PWF World Heavyweight Championship

Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship
Details
Promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling
Date established February 27, 1973
Date retired 1989

The Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship is 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.

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 1981. 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.
1 Baba, GiantGiant Baba 1 February 27, 1973 1,617 Tokyo, Japan House show Won a series of 10 matches, the last against Bobo Brazil.  
2 Kamata, TorTor Kamata 1 June 1, 1978 −172 Akita, Japan House show    
3 Robinson, BillyBilly Robinson 1 June 12, 1978 −61 Ichinomiya, Japan House show    
4 Abdullah the Butcher 1 October 18, 1978 585 Utsunomiya, Japan House show    
5 Baba, GiantGiant Baba 2 February 10, 1979 1,051 Chicago, Illinois, United States House show    
6 Race, HarleyHarley Race 1 October 26, 1982 47 Obihiro, Japan House show    
7 Baba, GiantGiant Baba 3 February 11, 1983 −94 St. Louis, Missouri, United States House show    
8 Hansen, StanStan Hansen 1 September 8, 1983 236 Chiba, Japan House show    
9 Baba, GiantGiant Baba 4 July 31, 1984 211 Tokyo, Japan House show    
10 Hansen, StanStan Hansen 2 July 30, 1985 96 Fukuoka, Japan House show    
11 Choshu, RikiRiki Choshu 1 April 5, 1986 [Note 1] Yokohama, Japan House show    
- Vacated - March 1987 N/A N/A N/A Vacated when Choshu let for New Japan Pro Wrestling.  
12 Hansen, StanStan Hansen 3 April 24, 1987 76 Yokohama, Japan House show Defeated Hiroshi Wajima in a decision match.  
13 Tenryu, GenichiroGenichiro Tenryu 1 March 9, 1988 −135 Yokohama, Japan House show Tenryu also held the NWA United National Championship at this point in time  
14 Hansen, StanStan Hansen 4 July 27, 1988 112 Nagano, Japan House show Won the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Championship.  
15 Tsuruta, JumboJumbo Tsuruta 1 April 18, 1989 [Note 2] Tokyo, Japan House show Tsuruta was the NWA International Heavyweight Champion.  
- Unified 1989 - N/A N/A N/A The PWF World Heavyweight Championship, NWA International Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship unified to become the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.  

List of combined reigns

Rank Wrestler # of Reigns Combined Days
1 Giant Baba 4 3,817
2 Stan Hansen 4 1,134
3 Riki Choshu 1 329
4 Genichiro Tenryu 1 140
5 Billy Robinson 1 128
6 Abdullah the Butcher 1 115
7 Harley Race 1 108
8 Tor Kamata 1 11
9 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 <1

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The exact date the championship was vacated is uncertain, which put the championship reign at between 86 and 116 days.
  2. ↑ The length of the championship reign is too uncertain to calculate.

References

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