The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in 1989. From 1981 to the creation of the Triple Crown, All Japan considered the NWA International title to be its top singles championship.
Under Rikidozan the belt had a design similar to Lou Thesz's original NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt during the 1950s, but after Rikidōzan's death, the belt given to Giant Baba had the design seen on the belt part of the Triple Crown until 2013. The original design was later used on the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the UWFI belt (which was the original Lou Thesz belt), and a belt later given to Kazushi Sakuraba for the show.
Title history[]
# | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Length | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rikidozan | 1 | August 27, 1958 | 1936 Days | Los Angeles, California, USA | |
— | Vacated | — | December 15, 1964 | — | Minato, Tokyo | Vacated following Rikidōzan's death from stab wounds suffered one week earlier in Tokyo, Japan. |
2 | Giant Baba | 1 | November 24, 1965 | 944 Days | Osaka | Defeated Dick the Bruiser for the vacant title. |
3 | Bobo Brazil | 1 | June 25, 1968 | 2 Days | Nagoya | |
4 | Giant Baba | 2 | June 27, 1968 | 889 Days | Tokyo | |
5 | Gene Kiniski | 1 | December 3, 1970 | 291 Days | Osaka | |
6 | Giant Baba | 3 | December 19, 1970 | 16 Days | Los Angeles, California, USA | |
— | Vacated | — | September 2, 1972 | — | — | Vacated when Baba left the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance to start All Japan Pro Wrestling. |
7 | Bobo Brazil | 2 | December 1, 1972 | 3 Days | Yokohama | Defeated Kintaro Ohki for the vacant title. |
8 | Kintaro Ohki | 1 | December 4, 1972 | 3052 Days | Hiroshima | |
— | Vacated | — | April 13, 1981 | — | — | After the JWA closed in 1973, Ohki took the belt to South Korea from where he defended it. He vacated the title on April 13, 1981 under orders from the NWA. |
9 | Dory Funk Jr. | 1 | April 30, 1981 | 193 Days | Matsudo | Won tournament for the vacant title when Bruiser Brody was injured and unable to wrestle in the finals. Defeated Terry Funk for his first title defense instead. |
10 | Bruiser Brody | 1 | October 9, 1981 | 247 Days | Tokyo | |
11 | Dory Funk Jr. | 2 | November 1, 1981 | 171 Days | Tokyo | |
12 | Bruiser Brody | 2 | April 21, 1982 | 497 Days | Osaka | |
13 | Jumbo Tsuruta | 1 | August 31, 1983 | 1065 Days | Tokyo | |
14 | Stan Hansen | 1 | July 31, 1986 | 82 Days | Tokyo | |
15 | Jumbo Tsuruta | 2 | October 21, 1986 | 523 Days | Tokyo | |
16 | Bruiser Brody | 3 | March 27, 1988 | 23 Days | Tokyo | |
17 | Jumbo Tsuruta | 3 | April 19, 1988 | 364 Days | Sendai | |
— | Unified | — | April 18, 1989 | — | — | Unified with PWF Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship to create the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. |