The ICW / IWCCW Heavyweight Championship was the top singles championship of International World Class Championship Wrestling between 1984 and 1995 where IWCCW closed down operations. Initially ICW’s main title was the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, through a talent exchange program and a close working relationship between ICW and WWC the Universal Title was promoted in the New England area as the main ICW title without ever mentioning the WWC name, nor was it presented as a title owned by ICW. When the arrangement came to an end in 1985 a specific “ICW Heavyweight Championship” was created with the lineage of the WWC Universal title during the time of the working relationship. In 1993 the then champion Tony Atlas along with a number of IWCCW wrestlers left the company leaving the title vacant and only used sporadically between 1993 and 1995 where the promotion closed. Because the championship is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The championship is awarded after the chosen team "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.[3]
| IWCCW Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tony Atlas the longest reigning IWCCW Heavyweight Champion. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | International Championship Wrestling (1985–January 1991) International World Class Championship Wrestling (January 1991–1995) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | 1985[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | 1995[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Title history
edit| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Carlos Colón | December 8, 1984 | N/A | N/A | 1 | [Note 2] | Carlos Colón was the WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion when ICW was founded and recognized as the first champion to represent ICW. | [1][2] |
| 2 | Dory Funk Jr. | February 27, 1985 | ICW show | Bangor, Maine | 1 | 80 | This marked the first time that the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship changed hands outside of Puerto Rico. | [1][2][4] |
| — | Vacated | May 18, 1985 | — | — | — | — | Held up after a match against Carlos Colón. This marked the end of the ICW/WWC joint title lineage. | [1][2] |
| 3 | Joe Savoldi | April 1, 1986 (NLT) | ICW show | [Note 3] | 1 | [Note 4] | Joe Savoldi was the first champion to be recognized as the "ICW Heavyweight Champion". | [1][2] |
| 4 | Phil Apollo | February 10, 1987 (NLT) | ICW show | [Note 3] | 1 | [Note 5] | [1][2] | |
| — | Vacated | October 1, 1987 (NLT) | — | — | — | — | Championship was vacated when Phil Apollo left the promotion. | [1][2] |
| 5 | Joe Savoldi | October 1, 1987 | ICW show | [Note 3] | 2 | [Note 6] | Joe Savoldi won a battle royal to claim the vacant championship. | [1][2] |
| 6 | Moondog Spike | August 15, 1988 (NLT) | ICW show | [Note 3] | 1 | [Note 7] | [1][2] | |
| 7 | Joe Savoldi | August 25, 1988 (NLT) | ICW show | [Note 3] | 3 | [Note 8] | [1][2] | |
| 8 | "Lord" Jonathan Boyd | December 28, 1988 | ICW show | [Note 3] | 1 | [Note 9] | [1][2] | |
| 9 | Joe Savoldi | January 1989 | ICW show | Presque Isle, Maine | 4 | [Note 10] | [1][2] | |
| 10 | Tony Atlas | February 11, 1989 | ICW show | Presque Isle, Maine | 1 | 528 | [1][2] | |
| 11 | Vic Steamboat | July 24, 1990 | ICW show | Middletown, Delaware County, New York | 1 | 269 | [1][2] | |
| 12 | Tony Atlas | April 19, 1991 | IWCCW show | South China, Maine | 2 | [Note 11] | [1][2] | |
| — | Vacated | March 1, 1993 (NLT) | — | — | — | — | Championship was vacated when Tony Atlas left ICW. | [1][2] |
| 13 | Tito Santana | February 9, 1994 | IWCCW show | Yardville, New Jersey | 1 | 387 | Defeated Greg Valentine to win the vacant championship. | [1][2] |
| 14 | Greg Valentine | March 3, 1995 | IWCCW show | Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania | 1 | 91 | [1][2][5] | |
| 15 | Koko B. Ware | June 2, 1995 | IWCCW show | Chattanooga, Tennessee | 1 | [Note 12] | Was awarded the championship when Greg Valentine did not show for a scheduled title defense. | [1][2] |
| — | Deactivated | 1995 | — | — | — | — | IWCCW Closed | [1][2] |
Footnotes
edit- ^ Due to some records being incomplete it is possible someone else held the championship for a shorter period of time.
- ^ The exact date ICW recognizes Colon as the champion is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between −308 and 57 days
- ^ a b c d e f The location of the match was not captured as part of the championship documentation.
- ^ The exact date Savoldi won and lost the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 682 days
- ^ The exact date Apollo won the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 651 days
- ^ The exact date Savoldi lost the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 92 and 452 days
- ^ The exact date Moondog Spike won and lost the championshio is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 359 days
- ^ The exact date Savlodi won the championshio is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 361 days
- ^ The exact date Boyd lost the championshiphas not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between −362 and −332 days
- ^ The exact date Savoldi won the championship is not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 11 and 41 days
- ^ The exact date Tony Atlas left IWCCW has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 682 days
- ^ The exact date IWCCW stopped promoting not documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 and 212 days
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Boston: International Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "International Championship Wrestling (1984-1991/01)/International World Class Championship Wrestling (1991/01-mid-1990s) Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ^ Ed Grabianowski. "How Pro Wrestling Works". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (February 28, 2017). "Daily pro wrestling history (02/27): NXT takes over". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (March 3, 2019). "Daily pro wrestling history (03/03): Sting wins TNA World Title". Figure Four Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 3, 2019.