World Heavyweight Title Holders |
| Brown was the holder of the Midwest Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title. He was later recognized as a World Champion by Pinkie George who founded the NWA in 1948. | ||
| Virag defeated John Grandovich on October 26th, 1942, to become the NWA Heavyweight Champion. He was recognized as the NWA Champion by Pinkie George between May 1943 and August 1943. | ||
| Longson was said to have defeated Virag, but Pinkie George withdrew recognition when Longson would not defend the title in Des Moines. | ||
| Steele was awarded the championship after Longson's recognition was withdrawn. | ||
| Brown was billed as having defeated Ed Virag for the title. He defeated Lee Wykoff on August 16th, 1944 for the Midwest Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title. | ||
| The current version of the National Wrestling Alliance was founded in July 1948 with six promoters. Brown was the first recognized champion. | ||
| Thesz unified two NWA World Heavyweight Titles, the AWA World Heavyweight Title, and the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium World Title. | ||
| Northeast promoters do not recognize Rogers' loss of the belt, and started the WWWF with Rogers as the first champion. | ||
| This championship change is not recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance. | ||
| This championship change is not recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance. The title was returned to Flair. | ||
| Flair was forced to vacate the championship in September 1991, due to Flair signing with the World Wrestling Federation. | ||
| Chono became the new champion by defeating Rick Rude in the tournament finals. | ||
| Flair became champion when he returned to World Championship Wrestling. The title was vacated when WCW withdrew from the NWA in September 1993. | ||
| Douglas won over Too Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, but then refused the championship, claiming the new ECW World Heavyweight Title instead. ECW then withdrew from the NWA. | ||
| Candido became the new champion by defeating Tracy Smothers in the tournament finals. | ||
| Steele became the champion by winning a "Three-Way" Match over Brian Anthony and Naoya Ogawa. | ||
| Ogaya was forced to vacate the championship on July 2nd, 2000, due to his schedule not allowing for title defenses while he concentrated on Rickson Gracie. | ||
| Rapada became the new champion by winning an Eight-Man Tournament Final, taking down Jerry Flynn. | ||
| The championship held up after a match with Shinya Hashimoto on October 13th, 2001, due to injury. | ||
| Hashimoto became the new champion by winning a "Triangle" Match over Steve Corino and Gary Steele. | ||
| Severn was stripped of the championship on May 28th, 2002, after failing to defend the title in NWA - Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. NWA-TNA is named the exclusive holder of the NWA World Title. | ||
| Shamrock became the new champion by defeating Malice in a singles match, after the two were the final wrestlers standing after the TNA Gauntlet For The Gold Battle Royal. | ||
| Jarrett became champion by winning a "King of the Mountain" Match over Ron Killings, A.J. Styles, Chris Harris, and Raven. Jarrett lost to Ron Killings on June 23rd, 2004, but the title was returned due to Killings' use of Jarrett's guitar in the match. | ||
| Jarrett became champion by defeating Raven at a Border City Wrestling show. | ||
| The Jarrett vs. Rhino match was aired on the TNA Impact Prime-Time Special on November 3rd, 2005. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Abyss won, via DQ, over Sting. Due to NWA World Title rules, the championship changed hands. | ||
| Cage became champion by winning a "Three-Way Elimination" Match over Abyss and Sting. Cage was stripped of the title on May 13th, 2007, by the NWA. The title was put up once more by TNA on that date, with Kurt Angle winning the title in a "Triple Threat" Match over Christian Cage and Sting. The NWA does not recognize this title reign, as it had broken ties with TNA. | ||
| Pearce was eliminated in the NWA World Title Tournament by Bryan Danielson. However, after Danielson was injured, Pearce took his place in the finals, defeating Brent Albright to win the vacated championship. | ||
| Pearce became the champion by winning a "Three-Way Elimination" Match over Blue Demon Jr and Phill Shatter. | ||
| The Sheik was stripped of the championship on July 31st, 2011, when he supposedly refused to defend it against Adam Pearce | ||
| Pearce became the new champion by winning a Four-Way Match over Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave, and Shaun Tempers. | ||