- NWA World Welterweight Championship
-
NWA World Welterweight Championship 
56th champion, MephistoDetails Current champion(s) Cassandro Date won June 25, 2011 Promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
(1946—1990)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
(1990—1996, 2007—2010)
New Japan Pro Wrestling
(1996—1997)
Toryumon Japan / Mexico
(1999—2007)Date established March 15, 1946 Other name(s) World Welterweight Championship (Creation—1952) Statistics Most reigns Karloff Lagarde (3 reigns) First champion(s) El Santo Longest reign Karloff Lagarde (2,742 days) Shortest reign Shinjiro Otani, Último Dragón, and Great Sasuke 1 day) The NWA World Welterweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence, the title has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where it was known as the Campeonato Mundial Welter de NWA. It has also been used by New Japan Pro Wrestling, and was part of its J-Crown Championship. After the J-Crown was discontinued the title remained in Japan being promoted by the Toryumon promotion up until 2007 where it returned to Mexico and CMLL. As with the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Middleweight Championship, it is not currently recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance, having ceased to acknowledge it when CMLL withdrew from the NWA in the late-1980s. Being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via a scripted ending to matches. The official definition of the Welterweight weight class in Mexico is between 70 kg (150 lb) and 78 kg (170 lb), but is not always strictly enforced.[Note 1][1]
The championship predates the creation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948 and was initually just known as the "World Welterweight Championship", promoted by Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). When EMLL joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1952, the title was given the prefix "NWA".[2] In the late 1980s EMLL withdrew from the NWA, changing their name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre at the same time, to create a clean break from their past NWA association. CMLL retained three NWA-labeled titles, the Welterweight championship, the NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, despite none of them being officially recognized by the NWA. In 1992 the then-champion Misterioso left CMLL to join the newly formed Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, vacating the championship. CMLL had recently created their own Welterweight Title and thus decided not to use the NWA championship for the time being. It would be three years before the NWA Welterweight title was used again, when Negro Casas won the title. A few months later Casas lost the title to Shinjiro Ohtani in the first round of the J-Crown Unification tournament. The title would switch hands in each round of the tournament as Último Dragón won it the next night and then Great Sasuke, who won the tournament. In 1996 and 1997 the title was defended as part of the J-Crown until the J-Crown was broken up into the original individual titles and vacated by the end of 1997. Just over a year later the championship resurfaced in Toryumon where Dragon Kid won it. For the next several years the title became the exclusive property of Toryumon, being defended mainly in Japan and occasionally in Torymon's Mexican branch. It was not until November 27, 2007 that the title returned to its country of origin as La Sombra won the title from Hajime Ohara and brought it back to CMLL. 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.[3] On August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship and returned the old belt to NWA.[4]
El Santo became the first Welterweight Champion on March 15, 1946 by winning an eight man tournament. Cassandro is the current NWA World Welterweight champion having defeated Dr. Cerebro for the vacant title on June 25, 2011.[5] This is Cassandro's first run with the title; he is the 57th overall champion and the 44th person to hold the Championship. Karloff Lagarde holds the record for both the most title reigns, with three, and the longest individual title reign, 2,742 days. Two men have held the title for just one day: Shinjiro Otani and Último Dragón.
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 El Santo 1 March 15, 1946 337 Mexico City Live event Defeated Pete Pancoff to become the first champion.[6] 2 Jack O'Brien 1 February 15, 1947 804 Mexico City Live event 3 Gory Guerrero 1 April 29, 1949 803 Mexico City Live event 4 Bobby Bonales 1 July 11, 1951 443 N/A Live event 5 El Santo 2 September 26, 1952 302 N/A Live event 6 Blue Demon 1 July 25, 1953 1,912 Mexico City Live event 7 Karloff Lagarde 1 January 31, 1958 2,743 Mexico City Live event 8 Huracán Ramírez 1 August 5, 1965 50 Cuernavaca, Morelos Live event 9 Karloff Lagarde 2 September 24, 1965 590 Mexico City EMLL 32nd Anniversary Show 10 Vento Castella 1 May 7, 1967 57 Mexico City Live event 11 Karloff Lagarde 3 July 3, 1967 1,469 Mexico City Live event 12 Alberto Muñoz 1 July 11, 1971 837 Mexico City Live event — Vacated 1 1973 — N/A N/A EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. 13 Mano Negra 1 December 14, 1973 562 Mexico City Live event Mano Negra defeated Karloff Lagarde to win the vacant title. 14 Blue Demon 2 June 29, 1975 285 Mexico City Live event 15 Fishman 1 April 9, 1976 224 Mexico City Live event 16 Mano Negra 2 January 19, 1976 1,197 Mexico City Live event 17 Américo Rocca 1 April 30, 1979 264 Mexico City Live event 18 Kato Kung Lee 1 January 19, 1980 106 Mexico City Live event 19 El Supremo 1 May 4, 1980 31 Mexico City Live event 20 Lizmark 1 June 4, 1980 506 Acapulco, Guerrero Live event 21 La Fiera 1 October 23, 1981 268 Mexico City Live event 22 Américo Rocca 2 July 18, 1982 558 Guadalajara, Jalisco Live event 23 Mocho Cota 1 January 27, 1984 181 Mexico City Live event 24 Chamaco Valaguez 1 July 26, 1984 359 Cuernavaca, Morelos Live event — Vacated 1 July 20, 1985 — N/A N/A EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. 25 El Dandy 1 November 17, 1985 141 Mexico City Live event 26 Monarca Cruz 1 April 7, 1986 78 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event 27 El Dandy 2 August 24, 1986 70 N/A Live event 28 Javier Rocca 1 November 2, 1986 636 Mexico City Live event 29 Solar II 1 July 30, 1988 66 Cuernavaca, Morelos Live event 30 Fuerza Guerrera 1 October 4, 1988 241 Mexico City Live event 31 Águila Solitaria 1 June 2, 1989 111 Mexico City Live event 32 Fuerza Guerrera 2 September 21, 1989 806 Puebla, Puebla Live event 33 Misterioso 1 December 6, 1991 [Note 2] Mexico City Live event — Vacated 1 May 1992 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated when Misterioso left CMLL. 34 Negro Casas 1 December 1, 1995 246 Mexico City Live event Negro Casas defeated El Hijo del Santo in a tournament final to win the vacant title. 35 Shinjiro Otani 1 August 3, 1996 1 Tokyo, Japan Live event 36 Último Dragón 1 August 4, 1996 1 Tokyo, Japan Live event 37 Great Sasuke 1 August 5, 1996 67 Tokyo, Japan Live event The championship became one of eight championships comprising New Japan Pro Wrestling's J-Crown Championship. 38 Último Dragón 2 October 11, 1996 85 Osaka, Japan Live event 39 Jushin Liger 1 January 4, 1997 183 Tokyo, Japan Live event 40 El Samurai 1 July 6, 1997 35 Sapporo, Japan Live event 41 Shinjiro Otani 2 August 10, 1997 56 Nagoya, Japan Live event — Vacated 1 October 5, 1997 — N/A N/A Otani vacated five of the six remaining J-Crown titles after being forced by the World Wrestling Federation to return their Light Heavyweight Championship belt, ending the J-Crown Championship. 41 Dragon Kid 1 February 6, 1999 78 Nagoya, Japan Toryumon Japan show Dragon Kid defeated Dr. Cerebro to win the vacant title. 42 Judo Suwa 1 April 25, 1999 454 Kawasaki, Japan Toryumon Japan show 43 Keni'chiro Arai 1 July 22, 2000 152 Tokyo, Japan Toryumon Japan show — Vacated 1 December 21, 2000 — N/A N/A The championship vacated due after outside interference during a match on December 15 in Kawasaki, Japan, in which Susumu Mochizuki defeated Arai. 44 Keni'chiro Arai 2 January 29, 2001 118 Tokyo, Japan Toryumon Japan show Arai defeated Yasushi Kanda in a tournament final to win the vacant title.[7] 44 Susumu Mochizuki 1 May 27, 2001 126 Kobe, Japan Toryumon Japan show [7] 46 Ryo Saito 1 September 30, 2001 210 Tokyo, Japan Toryumon Japan show [7] 47 Genki Horiguchi 1 April 28, 2002 56 Kobe, Japan Toryumon Japan show [7] — Vacated 1 June 23, 2002 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated following a no-contest between Horiguchi and Dragon Kid.[7] 48 Ricky Marvin 1 July 7, 2002 17 Kobe, Japan Toryumon Japan show Ricky Marvin defeated Super Nova to win the vacant championship.[7] 49 Genki Horiguchi 2 July 24, 2002 4 Kumamoto, Japan Toryumon Japan show [7] 50 Darkness Dragon 1 July 28, 2002 236 Shimonoseki, Japan Toryumon Japan show [7] — Vacated 1 March 21, 2003 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated due to an injury to Darkness Dragon.[8] 51 YOSSINO 1 March 22, 2003 456 Sapporo, Japan Toryumon Japan show YOSSINO defeated Genki Horiguchi to win the vacant title.[8] — Vacated 1 June 20, 2004 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated BY YOSSINO in order to for him to concentrate on the Toryumon Último Dragón Gym Championship.[9] 52 Hajime Ohara 1 May 13, 2006 252 Mexico City Toryumon Mexico show Ohara defeated La Máscara to win the vacant title.[10] 53 Super Delfin 1 January 20, 2007 21 Osaka, Japan Toryumon Japan show [11] 54 Hajime Ohara 2 February 10, 2007 290 Osaka, Japan Toryumon Japan show [11] 55 La Sombra 1 November 27, 2007 547 Mexico City CMLL show This victory brought the championship back under CMLL's control.[11] 56 Mephisto 1 May 27, 2009 442 Acapulco, Guerrero CMLL show [12] — Vacated — August 12, 2010 — N/A N/A The championship was vacated when CMLL returned it to NWA.[13] 57 Cassandro 1 June 25, 2011 139+ London, United Kingdom NWA Mexico UK Tour live event Defeated Dr. Cerebro to win the vacant title.[5] 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 Karloff Lagarde 3 4,802 2 Blue Demon 2 2,197 3 Mano Negra 2 1,759 4 Fuerza Guerrera 2 1,047 5 Alberto Muñoz 1 837 6 Américo Rocca 2 822 7 Jack O'Brien 1 804 8 Gory Guerrero 1 803 9 El Santo 2 639 10 Javier Rocca 1 636 11 La Sombra 2 547 12 Hajime Ohara 2 542 13 Lizmark 1 506 14 YOSSINO 1 456 15 Judo Suwa 1 454 16 Bobby Bonales 1 443 17 Mephisto 1 442 18 Chamaco Valaguez 1 359 19 Keni'chiro Arai 2 270 20 La Fiera 1 268 21 Negro Casas 1 246 22 Darkness Dragon 1 236 23 Fishman 1 224 24 El Dandy 2 211 25 Ryo Saito 1 210 26 Jushin Liger 1 183 27 Mocho Cota 1 181 28 Misterioso 1 147¤
[Note 2]29 Cassandro† 1 139+ 30 Susumu Mochizuki 1 126 31 Águila Solitaria 1 111 32 Kato Kung Lee 1 106 33 Último Dragón 2 86 34 Dragon Kid 1 78 34 Monarca Cruz 1 78 36 Great Sasuke 1 67 37 Solar II 1 66 38 Genki Horiguchi 2 60 39 Vento Castella 1 57 39 Shinjiro Otani 2 57 41 Huracán Ramírez 1 50 42 El Samurai 1 35 42 El Supremo 1 31 43 Super Delfin 1 21 44 Ricky Marvin 1 17 Footnotes
- ^ The most recent case of this is Mephisto holding the NWA World Welterweight Championship, a belt with a 78 kg (170 lb) upper limit, despite weighing 90 kg (200 lb).
- ^ a b The exact date on which Misterio is stripped of the title is unknown, which means the title reign lasted between 147 and 177 days.
References
- General source for title changes before 2000
- Royal Duncan and Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA Welterweight Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 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: "Ligero 70 kilos / Welter 77 kilos""[dead link]
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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 Captain Ironstorm (June 25, 2011). "Cassandro obtiene el Título Mundial welter NWA en Londres" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. http://superluchas.net/2011/06/25/cassandro-obtiene-el-titulo-mundial-welter-nwa-en-londres/. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
- ^ Arturo Rosas Plata (2009-06-11). "Mephisto y su buena racha" (in Spanish). Ovaciones (Mexico, D.F.: Editorial Ovaciones, S. A. de C.V.): p. 18. Número 21615 Año LXII. http://itecor.v1.myvirtualpaper.com/11062009/2009061101/en/?page=18. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Box y Lucha staff (January 19, 2003). "2002: considerar detrás" (in Spanish). Box y Lucha Magazine. 2593.
- ^ a b SuperLuchas staff (January 5, 2003). "Número Especial - Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2003" (in Spanish). Super Luchas. 40.
- ^ SuperLuchas staff (January 24, 2005). "Número Especial - Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2004" (in Spanish). Super Luchas. issue 91.
- ^ SuperLuchas staff (December 23, 2006). "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana duranted el 2006" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas. issue 192. http://superluchas.net/?p=44. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ a b c SuperLuchas staff (December 26, 2007). "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas. issue 244. http://superluchas.net/?p=1491. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ Ocampo, Jorge (May 28, 2009). "Mephisto vence a Sombra y obtiene el título… ¿NWA Welter ? – Extraños cambios de título" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. http://superluchas.net/2009/05/28/mephisto-vence-a-sombra-y-obtiene-el-titulo-%C2%BFnwa-welter-extranos-cambios-de-titulo/. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ Boutwell, Josh (August 20, 2010). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. http://vip.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1282333662. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
National Wrestling Alliance World Championships World Heavyweight (reigns) • World Tag Team (reigns) • World Junior Heavyweight (reigns) • World Welterweight (reigns) • Women's (reigns)National and Regional Championships Current Territories Miscellaneous Categories:- Championships promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- Cruiserweight wrestling championships
- New Japan Pro Wrestling championships
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