# AWA World Heavyweight Championship

The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, are now owned by WWE. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute worked finishes rather than contend in direct competition.

## History

The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was established in May 1960, after the AWA was formed by the departure of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-area territory from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Pat O'Connor was conditionally recognized as the first champion upon the AWA's secession from the NWA as O'Connor held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which he had won on January 9, 1959, though he was ordered to defend against Verne Gagne within 90 days or he would forfeit the AWA title to Gagne.
The creation of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship along with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would pave the way for the creation of many other world championships in other wrestling promotions. The AWA and the title became inactive in late 1990 and the organization officially closed down in August 1991 with the title also being decommissioned. The championship is featured in the video games WWE '13 as a downloadable title and as an unlockable title in WWE 2K14 and the seventh-generation console versions of WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, and WWE 2K17.

## Trademark infringement

In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former AWA employees, began using the AWA name in the state of Minnesota and formed a promotion known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling, infringing on the AWA name. The promotion also created their own version of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. In April 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned all American Wrestling Association properties due to their purchase after the AWA's closure, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. In October 2008, the court ruled in favor of WWE. The court ruling prohibits Gagner from exploiting or trading on the AWA name or any other derivatives.

## Title history

Key :
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| † | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes | Ref. |
| 1 | Pat O'Connor | May 18, 1960 | N/A | N/A | 1 | 90 | O'Connor, NWA World Heavyweight Championship since 1959, was recognized as the first AWA World Champion in May 1960, but was given 90 days to defend the title against Verne Gagne or be stripped of the title. | |
| 2 | Verne Gagne | August 16, 1960 | N/A | N/A | 1 | 329 | Gagne was awarded the championship after Pat O'Connor failed to defend the title. | |
| 3 | Gene Kiniski | July 11, 1961 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 28 | | |
| 4 | Verne Gagne | August 8, 1961 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2 | 154 | | |
| 5 | Mr. M | January 9, 1962 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 224 | | |
| 6 | Verne Gagne | August 21, 1962 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 3 | 322 | | |
| 7 | The Crusher | July 9, 1963 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 11 | The Crusher also won the Omaha version of World Heavyweight Championship from Verne Gagne on February 15, 1963, in Omaha, Nebraska. | |
| 8 | Verne Gagne | July 20, 1963 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 4 | 7 | Gagne won both the AWA Championship and the Omaha Championship. | |
| 9 | Fritz Von Erich | July 27, 1963 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 1 | 12 | Von Erich won both the AWA Championship and the Omaha Championship. | |
| 10 | Verne Gagne | August 8, 1963 | House show | Amarillo, Texas | 5 | 100 | Fritz Von Erich's Omaha Championship was not at stake. On September 7, 1963, Gagne defeated Von Erich in Omaha to unify both titles. | |
| 11 | The Crusher | November 16, 1963 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 2 | 28 | | |
| 12 | Verne Gagne | December 14, 1963 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 6 | 140 | | |
| 13 | Mad Dog Vachon | May 2, 1964 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 1 | 14 | | |
| 14 | Verne Gagne | May 16, 1964 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 7 | 157 | | |
| 15 | Mad Dog Vachon | October 20, 1964 | House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2 | 207 | | |
| 16 | Mighty Igor Vodic | May 15, 1965 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 1 | 7 | | |
| 17 | Mad Dog Vachon | May 22, 1965 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 3 | 91 | | |
| 18 | The Crusher | August 21, 1965 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 3 | 83 | | |
| 19 | Mad Dog Vachon | November 12, 1965 | House show | Denver, Colorado | 4 | 365 (57)$^†$ | | |
| † | Mr. Wrestling | January 8, 1966 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 1$^†$ | 6 | | |
| † | Mad Dog Vachon | January 14, 1966 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 5$^†$ | 302 | AWA president Stanley Blackburn nullified the previous title change, as Mr. Wrestling's legs were on the rope during the pinfall. Vachon defeated Mr. Wrestling in a rematch for the title. | |
| 20 | Dick the Bruiser | November 12, 1966 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 1 | 7 | | |
| 21 | Mad Dog Vachon | November 19, 1966 | House show | Omaha, Nebraska | 5 | 99 | | |
| 22 | Verne Gagne | February 26, 1967 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 8 | 538 | | |
| 23 | Dr. X | August 17, 1968 | House show | Bloomington, Minnesota | 1 | 14 | | |
| 24 | Verne Gagne | August 31, 1968 | House show | Minneapolis, MN | 9 | 2625 | | |
| 25 | Nick Bockwinkel | November 8, 1975 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 1714 | | |
| 26 | Verne Gagne | July 18, 1980 | House show | Chicago, Illinois | 10 | 305 | Gagne retired from active wrestling while still the champion. | |
| 27 | Nick Bockwinkel | May 19, 1981 | N/A | N/A | 2 | 467 (334)$^†$ | Bockwinkel was awarded the championship. | |
| † | Hulk Hogan | April 18, 1982 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 1$^†$ | 6 | | |
| † | Nick Bockwinkel | April 24, 1982 | — | — | 3$^†$ | 127 | Bockwinkel was restored the title by AWA president Stanley Blackburn due to Hogan having used a foreign object during the match. | |
| 28 | Otto Wanz | August 29, 1982 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 41 | | |
| 29 | Nick Bockwinkel | October 9, 1982 | House show | Chicago, Illinois | 3 | 501 | The title was held up on December 27, 1982, after a match with Jerry Lawler, and was restored to Bockwinkel after defeating Lawler in a rematch on January 10, 1983. The AWA retroactively recognized Bockwinkel's title reign as continuous. | |
| 30 | Jumbo Tsuruta | February 22, 1984 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 81 | | |
| 31 | Rick Martel | May 13, 1984 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 595 | | |
| 32 | Stan Hansen | December 29, 1985 | House show | East Rutherford, NJ | 1 | 181 | Hansen defended the title on All Japan Pro Wrestling cards in July 1986. | |
| 33 | Nick Bockwinkel | June 28, 1986 | House show | Denver, Colorado | 4 | 308 | Bockwinkel was awarded the championship when Stan Hansen left the AWA. | |
| 34 | Curt Hennig | May 2, 1987 | SuperClash II | Daly City, CA | 1 | 373 | The title was held up immediately due to controversy over interference by Larry Zbyszko but returned to Hennig days later after the AWA Championship Committee found no no evidence of interference. On February 16, 1988, the title was again held up after a no-contest between Hennig and The Grappler in Portland, OR. Hennig regained the title on March 5 in Portland, when his replacement, The Assassin, defeated The Grappler. AWA recognized Hennig's title reign as continuous. | |
| 35 | Jerry Lawler | May 9, 1988 | House show | Memphis, TN | 1 | 256 | Lawler later defeated Kerry Von Erich on December 13, 1988, in Chicago to win the WCCW World Heavyweight Championship to become the first (USWA) Unified World Champion. | |
| — | Vacated | January 20, 1989 | — | — | — | — | Jerry Lawler was stripped of the championship after the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) split from the AWA. | |
| 36 | Larry Zbyszko | February 7, 1989 | House show | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 368 | Zbyszko won a battle royal, last eliminating Tom Zenk to win the vacant title. | |
| 37 | Mr. Saito | February 10, 1990 | Super Fight in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 57 | | |
| 38 | Larry Zbyszko | April 8, 1990 | SuperClash IV | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 2 | 248 | | |
| — | Vacated | December 12, 1990 | — | — | — | — | The title was held up when Larry Zbyszko left the inactive AWA for World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Official kayfabe reason was that Zbyszko refused to defend the title on a tour of Japan. | |
| — | Deactivated | January 12, 1991 | — | — | — | — | The championship was deactivated when AWA closed on January 12, 1991. | |

## Combined reigns

| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
| 1 | Verne Gagne | 10 | 4,677 |
| 2 | Nick Bockwinkel | 4 | 2,990 |
| 3 | Mad Dog Vachon | 5 | 776 |
| 4 | Larry Zbyszko | 2 | 616 |
| 5 | Rick Martel | 1 | 595 |
| 6 | Curt Hennig | 1 | 373 |
| 7 | Jerry Lawler | 1 | 256 |
| 8 | Mr. M | 1 | 224 |
| 9 | Stan Hansen | 1 | 181 |
| 10 | The Crusher | 3 | 122 |
| 11 | Pat O'Connor | 1 | 90 |
| 12 | Jumbo Tsuruta | 1 | 81 |
| 13 | Mr. Saito | 1 | 57 |
| 14 | Otto Wanz | 1 | 41 |
| 15 | Gene Kiniski | 1 | 28 |
| 16 | Dr. X | 1 | 14 |
| 17 | Fritz Von Erich | 1 | 12 |
| 18 | Dick the Bruiser | 1 | 7 |
| 18 | Mighty Igor Vodic | 1 | 7 |
| — | Mr. Wrestling | 1 | 6 |
| — | Hulk Hogan | 1 | 6 |