NWA International Heavyweight Championship explained

Championshipname:	NWA International Heavyweight Championship
Promotion:	Japan Wrestling Association All Japan Pro Wrestling NWA Hollywood Wrestling Championship Wrestling from Florida
Created:	November, 1957
Mostreigns:	Giant Baba, Dory Funk, Jr., Bruiser Brody & Jumbo Tsuruta (3 reigns)
Firstchamp:	Lou Thesz
Longestreign:	Kintarō Ōki (3,052 days)
Shortestreign:	Jumbo Tsuruta (Less than 1 day)
Oldest:	Bobo Brazil (48 years, 144 days)
Youngest:	Giant Baba (27 years, 305 days)
Heaviest:	Giant Baba (330lb)
Lightest:	Lou Thesz (225lb)
Titleretired:	April 18, 1989

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. In 1983, Giant Baba would elevate the title further in the eyes of many when he, as the reigning PWF Heavyweight Champion, declared Jumbo Tsuruta to be the new "Ace" of All Japan after Jumbo won the NWA International Heavyweight Championship from Bruiser Brody. Following the withdrawal of All Japan from the NWA, the International title was briefly sanctioned by the Pacific Wrestling Federation until the unification of the Triple Crown could be completed.

Under Rikidōzan 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 show.^[1]

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.|} width=0 data-sort-type="number" Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref. 1 1 N/A N/A Thesz was awarded the championship by the NWA after losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Dick Hutton. Houston NWA promoter Morris Sigel claimed that Thesz had won the title by defeating Antonino Rocca in 1949.   2 Rikidōzan 1 Los Angeles, California, United States House show Thesz claims the match was not for the title and continues defending the title in the U.S. and Europe until regaining the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in January 1963.   Vacated - - N/A N/A Vacated following Rikidōzan's death from stab wounds suffered one week earlier in Tokyo, Japan.   3 1 Osaka, Japan House show Defeated Dick the Bruiser for the vacant title. ^[2] 4 1 Nagoya, Japan House show     5 2 Tokyo, Japan House show     6 1 Osaka, Japan House show     7 3 Los Angeles, California, United States House show     Vacated - - N/A N/A Vacated when Baba left the Japan Wrestling Association to start All Japan Pro Wrestling.   8 2 Yokohama, Japan House show Defeated Kintarō Ōki for the vacant title.   9 1 Hiroshima, Japan House show     Vacated - - N/A N/A After the JWA closed in 1973, Ohki took the belt to South Korea from where he defended it. After briefly returning to Japan and making some defenses in IWE, Ohki vacated the title on April 13, 1981 under orders from the NWA.   10 1 Matsudo, Japan House show 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.   11 1 June 1981 Florida, United States House show Title reign not recognized in Japan.   12 2 August 1981 Florida, United States House show     13 Bruiser Brody 1 Tokyo, Japan House show     14 3 Tokyo, Japan House show     15 Bruiser Brody 2 Osaka, Japan House show     16 1 Tokyo, Japan House show     17 1 Tokyo, Japan House show   ^[3] 18 2 Tokyo, Japan House show     19 Bruiser Brody 3 Tokyo, Japan House show     20 3 Sendai, Japan House show     Unified - - N/A N/A Unified with PWF Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship to create the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.   Combined reigns Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined days 1 1 3,052 2 3 2,456 3 3 2,076 4 1 1936 5 3 419 6 1 299 7 3 242 - 301 8 1 82 9 1 32 - 91 10 1 16 11 2 5 See also List of National Wrestling Alliance championships External links Wrestling-Titles.com

Notes and References

1. Book: Royal Duncan & Gary Will . Wrestling Title Histories . Archeus Communications . 2006. 4th . 0-9698161-5-4 .
2. Web site: Daily Pro Wrestling history (11/24): The First Starcade . . November 24, 2019 . November 24, 2019 . Brian . Hoops.
3. Web site: On this day in pro wrestling history (July 31): Stan Hansen wins NWA International title, Giant Baba, Hulk Hogan in AWA . July 31, 2015 . February 11, 2017 . Brian . Hoops . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.