NWA United National Championship

Not to be confused with NWA National Heavyweight Championship.

The NWA United National Championship (often abbreviated to UN Championship) was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance, and best known for being defended in All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was unified into the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, along with the PWF World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, in 1989. The original belt remained in use for the Triple Crown until 2013.[1]

Title history

#: Name(s): Reigns: Date: Location: Notes:
1 Dale Lewis 1 October 1970 St. Louis, Missouri, United States Won a tournament to crown the first champion.
2 Pantera Negra 1 October 23, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States
3 John Tolos 1 November 20, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States
4 Ray Mendoza 1 December 4, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States
5 John Tolos 2 March 1971 n/a Tolos returned the championship when the NWA decided the referee used a fast count during his title defense against Mendoza.
6 Antonio Inoki 1 March 26, 1971 Los Angeles, California, United States
Vacated on December 13, 1971 when Inoki is fired from the JWA, the promotion to which he had brought the title from the United States.
7 King Krow 1 January 1972 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Defeated Sailor Thomas in a fictitious tournament final.
8 Seiji Sakaguchi 1 February 11, 1972 Los Angeles, California, United States
9 The Sheik 1 September 6, 1972 Tokyo, Japan
10 Seiji Sakaguchi 2 September 7, 1972 Osaka, Japan
11 Johnny Valentine 1 February 3, 1973 Yokohama, Japan
12 Akihisa Takachiho 1 March 8, 1973 Sano, Japan
Deactivated on April 14, 1973 when the JWA closed.
13 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 August 28, 1976 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Jack Brisco in an AJPW tournament final to revive the championship.
14 Billy Robinson 1 March 5, 1977 Akita, Japan
15 Jumbo Tsuruta 2 March 23, 1977 Miami, Florida, United States
16 Dick Murdoch 1 February 23, 1980 Kagoshima, Japan
17 Jumbo Tsuruta 3 March 5, 1980 Kuroiso, Japan
18 Abdullah the Butcher 1 October 13, 1980 Nagoya, Japan
19 Jumbo Tsuruta 4 January 22, 1981 Nirasaki, Japan
20 Harley Race 1 August 1, 1982 Tokyo, Japan
21 Jumbo Tsuruta 5 October 24, 1982 Kitami, Japan
Vacated on June 17, 1983 so Tsuruta could focus on winning the NWA International Heavyweight Championship.
22 Ted DiBiase 1 October 14, 1983 Sasebo, Japan Defeated Jerry Lawler in a tournament final via forfeit; wrestled Genichiro Tenryu for his first title defense instead.
23 Michael Hayes 1 January 28, 1984 Athens, Georgia, United States
24 David Von Erich 1 February 3, 1984 Dallas, Texas, United States
Vacated on February 10, 1984 when Von Erich dies of an apparent heart attack.
25 Genichiro Tenryu 1 February 23, 1984 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Ricky Steamboat in a tournament final.
Voluntarily vacated in February 1986 when Tenryu is pinned by Yoshiaki Yatsu in a tag team match.
26 Genichiro Tenryu 2 April 26, 1986 Ōmiya-ku, Japan Defeated Ted DiBiase in a tournament final. Tenryu won the PWF Heavyweight Championship on March 9, 1988.
27 Stan Hansen 1 July 27, 1988 Nagano, Japan Also won the PWF Heavyweight Championship.
28 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 April 18, 1989 Tokyo, Japan Retained the NWA International Heavyweight Championship and won the PWF Heavyweight Championship and the UN Championship.
Title was unified with Tsuruta's NWA International Heavyweight Championship and with Hansen's PWF Heavyweight Championship and UN championship to create the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

List of combined reigns

Rank Wrestler # of Reigns Combined Days
1 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 2,270
2 Genichiro Tenryu 2 1,531
3 Seiji Sakaguchi 2 357
4 Stan Hansen 1 265
5 Antonio Inoki 1 262
6 Ted DiBiase 1 106
7 Abdullah the Butcher 1 101
8 Ray Mendonza 1 87
9 Harley Race 1 84
10 King Krow 1 42
11 John Tolos 2 40
12 Akihisa Takachiho 1 37
13 Johnny Valentine 1 33
14 Pantera Negra 1 28
15 Dale Lewis 1 23
16 Billy Robinson 1 18
17 Dick Murdoch 1 11
18 David Von Erich 1 7
19 Michael Hayes 1 6
20 The Sheik 1 1

See also

References

  1. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.