001 Vince McMahon came out and renamed the WCW title "The World Title". The title was never again referred to as the WCW title. Essentially making it another WWF world title which was held by The Rock, so technically he was the first world champion. Obviously in hindsight that should not have happened but it did. And actually in 2007 the NWA took back their titles which is why TNA made their own. Prompting the NWA to once again have a tournament to crown a new champion which wound up being Adam Pearce.
Rusty Jenkins your a freakin idiot that’s a dead title because ric flair dropped the title Nick Aldis is a fake wrestling guys who didn’t get a wwe contract or never resign Wash up bums never could sell anything no mic time nothing And everyone is scared 😱 of the beast Suplex city BROCK LESNAR. Spoiler update!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha
Wccw and Texas wrestling but when Kerry beat Ric Flair for the NWA world title ,the company sheered from the NWA and TW to become WCWA and then AWA champ Jerry Lawler won over Kerry to be the USWA unified world champ and WCWA closed shop , then Jerry went on to capture the CWA and GCW world belts to unify them into the USWA belt...mix of crap for sure
What happens when amateurs try to write history. Lots of omissions and mistakes, the worst of which was no mention of Frank Gotch. From 1906 to 1913 Gotch was the most dominant figure in the business. Al omitted was Strangler Lewis, who dominated the game during the ‘20s through the mid-30s. His main competition during this era came from former champ Joe Stecher and Jim Londos. By the way, knuckleheads, it’s LONDOS, not “London.” The first NEA hump was Orville Brown. After he suffered a near-fatal auto accident, Lou Thesz was chosen to replace him. The AWA championship traces itself to Ed Carpenter, who was recognized as champ after an angle with Thesz went spectacularly wrong. Gagne owned the AWA. The NWA didn’t want to put the belt on him for fear he would refuse to drop it when the time came. Vince McMahon Sr and Toots Mondt of Capitol wanted Buddy Rogers because O’Connor was not a draw in the Northeast. Thesz was too powerful for them to control, so when he beat Buddy, they arranged a phony baloney tournament in Rio DeJaniero and gave Buddy the brand new WWWF belt. Bruno Sammartino, who is also not mentioned, took the belt from Buddy and held it from 1963 to 1971, and later from 1973 to 1977. McMahon Jr came along, buying the WWF from his father and obliterating the opposition, who never saw him coming. Ted Turner bought out Crockett and formed WCW, which spectacularly self-destructed under Eric Bischoff. The NWA itself drifted into insignificance. And now Vince McMahon rules wrestling.
The NWA championship is by far the greatest looking title of all time. On a side note, the NWA US belt where the United States was the cover of the belt...maybe even better.
As much as I hate to admit it and how much it pains me to say, I believe the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is the top title in the world. WWE purchased the rights to WCW and ECW along with those titles lineage and combined with their own title they reign supreme. WWE also bought the rights to AWA in 1991 I think they hold the lineage to that promotion also. So they must be the true World Heavyweight Champion.
I feel like IWGP could surpass WWE title, but right now WWE is the "real" world championship at this point. Global Force (TNA) is in no way an important title.
To become a REAL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION is to win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship (AWA), the World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (WCW), the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (ECW), the Smoky Mountain Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (SMW), the TOTAL NON-STOP ACTION WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (TNA), NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (NWA), and the WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP including the World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)!!!!!!!
I did a video about this involving history of wrestling Philadelphia which included the original National Wrestling Association and the Original World HW Champion (Hackenshmidt, Jenkins, etc). BUT why were you constantly using the Big Gold Belt as a image for a world title belt (before you changed it to the (10 pounds of gold belt).
Because it was the JCP NWA title from 1986 to 1991. They went back to the old belt when the courts allowed WCW to keep the lineage and use it for the WCW title in 1994.
You also forgot when Mid-South Wrestling broke away from the NWA to become UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation) in 1986 and had their own World Heavyweight Championship.
Loved this piece!!! But it's a couple you left off. The USWA title could have been included. Lawler beat Von Erich for the WCCW championship, but he was stripped of AWA Title months later. I know a lot of pure wrestling fans not gonna like this, but the WWC Title have that lineage when a defending champion Ric Flair losing to Carlos Colon. One more time with Puerto Rico, when the IWA was unified with the WWC. Also Tatsumi Fujinami IWGP Champion beat Ric Flair for the NWA/WCW title. Satoshi Kojima holding on to the IWGP and the Triple Crown. Also Kurt Angle holding on to the IGP and TNA Titles.
@@MrNWA4Life Your right technically but WCW was using the big gold belt in 1991 for both titles. The match in Japan started the split of WCW completely away from the NWA by the time Flair took the belt to WWF.
Plus all those title changes did happen but except for the fujanami one the NWA never recognized the switches until Corgan bought the name. That's why Flair is said to be a 16 time champ but in reality he was a 25 time champ.
@@dmichael1172 Except there was no split. WCW was still part of the NWA. Jim Herd was even NWA President. WCW didn't leave the NWA until September 1, 1993.
well i'm not surprised with a lot of incorrect information in this video. i been around pro wrestling since 1962 and i could very easy correct the mistakes here. but no one would listen to me.
That was great , Now I was always a WWWF guy loved it and have many show of it. But all in all the NWA is the real world tittle. it may not be as big anymore but its the true one and only world tittle.
In my opinion, the NWA Heavyweight Championship Of The World is THE #1 Championship in this wrestling industry. That title has been around for the longest. Fuck all these other titles. The NWA Heavyweight Title is the most prestigious championship in pro wrestling.
+Jeremy Maddux The NWA seems to be a bunch of Independent promotions in various high school gyms, it seems, i've see their their World Heavyweight and Jr. Heavyweight titles defended on TV, but only on New Japan Pro Wrestling on Axs TV, which probably recognize the titles and thats why they are defended there. NWA President Bruce Tharp is trying to get a TV deal, he tried with Spike TV, but they need to improve the production quality of their programming.
Ohmygod the picture of Triple H with all the titles is so funny, they forgot his shiny shovel, his title for being the grave digger of talent. He is the Man who buries any up and comer who might otherwise get over. It’s not hard to get more over than he was, so he had to nip it all in the bud before that could happen.
NWA title or WWE title but seeing as the WWE title looks like it should be on a Christmas tree and its passed around like a bag of sweets I prefer to look at the NWA title as the one if I had too choose just one.
The WWE UNIVERSAL championship is the ultimate title of the world! No, scratch that, in the whole entire UNIVERSE! Not to mention Brock Lesnar's held it for over 435+ days now! It's the highest prestigious belt, it's branded on the most viewed weekly show Raw, therefore it's the most popular championship & recognized around the world!
The title can't be prestigious just because it had a longer reign . It depends on defending the title . Where brock was too lazy to defend or even lazy to wrestle 10+ minutes .
Great video. As an “80s kid”, I only recognized the NWA title as THE world championship until the moment WCW introduced their world title. At that point, I recognized WCW and the WWF as both having true world title status. I never recognized the AWA being more than a regional title.
In my opinion the NWA world title is best because it was the original
Agreed.
It wasn't the original. The National Wrestling Alliance didn't exist in 1905.
Wrestling Scholar Bernkastel but it was the birthplace of ROH TNA and WWE
the true legitimate title is still the nwa title as it carries the lineage, prestige and honour.
the wwf title had lost its prestige due to the montreal screwjob.
as for wcw title... it gone down the drain when hogan finger poke of doom kevin nash.
Mystiq Dream to quote Cornette, “imagine a promoter fucking one of the boys...”
The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is regaining the prestige it had in previous decades thanks to Nick Aldis.
SigmaTV not just because of him, but he is definitely a huge part of it. His booking has really helped. Billy Corgan has been great for NWA and wrestling in general. I thought the angle with Cody Rhodes winning the belt and defending a few times before losing it back to Aldis actually added prestige to it too because it was done the right way, not just him winning it and then immediately losing it back like the first win was a fluke. Instead he won it, defended a few times around the world against quality opposition and then lost it back to Aldis in an amazing and close competition. NWA booking is very, very good with sound logic and respect for titles’ prestige and history. Good on Corgan for actually caring about wrestling.
@@Thor-Orion agreed. If Billy sticks with it NWA will be in very good position to challenge WWE after McMahon passes away
@@bodhi8297 he will stick with it. He loves wrestling and this is like a big time passion project for him.
@@Thor-Orion aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's destroyed.
@@bodhi8297 it hurts reading this and knowing what happened to the NWA now. So much potential absolutely ruined.
Professional wrestling as I know and love it ended in the late 80's with the demise of the territories....God I miss those days!!!
nah its only in usa but other countries such as japan and mexico still better.
when you talk about pro wrestling was dead dont just think about in usa.today pro wrestling is bigger than what you think.other contries that did not have history of pw have their own promotian such as at south east asia
@@WinWal2000 japan is a suicidal train wreck and mexico is a drugged up pisshole.
You forgot about World Class Championship Wrestling breaking away from the NWA in 1986 to create their own World Title.
He forgot a whole lot son
I misread you were right about WCCW. I was thinking of JCP having complete control of the NWA title by 1986 after they bought the TBS slot from McMahon.
What makes wrestling especially fun is that when this video was made, there was no way to even predict that AEW would be around now.
"the most complicated world championships"
Me : New Japan would like to have a talk
I think that the NWA and NJPW heavyweight belts are the most prestiges
The first NWA world champion I remember was Harley Race with the red leather belt around 1968-69...
The NWA world title is the true undisputed belt it has more than proven itself as that by its holders and longevity over 114 years.
The red 10 lbs of gold belt came out in '73.
Thanks for the map of the old territories. Wrestling hasn't been the same since the territory system broke down. I miss the old Central States Heavyweight Championship battles that were in my area.
like all wrestling nwa or wwe old school my question does anyone know where the Atlantic coast tag team heavyweight championship belts are real or copy need for my collection thanks Charlie catdaddy315@aol.com
ricky usa Vince McMahon forgot something: Variety is the spice of life. He got greedy, and bought out all of the territories that he could. He's responsible for so many wrestlers, and also responsible to so many of the big wigs, that it's a wonder that he can even sleep at night, what with all of those things to think about. He probably has money dreams, sometimes, and who wouldn't? If only he hadn't been so greedy.....he could sleep well, and we'd have more wrestling organizations to choose from, but, no! Vinnie Mac just HAD to be the end all, be all owner of everything here in the U. S. Sleep well, Vince. if you can!!!
Actually, the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion was a wrestler named Orville Brown.
Lou Thesz would become the second NWA World Heavyweight Champion after Orville Brown was unable to compete due to severe injuries he suffered in a car accident that abruptly ended his career.
Remember history?
The NWA was the IWA prior...George Hackenshmidt (spelling right) in 1905 was the first world champion and Americas champion.
Wikipedia learner lol
@@stupullenchannel3525 wrong the NWA was never the IWA. The NWA was a Governing body for pro wrestling not a promotion. The Original World title and the NWA Titles are separate titles. But the NWA got the Idea from the Original World title concept that George had. That's why NWA doesn't recognize Hackenshmidt as a NWA Worlds Champion.
Actually lou thesz would be the third because there was a champion before who won in 1800s
Idk if I'm correct
You forgot to mention when Fritz Von Eric's WCCW broke away from the NWA to Garner its own World championship, which eventually led to a unification match with the AWA title before both federations folded.
He didnt forget the WCCW title since it was never a legit world title.
the NWA World heavyweight wrestling championship is the only World Heavyweight Championship.
It's a matter of opinion for sure if I had to pick a lineage to follow I would say the NWA because without the NWA and the leaving the NWA you would not have any of the current North American Championship lines, now factoring in Japan and other countries which I think overseas defenses need to happen more often I would definitely say NWA has the bigger claim. But wrestling is no longer about championships it's about money.
Real World's Champ
The title is shit now. Fucking colt cobana won it. The WWE title is the real world title
The WWE Undisputed World heavyweight title is one of the best designs the WWE ever had
I've been watching wrestling since bob backlund was champ. This was a really informative video.
My favorite World Heavyweight Championships are the NWA, WWE, ROH, and TNA World Championships.
It's a combination of After Effects and Photoshop. Then it was all put together in Premiere. We have others planned to come out soon. We're glad you liked it.
Orville Brown was considered the first NWA world champion.
I read that too. Lou Thesz was chosen after Orville had an accident ending his career
What about hackensmidt?
I usually don't leave comments very often but I feel obligated to let you know how great of a video you made here. Entertaining and informative! I hope you create others like it.
What program did you use by the way? Seems really professional.
What a great and interesting video! Great job!
W c w tarnished their title when they let guys like Vince Russo and David Arquette have the title w WWE tarnish the title when they put it on Vince
The titles that I recognize as legit world championships (some of them more so than others) are....the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the WWE Championship, the AEW World Championship, and the WWE Universal Championship.
I grew up in the territory days and I always liked the nwa wrestling I wish that there was a circuit of nwa Promoters in Houston
True. We had to get through the history pretty quick Some things were shortened so more major points could be highlighted.
It's actually fairly simple. The NWA is the only brand that has the claim of the world heavyweight championship because of their lineage and history. Several of those other companies either partner with them or broke off from them. This alone solidifies the NWA. When a company breaks off they no longer have claim to the NWA championship or lineage which solidifies the NWA again.
Just a little extra note on the AWA world title. World Class Championship Wrestling broke away from the NWA in 1986 to create their own World Title and unified the World Class Title with the AWA Title to create the Unified World Championship held by AWA & World Class Champion Jerry Lawler who defeated Curt Henning for the AWA title and Kerry Von Eric for the World Class Title. Then Lawler and Jerry Jarrett bought World Class and Turned into the USWA then Vern stripped Lawler of the AWA Title AFTER THE UNIFICATION and awarded it to his son in law Larry Zybysko. So Lawler had a new belt made the Unified World Heavyweight Championship. The AWA title ended with Larry Zbyszko who is Vern's son in law when the AWA folded and Larry went too WCW. Honestly the NWA Title is the only quote "Real" (and I use that word loosely) World Title in Wrestling because everything else is either an off shoot of the NWA Title including the Japanese Titles, and South American Titles or it's just a promotional Title. Just like boxing which has 4 major world titles the only one that matters is is the WBC which has a true lineage to the original National Boxing Association sure the WBA says they were first but Rings magazine has always said that of the 2 break away titles after the National Boxing Associations demise that the WBC is the rightful linage of the original World championship. MMA is Lucky they don't really have this issue since the oldest promotion has claim to the original world titles the UFC which unified most of it's titles with the only other promotion to claim original world titles as well PRIDE fighting Championships (which was 3 years behind the original UFC titles). But Light-heavy weight middleweight, were unified and the lower weight classed of lightweight to bantamweight were promoted from World Extreme Cagefighting championships to UFC world championships. So anything that comes after the UFC title is just a promotion championship with no real claim to a WORLD championship. But as far as wrestling the NWA World Championship may not be the biggest but it's still the original and all others are secondary.
I am afraid to burst people's bubbles here but the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is the only World Title these days that is defended around the world, PERIOD! When was the last time the WWE defended the WWE World Heavyweight Title in England or Japan or Canada or New Zealand or South Korea here? This is when "Nature Boy" Ric Flair was the NWA World Champion he defended it all over the world and hell, back in 1984/85 in Tokyo, Japan, there was a match between him and AWA World's Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel and if Flair had beat Martel by pinfall or submission he would of been the only man in Pro Wrestling History without a doubt to hold the NWA and AWA World's Heavyweight Championships simultaneously BUT when Jerry "The King" Lawler pulled off that feat by being the AWA and USWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, he was in a match for the WCWA (World Class Wrestling Association) World's Heavyweight Championship against the late Kerry Von Erich at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago and Lawler won that title too so he was recognized as the only "UNIFIED" Worlds Heavyweight Champion until he was stripped of the titles for not defending it within the mandatory 30 day period! Between Lawler and Flair those are the two that recognized as the greatest World Champions of all time besides Verne Gagne here and Sting and Triple H is right there with them even if I HATE THE WWE
house shows...
If this is the real Chavo Guerrero than I would agree with what your saying for sure.
Todd Belanger Actually it is and at house shows the titles in WWE are defended, only difference is, You would never loose your title on one and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title would indeed change hands on house shows.
Is this Chavo Jr.?
Todd Belanger My birth name is Salvador Guerrero
The NWA belt actually goes all the way back to Abraham Lincoln
I could listen another hour or two on this subject.
what about frank gotch,strangler lewis,stanislaus zybsko,george hackenschmidt
THE REAL TRUTH: None of them are legitimate world championships as professionals wrestling is not a legitimate competitive sport. These titles are merely props awarded in performances with pre-determined outcomes. I could make my own belt and declare myself World Heavyweight Champion, it’s that simple.
Great research - thank you.
What about Frank Gotch? where is he in all this?
HHMG Truth Movement He did beat Hackenscmidt, they just didn't cover that. He was between 1905-1922 I think?
Yeah...I think he was the first recognized NWA champion...around 1905.
No, Gotch's title reign predated either version of the NWA.
Numero Uno
Gotch beat Hackenschmidt before the NWA was formed. But Georg was recognised as the first overall.
7:13 - 7:30 = ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling / Extreme Championship Wrestling) and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas
NWA or ROH NWA becuase the history and it was on top before WCW ECW WWF AWA gave competition and ROH its wrestling at its pure form
great video. one of the best ive seen to kind of clarify the title itself briefly. if i can also add..before tna i think you left out a few viable notions. yes smoky mountain was involved, they kinda just hosted the world title defense on a "big stage. the nwa title was showcased majorly on independents and indy promotions whom were nwa affiliates in NJ where the tourney was held in cherry hill. dennis coraluzzo was the head of the nwa at the time. . chris candido was their nwa champ and wrestled for cornette in smoky. from candido it went to dan severn. after smoky closed, severn and the nwa with cornett landed in the wwf to do an angle i think around 1997 or 98. thats when windham, severn, and a few other nwa guys came in for the angle with it not going well so the nwa split from working with wwe. severn lost the nwa belt in japan, but then won it back..severn i think lost it by not appearing for the nwa title tourney so it was given to shamrock.
There are so many world heavyweight titles left out of this video it is beyond funny. The CWA World Heavyweight Championship (Austin Idol's big square belt), the WWA WHC, WCWA......I could go on and on.
Good video, but the NWA and WCW title splitting is a bit more complicated, what with Ric Flair's departure to WWF and all.
By the time Ric Flair the NWA i had been out of business since 1989. Once again WCW was the only promotion left in NWA in 1989 as WWF has destroyed the smaller promotion so WCW just simply rename it the WCW World title i won't go into the rest of the TRUE HISTORY. But Lou Thesz is recognized as a 6 TIME NWA WORLD CHAMPION basically he own it from 1937 to 1966 only losing it when he wanted some time off.
WWWF didn't leave the NWA as a result of Thesz beating Rogers. They were still NWA members.
Incorrect. Vince Sr. broke away from the NWA in 1963. He rejoined the NWA again shortly after Bruno dropped the WWE championship. By the time Morales became champion, it was seen as a regional title.
@@Aphelion_k9f
Bruno was never WWE Champ, he was WWWF Champ. Vince Sr rejoined the NWA in 1971. The WWF left when Vince Jr bought it from his dad in 1983.
@@MrNWA4Life Vince recognizes Bruno as a WWE champion, with his world title having the same linage as his fathers, so he should be treated as such.
@@Aphelion_k9f
There was no such thing as WWE in 1963. They became WWE in 2002. Bruno was WWWF Champ.
@@MrNWA4Life And yet Vince still recognizes Bruno as being a WWE champion. I get what you're saying, but if the WWE itself recognizes Bruno as a WWE champ, then he's a WWE champ. You can say either WWWF champion or WWE champion, because the linage is the same.
Loved that you brought up the 1st 'real' champion Edwin Bibby that brought about the World Champion, you did skip over the Gold Trio though that brought about the NWA and that was Toots Mondt (promoter), Billy Sandow (Booker) & Ed 'The Strangler' Lewis (The Champ) that led to the most underrated champion of all time, Jim Londos who more than likely had more sellouts than Thesz,Sammartino,Hogan & Flair COMBINED as he was huge in Los Angeles AND New York City as well as Greece. The WWWF technically being part of the NWA from 1973 to 1980 always puzzled me, they had some inter promotional matches but never really 'fit in'
2010-present
WWE has:
- World Heavyweight Championship (2002 - 2013 Original)
- WWE (World Heavyweight or World) Championship (2014 - present)
- WWE Universal Championship (2016 - 2024)
- NXT Championship (2012 - present)(During Drew McIntyre's reign in 2017, it was recognizes as a World Championship)
- World Heavyweight Championship (2023 - present, Current)
AEW has:
- AEW World Championship (2019 - present)
You can never argue Kurt Angle winning 2 gold medals.
Maybe I missed it but, did you make a History of the intercontinental championship belt? If not, could you?...please!
The IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IS THE GREATEST BELT AROUND TODAY. IT'S the only belt that means anything these days.
in my opinion the nwa world heavyweight title will always be the best it doesn't matter if gets defended in bingo halls or whatever it will ALWAYS be the best
it's2016 ,Jeff Jarrett New promotion GFW has there own title,Mexico,Japan and Licha underground has one too.
Big deal Jeff Jarrett returned to TNA and changed its name to GFW. AAA has a few splinter groups in Lucha Underground (Prince Puma 1st champion) and CMLL has Elite (Michael Elgin 1st champion) as a splinter group. NJPW is the top Japanese promotion now considering that All Japan and NOAH are having trouble.
the true World Heavyweight Champion right now is IWGP champion -- Okada. Nobody respects Impact champion who drops his belt on twitter for stupid reasons. Nobody seems to care about WWE champion that drops belts every 3 weeks. And some might consider ROH, Revolution Pro , CMLL as partners with NJPW to give the IWGP championships more prestige but then again they created so many new belts....
Hey!!!! What about Ric Flair being 16 time World Heavyweight Champion
More like low 20's.
Woooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
He wasn't the 16 time champion, he was more than that, for real!
22 not 16.
The one that was forgotten here is the NWA National Heavyweight title...that was used in GCW back in the late 70,s to 1982 and WCW 1983-1986
It was a Georgia championship wrestling title until 1986 when ole brought the titles to JCP.
I love this video only one thing when the wwe championship was unified. 1 year later the world heavyweight title retired
Correct!!!
Also now there are three active world heavyweight title WWE, TNA, and NWA!!!!
KARLX 2K4EVER Don't forget about ROH they also have a World Heavyweight Champion Japan and Mexico have World Heavyweight Champions as well
Jeremy Allen Yeah Ik, but I consider the three World Titles I mentioned, the legit ones.........
Dwayne Carpenter well now it's 4 true world titles again with the WWE universal championship being created.
the RIo De Janerio tournament was for the Intercontinental Belt, awarded to Pat Patterson
Buddy Rogers won the WWWF Heavyweight title in Rio first
I remember Rodgers lost to Lou Thesz in 2 straight falls in Canada. I was at the wrestling matches in Florida when they announced it! A few weeks later Buddy shows up in WWWF with a new belt and loses to Sammartino in less than a minute with the bear hug.
This is a wonderful very well explained video but there are a few things I want to point out. First, the Raw after Survivor Series 2001 Vince McMahon came out and renamed the WCW title "The World Title". The title was never again referred to as the WCW title. Essentially making it another WWF world title which was held by The Rock, so technically he was the first world champion. Obviously in hindsight that should not have happened but it did. And actually in 2007 the NWA took back their titles which is why TNA made their own. Prompting the NWA to once again have a tournament to crown a new champion which wound up being Adam Pearce.
What happened with the original belt from 1905, did they melt it down? Is it collecting dust somewhere?
I thought Orville Brown was the first NWA champion before Lou Thesz - got vacated due to an accident
MAKE MORE LIKE THIS
In my opinion the NWA World heavyweight wrestling championship is the only World Championship title.
Rusty Jenkins your a freakin idiot that’s a dead title because ric flair dropped the title
Nick Aldis is a fake wrestling guys who didn’t get a wwe contract or never resign
Wash up bums never could sell anything no mic time nothing
And everyone is scared 😱 of the beast
Suplex city BROCK LESNAR.
Spoiler update!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha
Great video, thanks
Don't forget about All Elite Wrestling
>"Wrestling in its purest form"
>Shows picture of Kevin Steen
lol...
The NWA is the real world heavyweight title.
It's only 3 active belts now
Dwayne Carpenter it's back to 4 now with the WWE universal championship.
you did miss World Class Championship Wrestling which also broke off from NWA as well.
Wccw and Texas wrestling but when Kerry beat Ric Flair for the NWA world title ,the company sheered from the NWA and TW to become WCWA and then AWA champ Jerry Lawler won over Kerry to be the USWA unified world champ and WCWA closed shop , then Jerry went on to capture the CWA and GCW world belts to unify them into the USWA belt...mix of crap for sure
The Nwa Pro wrestling is 76 year.
So as of today 7/8/2019. Who is the NWA world's champion?
Also late 1950s. American Wrestling Alliance. with Eduardo Carpentier
Eine deutsche Übersetzungen/ Syncronisation wäre toll
You need to update your video
What happens when amateurs try to write history. Lots of omissions and mistakes, the worst of which was no mention of Frank Gotch. From 1906 to 1913 Gotch was the most dominant figure in the business. Al omitted was Strangler Lewis, who dominated the game during the ‘20s through the mid-30s. His main competition during this era came from former champ Joe Stecher and Jim Londos. By the way, knuckleheads, it’s LONDOS, not “London.” The first NEA hump was Orville Brown. After he suffered a near-fatal auto accident, Lou Thesz was chosen to replace him. The AWA championship traces itself to Ed Carpenter, who was recognized as champ after an angle with Thesz went spectacularly wrong. Gagne owned the AWA. The NWA didn’t want to put the belt on him for fear he would refuse to drop it when the time came. Vince McMahon Sr and Toots Mondt of Capitol wanted Buddy Rogers because O’Connor was not a draw in the Northeast. Thesz was too powerful for them to control, so when he beat Buddy, they arranged a phony baloney tournament in Rio DeJaniero and gave Buddy the brand new WWWF belt. Bruno Sammartino, who is also not mentioned, took the belt from Buddy and held it from 1963 to 1971, and later from 1973 to 1977. McMahon Jr came along, buying the WWF from his father and obliterating the opposition, who never saw him coming. Ted Turner bought out Crockett and formed WCW, which spectacularly self-destructed under Eric Bischoff. The NWA itself drifted into insignificance. And now Vince McMahon rules wrestling.
World Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
May 4, 1905-July 24, 1957
Great video
Orville Brown was the first world champion of the NWA
Jim Londos not London
The NWA-WCW belt is the Belt
The NWA championship is by far the greatest looking title of all time. On a side note, the NWA US belt where the United States was the cover of the belt...maybe even better.
NWA and IWGP are the most prestigious for me
The most prestigious world tittle ever is the NWA world heavyweight championship, because it's the older one and you can't teach that, you dig it?
As much as I hate to admit it and how much it pains me to say, I believe the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is the top title in the world. WWE purchased the rights to WCW and ECW along with those titles lineage and combined with their own title they reign supreme. WWE also bought the rights to AWA in 1991 I think they hold the lineage to that promotion also. So they must be the true World Heavyweight Champion.
Wrong they brought AWA film library verne gagne retain ownership of the AWA name brand
I feel like IWGP could surpass WWE title, but right now WWE is the "real" world championship at this point. Global Force (TNA) is in no way an important title.
Ted dibiases’s million dollar belt is the only undisputed championship belt. Case closed!
Now this is the TRUE STORY!
To become a REAL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION is to win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship (AWA), the World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (WCW), the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (ECW), the Smoky Mountain Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (SMW), the TOTAL NON-STOP ACTION WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (TNA), NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (NWA), and the WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP including the World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)!!!!!!!
I did a video about this involving history of wrestling Philadelphia which included the original National Wrestling Association and the Original World HW Champion (Hackenshmidt, Jenkins, etc). BUT why were you constantly using the Big Gold Belt as a image for a world title belt (before you changed it to the (10 pounds of gold belt).
Because it was the JCP NWA title from 1986 to 1991. They went back to the old belt when the courts allowed WCW to keep the lineage and use it for the WCW title in 1994.
There's a lot of incorrect information in this video.
You also forgot when Mid-South Wrestling broke away from the NWA to become UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation) in 1986 and had their own World Heavyweight Championship.
True
Did Buddy Rogers say you're or your? Is the proofreader of this video Eugene?
Loved this piece!!! But it's a couple you left off. The USWA title could have been included. Lawler beat Von Erich for the WCCW championship, but he was stripped of AWA Title months later. I know a lot of pure wrestling fans not gonna like this, but the WWC Title have that lineage when a defending champion Ric Flair losing to Carlos Colon. One more time with Puerto Rico, when the IWA was unified with the WWC. Also Tatsumi Fujinami IWGP Champion beat Ric Flair for the NWA/WCW title. Satoshi Kojima holding on to the IWGP and the Triple Crown. Also Kurt Angle holding on to the IGP and TNA Titles.
There's no such thing as the NWA/WCW title. They were two separate titles. Fujinami beat Flair for the NWA World title but not the WCW title.
@@MrNWA4Life Your right technically but WCW was using the big gold belt in 1991 for both titles. The match in Japan started the split of WCW completely away from the NWA by the time Flair took the belt to WWF.
Plus all those title changes did happen but except for the fujanami one the NWA never recognized the switches until Corgan bought the name. That's why Flair is said to be a 16 time champ but in reality he was a 25 time champ.
@@dmichael1172
Except there was no split. WCW was still part of the NWA. Jim Herd was even NWA President. WCW didn't leave the NWA until September 1, 1993.
@@MrNWA4LifeNot true, according to fandom and Wikipedia and various other sources the first split happened on January 21st 1991.
well i'm not surprised with a lot of incorrect information in this video. i been around pro wrestling since 1962 and i could very easy correct the mistakes here. but no one would listen to me.
officialmelpeachey I would
I'm listening.
so sad how they basterlies the championship of the world. I guess I'll have to be a champion myself now.
Vince was so you might as well be too
That was great , Now I was always a WWWF guy loved it and have many show of it. But all in all the NWA is the real world tittle. it may not be as big anymore but its the true one and only world tittle.
Is the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship older than the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship?
In my opinion, the NWA Heavyweight Championship Of The World is THE #1 Championship in this wrestling industry. That title has been around for the longest. Fuck all these other titles. The NWA Heavyweight Title is the most prestigious championship in pro wrestling.
+Jeremy Maddux The NWA seems to be a bunch of Independent promotions in various high school gyms, it seems, i've see their their World Heavyweight and Jr. Heavyweight titles defended on TV, but only on New Japan Pro Wrestling on Axs TV, which probably recognize the titles and thats why they are defended there.
NWA President Bruce Tharp is trying to get a TV deal, he tried with Spike TV, but they need to improve the production quality of their programming.
It has not been the top title since 1988. Not my opinion, just the facts.
in my opinion its the title that gets defend around the world at least once a year. tna and nwa and roh. the rest i dont know much
The WWF always makes sure to have the title defended overseas at least once a year.
You left out two other federations that broke off from the NWA as well...The UWF and World Class...
UWF was not part of the NWA. But Jim Crockett eventually bought it.
@@MrNWA4Life Yes it was it was the old Mid South territory. The one you're maybe thinking of was herb Abraham's UWF from 1981 to 1992.
wwe world championship is the best and number one in the world
I 💭 wwf Broke off from the nwa when Vince Jr took over in late 70s early 80s?
Vince Sr. broke away and later rejoined beforehand
So they broke away twice?
TNA didn't take any lineage with them. When they parted ways with the NWA, the NWA's lineage stayed with them.
You never followed up w Smokey Mountain Wrestling
Ohmygod the picture of Triple H with all the titles is so funny, they forgot his shiny shovel, his title for being the grave digger of talent. He is the Man who buries any up and comer who might otherwise get over. It’s not hard to get more over than he was, so he had to nip it all in the bud before that could happen.
this is how I rank them1.the WWE world title2 the ROH world title3 the TNA world title4 the NWA world title
Ric Flair, TWENTY ONE time world champion, thank you...
PtolemyJones That means he lost twenty times?HARLEY!!!
22 not 21
I've counted 25
@@dmichael1172 Twenty One is what he claims, I'm good with that number.
@@PtolemyJones Never heard his claim to 21 so I can live with that too. 21 is the perfect number to me.
I only recognize the WWF, WCW, AWA and NWA titles as wrestling's true world titles
They're the ones listed in PWI, but you have to say now that ROH and Impact have decent reasons to also claim a world title
NWA title or WWE title but seeing as the WWE title looks like it should be on a Christmas tree and its passed around like a bag of sweets I prefer to look at the NWA title as the one if I had too choose just one.
The WWE UNIVERSAL championship is the ultimate title of the world! No, scratch that, in the whole entire UNIVERSE! Not to mention Brock Lesnar's held it for over 435+ days now! It's the highest prestigious belt, it's branded on the most viewed weekly show Raw, therefore it's the most popular championship & recognized around the world!
Just stop you sound stupid
The title can't be prestigious just because it had a longer reign . It depends on defending the title . Where brock was too lazy to defend or even lazy to wrestle 10+ minutes .