List of TNA World Champions
The TNA World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship contested for in the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. After the formation of TNA in June 2002, the company executives signed a contractual agreement with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that allowed them control of the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships.[1] TNA subsequently changed their name to NWA–TNA, making them an official subsidiary of the NWA in the process.
On May 13, 2007, TNA were scheduled to produce their May pay-per-view (PPV) event Sacrifice, in which NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage and NWA World Tag Team Champions Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) were to defend their respective championships.[2] However, prior to the event the NWA ended their five year partnership with TNA, and thus regained control of the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships, effectively stripping the champions in the process.[1] As a result, TNA created the TNA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships, which were unveiled on TNA's online podcast TNA Today on the May 15 and May 17, 2007 editions.[3][4] At Sacrifice, Christian Cage and Team 3D instead defended what was simply billed as the "World Heavyweight Championship" and the "World Tag Team Championship" respectively. Kurt Angle defeated Cage and Sting in a Three Way match to win the "World Heavyweight Championship" at Sacrifice, while Team 3D retained the "World Tag Team Championship".[2]
On the May 17, 2007 episode of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!, TNA announced that Kurt Angle was the new "TNA World Heavyweight Champion", making him the first champion without the NWA brand.[5] During the same episode, authority figure, or Management Director, Jim Cornette stripped Angle of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and declared it vacant.[5][6] Cornette followed by announcing that at TNA's June PPV event Slammiversary that a King of the Mountain match would be held to determine the new and official first TNA World Heavyweight Champion.[5] At the event, Angle defeated Chris Harris, Christian Cage, Samoa Joe, and A.J. Styles to win the vacant championship.[7] After the event, Angle's first reign was no longer recognized by TNA.
Title reigns are determined either by professional wrestling matches between different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines, or by scripted circumstances. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches for the championship. Reigns that were won on episodes of TNA Impact! aired on television two to nine days from the date the match was taped. The inaugural champion was Kurt Angle, who became the champion after winning a King of the Mountain match on June 17, 2007 at TNA's Slammiversary PPV event.[7] As of November 2024, Kurt Angle has the most reigns, with three. At 211 days, A.J. Styles' first reign is the longest in the title's history. Sting has the shortest reign in the titles history with his first reign lasting 2 days.[8] Jeff Hardy is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson in a Three Way tournament final match on October 10, 2010, at Bound for Glory to win the vacant title.[8][9][10] Overall, there have been 11 reigns among 7 different wrestlers with two vacancies.[5][6][8]
Title history
| # | Order of reigns in history. |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed. |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
| + | Indicates the current reign is changing daily. |
| # | Wrestler | Reigns | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
—
|
1 [1]
|
May 13, 2007
|
1
|
This was a Three Way match which also involved Sting and World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage for what was referred to as the "World Heavyweight Championship".[2] Following this, Angle was awarded the newly established TNA World Heavyweight Championship, thus, becoming the inaugural champion.[5] After Slammiversary 2007, this reign was no longer recognized by TNA. | |||
—
|
—
|
May 14, 2007
|
—
|
This episode aired on tape delay on May 17, 2007. Angle was stripped of the title by Management Director Jim Cornette due to a controversial finish of the match at Sacrifice.[6] A new TNA World Heavyweight Champion was set to be determined at Slammiversary 2007.[5] After the event, Angle's reign and the vacancy was no longer recognized by TNA. | |||
1
|
2
|
June 17, 2007
|
119
|
This was a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary also involving Christian Cage, Chris Harris, Samoa Joe, and A.J. Styles.[7] This is recognized to be the start of the title's history after the event. | |||
2
|
1
|
October 14, 2007
|
2
|
[11] | |||
3
|
3
|
October 16, 2007
|
180
|
This episode aired on tape delay on October 25, 2007.[12] | |||
4
|
1
|
April 13, 2008
|
182
|
This was a Six sides of Steel match. If Joe had lost, he would have had to retire from professional wrestling forever.[13] | |||
5
|
2
|
October 12, 2008
|
189
|
[14] | |||
6
|
1
|
April 19, 2009
|
63
|
This was a Six sides of Steel match.[15] | |||
7
|
4
|
June 21, 2009
|
91
|
This was a King of the Mountain match also involving Samoa Joe, Jeff Jarrett, and A.J. Styles.[16] | |||
8
|
1
|
September 20, 2009
|
211
|
This was a Five-Way match also involving Sting, Matt Morgan, and Hernandez.[10] | |||
9
|
1
|
April 19, 2010
|
122
|
[17] | |||
—
|
—
|
August 19, 2010
|
—
|
The title was vacated due to Rob Van Dam suffering a storyline injury.[18][19][20] | |||
10
|
1
|
October 10, 2010
|
5,144+
|
Hardy defeated Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson in a Three Way tournament final match to win the vacant title.[21] |
List of combined reigns
As of November 9, 2024
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| Rank [2] | Wrestler | # of reigns | Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurt Angle | 4 | 391 |
| 2 | A.J. Styles | 1 | 211 |
| 3 | Sting | 2 | 191 |
| 4 | Samoa Joe | 1 | 182 |
| 5 | Rob Van Dam | 1 | 122 |
| 6 | Jeff Hardy† | 1 | 5144+ |
| 7 | Mick Foley | 1 | 63 |
Notes
- 1.^ – This reign is not recognized by TNA
- 2.^ – Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the exact same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.
References
- General
- "History of the TNA Championship Titles". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-01-28. [dead link]
- "TNA World Heavyweight Title History". Solie.org. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- Specific
- ^ a b "NWA/Trobich strips TNA/Cage/Team 3D of NWA branded Championships". National Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ a b c Sokol, Chris (2007-05-14). "World title picture muddied after good Sacrifice". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ The 5/15 "TNA Today" - New World Title revealed!. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ 5/17 Edition Of TNA Today - New Tag Team Titles. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ a b c d e f Caldwell, James (2007-05-18). "Caldwell's TNA Impact report /17: Angle-Rhino, Daniels-Raven, blood, Gore, and Stomper". PW Torch. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
The fans chanted for Christian and Angle said he is the new TNA champion.
- ^ a b c "Angle Stripped Of The TNA World Title". TNAwrestling.com. web.archive.org. 2007-05-20. Archived from the original on 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ a b c Caldwell, James (2007-06-17). "Caldwels Slammiversary PPV report 6/17: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV". PW Torch.com. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ a b c Westcott, Brian. "TNA World Heavyweight Title history". solie.org. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Current Champions List at TNAWrestling.com". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. TNA Entertainment Inc. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ a b Caldwell, James (2009-09-20). "Caldwell's TNA No Surrender PPV report 9/20: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan vs. A.J. Styles". PWTorch. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-10-14). "Angle gets stung at Bound For Glory". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-10-25). "Impact: Crowning a new old champion". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2008-04-18). "TNA Lockdown:Joe captures gold". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2008-10-15). "Sting takes title at Bound for Glory". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthor=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Sokol, Chris (2009-04-20). "TNA's lackluster Lockdown". Slam Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|co-author=ignored (help) - ^ Caldwell, James (2009-06-21). "Caldwell's TNA Slammiversary PPV report 6/21: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of King of the Mountain PPV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
- ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-04-19). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 4/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast--Whole F'n New Champion". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
- ^ "TNA title vacated - spoiler". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2010-08-10). "TNA News: Spoilers - big news & notes from today's Impact TV taping for Aug. 19 episode, management's reaction to EV2.0 angle". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-08-19). "Wilkenfeld's TNA Impact report 8/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2010-10-10). "Caldwell's TNA Bound for Glory PPV results 10-10-10: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV - Angle vs. Anderson vs. Hardy, "they" reveal". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-10-10.