American Heavyweight Championship

American Heavyweight Championship
Details
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.

Title history

Wrestler: Times: Date Won: Location: Notes:
Edwin Bibby 1 January 19, 1881 New York City, New York Defeats Duncan C. Ross in a catch-as-catch-can match for "the championship of America".
Joe Acton 1 August 7, 1882 New York City, 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, Illinois 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, Illinois
Dan McLeod 1 October 26, 1897 Indianapolis, Indiana
Yusuf İsmail 1 June 20, 1898 Chicago, Illinois Ismail defeated Evan "Strangler" Lewis for the American Heavyweight Championship in Chicago, Illinois. Lewis was neither able to overcome Ismail's massive size and strength nor manage to use his sleeper hold during the match. Ismail had the $5,000 prize money converted to gold and carried it in a money belt along with the title.
Tom Jenkins 1 November 7, 1901
Dan McLeod 2 December 25, 1902 Worcester, Massachusetts Jenkins forfeited the title to McLeod after having blood poisoning in his leg during their match.
Tom Jenkins 2 April 3, 1903 Buffalo, New York [1]
Frank Gotch 1 January 27, 1904 Bellingham, Washington
Tom Jenkins 3 March 15, 1905 New York City, New York
Frank Gotch 2 May 23, 1906 Kansas City, Missouri [2]
Fred Beell 1 December 1, 1906 New Orleans, Louisiana [3]
Frank Gotch 3 December 17, 1906 Kansas City, Missouri [3]
Vacant 1910 Gotch vacates the title after two years as a double crown champion to concentrate on the World Heavyweight Championship he won from Georg Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois.[1]
Henry Ordemann 1 October 25, 1910 Minneapolis, Minnesota Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch.
Charlie Cutler 1 February 1, 1911 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dr. Benjamin Roller 1 March 6, 1911 Chicago, Illinois
Charlie Cutler 2 March 25, 1911 Buffalo, New York
Jess Reimer 1 November 7, 1911 Des Moines, Iowa
Henry Ordemann 2 December 14, 1911 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Charlie Cutler 3 March 25, 1912 Chicago, Illinois 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, Michigan
Ed "Strangler" Lewis 1 September 18, 1913 Lexington, Kentucky
William Demetral 1 October 21, 1913 Lexington, Kentucky
Dr. Benjamin Roller 3 July 10, 1914 Rock Island, Illinois Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Roller during an international tournament on January 15, 1916 in New York City, New York (title may not be on line).
Wladek Zbyszko 1 January 8, 1917 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Still/again champion as of September 22, 1922 (or a different reign, possibly by winning a tournament which has started on February 21, 1922).
Retired Title forgotten and abandoned.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 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.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. 1 2 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
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