NWF Heavyweight Championship
Encyclopedia
The NWF Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship used as part of the National Wrestling Federation
and later New Japan Pro Wrestling
.
) Heavyweight Championship was created by wrestling promoter Pedro Martinez for his NWF promotion in New York
in 1970. The title was mainly defended in the New York/Canada area, until then-champion Johnny Powers
took the belt with him on a tour of Japan with Tokyo Pro Wrestling
. Powers would lose the title to Antonio Inoki
, who would take the belt with when he found New Japan Pro Wrestling
.
Inoki became the wrestler most associated with the title due to his high profile defenses of the title, beating the likes of Stan Hansen
, André the Giant
, Tiger Jeet Singh
and Ernie Ladd
while champion. Recognized as a four-time NWF Heavyweight champion, between the years of 1973 and 1983, Inoki was champion for all but six months. Inoki's fourth reign was actually due to the decision to hold up the championship, following a defense against Stan Hansen on April 17, 1981 that ended in a no contest. Inoki later regained the title on April 23, 1981 by defeating Hansen in a rematch. He retired the NWF title immediately after the match due to his desire to enter the 1983 IWGP League.
In 1986, Robert Raskin (President of Raskin Sports Productions and a former professional basketball coach for the ABA) purchased the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Continental Wrestling Alliance from DC Drake
and renamed it the National Wrestling Federation. The organization revived the NWF Heavyweight Championship. The championship was then deactivated in 1994 when the promotion closed.
As part of a NJPW storyline, the NWF Heavyweight championship was revived in August 2002. Mixed martial arts
fighter Kazuyuki Fujita
held a tournament to crown a new champion to rival the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The tournament participants were announced to be wrestlers with a background in MMA, including Fujita, Yoshihiro Takayama
, Tsuyoshi Kosaka
, and Tadao Yasuda
. Takayama won the tournament on January 4, 2003, beating Kosaka with a knee kick in the finals to become the first champion in over two decades. Takayama later lost the NWF Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura
exactly a year later to unify the NWF and IWGP titles. Nakamura formally announced his vacating of the NWF Heavyweight title on January 5, 2004, retiring the belt for a second time during its history.
National Wrestling Federation
The original National Wrestling Federation was a wrestling promotion based in Buffalo, New York and owned by promoter Pedro Martínez. It ran from 1970-1974. The promotion was then revived in 1986 by Robert Raskin...
and later New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
.
History
The NWF (National Wrestling FederationNational Wrestling Federation
The original National Wrestling Federation was a wrestling promotion based in Buffalo, New York and owned by promoter Pedro Martínez. It ran from 1970-1974. The promotion was then revived in 1986 by Robert Raskin...
) Heavyweight Championship was created by wrestling promoter Pedro Martinez for his NWF promotion in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1970. The title was mainly defended in the New York/Canada area, until then-champion Johnny Powers
Johnny Powers
Johnny Powers is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, known by his legally changed ring name Johnny Powers...
took the belt with him on a tour of Japan with Tokyo Pro Wrestling
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
Tokyo Pro Wrestling is the name of two unrelated Japanese professional wrestling promotions. Despite their common name, they did not share management, promotional style, or talent in any way.-Original Tokyo Pro Wrestling:...
. Powers would lose the title to Antonio Inoki
Antonio Inoki
is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist who now resides between New York City and Tokyo. He was also the founder and former owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling before selling his controlling share in the promotion to Yukes...
, who would take the belt with when he found New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
.
Inoki became the wrestler most associated with the title due to his high profile defenses of the title, beating the likes of Stan Hansen
Stan Hansen
John Stanley Hansen, Jr. is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Stan Hansen. As a wrestler, Hansen was well known for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to poor eyesight, as he is nearly blind without glasses...
, André the Giant
André the Giant
André René Roussimoff , best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik, the giant in the film The Princess Bride...
, Tiger Jeet Singh
Tiger Jeet Singh
Jagjit Singh Hans is a semi-retired professional wrestler, known better by his ring name Tiger Jeet Singh. He wrestled as a crazed heel, coming to the ring with a sword in his mouth . Singh wrestled in Japan for 22 years...
and Ernie Ladd
Ernie Ladd
Ernest "Ernie" Ladd , nicknamed "The Big Cat" was an American collegiate and professional football player and a professional wrestler.-Pro Football career:...
while champion. Recognized as a four-time NWF Heavyweight champion, between the years of 1973 and 1983, Inoki was champion for all but six months. Inoki's fourth reign was actually due to the decision to hold up the championship, following a defense against Stan Hansen on April 17, 1981 that ended in a no contest. Inoki later regained the title on April 23, 1981 by defeating Hansen in a rematch. He retired the NWF title immediately after the match due to his desire to enter the 1983 IWGP League.
In 1986, Robert Raskin (President of Raskin Sports Productions and a former professional basketball coach for the ABA) purchased the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Continental Wrestling Alliance from DC Drake
DC Drake
Don Clyde "DC" Drake is a former American professional wrestler. He became the Heavyweight Champion for the National Wrestling Federation and Tri-State Wrestling Alliance which later became Extreme Championship Wrestling.-Training:...
and renamed it the National Wrestling Federation. The organization revived the NWF Heavyweight Championship. The championship was then deactivated in 1994 when the promotion closed.
As part of a NJPW storyline, the NWF Heavyweight championship was revived in August 2002. Mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter Kazuyuki Fujita
Kazuyuki Fujita
is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and a former amateur wrestler. He has fought in mixed martial arts promotions including PRIDE, K-1 and currently fighting in Sengoku....
held a tournament to crown a new champion to rival the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The tournament participants were announced to be wrestlers with a background in MMA, including Fujita, Yoshihiro Takayama
Yoshihiro Takayama
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Takayama is well known for his ability to endure massive amounts of punishment, especially after his fight at PRIDE 21 against Don Frye...
, Tsuyoshi Kosaka
Tsuyoshi Kosaka
is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist. He has competed in notable mixed martial arts promotions like the Ultimate Fighting Championship, RINGS, and Pancrase. He holds notable wins over Kimo Leopoldo, Mario Sperry, Volk Han, Gilbert Yvel and Egan Inoue. He is one of only four fighters to defeat...
, and Tadao Yasuda
Tadao Yasuda
Tadao Yasuda is a retired sumo and professional wrestler from Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. He competed in sumo from 1979 to 1992, under the shikona of Takanofuji, achieving the rank of komusubi, and afterwards turned to professional wrestling, in which he competed from 1994 to 2011.-Sumo career:He made his...
. Takayama won the tournament on January 4, 2003, beating Kosaka with a knee kick in the finals to become the first champion in over two decades. Takayama later lost the NWF Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is a former three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.-Super Rookie :...
exactly a year later to unify the NWF and IWGP titles. Nakamura formally announced his vacating of the NWF Heavyweight title on January 5, 2004, retiring the belt for a second time during its history.
Title history
| Wrestler: | Reigns: | Date: | Place: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Powers | 1 | 1970 | Los Angeles, California | Defeats Freddie Blassie to become inaugural champion |
| Waldo Von Erich Waldo Von Erich Walter Paul Sieber was a Canadian professional wrestler under the ring name Waldo Von Erich. He was billed as the brother of Fritz Von Erich, but was not actually related to Fritz or the rest of the Von Erich family.... |
1 | November 20, 1971 | Akron, Ohio Akron, Ohio Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan... |
|
| Dominic DeNucci Dominic DeNucci Dominic DeNucci is an Italian-American professional wrestler. He is also an accomplished trainer, counting former World Heavyweight champions Mick Foley and Shane Douglas, as well as referee Brian Hildebrand, among his students.-Early career:... |
1 | December 8, 1971 | Buffalo, New York Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the... |
|
| Waldo Von Erich | 2 | January 5, 1972 | Buffalo, New York | |
| Ernie Ladd Ernie Ladd Ernest "Ernie" Ladd , nicknamed "The Big Cat" was an American collegiate and professional football player and a professional wrestler.-Pro Football career:... |
1 | June 9, 1972 | Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border... |
|
| Abdullah the Butcher Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert "Larry" Shreve best known as Abdullah the Butcher, and also at times The Madman from the Sudan, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler known as one of the most brutal or "hardcore" professional wrestlers of all-time... |
1 | June 24, 1972 | Akron, Ohio Akron, Ohio Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan... |
Reign interrupted by Victor Rivera Victor Rivera Víctor Rivera is a volleyball player from Puerto Rico, who was a member of the Men's National Team that ended up in sixth place at the 2007 FIVB Men's World Cup in Japan. In the same year the wing-spiker was named Best Spiker at the NORCECA Championship in Anaheim... for under a month |
| Johnny Valentine Johnny Valentine Johnny Valentine was a professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades. He has been inducted into four halls of fame for his achievements in wrestling... |
1 | October 19, 1972 | Cleveland, Ohio | Stripped of title in January 1973 |
| Jacques Rougeau Jacques Rougeau, Sr. Jacques Rougeau, Sr. is a former professional wrestler. He is the father of wrestlers Jacques Rougeau, Armand Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau.-Career:Jacques Rougeau, Sr. started wrestling in 1956 with his brother, Johnny Rougeau... |
1 | January 24, 1973 | Buffalo, New York | Defeats Waldo Von Erich in finals of tournament for the vacant title |
| Johnny Valentine | 2 | August 1973 | Location unknown | |
| Johnny Powers | 1 | 1973 | Location unknown | Powers takes the title to Japan with him on a tour with Tokyo Pro Wrestling Tokyo Pro Wrestling Tokyo Pro Wrestling is the name of two unrelated Japanese professional wrestling promotions. Despite their common name, they did not share management, promotional style, or talent in any way.-Original Tokyo Pro Wrestling:... |
| Antonio Inoki Antonio Inoki is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist who now resides between New York City and Tokyo. He was also the founder and former owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling before selling his controlling share in the promotion to Yukes... |
1 | December 10, 1973 | Tokyo, Japan | Inoki vacates the title on February 12, 1975 as refusal of an NWF ordered defense against Tiger Jeet Singh Tiger Jeet Singh Jagjit Singh Hans is a semi-retired professional wrestler, known better by his ring name Tiger Jeet Singh. He wrestled as a crazed heel, coming to the ring with a sword in his mouth . Singh wrestled in Japan for 22 years... |
| Tiger Jeet Singh Tiger Jeet Singh Jagjit Singh Hans is a semi-retired professional wrestler, known better by his ring name Tiger Jeet Singh. He wrestled as a crazed heel, coming to the ring with a sword in his mouth . Singh wrestled in Japan for 22 years... |
1 | March 13, 1975 | Hiroshima, Japan | Singh defeats Inoki for the vacant title |
| Antonio Inoki | 2 | June 26, 1975 | Tokyo, Japan | Ordered by the NWA to stop referring to belt as a world title at annual NWA meeting on August 7, 1976 |
| Stan Hansen Stan Hansen John Stanley Hansen, Jr. is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Stan Hansen. As a wrestler, Hansen was well known for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to poor eyesight, as he is nearly blind without glasses... |
1 | February 8, 1980 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Antonio Inoki | 3 | March 3, 1980 | Tokyo, Japan | Title held up after a defence on April 17, 1981 against Stan Hansen ends in a no contest |
| Antonio Inoki | 4 | April 23, 1981 | Tokyo, Japan | Inoki vacates the title following the match to enter the NJPW IWGP League |
| Title Inactive | ||||
| DC Drake DC Drake Don Clyde "DC" Drake is a former American professional wrestler. He became the Heavyweight Champion for the National Wrestling Federation and Tri-State Wrestling Alliance which later became Extreme Championship Wrestling.-Training:... |
1 | June 7, 1986 | Manahawkin, New Jersey | Defeated Rocky Johnson Rocky Johnson Rocky Johnson is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. Quite popular in his own right in the 1970s and 1980s, he is also known for being the father of actor and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson... for the revived championship |
| Larry Winters Larry Winters "The Living Legend" Larry Winters is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and trainer who competed in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and East Coast independent circuit during the 1980s and 90s... |
1 | March 13, 1988 | Hazleton, Pennsylvania | |
| DC Drake | 2 | March 20, 1988 | Forked River, New Jersey | |
| Title Vacant | ||||
| Jules Strongbow Jules strongbow Frank Hill is a former professional wrestler, who is best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Federation , where he used to wrestle as Chief Jules Strongbow or simply Jules Strongbow, the brother of Chief Jay Strongbow.-World Wrestling Federation :Jules made his wrestling debut in the 1970s... |
1 | 1989 | Awarded championship | |
| DC Drake | 3 | 1989 | ||
| Jimmy Snuka Jimmy Snuka James William "Jimmy" Reiher is a semi-retired Fijian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Originally from the Fiji Islands, Snuka wrestled for several promotions in the 1970s and 1980s. Snuka is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having been a... |
1 | 1994 | ||
| Title Inactive | ||||
| Yoshihiro Takayama Yoshihiro Takayama is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Takayama is well known for his ability to endure massive amounts of punishment, especially after his fight at PRIDE 21 against Don Frye... |
1 | January 4, 2003 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeats Tsuyoshi Kosaka Tsuyoshi Kosaka is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist. He has competed in notable mixed martial arts promotions like the Ultimate Fighting Championship, RINGS, and Pancrase. He holds notable wins over Kimo Leopoldo, Mario Sperry, Volk Han, Gilbert Yvel and Egan Inoue. He is one of only four fighters to defeat... in a tournament for the vacant title at Wrestling World |
| Shinsuke Nakamura Shinsuke Nakamura is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is a former three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.-Super Rookie :... |
1 | January 4, 2004 | Tokyo, Japan | Nakamura officially unifies NWF title with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling World |