PWF Heavyweight Championship
Encyclopedia
The Pacific Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship is one of the three titles that make up the AJPW Triple Crown Championship
AJPW Triple Crown Championship
The AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship is the top professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling. The championship is a unification of the NWA United National Championship, the PWF Heavyweight Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship....

. It was created in 1973 by All Japan owner Giant Baba, after he won a series of ten matches against Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino is an Italian-American former professional wrestler, best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation , holding the title across two reigns for over 11 years in total, as well as the longest single WWE Championship reign...

 (twice - one win, one draw), Terry Funk
Terry Funk
Terrence "Terry" Funk is an American professional wrestler and actor known chiefly for the hardcore wrestling style he adopted in the latter part of his career that inspired many younger wrestlers, including Mick Foley...

, Abdullah the Butcher
Abdullah the Butcher
Lawrence Robert "Larry" Shreve best known as Abdullah the Butcher, and also at times The Madman from the Sudan, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler known as one of the most brutal or "hardcore" professional wrestlers of all-time...

, The Destroyer
Dick Beyer
Dick Beyer is a retired professional wrestler who is best known by his ring names, The Destroyer or Doctor X.-Early life:...

, Wilbur Snyder
Wilbur Snyder
Wilbur Snyder was an American football player and professional wrestler.-Wrestling career:Snyder's wrestling debut occurred during the 1953 offseason. He was trained by Sandor Szabo and Warren Bockwinkel in Southern California. In 1954, Snyder retired from football completely to pursue a full-time...

 (twice - one win, one draw), Don Leo Jonathan
Don Leo Jonathan
Don Heaton , also known as Don Leo Jonathan, is an American former professional wrestler.-Professional wrestling career:...

, Pat O'Connor
Pat O'Connor (wrestler)
Patrick John "Pat" O'Connor , was a professional wrestler from New Zealand. O'Connor was regarded as one of the premier workers of his era...

 and Bobo Brazil
Bobo Brazil
Houston Harris was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Bobo Brazil. He is credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling...

.

The title, which had originally been classed as a world title, was downgraded to regional status after All Japan joined the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

. In 1989 Jumbo Tsuruta
Jumbo Tsuruta
, better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta, was a professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling for most of his career, and is well-known for being the first ever AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National...

 and Stan Hansen
Stan Hansen
John Stanley Hansen, Jr. is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Stan Hansen. As a wrestler, Hansen was well known for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to poor eyesight, as he is nearly blind without glasses...

 would unify this, the NWA United National Championship
NWA United National Championship
The NWA United National Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance, and best known for being defended in All Japan Pro Wrestling...

 and the NWA International Heavyweight
NWA International Heavyweight Championship
The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the AJPW Triple Crown...

 title to create the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

Title history

#: Name(s): Reigns: Date: Location: Notes:
1 Giant Baba
Shohei Baba
was a professional wrestler and co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling. He was also known as Giant Baba. Baba, along with Antonio Inoki, became one of the most famous Japanese wrestlers of his era, with a popularity in Japan comparable to Hulk Hogan's in the United States of America...

 
1 February 27, 1973 Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 
Won a series of 10 matches.
2 Tor Kamata
Tor Kamata
McRonald Kamaka was an American/Canadian professional wrestler known by the ring name Tor Kamata. He won several Heavyweight and Tag Team championships, including one World Tag Team title. He was a classic "bad guy" wrestler...

 
1 June 1, 1978 Akita, Japan
Akita, Akita
is the capital city of Akita Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan.As of June 11, 2005, with the merger of the former Kawabe District , the city has an estimated population of 323,310 and density of...

 

3 Billy Robinson
Billy Robinson
Billy Robinson is a British professional wrestler and catch wrestling instructor. Robinson was well known in Japan where he has trained mixed martial arts fighters in catch wrestling...

 
1 June 12, 1978 Ichinomiya, Japan
Ichinomiya, Aichi
is a city located in Aichi, Japan. The city is often called Owari-Ichinomiya to avoid confusion with another Ichinomiya . The pre-expansion city was once part of now-defunct Nakashima District until September 1, 1921....

 

4 Abdullah the Butcher
Abdullah the Butcher
Lawrence Robert "Larry" Shreve best known as Abdullah the Butcher, and also at times The Madman from the Sudan, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler known as one of the most brutal or "hardcore" professional wrestlers of all-time...

 
1 October 18, 1978 Utsunomiya, Japan
Utsunomiya, Tochigi
is the capital and most populous city of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. In October 2010 the city had an estimated population of 510,416 and a population density of 1,224.49 people per square kilometer. The total area is 416.84 km². had a population of 888,005 in the 2000 Census...

5 Giant Baba 2 February 10, 1979 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

6 Harley Race
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race is a retired American professional wrestler and current promoter and trainer. During his career as a wrestler, he held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship 7 times...

 
1 October 26, 1982 Obihiro, Japan
Obihiro, Hokkaido
is a city located in Tokachi, Hokkaidō, Japan. Obihiro is the only city in the Tokachi area. The next most populous municipality in Tokachi is the town of Otofuke, with less than a third of Obihiro's population. The city has approximately 500 foreign residents . The city contains the headquarters...

 

7 Giant Baba 3 February 11, 1983 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 

8 Stan Hansen
Stan Hansen
John Stanley Hansen, Jr. is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Stan Hansen. As a wrestler, Hansen was well known for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to poor eyesight, as he is nearly blind without glasses...

 
1 September 8, 1983 Chiba, Japan
Chiba, Chiba
is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....

 

9 Giant Baba 4 July 31, 1984 Tokyo, Japan
10 Stan Hansen 2 July 30, 1985 Fukuoka, Japan
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...

 

11 Riki Chōshū
Riki Choshu
Mitsuo Yoshida , better known by his stage name Riki Chōshū , is a Korean-Japanese professional wrestler who is most known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a wrestler and a booker...

 
1 April 5, 1986 Yokohama, Japan
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 

Vacated in March, 1987 when Chōshū leaves for New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...

.
12 Stan Hansen 3 April 24, 1987 Yokohama, Japan Defeated Hiroshi Wajima in a decision match.
13 Genichiro Tenryu
Genichiro Tenryu
Genichiro Tenryu , real name Genichiro Shimada , is a Japanese professional wrestler. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling...

 
1 March 9, 1988 Yokohama, Japan Also held the NWA United National Championship
NWA United National Championship
The NWA United National Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance, and best known for being defended in All Japan Pro Wrestling...

.
14 Stan Hansen 4 July 27, 1988 Nagano, Japan
Nagano, Nagano
, the capital city of Nagano Prefecture, is located in the northern part of the prefecture near the confluence of the Chikuma and the Sai rivers, on the main Japanese island of Honshū.As of April 1, 2011 the city has a population of 387,146...

 
Won the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Championship.
15 Jumbo Tsuruta
Jumbo Tsuruta
, better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta, was a professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling for most of his career, and is well-known for being the first ever AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National...

 
1 April 18, 1989 Tokyo, Japan Tsuruta, the NWA International Heavyweight Champion
NWA International Heavyweight Championship
The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the AJPW Triple Crown...

 defeated Hansen.
The PWF World Heavyweight Championship, NWA International Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship unified to become the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

Statistics

  • Longest Reign: Giant Baba (5 years, 5 months, 5 days)
  • Shortest Reign: Tor Kamata (11 days)
  • Most Reigns: Stan Hansen and Giant Baba (4 each)

External links

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