NWA_Mid-Atlantic_Heavyweight_Championship

NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship

NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship

Professional wrestling championship

The NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, originally known as the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship, was a professional wrestling championship promoted in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a territory-promotion governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

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Title history

On October 13, 1970, the championship was introduced as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship during a taping of Championship Wrestling.[Note 2] It was announced that the Missouri Mauler had defeated the defending champion Pat O'Connor in New York City to win the title; this title change was fictitious and a storyline to introduce the championship to the promotion; nevertheless, O'Connor's reign is denoted as the first official reign. Because it was fictitious, further information regarding O'Connor's reign is unavailable.

On the September 6, 1973 taping of Championship Wrestling,[Note 2] JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr. announced the retirement of the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship and the establishment of the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. At the time of this change, Jerry Brisco was in his fourth reign as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Champion, and as a result of never losing the title, he was recognized as the first NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. Because Brisco's fourth reign did not end, being awarded the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title is not counted as a new reign overall in the title's history.[1] By 1974, JCP was also known as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" (MACW), which is why all of its championships included "Mid-Atlantic" in their names.[2]

On December 26, 1986, Ron Garvin, after winning JCP's version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with Barry Windham, vacated the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship and handed the belt to Crockett, Jr. on a taping of World Championship Wrestling.[Note 3] Crockett, Jr. deactivated the championship for unknown reasons, and eventually, JCP was sold to Ted Turner in 1988, thus becoming the new promotion, World Championship Wrestling.[3]

In the late 1990s, NWA gave a group of promoters permission to establish a territory called "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling"; however, this territory has not claimed any connection to the original JCP/MACW. As a result, their prime championship, called the MACW Heavyweight Championship,[4] has no connection to this original championship or its lineage.

Reigns

Overall, there were 63 reigns among 29 wrestlers. Fifteen of those reigns occurred while the title was called the "NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship" while 46 reigns occurred under the "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship" name. Johnny Valentine ranks first in combined reigns by the length of 504 days with 2 reigns total. Wahoo McDaniel had the most reigns with seven. Ken Patera's second reign was the longest in the title's history at 334 days. All title changes occurred at JCP–promoted events: live events, pay-per-view events, and on televised events that aired on broadcast delay.

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Combined reigns

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See also

Footnotes

  1. [N 1]
    The exact date on which Pat O' Connor won his only reign is unknown, which means that it lasted between 1 and 285 days.
  2. [N 2]
    Championship Wrestling was a television program for JCP that began airing on local WGHP television markets in 1964.
  3. [N 3]
    World Championship Wrestling was a television program for JCP that began airing on WTBS television markets in 1981.
  4. [N 4]
    All Star Wrestling, Wide World Wrestling, and World Wide Wrestling were television programs for JCP that began airing on local WRAL television markets in the late 1950s.
  5. [N 5]
    World Wide Wrestling (renamed from Wide World Wrestling in 1978) began airing on local WPCQ-TV television markets in 1981, after it moved from WRAL.
  6. [N 6]
    From 1983 to 1984, JCP taped programming in indoor arenas to air on television markets; however, the name of the programming and the markets it aired on is unknown.
  7. [N 7]
    The exact date on which Johnny Valentine won his first reign is unknown, which means that it lasted between 402 and 432 days.
  8. [N 8]
    The exact date on which Jerry Brisco lost his fourth championship reign is unknown, which means that it lasted between 182 and 212 days.
  9. [N 9]
    The exact date on which Jack Brisco lost his second reign in unknown, which means that it lasted between 15 and 45 days.
  10. [N 10]
    The exact date on which Ivan Koloff was awarded the championship by Dick Slater took place between December 14 and December 31, 1983, which means that his second reign lasted between 25 and 42 days.
  11. [N 11]
    The exact date on which Rip Hawk won his second reign is unknown, although it is confirmed in sources that it took place between April 25, 1972 and May 25, 1972. As a result, his reign lasted between 19 and 49 days.
  12. [N 12]
    The exact date on which Buzz Tyler was stripped of the championship is unknown, which means that his only reign lasted between 107 and 137 days.
  13. [N 13]
    The exact date on which Dick Slater awarded Ivan Koloff the championship is unknown, which means that his only reign lasted between 11 and 28 days.

References

General (title history)
  • Bourne, Dick. "Mid-Atlantic Wrestling: The Definitive History of the Mid-Atlantic Championship". Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
  • "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title History". Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
General (television programming)
Specific
  1. [1]
    Bourne, Dick. "The Origin and Evolution of the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship". Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  2. [2]
    Bourne, Dick; David Chappell. "What's In a Name?". Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Archived from the original on August 21, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
  3. [3]
    Beekman, Scott (2006). Ringside: a history of professional wrestling in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 129–132. ISBN 0-275-98401-X.
  4. [4]
    "MACW's Latest Rankings". Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  5. [5]
    "Clippings from the collection of Mark Eastridge". Mid-Atlantic Gateway. January 1971. Archived from the original on November 14, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
  6. [6]
    Bourne, Dick. "Why Paul Jones' victory over Johnny Valentine for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship Should Be Recognized". Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Archived from the original on 2009-08-21. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  7. [7]
    Hoops, Brian (September 20, 2015). "Dailt pro wrestling history (9/20): AJ Styles wins TAn World Title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  8. [8]
    Hoops, Brian (May 24, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 24): Harley Race wins NWA title due to interesting circumstances, Ric Flair beats Kerry Von Erich in Japan". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  9. [9]
    Hoops, Brian (May 11, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 11): Von Erichs vs. Verne & Don Leo Jonathan, Shane Douglas vs 2 Cold Scorpio". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
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