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]
Title history
Wrestler
Times
Date won
Location
Notes
Edwin Bibby
1
January 19, 1881
New York, New York
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, New York
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 , IL
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 , IL
Dan McLeod
1
October 26, 1897
Indianapolis , IN
Yusuf İsmail
1
1898
Dan McLeod
2
December 25, 1902
Worcester, Mass.
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, Wash.
Tom Jenkins
3
March 15, 1905
New York, New York
Frank Gotch
2
May 23, 1906
Kansas City, Missouri
[5]
Fred Beell
1
December 1, 1906
New Orleans , LA
[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 , MN
Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch .
Charlie Cutler
1
February 1, 1911
Minneapolis , MN
Dr. Benjamin Roller
1
March 6, 1911
Chicago , IL
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 , MN
Charlie Cutler
3
March 25, 1912
Chicago , IL
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, Mich.
Ed "Strangler" Lewis
1
September 18, 1913
Lexington, Ky.
William Demetral
1
October 21, 1913
Lexington, Ky.
Dr. Benjamin Roller
3
July 10, 1914
Rock Island, Ill.
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, Penn.
Still/again champion as of September 22, 1922 (or a different reign, possibly by winning a tournament which has started on February 21, 1922).
See also
References
^ "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
External links