# MWA World Heavyweight Championship

The MWA World Heavyweight Championship was an Americanprofessional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Kansas City, Kansas-based Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA). It was the direct predecessor of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship, and a successor of sorts to the early world heavyweight championships. The title was created in 1940, and first held by Bobby Bruns that January.
* At an unknown period, Brown won the Kansas Heavyweight Champion and had a match against 4-time World Heavyweight Champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis.
* On November 8, 1933, Brown defeated Chief Chewchki in St. Louis, Missouri in 7 minutes. On April 11 and May 16, 1934, he fought George Zaharias (of Colorado) and "Ray Steele" (Peter Sauer) in the same city to thirty-minute draws.
* On May 29, 1936, Brown was specified by Jim Londos in the Houston Post as the strongest grappler he had ever faced, and that he had wrestled him "a few nights ago" to a two-hour draw in Detroit. On September 21, 1936 Brown was named one of the top twenty contenders for the World’s Heavyweight Championship in Houston, Texas by the members of the National Wrestling Association.
* On June 1, 1937, Bruns unsuccessfully challenged World Champion Everette Marshall at the Public Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The match ended in 44:48 when Bruns was laid out and unable to recover.
* In September 1937, John Pesek was awarded Londos' National Wrestling Association world title.
* On October 28. 1937, Brown lost an important Columbus, Ohio match to Everette Marshall, the recognized holder of one of the World Championships. It drew 10,000 people, setting a city record. He lost one other, but then managed to tie Marshall in a third match on December 16.
* On January 1, 1938, Brown wrestled Pesek to a 90-minute draw. On August 17, 1938 Pesek was stripped of the NWA world title and immediately awarded the MWA world title (Marshall's old title) instead.
* On November 10, 1939, Bruns defeated Maurice Boyer in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the World Light Heavyweight Championship (the Jack Pfeffer version).
The title lasted until the MWA joined the newly formed NWA in October 1948, with the MWA champion, Orville Brown, recognized as the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

## Title history
### MWA World Heavyweight Championship (Kansas)
#### Key

| Symbol | Meaning |
| # | The overall championship reign |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed. |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes |
| 1 | Bobby Bruns | 1 | January 18, 1940 | 147 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | Defeated fellow contender Orville Brown to win the vacant championship. |
| 2 | Orville Brown | 1 | June 13, 1940 | 308 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 3 | Lee Wyckoff | 1 | April 17, 1941 | 182 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 4 | Orville Brown | 2 | October 16, 1941 | 140 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 5 | Tom Zaharias | 1 | March 5, 1942 | 112 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 6 | Orville Brown | 3 | June 25, 1942 | 123 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | Ed Lewis won a disputed decision over Brown on November 5, 1942. |
| 7 | Ed "Strangler" Lewis | 1 | November 26, 1942 | 80 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | Defeated Brown in a rematch. |
| 8 | Lee Wyckoff | 2 | January 14, 1943 | 35 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 9 | Orville Brown | 4 | February 18, 1943 | | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 10 | Lee Wyckoff | 3 | May 1943 | | Great Bend, Kansas | Live event | |
| 11 | Orville Brown | 5 | June 17, 1943 | 169 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 12 | The Swedish Angel | 1 | December 3, 1943 | 6 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 13 | Orville Brown | 6 | December 9, 1943 | 147 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | Dave Levin defeated Brown in a one-fall match on April 27, 1944 in Kansas City, Kansas, and laid claim to the title. However, Brown claimed that the title could only change hands in a two-out-of-three falls match. |
| 14 | Dave Levin | 1 | May 4, 1944 | 56 | | Live event | Defeated Brown in a rematch. |
| 15 | Lee Wyckoff | 4 | June 29, 1944 | 48 | Topeka, Kansas | Live event | |
| 16 | Orville Brown | 7 | August 16, 1944 | 673 | Topeka, Kansas | Live event | |
| 17 | Bobby Bruns | 2 | June 20, 1946 | 49 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 18 | Orville Brown | 8 | August 8, 1946 | 218 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 19 | Vic Christy | 1 | March 14, 1947 | 16 | St. Joseph, Missouri | Live event | |
| 20 | Roy Graham | 1 | March 30, 1947 | 11 | St. Joseph, Missouri | Live event | |
| 21 | Orville Brown | 9 | April 10, 1947 | 253 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| 22 | Tug Carlson | 1 | December 19, 1947 | 7 | St. Joseph, Missouri | Live event | |
| 23 | Orville Brown | 10 | December 26, 1947 | 125 | St. Joseph, Missouri | Live event | |
| 24 | Bobby Bruns | 3 | April 29, 1948 | 5 | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | Won the title by disqualification. |
| 25 | Orville Brown | 11 | May 4, 1948 | | Kansas City, Kansas | Live event | |
| The title was retired after the MWA joined the National Wrestling Alliance in October 1948, and Brown was recognized as its first champion. ||||||||

## Reigns by combined length
### Key

| Symbol | Meaning |
| ¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. |
| Rank | Wrestler | # of reigns | Combined days |
| 1 | Orville Brown | 11 | 2,409¤ |
| 2 | Lee Wyckoff | 4 | 282¤ |
| 3 | Bobby Bruns | 3 | 201 |
| 4 | Tom Zaharias | 1 | 112 |
| 5 | Ed Lewis | 1 | 80 |
| 6 | Dave Levin | 1 | 56 |
| 7 | Vic Christy | 1 | 16 |
| 8 | Roy Graham | 1 | 11 |
| 9 | Tug Carlson | 1 | 7 |
| 10 | The Swedish Angel | 1 | 6 |

### Splinter titles
#### MWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio)

Key :
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes | Ref. |
| 1 | John Pesek | March 26, 1931 | Live event | Columbus, Ohio | 1 | 647 | Starts the claimed when World Champion Gus Sonnenberg ignores his challenge, defeated Marin Plestina to be officially recognized by MWA. | |
| — | Vacated | 1933 | — | — | — | — | Stripped the title when Pesek starts wrestling for Jim Londos group. | |
| 2 | Everett Marshall | June 29, 1936 | N/A | Columbus, Ohio | 1 | 548 | Recognized by MWA when defeated Ali Baba for the World Heavyweight Championship. Retroactively recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the real World champion. | |
| 3 | Lou Thesz | December 29, 1937 | N/A | St. Louis, Missouri | 1 | 44 | Also recognized World Champion by AWA. Retroactively recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the real World champion. | |
| 3 | Steve Casey | February 11, 1938 | N/A | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 231 | Recognized by MWA and AWA, both belts are presented to him. Retroactively recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the real World champion. Retroactive Alliance recognition switched to NWA World Heavyweight Championship when Casey left the country in September 1938. | |
| — | Vacated | September 1938 | — | — | — | — | Recognition withdrawn by MWA when he left the country.. | |
| 4 | John Pesek | October 17, 1938 | N/A | Columbus, Ohio | 2 | 613 | Awarded by MWA when NWA recognize Everett Marshall as the World Champion. | |
| — | Vacated | June 21, 1940 | — | — | — | — | Vacated due to Pesek's inactivity. | |
| 6 | Orville Brown | June 27, 1940 | N/A | Columbus, Ohio | 1 | 889 | Current World Champion in Kansas, defeated Dick Shikat for the vacant title. | |
| 7 | Ed Lewis | December 3, 1942 | N/A | Columbus, Ohio | 1 | 56 | Current World Champion in Kansas. | |
| 8 | John Pesek | January 28, 1943 | N/A | Columbus, Ohio | 3 | 2,165 | | |
| — | Vacated | 1949 | — | — | — | — | Vacated due to Pesek's inactivity. | |
| 10 | Don Eagle | May 5, 1950 | N/A | Cleveland, Ohio | 1 | 0 | Defeated Frank Sexton for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship version in Ohio. | |
| — | Deactivated | May 5, 1950 | — | — | — | — | lineage continued under AWA World Heavyweight Championship version in Ohio. | |