FIP World Heavyweight Championship
Professional wrestling championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The FIP World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship held by the Full Impact Pro (FIP), a promotion owned by the World Wrestling Network. It is currently the highest ranked championship in FIP.
| FIP World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Former FIP World Heavyweight Champion Austin Theory with the belt, at EVOLVE 112, September 2018. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Network | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | Full Impact Pro (FIP) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | September 25, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | August Artois | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | December 10, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||
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History
The title was introduced on September 25, 2004, at FIP's "Emergence: Part Two" event as the FIP Heavyweight Championship.[1] It was renamed the FIP World Heavyweight Championship on March 3, 2007, when then-champion Roderick Strong defeated Pac in Liverpool, England, at the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion's "Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool" event.[2] Overall, there have been 23 reigns shared among 17 wrestlers. Title changes happen mostly at FIP-promoted events, which are usually released on DVD. The title has changed hands four times at non-FIP events. Reigns two and four occurred at ROH-promoted events, while reigns 10 and 11 happened at Dragon Gate events.
Since being renamed as a "World Championship" after a UK defense in March 2007, the title has been defended internationally multiple times. Not only has the championship been successfully defended in Japan, China, Canada, Mexico[3][4][5][6] but the title has also changed hands in both Japan and China.[7]
Inaugural FIP Heavyweight Champion Tournament (2004)
| First Round[8] | Second Round[1] | Semi Final[1] | Final[1] | ||||||||||||
| Rainman | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Jason Cross | 11:15 | ||||||||||||||
| Rainman | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Kahagas | 4:18 | ||||||||||||||
| Scoot Andrews | 4:39 | ||||||||||||||
| Kahagas | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Rainman | 13:36 | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Justin Credible | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Ralph Mosca | 3:37 | ||||||||||||||
| Justin Credible | 10:51 | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Vordell Walker | 13:01 | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | 13:23 | ||||||||||||||
| Homicide | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Aries | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Roderick Strong | 17:00 | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Aries | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Jerrelle Clark | 7:57 | ||||||||||||||
| Slim J | 6:27 | ||||||||||||||
| Jerrelle Clark | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Austin Aries | 15:30 | ||||||||||||||
| Homicide | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Joshua Masters | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Lex Lovett | 3:45 | ||||||||||||||
| Joshua Masters | 1:28 | ||||||||||||||
| Homicide | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| AJ Styles | 18:04 | ||||||||||||||
| Homicide | by DQ | ||||||||||||||
Title history
The inaugural champion was Homicide, who defeated CM Punk in the finals of a two-night tournament that concluded on September 25, 2004, at FIP's "Emergence: Part Two" event.[1] Roderick Strong holds the record of most reigns, with three. Jon Davis's second reign is the longest singular reign at 632 days, while Erick Stevens reign is the shortest at 35 days. Davis also holds the record for longest combined reign at 821 days. Davis is also the oldest champion at 40, while Austin Theory is the youngest, having won it at 20.
August Artois is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Lucky Ali in a bullrope match at WWN Supershow: Mercury Rising on August 27, 2023, in Clearwater, FL.
Reigns
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Homicide | September 25, 2004 | Emergence: Part Two | Tampa, FL | 1 | 476 | Homicide defeated CM Punk in a tournament final to become the first champion. | [1] |
| 2 | Bryan Danielson | January 14, 2006 | ROH Hell Freezes Over | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 300 | This was a three-way dance also involving Roderick Strong. | [9][10] |
| 3 | Roderick Strong | November 10, 2006 | All or Nothing | Inverness, FL | 1 | 415 | The title was renamed the "FIP World Heavyweight Championship" on March 3, 2007, when Strong defeated Pac in Liverpool, England, at ROH's Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool event. | [11][2] |
| 4 | Erick Stevens | December 30, 2007 | Final Battle | New York City, NY | 1 | 48 | [12] | |
| 5 | Roderick Strong | February 16, 2008 | Redefined | Crystal River, FL | 2 | 154 | [13] | |
| 6 | Erick Stevens | July 19, 2008 | Hot Summer Nights | Crystal River, FL | 2 | 35 | This was a Dog Collar match. | [14] |
| 7 | Go Shiozaki | August 23, 2008 | Heatstroke | Crystal River, FL | 1 | 119 | [15] | |
| 8 | Tyler Black | December 20, 2008 | Unstoppable | Crystal River, FL | 1 | 133 | [16] | |
| 9 | Davey Richards | May 2, 2009 | Unfinished Business | Crystal River, FL | 1 | 218 | Richards was awarded the championship by forfeit after Tyler Black suffered a neck injury the previous night in Berwyn, IL and was forced to relinquish the title. | [17] |
| 10 | Masaaki Mochizuki | December 6, 2009 | Dragon Gate The Gate of Generation | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 48 | [18] | |
| 11 | Davey Richards | January 23, 2010 | DGUSA Fearless | Chicago, IL | 2 | 58 | [19] | |
| — | Vacated | March 22, 2010 | — | — | — | — | The championship was vacated by the FIP Championship Committee due to "an unforeseen contractual situation" with Davey Richards. | [20] |
| 12 | Jon Moxley | April 17, 2010 | Southern Stampede | Crystal River, FL | 1 | 360 | Moxley defeated Roderick Strong to win the vacant title. | [21] |
| — | Vacated | April 12, 2011 | — | — | — | — | The championship was vacated by the FIP Championship Committee due to Jon Moxley signing with WWE. | |
| 13 | Jon Davis | February 1, 2013 | Everything Burns | Tampa, FL | 1 | 189 | Davis defeated A. R. Fox to win the vacant title. | [22] |
| 14 | Trent Baretta | August 9, 2013 | Heatstroke | Tampa, FL | 1 | 462 | [23] | |
| 15 | Rich Swann | November 14, 2014 | WWNLive in China | Chengdu, Sichuan | 1 | 98 | [24] | |
| — | Vacated | February 20, 2015 | Ascension | Tampa, FL | — | — | The championship was vacated due to Rich Swann being sidelined with an injury. | [25] |
| 16 | Roderick Strong | February 20, 2015 | Ascension | Tampa, FL | 3 | 57 | Strong defeated Trent Baretta in a no disqualification match to win the vacant championship. | [25] |
| 17 | Rich Swann | April 18, 2015 | Establish Dominance | Orlando, FL | 2 | 76 | [26] | |
| 18 | Caleb Konley | July 3, 2015 | Declaration of Independence | Tampa, FL | 1 | 329 | [27] | |
| 19 | Fred Yehi | May 27, 2016 | Accelerate | Orlando, FL | 1 | 562 | [28] | |
| 20 | Austin Theory | December 10, 2017 | Evolve 97 | Melrose, MA | 1 | 294 | [29] | |
| 21 | Anthony Henry | September 30, 2018 | Accelerate | Ybor City, FL | 1 | 509 | [30] | |
| 22 | Jon Davis | February 21, 2020 | Everything Burns | Ybor City, FL | 2 | 632 | [31] | |
| 23 | Karam | November 14, 2021 | WWN Supershow: Battle of the Belts | Clearwater, FL | 1 | 292 | [32] | |
| 24 | Florenz De La Hunt | September 2, 2022 | POW Wrestling Rumble | Geesthacht, Germany | 1 | 1 | [33] | |
| 25 | Karam | September 3, 2022 | POW Wrestling Rumble | Hamburg, Germany | 2 | 330 | [34] | |
| 26 | Lucky Ali | July 30, 2023 | Heatstroke | Clearwater, FL | 1 | 28 | It was in a winner takes all match where Ali's WWN Proving Ground Heavyweight Championship and ACW Heavyweight Championship were also at stake. | [35] |
| 27 | Brian Brock | August 27, 2023 | WWN SuperShow: Mercury Rising | Clearwater, FL | 1 | 105 | [36] | |
| 28 | August Artois | December 10, 2023 | WWN First Annual Heath D. Schneider Memorial Battle For The Belts | Clearwater, FL | 1 | 820+ | This was a bullrope match. | [37] |
Combined reigns
As of March 9, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion(s) |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Davis | 2 | 821 |
| 2 | August Artois † | 1 | 820+ |
| 3 | Roderick Strong | 3 | 626 |
| 4 | Karam | 2 | 622 |
| 5 | Fred Yehi | 1 | 562 |
| 6 | Anthony Henry | 1 | 509 |
| 7 | Homicide | 1 | 476 |
| 8 | Trent Baretta | 1 | 462 |
| 9 | Jon Moxley | 1 | 360 |
| 10 | Caleb Konley | 1 | 329 |
| 11 | Bryan Danielson | 1 | 300 |
| 12 | Austin Theory | 1 | 294 |
| 13 | Davey Richards | 2 | 276 |
| 14 | Rich Swann | 2 | 174 |
| 15 | Tyler Black | 1 | 133 |
| 16 | Go Shiozaki | 1 | 119 |
| 17 | Brian Brock | 1 | 105 |
| 18 | Erick Stevens | 2 | 83 |
| 19 | Masaaki Mochizuki | 1 | 49 |
| 20 | Lucky Ali | 1 | 28 |
| 21 | Florenz De La Hunt | 1 | 1 |