UWA World Heavyweight Championship

The UWA World Heavyweight Championship (Campeonato Mundial peso Completo de UWA in Spanish) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally promoted by Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) until it closed in 1995. After UWA's closure, the title was sporadically, unofficially defended on the Mexican independent circuit. In the past the title has been defended in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) when the champion worked for those companies. Lou Thesz was the first UWA World Heavyweight champion, having been awarded the title after wrestling Mil Mascaras to a draw on the very first UWA show. El Canek has held the Championship the most times, 15 reigns all in all, 13 of those before the UWA closed. Canek is also the one that kept the championship active after the UWA closed, defending it on the independent circuit. Dr. Wagner, Jr. was the final UWA World Heavyweight champion having defeated Canek on June 18, 2004. During Dr. Wagner, Jr's time in AAA, they sometimes acknowledged the title, having had shown him with the belt on numerous occasions.[1]

UWA World Heavyweight Championship
The front of the championship belt
Details
PromotionUniversal Wrestling Association
Mexican independent circuit
Date establishedAugust 15, 1977
Date retiredOctober 7, 2011
Statistics
First champion(s)Lou Thesz
Final champion(s)Dr. Wagner, Jr.
Most reignsEl Canek (15 reigns)
Longest reignDr. Wagner, Jr. (2667 days)
Shortest reignYamato (4 days)

As it was a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers.[lower-alpha 1] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline,[lower-alpha 2] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship,[lower-alpha 3] or leaving the company.[lower-alpha 4]

Title history
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
N/A Unknown information
† Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Lou Thesz August 15, 1977 Live event N/A 1 377 Thesz was awarded the title after wrestling Mil Máscaras to a time limit draw at the UWA's first event on July 26, 1976. [lower-alpha 5]
2 El Canek August 27, 1978 Live event Mexico City 1 539 [lower-alpha 5]
3 Tiger Jeet Singh February 17, 1980 Live event Mexico City 1 56 [lower-alpha 5][7]
4 Antonio Inoki April 13, 1980 Live event Mexico City 1 194 [lower-alpha 5][8]
5 Tiger Jeet Singh October 24, 1980 Live event Okinawa, Japan 2 114 [lower-alpha 5]
6 El Canek February 15, 1981 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 2 523 [lower-alpha 5]
7 Riki Choshu July 23, 1982 Live event Mexico City 1 65 [lower-alpha 5]
8 El Canek September 26, 1982 Live event Mexico City 3 219 [lower-alpha 5]
9 Tatsumi Fujinami May 1, 1983 Live event Mexico City 1 42 [lower-alpha 5]
10 El Canek June 12, 1983 Live event Mexico City 4 252 [lower-alpha 5]
— Vacated October 4, 1983 — — — — El Canek vacated the title to do an extended tour of wrestling in Japan. Tour is cut short and Canek returns in time for the tournament. [lower-alpha 5]
11 Enrique Vera October 23, 1983 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 1 126 Defeated El Canek and Dos Caras to win the vacant championship. [lower-alpha 5]
12 Dos Caras February 26, 1984 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 1 119 [lower-alpha 5]
13 El Canek June 24, 1984 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 5 310 [lower-alpha 5]
14 Scorpio April 30, 1985 Live event Mexico City 1 61 [lower-alpha 5]
15 El Canek June 30, 1985 Live event N/A 6 548 [lower-alpha 5]
16 Dos Caras December 30, 1986 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 2 [lower-alpha 5]
17 El Canek April 1987 (NLT) Live event N/A 7 [lower-alpha 5]
18 The Killer 1987 Live event N/A 1 [lower-alpha 5]
19 El Canek 1987 Live event N/A 8 [lower-alpha 5]
20 Perro Aguayo March 4, 1988 Live event N/A 1 62 [lower-alpha 5]
21 El Canek May 5, 1988 Live event N/A 9 566 [lower-alpha 5][9]
22 Big Van Vader November 22, 1989 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 1 382 [lower-alpha 5]
23 El Canek December 9, 1990 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 10 420 [lower-alpha 5]
24 Dos Caras February 2, 1992 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 3 154 [lower-alpha 5]
25 El Canek July 5, 1992 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 11 210 [lower-alpha 5]
26 Canadian Vampire Casanova January 31, 1993 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 1 322 [lower-alpha 5]
27 El Canek December 19, 1993 Live event Naucalpan, State of Mexico 12 75 [lower-alpha 5]
28 Yamato March 14, 1994 Live event Puebla, Puebla 1 4 [lower-alpha 5]
29 El Canek March 18, 1994 UWA Live event Nezahualcóyotl, México 13 1976 The UWA closed in 1995, however the title continued to be defended in other promotions. [lower-alpha 5]
30 Cadaver de Ultratumba August 15, 1999 Live event Tehuacán, Puebla 1 22 [lower-alpha 5]
31 El Canek September 6, 1999 AAA TV Taping Tehuacán, Puebla 14 867 [lower-alpha 5]
32 Cibernético January 20, 2002 AAA TV Taping Salamanca, Guanajuato 1 299 [10]
33 El Canek November 15, 2002 AAA TV Taping Orizaba, Veracruz 15 581 [10]
34 Dr. Wagner Jr. June 18, 2004 CMLL Infierno en el Ring (2004) Mexico City 1 2667 [1][11]
— Deactivated October 7, 2011 — — — — The championship goes dormant following Dr. Wagner's successful defence against L.A. Park.

Combined reigns
¤ The exact length of the title reign is uncertain.
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
days
1 El Canek157,086¤
2 Dr. Wagner Jr.12,667
3 Big Van Vader1382
4 Lou Thesz1377
5 Canadian Vampire Casanova1322
6 Cibernético1299
7 Dos Caras3273¤
8 Antonio Inoki1194
9 Tiger Jeet Singh2170
10 Enrique Vera1126
11 Riki Choshu165
12 Perro Aguayo162
13 Scorpio161
14 Tatsumi Fujinami142
15 Cadaver de Ultratumba122
16 Yamato14
17 The Killer1N/A¤

Footnotes
  1. Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters"[2]
  2. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart"[3]
  3. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson"[4]
  4. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."[5]
  5. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 397, Chapter: MEXICO: UWA World Heavyweight Title [Flores, Mora] [6]

References
  • Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61321-808-2.
  • Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  1. "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. issue 91.
  2. Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
  3. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
  4. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
  5. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
  6. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 397.
  7. Centinela, Teddy (February 17, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Mil Máscaras y Canek exponen sus respectivas versiones del Campeonato Mundial de Peso Completo". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  8. Centinela, Teddy (April 13, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1980: Cartel súper internacional en El Toreo: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh — Fishman vs. Tatsumi Fujinami". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  9. F4W Staff (May 5, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 5): Bruno Vs. Gorilla in Puerto Rico, 2nd annual Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  10. "2002: considerar detrás". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 19, 2003. issue 2593.
  11. LuchaLibreDeMexico (2012-05-16), CMLL 6 18 2004 El Canek vs Dr Wagner, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2016-09-01
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