- NWA World Middleweight Championship
-
NWA World Middleweight Championship 
Averno, the 85th NWA World Middleweight ChampionDetails Current champion(s) Vacated Date won November 30, 2007 Promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
(1939—1990)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
(1990—1994, 2003—2010)
Último Dragón
(1994—2003)Date established 1939 Other name(s) World Middleweight Championship (Creation—1952) Statistics Most reigns René Guajardo (6 reigns) First champion(s) Gus Kallio Longest reign Great Sasuke (1,487 days) Shortest reign El Satánico (Less than 1 day) The NWA World Middleweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship, promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where it was known as the Campeonato Mundial Peso Medio de NWA. The title, being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won legitimately: it is instead won via a scripted ending to a wrestling match. The official definition of the middleweight weight class in Mexico is between 82 kg (180 lb) and 87 kg (190 lb), but is not always strictly enforced.[Note 1][1]
The Championship was originally called the "World Middleweight Championship", and was created by Salvador Lutteroth, owner of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). Lutteroth awarded the title to Gus Kallio, a five-time National Wrestling Association World Middleweight Champion and the "king of the middleweights" in the United States.[2] The title was created at an unknown point before March 29, 1939. When Octavio Gaona defeated Kallio on March 29, 1939 he also won Kallio's other World Middleweight Championship. Kallio's original world middleweight title was retired in 1940 to keep the focus on the Mexican version of the championship. When EMLL became a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1952 the belt was given the "NWA" prefix.[3] In the early 1990s EMLL withdrew from the NWA and changed their name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in order to create a clean break from their past NWA association.[4] While they withdrew from the NWA, they retained the ownership of three NWA-labelled championships that all originated in EMLL. The other two titles were the NWA World Welterweight Championship and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. The titles are still promoted as "NWA Championships" by CMLL despite not being officially recognized by the NWA since the early 1990s. In 1994 Último Dragón paid CMLL for the rights to the NWA World Middleweight Championship, giving him control of the Championship. Dragón won the title from Corazón de León on November 8, 1994, after which he began promoting the belt in Japan; where it and the title remained in Japan for almost ten years (although Dragon did not defend it in his quest for both the J-Crown and the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship). In 2003 Último Dragón signed with World Wrestling Entertainment and sold the title back to CMLL. Averno defeated Zumbido to win the vacant title in the first CMLL-based title match since 1994.[5] In March 2010 Blue Demon, Jr., the president of NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, telling them to stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. NWA Mexico has previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. The promotion did not directly respond to the latest claim either; the NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL.[6] Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship and returned the old belt to NWA.[7] NWA has not determined a new champion since getting the title back from CMLL. There have been 84 reigns between 45 different wrestlers. René Guajardo has held the championship on six separate occasions, the most by any wrestler. Tarzán López's four reigns combine for 2,977 days, the longest of any champion, while the Great Sasuke's single reign is the longest individual reign with 1,487 days. Oro is the person who has held the title the shortest time, 41 days.
Contents
Title history
- Key
Symbol Meaning # The overall championship reign Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title 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
heldLocation Event Notes 1 Gus Kallio 1 N/A Unknown
[Note 2]N/A Live event Gus Kallio was awarded the championship in late 1938 or early 1939 due to the fact that he already held the World Middleweight Championship in the United States. 2 Octavio Gaona 1 February 19, 1939 350 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event Octavio Gaona won the championship to permanently establish it as an EMLL title. He also won Kallio's other World Middleweight Championship. 3 Tarzán López 1 February 4, 1940 681 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event López won both versions of the World Middleweight Championship. After this title change only the Mexican version remained active. 4 Black Guzmán 1 December 16, 1941 57 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 5 Tarzán López 2 February 11, 1942 1,473 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 6 Gory Guerrero 1 February 23, 1946 782 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 7 Mike Kelly 1 April 12, 1948 411 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 8 Tarzán López 3 May 28, 1949 481 N/A EMLL 15th Anniversary Show 9 Sugi Sito 1 September 21, 1950 368 N/A Live event 10 Enrique Llanes 1 September 24, 1951 132 Mexico City, Distrito Federal EMLL 18th Anniversary Show — Vacated — February 3, 1952 — N/A N/A EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. 11 Tarzán López 4 July 13, 1952 342 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event Tarzán López won a tournament to win the vacant title. 12 Sugi Sito 2 June 20, 1953 195 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 13 El Santo 1 January 1, 1954 1,021 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 14 Rolando Vera 1 October 19, 1956 1,455 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 15 René Guajardo 1 October 13, 1960 415 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 16 Antonio Posa 1 December 2, 1961 140 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 17 René Guajardo 2 April 18, 1962 190 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 18 Rayo de Jalisco 1 October 25, 1962 583 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 19 Benny Galant 1 May 30, 1964 118 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 20 Rayo de Jalisco 2 September 25, 1964 196 N/A Live event 21 René Guajardo 3 April 9, 1965 400 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 22 Jerry London 1 May 14, 1966 48 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 23 René Guajardo 4 July 1, 1966 253 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 24 Ray Mendoza 1 March 11, 1967 [Note 3] Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event — Vacated — May 1967 — N/A N/A EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. 25 René Guajardo 5 July 29, 1967 629 N/A Live event Guajardo won a decision match for the vacant title. 26 Rayo de Jalisco 3 April 18, 1969 119 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 27 El Solitario 1 August 15, 1969 378 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 28 Mashio Koma 1 June 28, 1970 161 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 29 Aníbal 1 December 6, 1970 845 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 30 René Guajardo 6 March 30, 1973 [Note 4] Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event — Vacated — 1974 — N/A N/A EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. 31 Aníbal 2 September 20, 1974 [Note 5] Mexico City, Distrito Federal EMLL 41st Anniversary Show Aníbal defeated El Cobarde in a decision match to win the title. — Vacated — May 1975 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated when Aníbal left EMLL to work for the Universal Wrestling Association. 32 Perro Aguayo 1 July 4, 1975 476 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event Perro Aguayo won a tournament to claim the vacant championship. 33 El Faraón 1 October 22, 1976 140 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 34 Perro Aguayo 2 March 11, 1977 114 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 35 Ringo Mendoza 1 July 3, 1977 101 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 36 Joe Plardy 1 October 12, 1977 44 Acapulco, Guerrero Live event 37 El Faraón 2 November 25, 1977 84 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 38 Ringo Mendoza 2 February 17, 1978 51 Los Angeles, California Live event 39 Perro Aguayo 3 April 9, 1978 75 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 40 Ringo Mendoza 3 June 23, 1978 51 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 41 Tony Salazar 1 August 13, 1978 174 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 42 Ringo Mendoza 4 February 3, 1979 218 Acapulco, Guerrero Live event 43 Satoru Sayama 1 September 9, 1979 201 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 44 El Satánico 1 March 28, 1980 20 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 45 Cachorro Mendoza 1 April 17, 1980 59 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 46 Sangre Chicana 1 June 15, 1980 217 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 47 Tony Salazar 1 January 18, 1981 54 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 48 Sangre Chicana 2 March 13, 1981 21 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 49 Ringo Mendoza 5 April 3, 1981 240 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 50 El Faraón 3 November 29, 1981 124 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 51 César Curiel 1 April 2, 1982 206 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 52 El Satánico 2 October 25, 1982 0 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 53 El Jalisco 1 October 25, 1982 139 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 54 El Satánico 3 March 13, 1983 82 N/A Live event 55 Lizmark 1 June 3, 1983 182 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 56 El Satánico 4 December 2, 1983 250 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 57 Gran Cochisse 1 August 8, 1984 37 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 58 El Satánico 5 September 14, 1984 16 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 59 Gran Cochisse 2 September 30, 1984 49 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 60 Gran Hamada 1 November 18, 1984 138 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 61 La Fiera 1 April 5, 1985 106 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 62 Chamaco Valaguez 1 July 20, 1985 302 Puebla, Puebla Live event 63 Gran Cochisse 3 May 18, 1986 152 N/A Live event 64 Kung Fu 1 October 17, 1986 273 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 65 El Dandy 1 July 17, 1987 81 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 66 Kung Fu 2 October 6, 1987 248 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 67 Atlantis 1 June 10, 1988 37 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 68 Emilio Charles, Jr. 1 July 17, 1988 11 N/A Live event 69 Atlantis 2 July 28, 1988 15 N/A Live event 70 Emilio Charles, Jr. 2 August 12, 1988 259 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 71 Ángel Azteca 1 April 28, 1989 400 N/A Live event 72 El Dandy 2 June 2, 1990 60 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 73 Atlantis 3 August 1, 1990 945 Acapulco, Guerrero Live event 74 Mano Negra 1 March 3, 1993 81 Acapulco, Guerrero Live event 75 Oro 1 May 23, 1993 41 N/A Live event 76 Mano Negra 2 July 3, 1993 155 Puebla, Puebla Live event 77 Corazón de León 1 December 4, 1993 339 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event 78 Último Dragón 1 November 8, 1994 [Note 6] Tokyo, Japan Live event Match promoted by WAR. Último Dragón stops defending the title around 1996. — Vacated — 1998 — N/A N/A Último Dragón was forced to vacate the championship due to an arm injury. 79 Great Sasuke 1 February 7, 1999 1,487 Yokohama, Japan Live event Great Sasuke defeated Tokyo Magnum in tournament final to win the championship. 80 Último Dragón 2 March 5, 2003 [Note 7] Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Live event [8] — Vacated — April 2003 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated when Último Dragon began to work for World Wrestling Entertainment.[8] 81 Averno 1 September 3, 2004 161 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Live event Averno defeated Zumbido in a decision match for the vacant championship.[5] 82 Místico 1 February 11, 2005 455 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Super Viernes [9] 83 Black Warrior 1 May 12, 2006 474 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Super Viernes [10] 84 Místico 2 April 29, 2007 215 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Dia de los Niños [11] 85 Averno 2 November 30, 2007 986 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Super Viernes Title renamed the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship on August 12, 2010.[11] — Vacated — August 12, 2010 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated when CMLL returned it to NWA.[12] Reigns by combined length
- Key
Symbol Meaning † Indicates the current champion ¤ The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. + Indicates that the date changes daily for the current champion. Rank Wrestler # Of Reigns Combined Days 1 Tarzán López 4 2,977 2 René Guajardo 5 1,938¤
[Note 4]3 Great Sasuke 1 1,487 4 Rolando Vera 1 1,455 5 Último Dragón 2 1,177¤
[Note 6]
[Note 7]6 Aníbal 2 1122¤
[Note 5]7 El Santo 1 1,021 8 Atlantis 3 997 9 Averno 2 986 10 Rayo de Jalisco 3 898 11 Gory Guerrero 1 782 12 Místico 2 670 13 Perro Aguayo 3 665 14 Ringo Mendoza 5 661 15 Sugi Sito 2 564 16 Kung Fu 2 521 17 Black Warrior 1 474 18 Mike Kelly 1 411 19 Ángel Azteca 1 400 20 El Satánico 5 388 21 El Solitario 1 378 22 Octavio Gaona 1 350 23 El Faraón 3 348 24 Corazón de León 1 339 25 Chamaco Valaguez 1 302 26 Emilio Charles, Jr. 2 270 27 Gran Cochisse 3 238 28 Sangre Chicana 2 237 29 Mano Negra 2 236 30 Tony Salazar 2 228 31 César Curiel 1 206 32 Satoru Sayama 1 201 33 Lizmark 1 182 34 Mashio Koma 1 161 35 El Dandy 2 141 36 Antonio Posa 1 140 37 El Jalisco 1 139 38 Gran Hamada 1 138 39 Enrique Llanes 1 132 40 Benny Galant 1 118 41 La Fiera 1 106 42 Cachorro Mendoza 1 59 43 Black Guzmán 1 57 44 Ray Mendoza 1 51¤
[Note 3]45 Jerry London 1 48 46 Joe Plardy 1 44 47 Oro 1 41 48 Gus Kallio 1 Unknown¤
[Note 2]Footnotes
- ^ The most recent case of this is Mephisto holding the CMLL World Welterweight Championship, a belt with a 78 kg (170 lb) upper limit, despite weighing 90 kg (200 lb).
- ^ a b The length of Gus Kallio's title reign is too uncertain to calculate.
- ^ a b The exact date on which Ray Mendoza vacated the championship is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 51 and 81 days.
- ^ a b The exact date on which René Guajardo vacated the championship is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 277 and 538 days.
- ^ a b The exact date on which René Guajardo vacated the championship is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 223 and 253 days.
- ^ a b The exact date on which Último Dragon vacated the championship is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 1,150 and 1,514 days.
- ^ a b The exact date on which Último Dragon vacated the championship is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 27 and 57 days.
References
- General source for title changes before 2000
- Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middlweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- Specific
- ^ Arturo Montiel Rojas (2001-08-30). "Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (in Spanish) (PDF). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.. http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/Estatal/ESTADO%20DE%20MEXICO/Reglamentos/MEXREG004.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-03. "Articulo 242: "Super welter 82 kilos / Medio 87 kilos""[dead link]
- ^ "Londos Rated Champ By National Association". Reading Eagle. September 20, 1933. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19330920&id=1W8hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B4gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6115,3143021. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
- ^ Hornbaker, Tim (2007). "International Expansion". National Wrestling Alliance: the untold story of the monopoly that strangled pro wrestling. ECW Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-55022-741-3.
- ^ Madigan, Dan (2007). "The start of the journey". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizare & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 15–28. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
- ^ a b SuperLuchas staff (January 24, 2005). "Número Especial - Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2004" (in Spanish). Super Luchas. 91.
- ^ Ruiz Glez, Alex (March 12, 2010). "Mephisto responde a Blue Demon Jr.: “No tengo que entrar a ninguna eliminatoria porque yo soy el campeón…”" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. http://superluchas.net/2010/03/12/mephisto-responde-a-blue-demon-jr-%E2%80%9Cno-tengo-que-entrar-a-ninguna-eliminatoria-porque-yo-soy-el-campeon-%E2%80%9D/. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ "Campeones" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. http://www.cmll.com/04_campeones/camp_nac_nwa.htm. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ a b SuperLuchas staff (January 5, 2004). "Número Especial - Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2003" (in Spanish). Super Luchas. 40.
- ^ SuperLuchas staff (January 3, 2006). "2005 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas. 140.
- ^ SuperLuchas staff (December 23, 2006). "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana duranted el 2006" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas. 192. http://superluchas.net/?p=44. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ a b SuperLuchas staff (December 26, 2007). "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas. 244. http://superluchas.net/?p=1491. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ Boutwell, Josh (August 20, 2010). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. http://vip.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1282333662. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
Categories:- National Wrestling Alliance championships
- Championships promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- Cruiserweight wrestling championships
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