World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha)

Professional wrestling championship

World Heavyweight Championship

Details
Promotion| National Wrestling Alliance (Nebraska)
Date established| June 14, 1957
Date retired| September 7, 1963
| Statistics

First champion| Édouard Carpentier
Most reigns| Verne Gagne (5 times)
Longest reign| Verne Gagne (465 days)
Shortest reign| Verne Gagne (1 second)

The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship sanctioned by a group of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promoters led by the NWA affiliate in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. These promoters chose to recognize Édouard Carpentier as NWA World Heavyweight Champion following his disputed win over NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz on June 14, 1957.[1] The majority of NWA promoters continued to recognize Thesz as their champion.

It was often contested alongside the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and the two titles were finally unified when AWA champion Verne Gagne defeated Omaha champion Fritz Von Erich on September 7, 1963.

## Title history

[edit]

Key  No.  | Overall reign number

|

Reign  | Reign number for the specific champion
Days  | Number of days held
No. | Champion  | Championship change  | Reign statistics  | Notes  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

Date  | Event  | Location  | Reign  | Days
1  |  Édouard Carpentier |  June 14, 1957 |  House show | Chicago, Illinois  |  1  |  421  | Recognized as champion after a disputed win over NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz. The majority of the NWA promotions continue to recognize Thesz as their champion.  | [1]
2  |  Verne Gagne |  August 9, 1958 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  98  |  |
3  |  Wilbur Snyder |  November 15, 1958 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  189  |  |
4  |  Dick the Bruiser |  May 23, 1959 |  House show | Detroit, MI  |  1  |  63  | This match was also for the Fred Kohler Chicago version of the NWA United States Championship.  |
5  |  Wilbur Snyder |  July 25, 1959 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  2  |  70  |  |
6  |  Dr. X |  October 3, 1959 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  96  |  |
7  |  Don Leo Jonathan |  January 7, 1960 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  394  |  |
8  |  Dr. X |  February 4, 1961 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  2  |  58  |  |
9  |  Don Leo Jonathan |  April 3, 1961 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  2  |  17  |  | [2]
—  | Vacated |  April 20, 1961 | —  | —  | —  | —  | Vacant after a disqualification loss to Bobo Brazil.  |
10  |  Don Leo Jonathan |  May 20, 1961 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  3  |  119  | Defeated Bobo Brazil in a lumberjack match to win the vacant title.  |
11  |  Verne Gagne |  September 16, 1961 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  2  |  318  |  |
12  |  Fritz Von Erich |  July 31, 1962 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  25  |  |
13  |  Verne Gagne |  August 25, 1962 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  3  |  174  |  |
14  |  The Crusher |  February 15, 1963 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  1  |  155  | Also won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Verne Gagne on July 9, 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota |
15  |  Verne Gagne |  July 20, 1963 |  House show | Minneapolis, Minnesota  |  4  |  7  | Won both the Omaha title and AWA title.  |
16  |  Fritz Von Erich |  July 27, 1963 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  2  |  42  | Won both the Omaha title and AWA title.  |
17  |  Verne Gagne |  September 7, 1963 |  House show | Omaha, Nebraska  |  5  |  0  | Won the AWA title from Fritz Von Erich on August 8, 1963 in Amarillo, Texas.  |
—  | Unified |  September 7, 1963 | —  | —  | —  | —  | The Omaha title was unified with the AWA title.  |

## Footnotes

[edit]

## See also

[edit]

* List of early world heavyweight champions in professional wrestling

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Canadian Hall of Fame: Edouard Carpentier". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
2. ^ F4W Staff (April 3, 2015). "ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING TITLE CHANGE HISTORY: GOTCH VS. HACKENSCHMIDT, INOKI VS. HANSEN, GUERRERO VS. JERICHO". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

## External links

[edit]

* Wrestling-Titles.com

* v
* t
* e

World Heavyweight Champions (Omaha)

1950s|

* Édouard Carpentier
* Verne Gagne
* Wilbur Snyder
* Dick the Bruiser
* Wilbur Snyder
* Dr. X

1960s|

* Don Leo Jonathan
* Fritz Von Erich
* The Crusher

* v
* t
* e

American Wrestling Association

Championships|

| World|

* World Heavyweight
* World Heavyweight (Omaha version)
* World Light Heavyweight
* World Women's

|

Secondary|

* America's
* Brass Knuckles
* British Empire
* International Heavyweight
* International Television
* Midwest Heavyweight
* Southern Heavyweight
* United States Heavyweight

Tag team|

* International Tag Team
* Midwest Tag Team
* NWA World Tag Team (Minneapolis version)
* Southern Tag Team
* World Tag Team

Major shows|

* Super Sunday
* SuperClash
* 1985
* II
* III
* IV
* WrestleRock '86

Television shows|

* AWA All-Star Wrestling
* AWA Championship Wrestling

Key people|

* Verne Gagne
* Greg Gagne
* Wally Karbo
* List of personnel

Partnerships|

* All Japan Pro Wrestling
* Catch Wrestling Association
* International Pro Wrestling
* New Japan Pro-Wrestling
* Southwest Championship Wrestling
* Universal Wrestling Association

Other|

* Attendance records
* AWA Superstars of Wrestling
* Pro Wrestling USA
* Remco Action Figure line

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