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 lineage 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
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
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)
 1  Verne Gagne  September 3, 1953  House show N/A  1  947 Gagne was awarded the championship [1][2]
 2  Wilbur Snyder  April 7, 1956  House show Chicago, Illinois  1  195 [1][2]
 3  Hans Schmidt  October 19, 1956  House show Chicago, Illinois  1  123 [1][2]
 4  Wilbur Snyder  February 19, 1957  House show Chicago, Illinois  2  298 [1][2]
 5  Dick the Bruiser  December 14, 1957  House show Chicago, Illinois  1  119 [1][2]
American Wrestling Association (AWA)
 6  Verne Gagne  April 12, 1958  House show Chicago, Illinois  2  857 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. [1][2]
— Vacated  August 16, 1960 — — — — Vacated when Gagne won AWA World Heavyweight Championship. [1][2]
 7  Gene Kiniski  November 19, 1960  House show Minneapolis, Minnesota  1  17 Defeated Nick Roberts in a house show in St. Paul, Minnesota; match was not billed for the title. [1][2]
 8  Wilbur Snyder  December 6, 1960  House show Minnesota  3  7 [1][2]
 9  Gene Kiniski  December 13, 1960  House show Minneapolis, Minnesota  2  64 [1][2]
 10  Wilbur Snyder  February 15, 1961  House show Duluth, Minnesota  4  [Note 1] [1][2]
 11  Gene Kiniski  February 1961  House show [Note 2]  3  [Note 3] [1][2]
 12  Wilbur Snyder  March 1, 1961  House show Duluth, Minnesota  5  31 [1][2]
 13  Gene Kiniski  April 1, 1961  House show Saint Paul, Minnesota  4  [Note 4] [1][2]
 14  Hard Boiled Haggerty  September 1961  House show Minnesota  1  [Note 5] Sometime after September 5, 1961. [1][2]
 15  Mr. M  October 17, 1961  House show Minneapolis, Minnesota  1  84 [1][2]
— Vacated  January 9, 1962 — — — — Vacated when Mr. M won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. [1][2]
 16  Pat O'Connor  February 17, 1962  House show St. Paul, Minnesota  1  [Note 6] Was awarded the NWA (Central States) version of the US Championship on August 24, 1961; defends title against Bob Geigel. [1][2]
— Deactivated  1962 — — — — O'Connor spent the rest of his AWA stint challenging Mr. M unsuccessfully for the AWA World championship, while defending his title in other NWA territories until he lost it to Hans Schmidt on July 5, 1962, in Greensboro, North Carolina in a Jim Crockett Promotions card; AWA abandons recognition. [1][2]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The exact date that the championship was lost has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between 1 day and 13.
  2. ↑ The location of the match was not captured as part of the championship documentation.
  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. ↑ The exact date that the championship was lost has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between 153 days and 182.
  5. ↑ The exact date that the championship was won has not been documented, which means that the title reign lasted between 17 days and 41.
  6. ↑ 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "United States Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
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