NWA United National Championship

The NWA United National Championship (often abbreviated to UN Championship) was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance, and best known for being defended in All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was unified into the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, along with the PWF World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, in 1989. The original belt remained in use for the Triple Crown until 2013.[1]

For the championship defended at Pro Wrestling Zero1, see NWA United National Heavyweight Championship.
Not to be confused with NWA National Heavyweight Championship.
NWA United National Championship
The NWA United National Championship belt
Details
PromotionNWA Los Angeles
Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance
All Japan Pro Wrestling

Title history
Symbol Meaning
No. The overall championship reign
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event The event in which the championship changed hands
N/A The specific information is not known
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
[Note #] Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details.
# Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Notes
1 Dale Lewis 1 October 1970 [Note 1] St. Louis, MO Won a tournament to crown the first champion.
2 Pantera Negra 1 October 23, 1970 28 Los Angeles, CA
3 John Tolos 1 November 20, 1970 14 Los Angeles, CA
4 Ray Mendoza 1 December 4, 1970 [Note 2] Los Angeles, CA
5 John Tolos 2 March 1971 [Note 3] N/A Tolos returned the championship when the NWA decided the referee used a fast count during his title defense against Mendoza.
6 Antonio Inoki 1 March 26, 1971 262 Los Angeles, CA
- Vacated - December 13, 1971 - N/A Vacated on December 13, 1971 when Inoki is fired from the JWA, the promotion to which he had brought the title from the United States.
7 King Krow 1 January 1972 [Note 4] Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Defeated Sailor Thomas in a fictitious tournament final.
8 Seiji Sakaguchi 1 February 11, 1972 208 Los Angeles, CA
9 The Sheik 1 September 6, 1972 1 Tokyo, Japan
10 Seiji Sakaguchi 2 September 7, 1972 149 Osaka, Japan
11 Johnny Valentine 1 February 3, 1973 33 Yokohama, Japan
12 Akihisa Takachiho 1 March 8, 1973 37 Sano, Japan
- Deactivated - April 14, 1973 - N/A Deactivated on April 14, 1973 when the JWA closed.
13 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 August 28, 1976 189 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Jack Brisco in an AJPW tournament final to revive the championship.
14 Billy Robinson 1 March 5, 1977 18 Akita, Japan
15 Jumbo Tsuruta 2 March 23, 1977 1,067 Miami, FL
16 Dick Murdoch 1 February 23, 1980 11 Kagoshima, Japan
17 Jumbo Tsuruta 3 March 5, 1980 222 Kuroiso, Japan
18 Abdullah the Butcher 1 October 13, 1980 101 Nagoya, Japan
19 Jumbo Tsuruta 4 January 22, 1981 556 Nirasaki, Japan
20 Harley Race 1 August 1, 1982 84 Tokyo, Japan
21 Jumbo Tsuruta 5 October 24, 1982 236 Kitami, Japan
- Vacated - June 17, 1983 - N/A Vacated on June 17, 1983 so Tsuruta could focus on defending the NWA International Heavyweight Championship.
22 Ted DiBiase 1 October 14, 1983 106 Sasebo, Japan Defeated Jerry Lawler in a tournament final via forfeit; wrestled Genichiro Tenryu for his first title defense instead.
23 Michael Hayes 1 January 28, 1984 6 Athens, GA
24 David Von Erich 1 February 3, 1984 7 Dallas, TX
- Vacated - February 10, 1984 - N/A Vacated on February 10, 1984 when Von Erich dies of an apparent heart attack.
25 Genichiro Tenryu 1 February 23, 1984 [Note 5] Tokyo, Japan Defeated Ricky Steamboat in a tournament final.
- Vacated - February 1986 - N/A Voluntarily vacated in February 1986 when Tenryu is pinned by Yoshiaki Yatsu in a tag team match.
26 Genichiro Tenryu 2 April 26, 1986 823 Ōmiya-ku, Japan Defeated Ted DiBiase in a tournament final. Tenryu won the PWF Heavyweight Championship on March 9, 1988.
27 Stan Hansen 1 July 27, 1988 265 Nagano, Japan Also won the PWF Heavyweight Championship.
28 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 April 18, 1989 0 Tokyo, Japan Retained the NWA International Heavyweight Championship and won the PWF Heavyweight Championship and the UN Championship.
- Unified - April 18, 1989 - N/A Title was unified with Tsuruta's NWA International Heavyweight Championship and with Hansen's PWF Heavyweight Championship and UN championship to create the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

Combined reigns
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined days
1 Jumbo Tsuruta62,270
2 Genichiro Tenryu21,532 - 1,559
3 Seiji Sakaguchi2357
4 Stan Hansen1265
5 Antonio Inoki1262
6 Ted DiBiase1106
7 Abdullah the Butcher1101
8 Ray Mendonza187 - 112
9 Harley Race184
10 Akihisa Takachiho137
11 Johnny Valentine133
12 Pantera Negra128
13 Billy Robinson118
14 John Tolos214 - 39
15 King Krow111 - 41
16 Dick Murdoch111
17 David Von Erich17
18 Michael Hayes16
19 The Sheik11
20 Dale Lewis10 - 22

See also

Footnotes
  1. The exact date that Dale Lewis won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 0 and 22 days.
  2. The exact date that John Tolos won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 87 and 112 days.
  3. The exact date that John Tolos won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 0 and 25 days.
  4. The exact date that King Krow won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 11 and 41 days.
  5. The exact date that Genichiro Tenryu vacated the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 709 and 736 days.

References
  1. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
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