The UWA World Heavyweight Championship (Campeonato Mundial peso Completo de UWA in Spanish) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally promoted by Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) until it closed in 1995. After UWA's closure, the title was sporadically, unofficially defended on the Mexican independent circuit. In the past the title has been defended in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) when the champion worked for those companies. Lou Thesz was the first UWA World Heavyweight champion, having been awarded the title after wrestling Mil Mascaras to a draw on the very first UWA show. El Canek has held the Championship the most times, 15 reigns all in all, 13 of those before the UWA closed. Canek is also the one that kept the championship active after the UWA closed, defending it on the independent circuit. Dr. Wagner, Jr. was the final UWA World Heavyweight champion having defeated Canek on June 18, 2004. During Dr. Wagner, Jr's time in AAA, they sometimes acknowledged the title, having had shown him with the belt on numerous occasions.[1]
| UWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The front of the championship belt | |||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||
| Promotion | Universal Wrestling Association Mexican independent circuit | ||||||||||||
| Date established | August 15, 1977 | ||||||||||||
| Date retired | October 7, 2011 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
As it was a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers.[a] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline,[b] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship,[c] or leaving the company.[d]
Title history
edit| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| N/A | Unknown information |
| † | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Lou Thesz | August 15, 1977 | Live event | N/A | 1 | 377 | Thesz was awarded the title after wrestling Mil Máscaras to a time limit draw at the UWA's first event on July 26, 1976. | [e] |
| 2 | El Canek | August 27, 1978 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 539 | [e] | |
| 3 | Tiger Jeet Singh | February 17, 1980 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 56 | [e][7] | |
| 4 | Antonio Inoki | April 13, 1980 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 194 | [e][8] | |
| 5 | Tiger Jeet Singh | October 24, 1980 | Live event | Okinawa, Japan | 2 | 114 | [e] | |
| 6 | El Canek | February 15, 1981 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 2 | 523 | [e] | |
| 7 | Riki Choshu | July 23, 1982 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 65 | [e] | |
| 8 | El Canek | September 26, 1982 | Live event | Mexico City | 3 | 219 | [e] | |
| 9 | Tatsumi Fujinami | May 1, 1983 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 42 | [e] | |
| 10 | El Canek | June 12, 1983 | Live event | Mexico City | 4 | 252 | [e] | |
| — | Vacated | October 4, 1983 | — | — | — | — | El Canek vacated the title to do an extended tour of wrestling in Japan. Tour is cut short and Canek returns in time for the tournament. | [e] |
| 11 | Enrique Vera | October 23, 1983 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 1 | 126 | Defeated El Canek and Dos Caras to win the vacant championship. | [e] |
| 12 | Dos Caras | February 26, 1984 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 1 | 119 | [e] | |
| 13 | El Canek | June 24, 1984 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 5 | 310 | [e] | |
| 14 | Scorpio | April 30, 1985 | Live event | Mexico City | 1 | 61 | [e] | |
| 15 | El Canek | June 30, 1985 | Live event | N/A | 6 | 548 | [e] | |
| 16 | Dos Caras | December 30, 1986 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 2 | [e] | ||
| 17 | El Canek | April 1987 (NLT) | Live event | N/A | 7 | [e] | ||
| 18 | The Killer | 1987 | Live event | N/A | 1 | [e] | ||
| 19 | El Canek | 1987 | Live event | N/A | 8 | [e] | ||
| 20 | Perro Aguayo | March 4, 1988 | Live event | N/A | 1 | 62 | [e] | |
| 21 | El Canek | May 5, 1988 | Live event | N/A | 9 | 566 | [e][9] | |
| 22 | Big Van Vader | November 22, 1989 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 1 | 382 | [e] | |
| 23 | El Canek | December 9, 1990 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 10 | 420 | [e] | |
| 24 | Dos Caras | February 2, 1992 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 3 | 154 | [e] | |
| 25 | El Canek | July 5, 1992 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 11 | 210 | [e] | |
| 26 | Canadian Vampire Casanova | January 31, 1993 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 1 | 322 | [e] | |
| 27 | El Canek | December 19, 1993 | Live event | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | 12 | 75 | [e] | |
| 28 | Yamato | March 14, 1994 | Live event | Puebla, Puebla | 1 | 4 | [e] | |
| 29 | El Canek | March 18, 1994 | UWA Live event | Nezahualcóyotl, México | 13 | 1976 | The UWA closed in 1995, however the title continued to be defended in other promotions. | [e] |
| 30 | Cadaver de Ultratumba | August 15, 1999 | Live event | Tehuacán, Puebla | 1 | 22 | [e] | |
| 31 | El Canek | September 6, 1999 | AAA TV Taping | Tehuacán, Puebla | 14 | 867 | [e] | |
| 32 | Cibernético | January 20, 2002 | AAA TV Taping | Salamanca, Guanajuato | 1 | 299 | [10] | |
| 33 | El Canek | November 15, 2002 | AAA TV Taping | Orizaba, Veracruz | 15 | 581 | [10] | |
| 34 | Dr. Wagner Jr. | June 18, 2004 | CMLL Infierno en el Ring (2004) | Mexico City | 1 | 2667 | [1][11] | |
| — | Deactivated | October 7, 2011 | — | — | — | — | The championship goes dormant following Dr. Wagner's successful defence against L.A. Park. | |
Combined reigns
edit| ¤ | The exact length of the title reign is uncertain. |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Canek | 15 | 7,086¤ |
| 2 | Dr. Wagner Jr. | 1 | 2,667 |
| 3 | Big Van Vader | 1 | 382 |
| 4 | Lou Thesz | 1 | 377 |
| 5 | Canadian Vampire Casanova | 1 | 322 |
| 6 | Cibernético | 1 | 299 |
| 7 | Dos Caras | 3 | 273¤ |
| 8 | Antonio Inoki | 1 | 194 |
| 9 | Tiger Jeet Singh | 2 | 170 |
| 10 | Enrique Vera | 1 | 126 |
| 11 | Riki Choshu | 1 | 65 |
| 12 | Perro Aguayo | 1 | 62 |
| 13 | Scorpio | 1 | 61 |
| 14 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | 42 |
| 15 | Cadaver de Ultratumba | 1 | 22 |
| 16 | Yamato | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | The Killer | 1 | N/A¤ |
Footnotes
edit- ^ Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters"[2]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart"[3]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson"[4]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."[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 Duncan & Will (2000) p. 397, Chapter: MEXICO: UWA World Heavyweight Title [Flores, Mora] [6]
References
edit- Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61321-808-2.
- Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. issue 91.
- ^ Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 397.
- ^ Centinela, Teddy (February 17, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Mil Máscaras y Canek exponen sus respectivas versiones del Campeonato Mundial de Peso Completo". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ Centinela, Teddy (April 13, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Cartel súper internacional en El Toreo: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh — Fishman vs. Tatsumi Fujinami". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- ^ F4W Staff (May 5, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 5): Bruno Vs. Gorilla in Puerto Rico, 2nd annual Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "2002: considerar detrás". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 19, 2003. issue 2593.
- ^ LuchaLibreDeMexico (2012-05-16), CMLL 6 18 2004 El Canek vs Dr Wagner, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2016-09-01