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AWA United States Heavyweight Championship

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AWA United States Championship
Details
PromotionNational Wrestling Alliance (1953-1960)
NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club (1958-1960)
American Wrestling Association (1960-1962)
Date establishedSeptember 3, 1953
Date retired1963
Other name(s)
  • NWA United States Championship (Chicago Version)
Statistics
First champion(s)Verne Gagne
Most reignsWilbur Snyder (5 reigns)
Longest reignVerne Gagne (857 days)
Shortest reignWilbur Snyder (7 days)

The AWA United States Championship was a short-lived title in the early days of the American Wrestling Association. It started out as the NWA United States Championship promoted in the Chicago, Illinois from 1953 until 1958. in 1958 then champion Verne Gagne created the American Wrestling Association (AWA) based on Minneapolis, Minnesota and took the championship with him, claiming the linage of the Chicago version. The Chicago promotion recognized Wilbur Snyder as their next champion, splitting the lineage into their own NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. The Minneapolis version of the championship was renamed the AWA United States Championship in 1960.[1]

Title history

Key
Symbol Meaning
No. The overall championship reign
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event The event in which the championship 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 held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 Verne Gagne 1 September 3, 1953 [Note 1] N/A House show Gange was awarded the championship [1][2]
                 
2 Wilbur Snyder 1 April 7, 1956 195 Chicago, Illinois House show   [1][2]
3 Hans Schmidt 1 October 19, 1956 123 Chicago, Illinois House show   [1][2]
4 Wilbur Snyder 2 February 19, 1957 298 Chicago, Illinois House show   [1][2]
5 Dick the Bruiser 1 December 14, 1957 119 Chicago, Illinois House show   [1][2]
6 Verne Gagne 2 April 12, 1958 857 Chicago, Illinois House show   [1][2]
The title was split from the original championship, which retained the same joint lineage in the Chicago territory. Minneapolis version renamed "AWA United States Championship" in 1960.
- Vacated - August 16, 1960 N/A N/A N/A Vacated when Gagne won AWA World Heavyweight Championship. [1][2]
7 Gene Kiniski 1 November 19, 1960 17 Minneapolis, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
8 Wilbur Snyder 3 December 6, 1960 7 Minnesota House show   [1][2]
9 Gene Kiniski 2 December 13, 1960 64 Minneapolis, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
10 Wilbur Snyder 4 February 15, 1961 [Note 2] Duluth, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
11 Gene Kiniski 3 February 1961 [Note 3] [Note 4] House show   [1][2]
12 Wilbur Snyder 5 March 1, 1961 31 Duluth, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
13 Gene Kiniski 4 April 1, 1961 [Note 5] Saint Paul, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
14 Hard Boiled Haggerty 1 September 1961 [Note 6] Minnesota House show Sometime after September 5, 1961. [1][2]
15 Mr. M 1 October 17, 1961 84 Minneapolis, Minnesota House show   [1][2]
- Vacated - January 9, 1962 N/A N/A N/A Vacated when Mr. M won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. [1][2]
16 Pat O'Connor 1 February 1962 [Note 7] [Note 4] House show Was awarded the NWA version of the IS Championship on August 24, 1961; also recognized as champion in the AWA territories. [1][2]
- Title retired - 1962 N/A N/A N/A The United States Championship was abandoned by the AWA. [1][2]

Footnotes

  1. ^ The championship history between 1953 and 1956 has not been documented, making the length of the first reign too uncertain to calculate.
  2. ^ The exact date that the championship was lost has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between 1 day and −14.
  3. ^ The exact date that the championship was won has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between 1 day and 13.
  4. ^ a b The location of the match was not captured as part of the championship documentation.
  5. ^ The exact date that the championship was lost has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between −82 days and Error: Second date should be year, month, day.
  6. ^ The exact date that the championship was won has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between Error: Need valid year, month, day days and 41.
  7. ^ The exact date the championship was abandoned has not been documented, which means that the title reign is too uncertain to calculate.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "United States Heavyweight TItle". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved December 27, 2015.