Wrestling Information Archive - The Three Wrestling Titles That Started It All

Name	Date	Location	Notes
Ed "Strangler" Lewis	March 2, 1893	New Orleans, Louisiana	1
Martin "Farmer" Burns	April 20, 1895	Chicago, Illinois
Don McLeod	October 26, 1897	Indianapolis, Indiana
Tom Jenkins	November 7, 1901
Don McLeod (2)	December 25, 1902	Wocester, Massachuttes	2
Tom Jenkins (2)	April 3, 1903	Buffalo, New York
Frank Gotch	January 27, 1904	Bellingham, Washington
Tom Jenkins (3)	March 15, 1905	New York City, New York
Frank Gotch (2)	May 23, 1906	Kansas City, Missouri
Fred Beell	December 1, 1906	New Orleans, Louisiana
Frank Gotch (3)	December 17, 1906	Kansas City, Missouri	3

1. Evan "Strangler" Lewis unified the Catch-as-Catch Can Title and the American Greco-Roman title on March 2, 1893 by defeating Ernest Rocher on March 2, 1893 in a Best 3 Out of 5 Falls match with alternating Greco-Roman match and Catch-as-Catch can matches. The two titles became known as the "American Heavyweight Wrestling Title."

2. Tom Jenkins forfeited the title to Don McLeod after having blood poison in his leg during the match.

3. Frank Gotch, the American Heavyweight Champion, defeated George Hackenscmidt, the World Heavyweight Champion to unify both title belts on April 3, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois. The American title was abandonded when Gotch claimed the World title.

Name	Date	Location	Notes
Tom Cannon	August 22, 1894	Liverpool, England	1
Carl Abs	September 5, 1894	Hamburg, Germany
Ernest Roeber	September 26, 1894	Hamburg, Germany	2
Beck Olsen	March 28, 1900	New York City, New York
Ernest Roeber (2)	September 12, 1900	Copenhagen, Denmark	3
Tom Cannon (2)	May 3, 1901	London, England	4
George Hackenschmidt	September 4, 1902	Liverpool, England	5

5. European Greco-Roman Champion, George Hackenschmidt, defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, on May 5, 1905 in New York City, New York to become the first Undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.

Name	Date	Location	Notes
George Hackenschmidt	November 1901	Vienna, Austria	1
Frank Gotch	April 3, 1908	Chicago, Illinois	2
Henry Ordmann	1913	Omaha, Nebraska	3
Charlie Cutler	February 1914		4
Joe Stecher	July 5, 1915	Omaha, Nebraska	5
Earl Caddock	April 9, 1917	Omaha, Nebraska
Joe Stecher (2)	January 30, 1920	New York City, New York
Ed "Strangler" Lewis	December 13, 1920	New York City, New York
Stanislaus Zbyszko	May 6, 1921	New York City, New York
Ed "Strangler" Lewis (2)	March 3, 1922	Witchita, Kansas
Wayne Munn	January 8, 1925	Kansas City, Missouri
Stanislaus Zbyszko (2)	April 15, 1922	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	6
Joe Stecher (3)	May 30, 1925	Saint Louis, Missouri
Ed "Strangler" Lewis (3)	February 21, 1928	Saint Louis, Missouri	7
Gus Sonnenberg	January 4, 1929	Boston, Massachuttes	8
Ed Don George	December 10, 1930	Los Angeles, California
Ed "Strangler" Lewis (4)	April 14, 1931	Los Angeles, California	9
Danno O'Mahoney	June 27, 1935	Boston, Massachuttes	10
Dick Shikat	March 2, 1936	New York City, New York
Ali Baba	April 25, 1936	Detroit, Michigan
Dave Levin	June 12, 1936	Newark, New Jersey	11
Dean Detton	September 28, 1936	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	12
Bronko Nagurski	June 16, 1937	Minneapolis, Minnesota	13
Jim Lindos	November 18, 1938	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	14
Lou Thesz			15
Whipper Billy Watson	March 15, 1956	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	16
Lou Thesz (2)	November 9, 1956	Saint Louis, Missouri	17

1. George Hackenscmidt won a world championship tournament to win the title. Hackenschmidt won several other tournaments in Paris, France; Hamburg, Germany; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Elberfield, Germany; and Berlin Germany in the same year. He also won the European Greco-Roman championship title from Tom Cannon on September 4, 1902 in Liverpool, England. He won the recognition of being the World Heavyweight Champinon on January 30, 1904 in London, England by defeating Ahmed Madrali. Hackenschmidt defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, on May 4, 1905 in New York City, New York to become the recognized World Champion in North America.

4. Charlie Cutler was billed as the North American Heavyweight Champion in Illinois and was recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion in February of 1914. It is reported that Cutler defeated Ordmann for the title in July of 1914 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

6. Wayne Munn continued to be recognized as World Heavyweightr Champion in Michigan and in Illinois.

7. Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeated Wayne Munn on February 2, 1928 in Michigan City, Indiana for the title (the Michigan/Illinois version of the World title). He unifed the title with the amin world titleon February 21, 1928.

8. The recognition of being the World Heavyweight Champion was withdrawn from Gus Sonnenberg by the wrestling section of the National Boxing Association in 1929 for failing to meet real title contenders.
9. Ed "Strangler" Lewis lost the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title by Disqualification to Henri Deglane on May 4, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but still recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in Illinois. Lewis also defeated the title claimani, Wladek Zbyszko, on November 2, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois for thr title. Lewis continued to win the New York State Athletic Commission World Title by defeating Jack Sherry on October 10, 1932.

10. Danny O'Mahoney defeated Jim Lindos to win the New York State Athletic Commission World Title. Mahoney continues to win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title by defeating Ed Don George on July 30, 1935 in Boston, Massachuttes to become the Undisputed World Heavweyght Champion.

11. Dave Levin wins the title by Disqualification. Ali Baba continued to be recognized as World Champion by the National Boxing Association and the National Wrestling Association.
12. Dean Detton defeated Ed "Strangler" Lewis in a tournament final to win the title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania earlier in the year.

13. Bronko Nagurski was recognized as the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion by "The Ring" magazine.

15. Lou Thesz unifies the following titles to become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion: (1) The National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title by defeating Bill Longson on July 20, 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (2) The National Wrestling Allaince World Heavyweight Title was awarded to him on November 27, 1949 when previous champion, Orville Brown, was injured in an automobile accident on November 1, 1949 before the Unification World Title Match that was scheduled on November 25, 1994 in Sain Louis, Missouri. (3) The American Wrestling Assocation World Heavyweight Title (Boston's Version) by defeating Gorgeous George on July 27, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois. (4) The Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium World Heavyweight Title by defeating Baron Michele Leon on May 21, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. Leo Nomellini defeated Lou Thesz by Disqualification in San Francisco, California on March 22, 1955. National Wrestling Allaince rules states that a title cannot change hands on a Disqualification, which sets the rule in professional wrestling, "A title cannot change on a Disqualification."

16. Whipper Billy Watson defeated Lou Thesz by Count Out to win the world title.

17. Edouard Carpentier defeated Lou Thesz by Disqualification on June 14, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois when Thesz cannot continue the match due to a back injury. The NWA rules states that a title cannot change on a Disqualification and Carpentier gives the title back to Thesz. Edouard Carpentier was then recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in Omaha, Nebraska and in Boston, Massachuttes. He was then later recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion by the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California. This was the last time the World Heavyweight Title has been unifed and will never be unifed again. Lou Thesz defeated Edouard Carpentier in a rematch by Disqualification on July 24, 1957 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the title.

These pages are not affiliated with, sponsored or supported, by any pro-wrestling organization. This is a hobby site and used for wrestling informational purposes only. WIA, Copyright © 2001. Contact the webmaster for questions and comments about this website at wiahist@yahoo.com. If you are using any sort of information on this website, please give proper credit to the website and these sources listed on here. The NWA Name and Logo are registered trademarks of Pro Wrestling Organization, LLC. This website is not affiliated with the NWA. Other images and logos are trademarked and owned by their respective owners. This site is in no shape or form harming the product, it's wrestling fan website.The site contains nothing that infringes upon the copyrights of the wrestling federations to which this site is dedicated.