NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship explained

Promotion:National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)
Mostreigns:Ray Mendoza (6 reigns)
Firstchamp:Gypsy Joe
Finalchamp:Súper Nova
Longestreign:Frank Stojack
Oldest:Frank Stojack
Youngest:Gypsy Joe
Heaviest:Vampiro (260lb)
Lightest:Tarzan Boy (190lb)

The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence the title was promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where it was known in Spanish as the Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de NWA. It began as an official National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) title and was given to the NWA's Mexican affiliate, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL, later CMLL), to control. The title was also promoted in NWA Hollywood Wrestling until Hollywood Wrestling's closure in 1982. The title remained under the control of EMLL even after EMLL pulled out of the NWA and changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Due to its history, it was considered one of the most important titles in EMLL/CMLL.[1] [2] As it was a professional wrestling championship, it was not won legitimately; it was instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. The official definition of the light heavyweight weight class in Mexico is between 92kg (203lb) and 97kg (214lb), but this was not always strictly enforced.[3] [4]

The first champion was "Gypsy Joe" Dorsetti, who won the title on November 6, 1952. In 1957 the NWA stripped Frank Stojack of the title for lack of NWA-mandated title defenses, but Stojack kept the physical belt and defended the title for over a year until the NWA regained possession of the actual Championship belt. (Edit: The NWA never regained possession of the actual belt. The actual original belt is in the possession of a private collector.) After Stojack was stripped of the title, the NWA executive board decided to give Salvador Lutteroth and Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre control of the championship in 1958.[5] The first champion under Lutteroth's authority was Dory Dixon, who had worked for EMLL for many years. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the title was also defended in the Los Angeles area; after the 1980s, the title was only defended in Mexico.

In March 2010, Blue Demon, Jr., the president of NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, telling them to stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. NWA Mexico had previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. The promotion did not directly respond to the latest claim either; the NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL.[6] Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship and returned the old title to NWA.[7] In 2013, NWA Mexico crowned its first recognized World Light Heavyweight Champion, with Súper Nova winning the vacant title. Súper Nova has not defended the title since 2014, with the championship being de facto retired.

There have been a total of 65 reigns shared between 40 wrestlers. Ray Mendoza has held the Championship the highest number of times with six title reigns; Gory Guerrero's two reigns combined come to 1,963 days, the highest total of any champion. Roddy Piper is the champion with the shortest reign, 2 days; while the longest title reign belongs to Frank Stojack with 1,573 days.

Reigns by combined length

Key
SymbolMeaning
Indicates the current champion
¤The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.
+Indicates that the date changes daily for the current champion.
data-sort-type="number"RankWrestlerdata-sort-type="number"No. of Reignsdata-sort-type="number"Combined Days
12
26
35
41
51
61
72
8
91
102
111
121
131
14¤
151
162
171
181
191
201
21
221
231
241
251
261
272
281
291
301
311
321
331
341
351
361
371
382
392
401

Footnotes

See also

References

General source for title changes before 2000[G] - Book: Royal Duncan and Gary Will. Wrestling Title Histories. Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title. 389. Archeus Communications. 2006. 4th. 0-9698161-5-4.
  • Specific
  • External links

    Notes and References

    1. Book: Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.. 2005. Pastor y Luchador / Both a priest and a wrestler. 191–194. 968-6842-48-9.
    2. Book: Madigan, Dan. Mondo Lucha a Go-Go: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. 2007. Ángel Blanco. 102–105. 978-0-06-085583-3.
    3. The most recent case of this was Mephisto's holding the NWA World Welterweight Championship, a belt with a 78kg (172lb) upper limit, despite weighing 90kg (200lb).
    4. Web site: Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico. PDF. Arturo Montiel Rojas. Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.. August 30, 2001. July 27, 2009. Articulo 242: "Super medio 92 kilos / Semi Completo 97 kilos". es. https://web.archive.org/web/20061130181418/http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/Estatal/ESTADO%20DE%20MEXICO/Reglamentos/MEXREG004.pdf. November 30, 2006.
    5. Book: Hornbaker, Tim. National Wrestling Alliance: the untold story of the monopoly that strangled pro wrestling. ECW Press. 2007. Distinguished Wrestling Champions. 226. 978-1-55022-741-3.
    6. Web site: Mephisto responde a Blue Demon Jr.: "No tengo que entrar a ninguna eliminatoria porque yo soy el campeón...". Ruiz Glez, Alex. March 12, 2010. March 14, 2010. SuperLuchas. es.
    7. Web site: Campeones. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. December 16, 2010. es.
    8. Book: Royal Duncan and Gary Will. Wrestling Title Histories. New Jersey: NWA Light Heavyweight Title. 53. Archeus Communications. 2006. 4th. 0-9698161-5-4.