NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version)
Professional wrestling championship
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The NWA Toronto United States Heavyweight Championship was the version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship that was defended in Frank Tunney's Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling. It existed from 1962 until 1973. A different version of the title was brought to the territory by The Sheik in 1974 and defended until 1977. After that, Maple Leaf Wrestling recognized the Mid-Atlantic version of the title from May 1978 until July 1984 when promoter Jack Tunney allied himself with the WWF.[1]
PromotionMaple Leaf Wrestling
Date establishedSeptember, 1962
Date retiredJuly, 1977
First championJohnny Valentine
| NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Maple Leaf Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Date established | September, 1962 | ||||||||||||||
| Date retired | July, 1977 | ||||||||||||||
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Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Johnny Valentine | September 1962 | MLW show | N/A | 1 | N/A | Billed as champion on arrival in Toronto | |
| 2 | Bruno Sammartino | November 22, 1962 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 22 | ||
| 3 | Johnny Valentine | December 14, 1962 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 2 | N/A | ||
| 4 | John Paul Henning | June 1963 | N/A | Washington, DC | 1 | N/A | Fictitious title change | |
| 5 | Johnny Valentine | July 11, 1963 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 3 | 98 | ||
| 6 | The Beast | October 17, 1963 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 140 | ||
| 7 | Johnny Valentine | March 5, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 4 | 91 | [2] | |
| 8 | Professor Hiro | June 4, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 133 | ||
| 9 | Johnny Valentine | October 15, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 5 | 7 | Won by referee's decision | |
| 10 | Professor Hiro | October 22, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 2 | 8 | Won by disqualification | |
| 11 | Johnny Valentine | October 30, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 6 | 58 | ||
| 12 | The Sheik | December 27, 1964 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 7 | ||
| 13 | Johnny Valentine | January 3, 1965 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 7 | 889 | Lost to Antonio Inoki on November 19, 1966 in Osaka, Japan, in a card by the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling; Inoki defended a version of the title until January 31, 1967 when TPW collapsed and was absorbed into International Wrestling Enterprise. | |
| 14 | Tiger Jeet Singh | June 11, 1967 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 2031-2061 | Title inactive from 1968 to 1971; recognized as champion again in 1971 | |
| — | Vacated | January 1973 | — | Title vacated | — | — | Championship vacated for undocumented reasons | |
| 15 | The Sheik | July 1974 | N/A | N/A | 2 | 842-872 | Defeated Tony Marino on March 16, 1974 to win the Detroit version, recognized in Toronto; defeated previous champion Singh decisively on November 11 to settle the controversy after a match on October 27 ended in a double countout. | |
| 16 | Thunderbolt Patterson | November 19, 1976 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 37 | ||
| 17 | The Sheik | December 26, 1976 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 3 | 42 | ||
| 18 | Bobo Brazil | February 6, 1977 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 21 | ||
| 19 | The Sheik | February 27, 1977 | MLW show | Toronto, ON | 4 | N/A | ||
| — | Vacated | July 1977 | N/A | — | — | — | Sheik left the Toronto area; Mid-Atlantic version was recognized in Toronto from May 1978 until July 1984 when Toronto territory joined the WWF. | |
