User:Paulley/FWA World Heavyweight Championship

[[:Image:DwilliamsFWA.jpg|thumb|Former FWA Champion, Doug Williams wearing the FWA British Heavyweight Championship belt]] The FWA World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and contested for in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA).

Originally a British Heavyweight title, the championship earned the right to be classed a world title when it was unsuccessfully defended by American wrestler Christopher Daniels in Philadelphia in 2003. Yet it would take another 6 years and the relaunching of the FWA brand before the promotion would reclassify the the title.^[1] Before the relaunch however, the FWA promotion became briefly defunct and the British Heavyweight Championship, along with its lineage were used by another promotion known as XWA; which still continues to use the British title.

The championship have been known as:

FWA British Heavyweight Championship (1999 – 2007)
British Heavyweight Championship (2007 – current)
FWA World Heavyweight Championship (2009 – current)

History

The first FWA British Heavyweight Champion was Mark Sloan, who defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final on the 11 July 1999.^[2] Jody Fleisch was the first person to win the belt twice after being stripped of it, while American wrestler Christopher Daniels was the first non-British person to win the belt^[3] and go on to defend it on foreign soil.^[4]

Originally the belt was mostly defended under two out of three falls match rules, as was the tradition in British wrestling. This changed on 12 April 2005, when champion Alex Shane signed a cast-iron contract to make new FWA British Title rules official and permanent making all future championship matches simply one fall.

On 13 May, 2006 the FWA British Heavyweight Title belt was stolen from the Morecambe Dome immediately following the FWA event at the venue during an FWA versus All-Star Wrestling show. The FWA offered a reward of £100 for information leading to the safe return of the championship belt.

On April 11 2009 at XWA War on the Shore V, former FWA owner 'The Showstealer' Alex Shane made his return to the Morecambe Dome after a three and a half year absence. In an angle, British Heavyweight Champion Sam Slam handed Alex the old FWA Heavyweight Title belt which the XWA had continued to use as its main title belt ever since the XWA was formed. In exchange, Shane handed Sam the brand new XWA Title belt. This angle was conceived so Alex Shane could once again take possession of the FWA Title belt ahead of the reformation of the FWA, which was announced a week afterwards, and also to 'pass the torch' to Sam Slam.^{[citation needed]}

Title history

#	Wrestler	Reigns	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes	Ref.
1	Mark Sloan	1	July 11, 1999	231	Portsmouth, Hampshire	No Surprises	Defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final	^[2]
2	Alex Shane	1	February 27, 2000	129	Birmingham, West Midlands	Black Country Chaos	Two out of three falls match	^[3]
3	Guy Thunder	1	July 5, 2000	8	Hertford, Hertfordshire	Live event	Two out of three falls match	^[3]
-	Vacant	1	July 13, 2000	0		N/A
4	Justin Richards	1	August 5, 2000	259	Halifax, West Yorkshire	Evil Intentions	Defeated Scottie Rock, Guy Thunder & Jorge Castano in a four-way match	^[3]
-	Vacant	2	April 21, 2001	28	Bolton, Lancashire	When Thunder Strikes
5	Doug Williams	1	May 19, 2001	307	Portsmouth, Hampshire	High Potential	Defeated Scott Parker in a tournament final	^[5]
6	Flash Barker	1	March 22, 2002	128	Walthamstow, London	Urban Legends	Two out of three falls match	^[6]
7	Jody Fleisch	1	July 28, 2002	6	Portsmouth, Hampshire	No Surprises	Two out of three falls match	^[6]
-	Vacant	3	August 3, 2002	71		N/A
8	Jody Fleisch	2	October 13, 2002	12	Bethnal Green, London	British Uprising	Defeated Flash Barker in a ladder match	^[6]
9	Christopher Daniels	1	October 25, 2002	148	Walthamstow, London	London Calling	Defeated Jody Fleish & Doug Williams in a three-way match	^[6]
10	Doug Williams	2	March 22, 2003	602	Philadelphia, PA	Night of Champions		^[4]
11	Alex Shane	2	November 13, 2004	449	Coventry, West Midlands	British Uprising 3		^[7]
12	Hade Vansen	1	February 5, 2006	160	Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire	New Frontiers	Defeated Alex Shane, Joe Legend, Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm in The Champion Series five-way match	^[8]
13	Robbie Brookside	1	July 15, 2006	266	Morecambe, Lancashire	Summer Classic	Defeated Hade Vansen & Jonny Storm in a no-disqualification three-way match.	^[8]
-							Continued as a XWA title
14							Championship reclassified as FWA World Heavyweight Championship

XWA

#	Wrestler	Reigns	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes	Ref.
14	Jonny Storm	1	April 7, 2007	455	Morecambe, Lancashire	War On The Shore 3	Defeated Robbie Brookside at the first XWA show	^[9]
15	Stevie Knight	1	July 5, 2008	63	Morecambe, Lancashire	Vendetta 2008	Defeated Jonny Storm, Sam Slam, and Johnny Phere in a Final Four match	^[10]
16	Sam Slam	1	September 6, 2008	5890+	Morecambe, Lancashire	Last Fight at the Prom 2008		^[11]

References

^ "Historic Open Tournament to Name First FWA WORLD Heavyweight Champion". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
^ ^a ^b "FWA Results - 1999". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "FWA Results 2000". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ ^a ^b "Ring of Honor Past Results". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ "FWA Results 2001". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "FWA Results 2002". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ "FWA Results 2004". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ ^a ^b "FWA Results 2006". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ "XWA War on the Shore 3". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
^ "XWA Vendetta 2008". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
^ "XWA Last Fight at the Prom 2008". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-17.

History

Title history

XWA

References

See also