PWF World Heavyweight Championship

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
PromotionAll Japan Pro Wrestling
Date establishedFebruary 27, 1973
Date retired1989
Statistics
First champion(s)Giant Baba
Most reignsStan Hansen/Giant Baba (4 reigns)
Longest reignGiant Baba (1920 days)
Shortest reignJumbo Tsuruta (<1 day)

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.
1 Giant Baba 1 February 27, 1973 1,920 Tokyo, Japan House show Baba originally defeats The Destroyer on 12/19/1972 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 House show   [3]
3 Billy Robinson 1 June 12, 1978 128 Ichinomiya, Japan House show    
4 Abdullah the Butcher 1 October 18, 1978 115 Utsunomiya, Japan House show    
5 Giant Baba 2 February 10, 1979 1,354 Chicago, Illinois, United States House show   [4]
6 Harley Race 1 October 26, 1982 108 Obihiro, Japan House show    
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 House show    
9 Giant Baba 4 July 31, 1984 364 Tokyo, Japan House show   [6]
10 Stan Hansen 2 July 30, 1985 249 Fukuoka, Japan House show    
11 Riki Choshu 1 April 5, 1986 [Note 1] Yokohama, Japan House show 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 House show Defeated Hiroshi Wajima in a decision match.  
13 Genichiro Tenryu 1 March 9, 1988 140 Yokohama, Japan House show Tenryu also held the NWA United National Championship at this point in time  
14 Stan Hansen 4 July 27, 1988 265 Nagano, Japan House show Won the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Championship.  
15 Jumbo Tsuruta 1 April 18, 1989 0 Tokyo, Japan House show Tsuruta was the NWA International Heavyweight Champion.  
- Unified - April 18, 1989 - 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.  

Combined reigns
Giant Baba as PWF World Heavyweight Champion, 1982
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
days
1 Giant Baba43,847
2 Stan Hansen41,161
3 Riki Choshu1330 - 360
4 Genichiro Tenryu140
5 Billy Robinson128
6 Abdullah the Butcher115
7 Harley Race108
8 Tor Kamata11
9 Jumbo Tsuruta<1

See also

Footnotes
  1. The exact date the championship was vacated is uncertain, which put the championship reign at between 330 and 360 days.

References
  1. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  2. Hoops, Brian (February 28, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/27): NXT takes over". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  3. Hoops, Brian (June 1, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (June 1): Rogers beats Gomez, Gordman & Goliath, Baba loses PWF Title, Flair Vs. KVE, Lawler Vs. Son, Undertaker Vs. Edge". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  4. Hoops, Brian (February 10, 2017). "DAILY PRO WRESTLING HISTORY (02/10): MASA SAITO WINS AWA GOLD AT THE TOKYO DOME". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  5. Hoops, Brian (February 11, 2017). "On this day in pro wrestling history (Feb 11): AJ Styles wins the IWGP Title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  6. Hoops, Brian (July 31, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (July 31): Stan Hansen wins NWA International title, Giant Baba, Hulk Hogan in AWA". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
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