WSL World Heavyweight Championship
The WSL World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world championship in the Wrestling Superstars Live promotion. It was originally known as the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
| WSL World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||
| Promotion | Wrestling Superstars Live | ||||||||||||
| Date established | June 6, 1996 | ||||||||||||
| Date retired | February 21, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||
AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship AWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
History
In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former American Wrestling Association (AWA) employees, filed corporate papers to license the AWA name in the state of Minnesota and formed an organization known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling. In April 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner and Jonnie Stewart, citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned all American Wrestling Association properties due to their purchase after the AWA's closure.[1][2][3]
In October 2008, the court ruled that although Gagner and Stewart had licensed the AWA in the state of Minnesota, they had never filed for a federal trademark and ruled in favor of WWE. The court ruling prohibits Gagner and his associate from exploiting or trading on the AWA name or any other derivatives.[4] As a result, the organization was renamed to Wrestling Superstars Live. Due to there being no connection to the American Wrestling Association, Wrestling Superstars Live championship reigns are recognized from 1996 and forward.
Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
| AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Jonnie Stewart | June 6, 1996 | N/A | Rochester, Minnesota | 1 | 1,028 | Defeated Larry Gligorovich to win the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. | [5] | ||
| 2 | King Kong Bundy | March 31, 1999 | N/A | Oshkosh, Wisconsin | 1 | 486 | ||||
| — | Vacated | July 29, 2000 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 3 | Dale Gagne | July 29, 2000 | N/A | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | The owner stripped Bundy from the title and declared himself the champion. | |||
| 4 | The Patriot (Danny Dominion) | July 29, 2000 | N/A | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 5 | Larry Gligorovich | July 29, 2000 | N/A | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 1 | 309 | ||||
| 6 | Eric Priest | June 3, 2001 | N/A | Hillside, Illinois | 1 | 292 | ||||
| 7 | Evan Karagias | March 22, 2002 | N/A | Casa Grande, Arizona | 1 | 41 | ||||
| 8 | Danny Dominion | May 2, 2002 | N/A | Cottonwood, Arizona | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 9 | Evan Karagias | May 4, 2002 | N/A | Casa Grande, Arizona | 2 | 161 | ||||
| 10 | Horshu | October 12, 2002 | N/A | Mercedes, Texas | 1 | 267 | Stripped of the title due to missing mandatory title defenses. | |||
| — | Vacated | July 6, 2003 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 11 | Evan Karagias | July 6, 2003 | N/A | Lemoore, California | 3 | 567 | Defeated Eric Priest to win the vacated title. Karagias was fired in January 2005 by Dale Gagne for misconduct and refusal of defending the title as scheduled. | |||
| — | Vacated | January 23, 2005 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA) / Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) | ||||||||||
| 12 | Takao Omori | January 23, 2005 | Zero1-Max Ground Max | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 139 | Defeated Steve Corino in the finals of a tournament when Pro Wrestling Zero1 joins AWA Superstars of Wrestling. | |||
| 13 | Steve Corino | June 11, 2005 | N/A | Bay City, Michigan | 1 | 225 | ||||
| 14 | Shinjiro Otani | January 22, 2006 | Zero1-Max Faithfully | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 69 | ||||
| 15 | Takao Omori | April 1, 2006 | Zero1-Max Yasukuni Shrine Festival | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 64 | ||||
| 16 | Ric Converse | June 4, 2006 | N/A | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1 | 217 | ||||
| 17 | Steve Corino | January 7, 2007 | N/A | Pottstown, Pennsylvania | 2 | 83 | On March 23, 2007, Corino lost the title to TNT at an AWF event in Sydney, Australia; however, on March 28, the AWA Superstars of Wrestling Board of Directors returned the title to Corino when the proper paperwork for the match could not be found. | |||
| 18 | Takao Omori | March 31, 2007 | Zero1-Max Max Satisfaction | Yokohama, Japan | 3 | 209 | ||||
| 19 | Masato Tanaka | October 26, 2007 | Zero1-Max Innovation | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 46 | Zero1 ends business relationship with AWA Superstars of Wrestling on December 15, 2007 but Tanaka's reign continues recognized as the Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship. | |||
| AWA Superstars of Wrestling (AWA) | ||||||||||
| — | Vacated | December 11, 2007 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 20 | Larry Zbyszko | February 5, 2008 | N/A | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1* | 75 | Title awarded. | |||
| † | Brian Logan† | April 20, 2008 | — | Fayetteville, West Virginia |
|
0 | Logan defeated Zbyszko and Ricky Landell in a triple threat match. Shortly thereafter, Mountaineer Wrestling Association of West Virginia, the promotion for which Logan primarily performs, pulled out of AWA Superstars of Wrestling to form American Wrestling Affiliates with several other promotions. The title was returned to Zbyszko, and Logan's reign was never officially recognized by AWA Superstars of Wrestling. | |||
| Wrestling Superstars Live (WSL) | ||||||||||
| 21 | Larry Zbyszko | February 5, 2008 | N/A | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2* | 249 | Title returned to Zbyszko. | |||
| 22 | Ricky Landell | October 11, 2008 | N/A | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1 | 133 | Title becomes known as the WSL World Heavyweight Championship when the promotion is forced to rename. | |||
| 23 | Keith Walker | February 21, 2009 | N/A | Michigan City, Indiana | 1 | 0 | ||||
| — | Deactivated | February 21, 2009 | — | Michigan City, Indiana | — | — | ||||
* Wrestling Superstars Live considers Zbyszko's reign before and his reign after his loss to Brian Logan to be one continuous reign.
† Unofficial title changes not recognized by Wrestling Superstars Live.
Combined reigns
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonnie Stewart | 1 | 1,028 |
| 2 | Evan Karagias | 3 | 775 |
| 3 | King Kong Bundy | 1 | 486 |
| 4 | Takao Omori | 3 | 412 |
| 5 | Larry Zbyszko | 2* | 324 |
| 6 | Larry Gligorovich | 1 | 309 |
| 7 | Steve Corino | 2 | 308 |
| 8 | Eric Priest | 1 | 292 |
| 9 | Horshu | 1 | 267 |
| 10 | Ric Converse | 1 | 217 |
| 11 | Ricky Landell | 1 | 133 |
| 12 | Shinjiro Otani | 1 | 69 |
| 13 | Masato Tanaka | 1 | 46 |
| 14 | Danny Dominion | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Dale Gagne | 1 | 0 |
| Keith Walker | 1 | 0 | |
| — | Brian Logan† | 0 | 0 |
American Wrestling Affiliates / Championship Wrestling Alliance
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
| American Wrestling Affiliates (AWA) / Championship Wrestling Alliance (CWA) / Southern States Wrestling (SSW) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Brian Logan† | April 20, 2008 | N/A | Fayetteville, West Virginia | 1 | 195 | Logan defeated Zbyszko and Ricky Landell in a triple threat match. Shortly thereafter, Mountaineer Wrestling Association of West Virginia, the promotion for which Logan primarily performs, pulled out of AWA Superstars of Wrestling to form American Wrestling Affiliates with several other promotions. The title was returned to Zbyszko, and Logan's reign was never officially recognized by AWA Superstars of Wrestling. | [6] | ||
| 2 | Tony Givens | November 1, 2008 | N/A | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 20 | ||||
| 3 | Brian Logan | November 21, 2008 | N/A | Buckhannon, West Virginia | 2 | 70 | Logan, the reigning AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was awarded the title, then known as the CWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||
| — | Deactivated | January 30, 2009 | — | Kingsport, Tennessee | — | — | ||||
| (CWA) Championship Wrestling Alliance (CWA World Heavyweight Championship / CWA Heavyweight Championship) | ||||||||||
| 4 | Brian Logan | January 30, 2009 | N/A | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 120 | Logan, the reigning AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was awarded the title, then known as the CWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||
| 5 | Robbie Cassidy | May 30, 2009 | N/A | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 385 | [7] | |||
| 6 | Chris Richards | June 19, 2010 | N/A | Kingsport, Tennessee | 1 | 230 | Title retired and replaced with the NWA Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Championship on February 4, 2011; when CWA joined the National Wrestling Alliance and became NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling | |||
| — | Deactivated | February 4, 2011 | — | Kingsport, Tennessee | — | — | ||||
Combined reigns
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie Cassidy | 1 | 385 |
| Brian Logan† | 3 | 385 | |
| 3 | Chris Richards | 1 | 230 |
| 4 | Tony Givens | 1 | 20 |
References
- Browning, Dan (2007-04-28). "World Wrestling sues promoter". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28.
- "News and Notes, May 4, 2007". GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. 2007-05-04.
- Ryder, Bob (2007-04-26). "WWE Files Lawsuit Against "Gagne" For Trademark Violations Associated With AWA". 1wrestling.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- "WWE wins trademark infringement lawsuit over AWA". wrestleview.com. 2008-10-28.
- "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- "AWA World Heavyweight Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- "American Wrestling Affiliates (2008/04-2009/01)Championship Wrestling Alliance (2009/01-2011/02) World Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
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