# CWA Heavyweight Championship

The CWA Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title defended in the Championship Wrestling Association. It was created through the unification of the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight, AWA Southern Heavyweight and CWA/AWA International Heavyweight championships.
The title was thus considered the most important title in the promotion until Jerry Lawler won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on May 5, 1988. On December 13, 1988, Lawler defeated Kerry Von Erich to win the World Class Heavyweight Championship and effectively rename the latter title the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship and make it the new top championship in Memphis. The CWA title continued as the secondary title until late 1989 when it was replaced with the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.

## Title history

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 | Jerry Lawler | December 7, 1987 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 63 | Lawler, the reigning AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion, defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship and Manny Fernandez to win the CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship. The titles are all unified, creating the new title. | |
| 2 | Max Pain | February 8, 1988 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 105 | | |
| 3 | Brickhouse Brown | May 23, 1988 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 35 | Won by forfeit. | |
| 4 | Max Pain | June 27, 1988 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 2 | 13 | | |
| 5 | Phil Hickerson | July 10, 1988 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 127 | | |
| — | Vacated | November 14, 1988 | — | — | — | — | Vacated after a match with Brian Lee. | |
| 6 | Brian Lee | November 19, 1988 | TV Studio show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 21 | Defeated Mike Miller in a tournament final. | |
| 7 | Sid Vicious | December 10, 1988 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 30 | | |
| 8 | Wendell Cooley | January 9, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | | | |
| 9 | Dutch Mantell | January 1989 | N/A | N/A | 1 | | Awarded the title after Cooley left the company. | |
| 10 | Jeff Jarrett | March 11, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 107 | | |
| 11 | Black Bart | June 26, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 70 | | |
| 12 | Texas Dirt | September 4, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 2 | 7 | | |
| 13 | Black Bart | September 11, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 2 | 7 | | |
| 14 | Texas Dirt | September 18, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 3 | 5 | | |
| — | Vacated | September 23, 1989 | Championship Wrestling TV Show | — | — | — | Championship vacated by the promotion after Texas Dirt gave the championship to Dutch Mantell | |
| 15 | Tony Anthony | October 9, 1989 | House show | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | 47 | Defeated Dustin Rhodes in a one night tournament final. | |
| — | Deactivated | November 1989 | — | — | — | — | On the December 16, 1989 episode of Championship Wrestling, Bill Dundee is named as both “CWA Champion” and “Southern Champion” interchangeably. Dundee in a promo mentioned he won the title in Texas. Retired in favor of the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. | |

## Footnotes

* ↑ The exact date were Cooley left CWA is uncertain which means that his championship reign lasted between 1 and 21 days.
* ↑ The date that Mantel was awarded the championship is uncertain which means that the championship reign lasted between 39 and 60 days.