MWA World Heavyweight Championship

The MWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional 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.
  • 8 November 1933 Brown defeated Chief Chewchki in St. Louis, Missouri in 7 minutes. 11 April and 16 May 1934 in the same city he fought George Zaharias (of Colorado) then "Ray Steele" (Peter Sauer) to thirty-minute draws.
  • 29 May 1936 in the Houston Post Brown was specified by Jim Londos 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. 21 September 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.
  • 1 June 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.
  • September 1937 John Pesek was award Londos' National Wrestling Association world title.
  • 28 October 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 16 December.
  • 1 January 1938 Brown wrestled Pesek to a 90-minute draw. 17 August 1938 Pesek was stripped of the NWA world title and immediately awarded the MWA world title (Marshall's old title) instead.
  • 10 November 1939 Bruns defeated Maurice Boyer in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the World Light Heavyweight Championship (the Jack Pfeffer version).[1]
MWA World Heavyweight Championship (Kansas Version)
Details
PromotionMidwest Wrestling Association
Date establishedJanuary 1940
Date retiredOctober 1948

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.[2][3]

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.[4][5][6][7]
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 [8]
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]
9 Orville Brown 4 February 18, 1943 [Note 1] Kansas City, Kansas Live event  
10 Lee Wyckoff 3 May 1943 [Note 2] 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 [10]
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 [Note 3] 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
1Orville Brown112,409¤
2Lee Wyckoff4282¤
3Bobby Bruns3201
4Tom Zaharias1112
5Ed Lewis180
6Dave Levin156
7Vic Christy116
8Roy Graham111
9Tug Carlson17
10The Swedish Angel16

See also

Footnotes
  1. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 102 days and 72 days
  2. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 17 days and 47 days
  3. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 150 days and 180 days

References
General references
  • Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "(Missouri) World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 255. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  • "Midwest Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship [Kansas]". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
Specific references
  1. "Orville Brown - biography". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  2. Duncan, Royal and Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories, Fourth Edition. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  3. "M.W.A. World Heavyweight Title (Kansas City)". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  4. Wrestling-Titles: Orville Brown - biography: "On Nov. 10, 1939 at Bridgeport, Conn., Bobby Bruns defeated Jack Pfefer's world light heavyweight champion Maurice Boyer. From that point forward in New England and the Atlantic Coast, the title changed to a heavyweight title and Pfefer billed Bruns as heavyweight world champion .. On Jan. 18, 1940, Bruns defended this title in a clean win over Brown."
  5. LegacyOfWrestling Bobby Bruns Wrestling History: "On January 11, 1940, Bruns beat Andy Mexiner in two-straight falls in Kansas City. A week later, he returned to the Memorial Hall to wrestle Orville Brown for the vacant World Heavyweight Title, recognized by the state of Kansas and by promoter George Simpson. He won the first in 40:30 and then the 3rd in 5:00 to capture the championship."
  6. LOW Orville Brown Wrestling History
  7. Hoops, Brian (January 19, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/19): Ric Flair wins WWF title in 1992 Royal Rumble". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  8. Hoops, Brian (April 17, 2020). "Daily pro wrestling (04/17): WCW Spring Stampede 1994". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  9. Hoops, Brian (January 14, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/14): Christian wins NWA World Title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  10. Hoops, Brian (June 29, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history: 2nd Steve Austin WWE title reign begins, infamous Stan Hansen AWA title belt stripping story". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
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