IWCCW Heavyweight Championship
IWCCW Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Tony Atlas the longest reigning IWCCW Heavyweight Champion. | |||||||||||||||||||
Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion |
International Championship Wrestling (1985–January 1991) International World Class Championship Wrestling (January 1991–1995) | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The ICW / IWCCW Heavyweight Championship was the top singles championship of International World Class Championship Wrestling between 1984 and 1995 where IWCCW closed down operations. Since the ICW/IWCCW championships were not given "world title status" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, this championship was seen as a regional championship, although it was considered the top singles championship of the promotion. Initially ICW’s main title was the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, through a talent exchange program and a close working relationship between ICW and WWC the Universal Title was promoted in the New England area as the main ICW title without ever mentioning the WWC name, nor was it presented as a title owned by ICW. When the arrangement came to an end in 1985 a specific “ICW Heavyweight Championship” was created with the lineage of the WWC Universal title during the time of the working relationship. In 1993 the then champion Tony Atlas along with a number of IWCCW wrestlers left the company leaving the title vacant and only used sporadically between 1993 and 1995 where the promotion closed. Because the championship is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The championship is awarded after the chosen team "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.[1]
Title history
- Key
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
# | The overall championship reign |
Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed. |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands |
— | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
(NLT) | Indicates that the championship changed hands "No Later Than" a certain date. |
# | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carlos Colón | 1 | December 8, 1984 | [Note 2] | N/A | N/A | Carlos Colón was the WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion when ICW was founded and recognized as the first champion to represent ICW. |
2 | Funk, Jr., DoryDory Funk, Jr. | 1 | February 27, 1985 | 80 | Bangor, Maine | ICW Live event | This marked the first (and, to date, only) time that the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship changed hands outside of Puerto Rico. |
— | Vacated | N/A | May 18, 1985 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Held up after a match against Carlos Colón. This marked the end of the ICW/WWC joint title lineage. |
3 | Joe Savoldi | 1 | April 1, 1986 (NLT) | [Note 3] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | Joe Savoldi is the first champion to be recognized as the "ICW Heavyweight Champion". |
4 | Apollo, PhilPhil Apollo | 1 | March 1, 1987 (NLT) | [Note 5] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | |
— | Vacated | N/A | October 1, 1987 (NLT) | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship is vacated when Phil Apollo leaves the promotion. |
5 | Joe Savoldi | 2 | October 1, 1987 | [Note 6] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | Joe Savoldi wins a battle royal to claim the vacant championship. |
6 | Moondog Spike | 1 | 1988 | [Note 7] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | |
7 | Joe Savoldi | 3 | 1988 | [Note 8] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | |
8 | "Lord" Jonathan Boyd | 1 | December 28, 1988 | [Note 9] | [Note 4] | ICW Live event | |
9 | Joe Savoldi | 4 | January 1989 | [Note 10] | Presque Isle, Maine | ICW Live event | |
10 | Atlas, TonyTony Atlas | 1 | February 11, 1989 | 528 | Presque Isle, Maine | ICW Live event | |
11 | Steamboat, VicVic Steamboat | 1 | July 24, 1990 | 269 | Middletown, Delaware County, New York | ICW Live event | |
12 | Atlas, TonyTony Atlas | 2 | April 19, 1991 | [Note 11] | South China, Maine | IWCCW Live event | |
— | Vacated | N/A | March 1, 1993 (NLT) | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship is vacated when Tony Atlas leaves ICW. |
13 | Santana, TitoTito Santana | 1 | February 9, 1994 | 387 | Yardville, New Jersey | IWCCW Live event | Defeated Greg Valentine to win the vacant championship. |
14 | Valentine, GregGreg Valentine | 1 | March 3, 1995 | 91 | Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania | IWCCW Live event | |
15 | Ware, Koko B.Koko B. Ware | 1 | June 2, 1995 | [Note 12] | Chattanooga, Tennessee | IWCCW Live event | Is awarded the championship when Greg Valentine does not show for a scheduled title defence. |
— | Championship abandoned | N/A | 1995 | N/A | N/A | N/A | IWCCW Closes. |
Footnotes
- ↑ Due to some records being incomplete it is possible someone else held the championship for a shorter period of time.
- ↑ The exact date ICW recognizes Colon as the champion is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between −308 and 57 days
- ↑ The exact date Savoldi won and lost the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 682 days
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 The location of the match was not captured as part of the championship documentation.
- ↑ The exact date Apollo won the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 651 days
- ↑ The exact date Savoldi lost the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 92 and 452 days
- ↑ The exact date Moondog Spike won and lost the championshio is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 359 days
- ↑ The exact date Savlodi won the championshio is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 361 days
- ↑ The exact date Boyd lost the championshiphas not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between -362 and -332 days
- ↑ The exact date Savoldi won the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 11 and 41 days
- ↑ The exact date Tony Atlas left IWCCW has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 682 days
- ↑ The exact date IWCCW stopped promoting not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 212 days
References
- General sources
- Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Boston: International Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- "International Championship Wrestling (1984-1991/01)/International World Class Championship Wrestling (1991/01-mid-1990s) Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- Specific sources
- ↑ Ed Grabianowski. "How Pro Wrestling Works". How Stuff Works. Retrieved April 5, 2009.