NWA World Heavyweight Title Holders


Champion(title reign): When Belt Was Won (Any Other Info)

Orville Brown: October 1948 (awarded as 1st NWA World Champion when Midwest Wrestling Association absorbed into NWA)

Lou Thesz: November 27th, 1949 (Unified many titles to become the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion)

Whipper Billy Watson: March 15th, 1956 (won by countout)

Lou Thesz(2nd): November 9th, 1956

Dick Hutton: Novmeber 14th, 1957

Pat O'Connor: January 9th, 1959

Buddy Rogers: June 30th, 1961

Lou Thesz(3rd): January 24th, 1963 (Northeast promoters do not recognize Rogers' loss of the belt, starting the WWWF with Rogers as the first champion)

Gene Kiniski: January 7th, 1966

Dory Funk Jr: February 11th, 1969

Harley Race: March 24th, 1973

Jack Brisco: July 20th, 1973

Giant Baba: December 2nd, 1974

Jack Brisco(2nd): December 9th, 1974

Terry Funk: December 10th, 1975

Harley Race(2nd): February 6th, 1977

Dusty Rhodes: August 21st, 1979

Harley Race(3rd): August 26th, 1979

Giant Baba(2nd): October 31st, 1979

Harley Race(4th): November 7th, 1979

Giant Baba(3rd): September 4th, 1980

Harley Race(5th): September 9th, 1980

Tommy Rich: April 27th, 1981

Harley Race(6th): May 1st, 1981

Dusty Rhodes(2nd): June 21st, 1981

Ric Flair: September 17th, 1981

Carlos Colon: January 6th, 1983

Ric Flair: January 23rd, 1983 (belt returned to Flair)

Harley Race(7th): June 10th, 1983

Ric Flair(2nd): November 24th, 1983

Harley Race(8th): March 21st, 1984

Ric Flair(3rd): March 23rd, 1984

Kerry Von Erich: May 6th, 1984

Ric Flair(4th): May 24th, 1984

Dusty Rhodes(3rd): July 26th, 1986

Ric Flair(5th): August 7th, 1986

Ronnie Garvin: September 25th, 1987

Ric Flair(6th): November 26th, 1987

Ricky Steamboat: February 20th, 1989

Ric Flair(7th): May 7th, 1989

Sting: July 7th, 1990

Ric Flair(8th): January 11th, 1991

Tatsumi Fujinami: March 21st, 1991

Ric Flair(9th): May 19th, 1991

Masahiro Chono: August 12th, 1992 (belt vacated September '91 when Flair signed with WWF; Chono beat Rick Rude in finals to win belt)

The Great Muta: January 4th, 1993

Barry Windham: February 21st, 1993

Ric Flair(10th): August 18th, 1993(returned to WCW and won belt; title vacated after WCW withdraws from NWA in September '93)

Shane Douglas: August 27th, 1994(beat Too Cold Scorpio in finals, but refused belt, claiming the ECW World Title instead; ECW withdrew from the NWA)

Chris Candido: November 19th, 1994 (beat Tracy Smothers in finals)

Dan Severn: February 24th, 1995

Naoya Ogawa: March 14th, 1999

Gary Steele: September 25th, 1999

Naoya Ogawa(2nd): October 2nd, 1999

Mike Rapada: September 19th, 2000 (belt vacated July 2nd, 2000; Rapada won the Eight-Man Tournament Final)

Sabu: November 14th, 2000

Mike Rapada(2nd): December 22nd, 2000

Steve Corino: April 24th, 2001 (belt held up after match with Shinya Hashimoto on October 13th, 2001, due to injury)

Shinya Hashimoto: December 15th, 2001 (won triangle match over Steve Corino & Gary Steele)

Dan Severn(2nd): March 9th, 2002 (belt stripped May 2002 due to inability to schedule title defense)

Ken Shamrock: June 19th, 2002 (1st NWA-TNA PPV; Shamrock defeated Malice after the two survived the Gauntlet For The Gold Battle Royal)

Ron Killings: August 7th, 2002

Jeff Jarrett: November 20th, 2002

A.J. Styles: June 11th, 2003

Jeff Jarrett(2nd): October 22nd, 2003

A.J. Styles(2nd): April 21st, 2004

Ron Killings(2nd): May 19th, 2004

Jeff Jarrett(3rd): June 2nd, 2004 (Jarrett won a King of the Mountain Match over Killings, A.J. Styles, Chris Harris, & Raven. Jarrett lost to Ron Killings on June 23rd, but the title was returned due to Killings' use of Jarrett's guitar in the match)

A.J. Styles(3rd): May 15th, 2005

Raven: June 19th, 2005

Jeff Jarrett(4th): September 15th, 2005 (Jarrett defeated Raven at a Border City Wrestling show)

Rhino: October 23rd, 2005

Jeff Jarrett(5th): October 25th, 2005 (Match aired on Impact Prime-Time Special, 11/03/05)

Christian Cage: February 12th, 2006

Jeff Jarrett(6th): June 18th, 2006 (Jarrett, through aid from Earl Hebner & Larry Zbyszko, won a "King of the Mountain" Match over Christian Cage, Abyss, Ron Killings, and Sting. After the match, Jim Cornette took the title away due to the controversy, but eventually did award it to Jarrett.)

Sting(2nd): October 22nd, 2006

Abyss: November 19th, 2006 (Abyss won, via DQ, over Sting. Due to NWA World Title rules, the belt changed hands)

Christian Cage(2nd): January 14th, 2007 (Cage won a "Three-Way Elimination" Match over Abyss and Sting)

Kurt Angle: May 13th, 2007 (won "Triple Threat" Match over Christian Cage and Sting; belt vacated when NWA and TNA parted ways)

Adam Pearce: September 1st, 2007 (Pearce was eliminated in the tournament by Bryan Danielson; however, after Danielson was injured, Pearce took his place in the finals, defeating Brent Albright to win the gold)