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American Heavyweight Championship Date established January 19, 1881
The American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first heavyweight professional wrestling championship in the United States . The title existed from 1881 through approximately 1922.[ 1]
Wrestler
Times
Date won
Location
Notes
Edwin Bibby
1
January 19, 1881
New York City
Defeats Duncan C. Ross in a catch-as-catch-can match for "the championship of America".[ 2] [ 3]
Joe Acton
1
August 7, 1882
New York City
Has defeated Tom Cannon on December 9, 1881, in London, England, for the Catch-as-Catch-Can Title ; Bibby is billed as champion for a match against World Greco-Roman champion William Muldoon on September 3, 1882, in Elmira, NY.
Evan "Strangler" Lewis
1
April 11, 1887
Chicago
Lewis unified the American Catch-as-Catch Can Championship and the American Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship by defeating Ernest Roeber on March 2, 1893, in a 3 out of 5 falls match with alternating Greco-Roman match and Catch-as-Catch can matches. The two titles became known as the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship .
Martin "Farmer" Burns
1
April 20, 1895
Chicago
Dan McLeod
1
October 26, 1897
Indianapolis
Yusuf İsmail
1
June 20, 1898
Chicago
Tom Jenkins
1
November 7, 1901
Cleveland, Ohio
Dan McLeod
2
December 25, 1902
Worcester, Massachusetts
Jenkins forfeited the title to McLeod after having blood poisoning in his leg during their match.
Tom Jenkins
2
April 3, 1903
Buffalo, N.Y.
[ 4]
Frank Gotch
1
January 27, 1904
Bellingham, Washington
Tom Jenkins
3
March 15, 1905
New York City
Frank Gotch
2
May 23, 1906
Kansas City, Missouri
[ 5]
Fred Beell
1
December 1, 1906
New Orleans
[ 6]
Frank Gotch
3
December 17, 1906
Kansas City, Missouri
[ 6]
Vacant
1910
Gotch vacates the title after two years as a double crown champion to concentrate on the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship he won from Georg Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois.[ 4]
Henry Ordemann
1
October 25, 1910
Minneapolis
Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch .
Charlie Cutler
1
February 1, 1911
Minneapolis
Dr. Benjamin Roller
1
March 6, 1911
Chicago
Charlie Cutler
2
March 25, 1911
Buffalo, N.Y.
Jess Reimer
1
November 7, 1911
Des Moines, Iowa
Henry Ordemann
2
December 14, 1911
Minneapolis
Charlie Cutler
3
March 25, 1912
Chicago
Jess Westergaard (Reimer) defeats Ordemann on January 7, 1913, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to claim a title but loses to Cutler on January 22, 1913, in Dallas, Texas .
Dr. Benjamin Roller
2
July 4, 1913
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Ed "Strangler" Lewis
1
September 18, 1913
Lexington, Kentucky
William Demetral
1
October 21, 1913
Lexington, Kentucky
Dr. Benjamin Roller
3
July 10, 1914
Rock Island, Illinois
Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Roller during an international tournament on January 15, 1916, in New York City (title may not be on line).
Wladek Zbyszko
1
January 8, 1917
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Still/again champion as of September 22, 1922 (or a different reign, possibly by winning a tournament which has started on February 21, 1922).
^ "BIBBY THROWS ROSS.; WINNING A MATCH WITH THE GIANT-- THREE OUT OF FIVE FALLS GAINED. - The New York Times" .^ "Edwin Bibby 1848 - All about Bibby" .^ "BIBBY THROWS ROSS.; WINNING A MATCH WITH THE GIANT-- THREE OUT OF FIVE FALLS GAINED. - The New York Times" .^ a b F4W Staff (April 3, 2015). "ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING TITLE CHANGE HISTORY: GOTCH VS. HACKENSCHMIDT, INOKI VS. HANSEN, GUERRERO VS. JERICHO" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017 . {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link )^ Hoops, Brian (May 23, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 23): Antonio Inoki Vs. Hulk Hogan, Andre Vs. Sakaguchi, Frank Gotch in a 57-minute match" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 16, 2017 . ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles; "Milwaukee Journal"; "Marshfield", "WI"; "August 8, 1933"; viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA335
