PWF World Heavyweight Championship
Wrestling championship
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The Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and one of the three titles that make up the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. It was created in 1973 by All Japan owner Giant Baba, after he won a series of ten matches against Bruno Sammartino (twice - one win, one draw), Terry Funk, Abdullah the Butcher, The Destroyer, Wilbur Snyder (twice - one win, one draw), Don Leo Jonathan, Pat O'Connor and Bobo Brazil.
| Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The PWF Heavyweight Championship belt | |||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||
| Promotion | All Japan Pro Wrestling | ||||||||||
| Date established | February 27, 1973 | ||||||||||
| Date retired | 1989 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The title, which had originally been classed as a world title, was downgraded to regional status after All Japan joined the National Wrestling Alliance but retained its status as the top All Japan singles title until 1983. In 1989 Jumbo Tsuruta and Stan Hansen would unify this, the NWA United National Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight title to create the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. The original belt remained in use as part of the Triple Crown until 2013, when the three belts were replaced by a single belt. As the original top belt in All Japan, its design formed the front plate of the new belt; the other two belts' designs took the sides.[1]
Title history
- Key
| Symbol | Meaning |
| No. | The overall championship reign |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. |
| Event | The event in which the championship changed hands |
| N/A | The specific information is not known |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
| [Note #] | Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details. |
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Giant Baba | 1 | February 27, 1973 | 1,920 | Tokyo, Japan | Giant Series Total War day 11 | Baba originally defeats The Destroyer on December 19, 1972 via count out in a decision match. Unsatisfied with the result, Baba decides to earn the championship by winning a series of 10 matches, the last against Bobo Brazil. | [2] | ||
| 2 | Tor Kamata | 1 | June 1, 1978 | 11 | Akita, Japan | Super Power Series day 6 | [3] | |||
| 3 | Billy Robinson | 1 | June 12, 1978 | 128 | Ichinomiya, Japan | Super Power Series day 6 | ||||
| 4 | Abdullah the Butcher | 1 | October 18, 1978 | 115 | Utsunomiya, Japan | Giant Series day 12 | ||||
| 5 | Giant Baba | 2 | February 10, 1979 | 1,354 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | House show | This happened in AWA show | [4] | ||
| 6 | Harley Race | 1 | October 26, 1982 | 108 | Obihiro, Japan | Giant Series day 21 | ||||
| 7 | Giant Baba | 3 | February 11, 1983 | 209 | St. Louis, Missouri, United States | House show | [5] | |||
| 8 | Stan Hansen | 1 | September 8, 1983 | 327 | Chiba, Japan | Super Power Series tag 18 | ||||
| 9 | Giant Baba | 4 | July 31, 1984 | 364 | Tokyo, Japan | Grand Champion Carnival III day 22 | [6] | |||
| 10 | Stan Hansen | 2 | July 30, 1985 | 249 | Fukuoka, Japan | 85 Heat Wave! Summer Action Wars day 29 | ||||
| 11 | Riki Choshu | 1 | April 5, 1986 | [Note 1] | Yokohama, Japan | Champion Carnival day 8 | Hansen's AWA World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line. The match ended in a disqualification. Because the PWF Championship could be won by disqualification but the AWA Championship could not, Choshu only won the PWF Championship. | |||
| - | Vacated | - | March 1987 | - | N/A | N/A | Vacated when Choshu left for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. | |||
| 12 | Stan Hansen | 3 | April 24, 1987 | 320 | Yokohama, Japan | Champion Carnival day 24 | Defeated Hiroshi Wajima in a decision match. | |||
| 13 | Genichiro Tenryu | 1 | March 9, 1988 | 140 | Yokohama, Japan | Excite Series day 15 | Tenryu also held the NWA United National Championship at this point in time | |||
| 14 | Stan Hansen | 4 | July 27, 1988 | 265 | Nagano, Japan | Summer Action Series day 20 | Won the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Championship. | |||
| 15 | Jumbo Tsuruta | 1 | April 18, 1989 | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | Champion Carnival day 21 | Tsuruta was the NWA International Heavyweight Champion. | |||
| - | Unified | - | April 18, 1989 | - | Tokyo, Japan | Champion Carnival day 21 | The PWF World Heavyweight Championship, NWA International Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship unified to become the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. | |||
Combined reigns
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giant Baba | 4 | 3,847 |
| 2 | Stan Hansen | 4 | 1,161 |
| 3 | Riki Choshu | 1 | 330 - 360 |
| 4 | Genichiro Tenryu | 140 | |
| 5 | Billy Robinson | 128 | |
| 6 | Abdullah the Butcher | 115 | |
| 7 | Harley Race | 108 | |
| 8 | Tor Kamata | 11 | |
| 9 | Jumbo Tsuruta | <1 |
See also
Footnotes
- The exact date the championship was vacated is uncertain, which put the championship reign at between 330 and 360 days.