The Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance ( 日本プロレス協会 , Nihon Puroresu Kyōkai ) , also known as the Japan Pro Wrestling Association and the Japanese Wrestling Association ( JWA ), was the first professional wrestling promotion to be based in Japan . It operated from 1953 to 1973.
25-877: For the championship defended in Pro Wrestling Zero1 that was formerly known as the "NWA United National Heavyweight Championship", see United National Heavyweight Championship (Zero1) . Not to be confused with NWA National Heavyweight Championship . NWA United National Championship [REDACTED] The NWA United National Championship belt Details Promotion NWA Los Angeles Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance All Japan Pro Wrestling Statistics First champion(s) Dale Lewis Final champion(s) Jumbo Tsuruta Most reigns Jumbo Tsuruta (6 reigns) Longest reign Jumbo Tsuruta (1,067 days) The NWA United National Championship (often abbreviated to UN Championship )
50-569: A fictitious tournament final. 8 Seiji Sakaguchi 1 February 11, 1972 208 Los Angeles, CA 9 The Sheik 1 September 6, 1972 1 Tokyo, Japan 10 Seiji Sakaguchi 2 September 7, 1972 149 Osaka, Japan 11 Johnny Valentine 1 February 3, 1973 33 Yokohama, Japan 12 Akihisa Takachiho 1 March 8, 1973 37 Sano, Japan - Deactivated - April 14, 1973 - N/A Deactivated on April 14, 1973 when
75-531: A territory that would represent the National Wrestling Alliance in Japan. In those early days, Japanese professional wrestlers came from out of the sumo or judo ranks; former sumotori usually used their shikona (Rikidōzan, Azumafuji , Toyonobori , etc.) while former judokas usually used their real names or modifications of them ( Masahiko Kimura , Michiaki Yoshimura, etc.) Rikidōzan pushed himself as
100-598: A tournament final. - Vacated - February 1986 - N/A Voluntarily vacated in February 1986 when Tenryu is pinned by Yoshiaki Yatsu in a tag team match. 26 Genichiro Tenryu 2 April 26, 1986 823 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 265 Nagano, Japan Also won
125-460: A tournament to crown the first champion. 2 Pantera Negra 1 October 23, 1970 28 Los Angeles, CA 3 John Tolos 1 November 20, 1970 14 Los Angeles, CA 4 Ray Mendoza 1 December 4, 1970 Los Angeles, CA 5 John Tolos 2 March 1971 N/A Tolos returned the championship when the NWA decided
150-778: The NWA International Heavyweight Championship . 22 Ted DiBiase 1 October 14, 1983 106 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 6 Athens, GA 24 David Von Erich 1 February 3, 1984 7 Dallas, TX - Vacated - February 10, 1984 - N/A 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
175-671: The PWF Heavyweight Championship. 28 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 April 18, 1989 0 Tokyo, Japan Retained the NWA International Heavyweight Championship and won the PWF Heavyweight Championship and the UN Championship. - Unified - April 18, 1989 - N/A Title was unified with Tsuruta's NWA International Heavyweight Championship and with Hansen's PWF Heavyweight Championship and UN championship to create
200-512: The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship . Combined reigns [ edit ] Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined days 1 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 2,270 2 Genichiro Tenryu 2 1,532 - 1,559 3 Seiji Sakaguchi 2 357 4 Stan Hansen 1 265 5 Antonio Inoki 1 262 6 Ted DiBiase 1 106 7 Abdullah
225-507: The Butcher 1 October 13, 1980 101 Nagoya, Japan 19 Jumbo Tsuruta 4 January 22, 1981 556 Nirasaki, Japan 20 Harley Race 1 August 1, 1982 84 Tokyo, Japan 21 Jumbo Tsuruta 5 October 24, 1982 236 Kitami, Japan - Vacated - June 17, 1983 - N/A Vacated on June 17, 1983 so Tsuruta could focus on defending
250-943: The Butcher 1 101 8 Ray Mendoza 1 87 - 112 9 Harley Race 1 84 10 Akihisa Takachiho 1 37 11 Johnny Valentine 1 33 12 Pantera Negra 1 28 13 Billy Robinson 1 18 14 John Tolos 2 14 - 39 15 King Krow 1 11 - 41 16 Dick Murdoch 1 11 17 David Von Erich 1 7 18 Michael Hayes 1 6 19 The Sheik 1 1 20 Dale Lewis 1 0 - 22 See also [ edit ] List of National Wrestling Alliance championships Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship NWA International Heavyweight Championship PWF Heavyweight Championship United National Tag Team Championship Marigold United National Championship Footnotes [ edit ] ^ The exact date that Dale Lewis won
275-604: The JWA closed. 13 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 August 28, 1976 189 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Jack Brisco in an AJPW tournament final to revive the championship. 14 Billy Robinson 1 March 5, 1977 18 Akita, Japan 15 Jumbo Tsuruta 2 March 23, 1977 1,067 Miami, FL 16 Dick Murdoch 1 February 23, 1980 11 Kagoshima, Japan 17 Jumbo Tsuruta 3 March 5, 1980 222 Kuroiso, Japan 18 Abdullah
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#1732859583527300-411: The JWA was therefore out of business the following year. World Big League ( ワールド大リーグ戦 , wārudo dai rīgu-sen ) , later renamed to simply World League ( ワールドリーグ戦 , wārudo rīgu-sen ) was a professional wrestling tournament annually held by Japanese Wrestling Association from 1959 till 1972. The 1973 edition was not held as JWA folded that year. Wrestlers from all over the world participated in
325-720: The NJPW and the World's Strongest Tag Determination League for the AJPW are the indirect descendant of the original World Tag League. In fact, in 2012, NJPW renamed the G1 Tag League the World Tag League. The following is a list of the winners of each edition: In 2024, the revival of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling lead by Scott D'Amore established the PWA Champion's Grail, a new championship merging
350-512: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 770216662 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:53:03 GMT Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance Rikidōzan , a former rikishi ( sumo wrestling practitioner) who had debuted as a Western-style professional wrestler in 1951, decided in 1953 to establish
375-640: The World League, known as World Tag League . Its prestige led Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba to create their own respective promotions, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling , tournaments which were presented as the direct followers to the JWA World League. Therefore, respectively, the G1 Climax for the NJPW and the Champion Carnival for the AJPW are considered the direct descendants of
400-402: The championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 0 and 22 days. ^ The exact date that John Tolos won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 87 and 112 days. ^ The exact date that John Tolos won the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 0 and 25 days. ^ The exact date that King Krow won
425-2861: The championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 11 and 41 days. ^ The exact date that Genichiro Tenryu vacated the championship is uncertain, which puts the title reign at between 709 and 736 days. References [ edit ] ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 . External links [ edit ] Wrestling-Titles.com v t e All Japan Pro Wrestling Championships Active Heavyweight Triple Crown Heavyweight ( reigns ) Gaora TV ( reigns ) World Tag Team ( reigns ) All Asia Tag Team ( reigns ) AJPW TV Six-Man Tag Team Junior Heavyweight World Junior Heavyweight ( reigns ) Inactive NWA International Heavyweight NWA International Junior Heavyweight NWA International Tag Team NWA United National PWF United States Heavyweight PWF World Tag Team PWF World Heavyweight Shared All Asia Heavyweight United National Tag Team Tournaments Champion Carnival Jr. Battle of Glory Jr. Tag Battle of Glory Ōdō Tournament World's Strongest Tag Determination League Personnel Giant Baba Keiji Mutoh Roster Teams and stables Video games Wrestle Kingdom Wrestle Kingdom 2 Miscellaneous 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus All Japan Pro Wrestling TV All Together Wrestle Kingdom I Lucha Fiesta United Japan Pro-Wrestling Partnerships Current Actwres girl'Z European Wrestling Association Funking Conservatory Dradition Gleat Tenryu Project National Wrestling Alliance New Japan Pro-Wrestling Michinoku Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling Land's End Pro Wrestling Revolution Pro Wrestling Noah WWE Former American Wrestling Association Japan Pro-Wrestling Major League Wrestling Select NWA territories Jim Crockett Promotions St. Louis Wrestling Club Western States Sports Toryumon Mexico Wrestle-1 Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NWA_United_National_Championship&oldid=1259413328 " Categories : All Japan Pro Wrestling championships Heavyweight wrestling championships National Wrestling Alliance championships NWA Hollywood Wrestling championships National professional wrestling championships Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance championships Pro Wrestling Zero1 Too Many Requests If you report this error to
450-602: The hands of a gangster in 1963 , at the peak of his fame. After Rikidōzan's death in 1963, the company continued to operate as the nation's premier (and only male) wrestling circuit until challenged in the late 1960s by International Wrestling Enterprise , which featured the first major World heavyweight championship based in Japan, the IWA title . The JWA's top stars, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions ( All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling , respectively) in 1972. With its top drawing cards gone,
475-416: The original World League. The following is a list of the winners of each edition: NWA Tag League ( NWAタッグ・リーグ戦 , NWA taggu rīgu-sen ) , also called World Tag League, was a professional wrestling tournament annually held by Japanese Wrestling Association from 1970 till 1972. The 1973 edition was not held as JWA folded that year. Wrestlers from all over the world participated in the various editions of
500-586: The referee used a fast count during his title defense against Mendoza. 6 Antonio Inoki 1 March 26, 1971 262 Los Angeles, CA - Vacated - December 13, 1971 - N/A 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
525-498: 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 Notes 1 Dale Lewis 1 October 1970 Won
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#1732859583527550-497: The top star of the promotion, first battling other Japanese wrestlers such as Kimura and Toshio Yamaguchi, but found a strong niche in feuds with American wrestlers such as Lou Thesz , The Destroyer and Bobo Brazil . In 1957 he defeated Thesz to win the title that would be the JWA's top title thereafter, the NWA International Heavyweight Championship . As a newly found hero to the war-weary Japanese masses, Rikidōzan expanded into several business ventures. It resulted in his murder at
575-533: The tournament, as it was meant to be a world tournament. It was created in 1970 as the tag team counterpart of World Big League. Its prestige led Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba to create in their respective promotions, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling , tournaments which were presented as the direct followers to the JWA World Tag League. Therefore, respectively, the G1 Tag League for
600-415: The various editions of the tournament, as it was meant since its beginning to be a world tournament. It had been one of the most important pro-wrestling tournaments of its time, because it was one of the very few (and for some years after its creation the only) pro-wrestling tournament of its time to be considered representative of the entire pro-wrestling world. In 1970, JWA created a tag team counterpart of
625-759: 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. Title history [ edit ] Symbol Meaning No. The overall championship reign Reign The reign number for
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