The National Wrestling Association existed before the National Wrestling Alliance.
Therefore, by July 20, 1948, two enormously important World championship claims existed:
ORVILLE BROWN
National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion
and
LOU THESZ
National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Champion.
The future of the NWA championship would depend upon bringing those championship claims together.
MARCH 15, 1949
ANOTHER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IS CONSOLIDATED
On March 15, 1949, in Kansas City, Missouri, Orville Brown defeated Frank Sexton.
Sexton possessed another major World Heavyweight championship claim.
Brown’s victory represented another step toward the NWA’s objective of consolidating American World Heavyweight recognition around a single champion.
But the largest unresolved championship remained the one carried by Lou Thesz.
Eventually, the match was arranged.
NOVEMBER 25, 1949
ORVILLE BROWN VS. LOU THESZ
The match was scheduled for November 25, 1949, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Its historical importance would have been enormous.
Orville Brown represented the National Wrestling Alliance.Lou Thesz represented the older National Wrestling Association World championship lineage.
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
THE 10 LBS OF GOLD
NWA WORLD TITLE
THE REAL WORLDS TITLE
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is the premier championship of the National Wrestling Alliance. The championship’s official history under the National Wrestling Alliance begins on July 18, 1948, in Waterloo, Iowa, when a group of American wrestling promoters formally organized the National Wrestling Alliance and recognized Orville Brown as its first World Heavyweight Champion.
That date—July 18, 1948—is the starting point for understanding exactly what this championship is.
The National Wrestling Alliance did not invent professional wrestling. It did not invent the concept of a World Champion. World championships had existed in American wrestling for decades before the Alliance was created. What the founders established on July 18, 1948 was a new system of cooperation between wrestling territories. Instead of every promoter operating completely independently and recognizing competing World champions, members of the Alliance would cooperate and recognize a common World Heavyweight Champion.
That champion would travel.
He would enter individual territories and face their leading challengers.
The territory might have its own heavyweight champion, junior heavyweight champion, Southern champion, Texas champion or other regional champion. But above those championships stood the wrestler recognized by the Alliance as its:
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION.
That championship is the title whose lineage ultimately reaches Silas Mason today.
JULY 18, 1948
WATERLOO, IOWA
The National Wrestling Alliance was founded on Sunday, July 18, 1948, during a meeting of wrestling promoters in Waterloo, Iowa.
The driving force behind the meeting was Iowa promoter Paul “Pinkie” George. The organization brought together promoters who believed cooperation between territories would strengthen professional wrestling and allow them to establish common championship recognition.
One decision made at that meeting is the reason this championship page exists today.
The newly organized National Wrestling Alliance recognized:
ORVILLE BROWN
as its:
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION.
July 18, 1948 is therefore both the founding date of the National Wrestling Alliance and the date on which Brown received official recognition as the Alliance’s first World Heavyweight Champion.
Brown did not win a newly created championship in a match that day.
He was recognized.
That distinction is fundamental.
Brown already possessed substantial World Heavyweight championship credentials before the National Wrestling Alliance existed. The Alliance took an established champion and placed its collective recognition behind him.
The championship therefore began through sanctioning and recognition, not through the manufacture of a new belt.
ORVILLE BROWN
JULY 18, 1948 — NOVEMBER 27, 1949
Orville Brown entered NWA history as champion on the same day the organization was founded.
His responsibility was greater than representing one promoter.
Brown represented the Alliance.
That was the innovation.
A promoter could bring the NWA World Heavyweight Champion into his territory and advertise a challenger against a champion whose recognition extended beyond that individual city or state. The Alliance provided the structure. Brown provided the champion.
But the founders wanted to go further.
American professional wrestling still contained competing claims to the World Heavyweight Championship.
The long-term objective was consolidation.
JULY 20, 1948
LOU THESZ BECOMES NATIONAL WRESTLING ASSOCIATION WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Only two days after the National Wrestling Alliance was founded, another enormously important event occurred.
On July 20, 1948, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Lou Thesz defeated Bill Longson for the World Heavyweight Championship recognized by the older National Wrestling Association.
The similarity between the two names has caused confusion for generations.
They were different organizations.
National Wrestling Association.National Wrestling Alliance.
NOVEMBER 1, 1949
THE ACCIDENT
On November 1, 1949, Orville Brown was involved in a serious automobile accident near Bethany, Missouri.
Brown suffered severe injuries.
His wrestling career was effectively over.
He could no longer defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Most importantly, Brown had not been defeated for it.
Lou Thesz never defeated Orville Brown.
The scheduled November 25 championship confrontation never occurred.
The National Wrestling Alliance therefore faced a problem only sixteen months after its creation.
Its first World Heavyweight Champion could no longer wrestle.
The championship had to continue.
And because championship authority rested with the organization recognizing it, the Alliance had the power to determine who would represent it as champion.
NOVEMBER 27, 1949
LOU THESZ IS RECOGNIZED AS NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
The National Wrestling Alliance held its annual convention in St. Louis during November 26–27, 1949.
On November 27, 1949, the Alliance recognized Lou Thesz as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Thesz did not defeat Brown.
He did not pin him.
He did not force him to submit.
Brown’s career had ended because of the November 1 automobile accident.
The championship passed through official recognition.
That fact demonstrates something essential about the championship almost from the moment it was created:
THE AUTHORITY WAS THE RECOGNITION.
The physical belt did not determine who the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was.
The National Wrestling Alliance did.
Thesz became the recognized champion, and the consolidation of World Heavyweight championship authority that Brown had been intended to complete now centered upon him.
THE FIRST TWO NWA WORLD CHAMPIONS
ORVILLE BROWN
July 18, 1948 — November 27, 1949
First World Heavyweight Champion recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance.
LOU THESZ
November 27, 1949 — March 15, 1956
Recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance following Brown’s career-ending automobile accident.
Thesz would transform the position.
During his reign, he traveled throughout the territorial wrestling system defending the championship against leading wrestlers from individual regions.
The concept established in Waterloo in 1948 was now functioning as intended.
One Alliance.
Many territories.
One recognized World Heavyweight Champion.
MARCH 15, 1956
WHIPPER BILLY WATSON
On March 15, 1956, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Whipper Billy Watson defeated Lou Thesz to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Unlike the Brown-to-Thesz succession, this championship change happened in the ring.
Watson’s reign lasted until November 9, 1956, when Thesz defeated him in St. Louis, Missouri, and regained the championship.
NOVEMBER 14, 1957
DICK HUTTON
On November 14, 1957, in Toronto, Ontario, Dick Hutton defeated Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Hutton remained champion until January 9, 1959, when Pat O’Connor defeated him in St. Louis, Missouri.
JUNE 30, 1961
BUDDY ROGERS
On June 30, 1961, Buddy Rogers defeated Pat O’Connor at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
The match became one of the landmark championship events of the territorial era.
Rogers remained champion until January 24, 1963, when Lou Thesz defeated him in Toronto, Ontario.
Thesz was World Champion again.
JANUARY 7, 1966
GENE KINISKI
On January 7, 1966, in St. Louis, Missouri, Gene Kiniski defeated Lou Thesz to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Kiniski held the championship for more than three years.
His reign ended on February 11, 1969, in Tampa, Florida, when Dory Funk Jr. defeated him.
FEBRUARY 11, 1969
DORY FUNK JR.
Dory Funk Jr.’s reign became another defining period in NWA championship history.
He remained champion for more than four years.
On May 24, 1973, in Kansas City, Missouri, Harley Race defeated Dory Funk Jr. and became NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the first time.
Race’s first reign was brief.
On July 20, 1973, in Houston, Texas, Jack Brisco defeated Harley Race and became NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
The championship had now entered the generation that would eventually produce Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair and many of the names most closely associated with the NWA.
THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING
The first quarter-century of the championship can therefore be followed through exact dates:
July 18, 1948
National Wrestling Alliance founded in Waterloo, Iowa.
July 18, 1948
Orville Brown officially recognized as first NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
July 20, 1948
Lou Thesz defeats Bill Longson for the older National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship.
March 15, 1949
Orville Brown defeats Frank Sexton as World championship recognition continues to consolidate.
November 1, 1949
Orville Brown suffers career-ending injuries in an automobile accident.
November 25, 1949
Scheduled Brown-Thesz championship confrontation cannot take place.
November 27, 1949
Lou Thesz officially recognized as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
March 15, 1956
Whipper Billy Watson defeats Lou Thesz.
November 9, 1956
Lou Thesz defeats Watson.
November 14, 1957
Dick Hutton defeats Thesz.
January 9, 1959
Pat O’Connor defeats Hutton.
June 30, 1961
Buddy Rogers defeats O’Connor.
January 24, 1963
Lou Thesz defeats Rogers.
January 7, 1966
Gene Kiniski defeats Thesz.
February 11, 1969
Dory Funk Jr. defeats Kiniski.
May 24, 1973
Harley Race defeats Dory Funk Jr.
July 20, 1973
Jack Brisco defeats Race.
These are not simply names on a list.
They are the opening succession of the championship created through the recognition of the National Wrestling Alliance beginning on
July 18, 1948.
WHAT IS THE NWA WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP?
It is the World Heavyweight Championship recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance.
Its institutional starting date is:
JULY 18, 1948.
Its first recognized champion was:
ORVILLE BROWN.
Its championship authority came from the collective recognition of the territories belonging to the Alliance.
Its champion traveled through those territories representing something larger than any individual promotion.
That structure eventually made the NWA World Heavyweight Championship one of the most prestigious championships in the history of professional wrestling.
The territorial system changed. Promotions joined and departed.
Television changed wrestling.
The NWA changed.
The championship changed physically many times.
But the recognized championship lineage continued.
From Orville Brown on July 18, 1948, the 10 lbs of Gold championship passed through generations of wrestlers and eventually reached the present day.
Today that position belongs to:
SILAS MASON NWA WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION