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56-1130: (Redirected from CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship ) Professional wrestling championship CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship [REDACTED] The championship belt Details Promotion Continental Wrestling Association , American Wrestling Association Date established February 1983 Date retired December 7, 1987 Other name(s) CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship CWA International Heavyweight Championship AWA International US Heavyweight Championship Mid-Southern International Championship AWA International Championship Statistics First champion(s) Austin Idol Final champion(s) Jerry Lawler Most reigns Jerry Lawler , Bill Dundee (4 times) Longest reign Austin Idol (203 days) Shortest reign Jerry Lawler (1 hour) The AWA International Heavyweight Championship , originally known as

112-570: A 1997 interview with the Memphis Flyer , Lawler claimed he had improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident. Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography "It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes," Lawler detailed how they came up with the angle and kept it quiet. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman

168-635: A 1999 house show in Toronto . If there is a title change, the title usually changes back during the same show or at another show on the loop before another televised event, like several titles changes of the WWE Hardcore Championship or when Booker T and Chris Benoit traded the WCW World Television Championship back-and-forth on several house shows, with Booker (the official champion) always having

224-444: A chair several times. Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler would not fight against each other for the rest of 1981. This was a notable feud as it marked the first time Terry Funk ever wrestled Jerry Lawler, with both men putting on two classic wrestling matches that some might say are the best in wrestling history. Deceased individuals are indicated with a cross (†). House show House shows are also often scripted to make

280-410: A host of other teams were regulars. During the mid-1970s the focal point of the territory changed from tag wrestling to singles action. In the mid-1970s the territory split in two, with separate promoters for each half. Jerry Jarrett was in charge of Memphis, Louisville, Lexington and Evansville while still part of NWA Mid-America, while Nick Gulas , who had been the primary booker, continued to promote

336-619: A large sum of money into what he thought was a 10%-share of the promotion and learned that Gulas had tricked him into paying for an option to buy less (which by the time he learned had already expired), he decided to go his own way. Jarrett decided to break away by starting competing cards at the Cook Convention Center in March 1977. Gulas, who lived in Nashville, eventually made "Music City" his home base, running weekly cards at

392-399: A live audience, and with the increase in number of pay-per-view events held by promotions, angles are now typically developed during weekly shows, and resolved during the next pay-per-view (or, on occasion, a special episode of the series), rendering house shows to be mostly minor events with no long-term story significance. Since house shows are not televised, promotions do not usually deploy

448-710: A new stage was introduced that closer-resembles the stages used by televised events at the time. During the first brand extension , each WWE tour was exclusive to either the Raw or SmackDown brand. This remained the case through 2012, even after the first brand extension ended in 2011 on televised programming. In 2013, the shows were rebranded as "WWE Live", with NXT house shows subsequently branded as "NXT Live". After WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, WWE began to brand house shows held on weekends as "Saturday Night's Main Event" (reviving

504-484: A one-fall contest to a Texas death match. The stipulations of these matches varied from a title vs Cadillac match, where Lawler promised to take the Southern Heavyweight Title, the main championship in the promotion, from Dundee or he would give Dundee his Cadillac. Another stipulation was that Dundee said he would shave his head if he did not win the title from Lawler. Dundee lost this match, but

560-454: A rematch. Funk wanted this rematch to take place in an empty arena. Funk's justification for this was that he did not trust the audience or referee, who he felt were on Lawler's side. The match took place in an empty Mid-south Coliseum on April 6, 1981, and it aired on television on April 25, 1981. The only people at this match other than Lawler and Funk was Lance Russell, a cameraman, and a photographer. The match ended after Lawler had stuck

616-503: A totally separate promotion run by Jarrett. In 1980 after only three years, the Gulas territory folded when Gulas retired and the CWA took over some of the more profitable locations (e.g. Nashville). After the split from Nick Gulas, the CWA became a National Wrestling Alliance affiliate, which entitled the CWA to NWA World Heavyweight Championship defenses. The champion regularly toured through

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672-476: A tournament to win the vacant title.  35   Manny Fernandez   November 2, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  35  36   Jerry Lawler   December 7, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  4  0 — Unified   December 7, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee — — Unified with

728-569: A wooden spike in Funk's eye. This was after Funk made the spike from smashing it against the ring post and tried to drive the spike into Lawler's eye. According to Jim Cornette, former wrestling manager and wrestling historian, Funk left the CWA for a month to wrestle in Japan. Funk did return later in 1981, where he came on television and asked where Lawler was. Lawler was not present in the studio, so Terry Funk decided to take out his anger by punching

784-863: The CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship (also identified as the Mid-Southern International Championship and the AWA International Championship ) was a major professional wrestling title defended in the Continental Wrestling Association . It was created in 1983 from the CWA's partnership with the American Wrestling Association . The title lasted until 1987, when it was unified with

840-625: The Championship Wrestling Association ) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett . The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling or the Memphis territory. This promotion was a chief NWA territory during the 1970s and early 1980s while operating out of Tennessee and Kentucky . The CWA

896-546: The Mid-south Coliseum . In those matches, the pair sold out the Mid-south Coliseum once on August 1, where 11,300 people came to watch the two fight. Jimmy Hart would try to bring in wrestlers from other areas to fight Jerry Lawler. Hart did this because Lawler had broken his leg. So, Hart wanted to bring in a wrestler to break Jerry's leg. One of the wrestlers brought in was Terry Funk. Terry Funk

952-742: The NWA Mid-America Heavyweight and AWA Southern Heavyweight championships, creating the CWA Heavyweight Championship . Title history [ edit ] 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  1   Austin Idol   February 1983   N/A  1   125 Idol

1008-4377: The NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship and AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship to create the CWA Heavyweight Championship See also [ edit ] AEW International Championship AWA Superstars of Wrestling International Heavyweight Championship CWA Heavyweight Championship NWA International Heavyweight Championship WCW International World Heavyweight Championship WWF International Heavyweight Championship References [ edit ] ^ Hoops, Brian (March 7, 2020). "Daily Pro Wrestling history (03/07): Bruno Sammartino vs. Giant Baba" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved March 8, 2020 . ^ Hoops, Brian (July 25, 2015). "On this day in history - Demon Vs. Santo, Gagne Vs. Kiniski" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved February 11, 2017 . External links [ edit ] CWA International Heavyweight Championship history – Wrestling-Titles.com Mid-South Coliseum results – ProWrestlingHistory.com AWA International Heavyweight Championship history – Wrestling Information Archive v t e American Wrestling Association Championships World World Heavyweight World Heavyweight ( Omaha version ) World Light Heavyweight World Women's Secondary America's Brass Knuckles British Empire International Heavyweight International Television Midwest Heavyweight Southern Heavyweight United States Heavyweight Tag team International Tag Team Midwest Tag Team NWA World Tag Team ( Minneapolis version ) Southern Tag Team World Tag Team Major shows Super Sunday SuperClash 1985 II III IV WrestleRock '86 Television shows AWA All-Star Wrestling AWA Championship Wrestling Key people Verne Gagne Greg Gagne Wally Karbo List of personnel Partnerships All Japan Pro Wrestling Catch Wrestling Association International Pro Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling Southwest Championship Wrestling Universal Wrestling Association Other Attendance records AWA Superstars of Wrestling Pro Wrestling USA Remco Action Figure line v t e Continental Wrestling Association and United States Wrestling Association Championships Continental Wrestling Association CWA Heavyweight Championship CWA Tag Team Championship CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship CWA Super Heavyweight Championship CWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship CWA World Heavyweight Championship CWA World Tag Team Championship NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship NWA United States Tag Team Championship NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship CWA/AWA International Tag Team Championship AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship AWA Southern Tag Team Championship United States Wrestling Association USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship USWA Tag Team Championship USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship USWA Television Championship USWA Women's Championship USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship USWA Middleweight Championship Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AWA_International_Heavyweight_Championship&oldid=1152094700 " Categories : American Wrestling Association championships Continental Wrestling Association championships Heavyweight wrestling championships International professional wrestling championships Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles with hCards Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later

1064-786: The WCW Cruiserweight Championship on an unspecified house show (thereby giving the title to Psychosis), after WCW management was forced to drop Lane's gimmick that was perceived as offensive by the GLAAD . The phrase has been used to pejoratively describe WWE pay-per-views intended primarily for specific markets, including UK-only pay-per-views such as Insurrextion and Rebellion , and WWE's events in Saudi Arabia . In 2019, Shawn Michaels defended his one-off return at WWE's 2018 Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia (reuniting D-Generation X to participate in

1120-474: The face wrestlers win most matches, largely to send the crowd home happy. If a heel defends a title, the face may win by disqualification, preventing the title from changing hands. Until the 1990s, most televised professional wrestling programs were taped weeks in advance in small studios and featured primarily matches with lesser-known wrestlers while interviews revolved around feuds between upper level talent that were to be settled at an upcoming major show at

1176-599: The AWA and the CWA into one federation in an attempt to counter the World Wrestling Federation ’s national expansion. The federation was renamed the Championship Wrestling Association in late-1987 when Lawler began co-promoting with Jarrett. Subsequently, all singles titles in the CWA ( AWA Southern , CWA/AWA International and NWA Mid-America Heavyweight ) were merged in order to recognize one CWA Heavyweight Champion. On May 9, 1988 in Memphis, Lawler took on

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1232-1084: The Continental Wrestling Association. Throughout the existence of the CWA, there were notable feuds that took place. These feuds included Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee in 1977, and Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler in 1981. The professional wrestling territory commonly referred to as the “Memphis Area” was originally part of the NWA Mid-America promotion that was founded in the 1940s. It operated in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, but also included stops in surrounding cities and states. The "NWA Mid-American" territory featured tag teams in nearly all of its main events, and sometimes featuring only one or two singles matches to complement an evening of tag matches. Such teams as The Von Brauners , The Interns, The Infernos, The Bounty Hunters, Tojo Yamamoto and Jerry Jarrett, Don and Al Green, Bobby Hart and Lorenzo Parente, The Fabulous Kangaroos , Jerry Lawler and Jim White , The Fabulous Fargos, and

1288-480: The Fairgrounds and all over mid-Tennessee. Originally Gulas was backed by many of the areas top draws. Jarrett, however, was backed by Jerry Lawler, who had just toppled Jackie Fargo as the headliner of the Memphis area. Gulas did attempt to run shows in Memphis for some time but without the headliner, Lawler, he could not compete. This split between Gulas and Jarrett created the Continental Wrestling Association as

1344-628: The Mid-South Coliseum shows wrestling women in the undercard matches, and after winning Kaufman would berate the Memphis crowd and proclaim his own greatness in the sport. He even went so far as to claim that no woman could beat him and if they did – he would marry that woman. Jerry Lawler, however, was a proud defender of wrestling and angry at Kaufman for mocking the sport that made him a star, so he decided to coach one of Kaufman's opponents. Kaufman still won despite Lawler's coaching and gloated until Lawler had enough and pushed Kaufman, sending

1400-406: The Mid-South Coliseum wearing a neck brace, vowing to get even with Lawler. The feud got national exposure in several newspapers after Kaufman's supposed injury, and it would get even more press after Kaufman discussed it on Saturday Night Live . On July 27, 1982, Kaufman and Lawler were guests of David Letterman on Late Night with David Letterman . Kaufman still wore a neck brace even though

1456-590: The NBC network executives uneasy, believing that the hatred between the two was real and that mayhem could break out at any time. Kaufman and Lawler kept claiming that their hatred and actions were real, but they were later revealed to have been a staged " work ", as the two were actually friends. The truth about it being a work was kept secret for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death until the Emmy nominated documentary A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman aired on NBC in 1995. In

1512-568: The Rougeau's home town of Montreal. This change (and the eventual "decision reversal") was only ever mentioned during segments taped specifically for and shown in the Montreal market. A fictional house show can be used to explain a sudden vacation or change of a title caused due to backstage issues on television. For example, on October 4, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro , the commentators stated that Psychosis had defeated Lenny Lane for

1568-632: The WWF Championship from Bob Backlund in 1994 at a live event in Madison Square Garden . There have also been occasions when title changes occur but are not recognized by the promotion. Some notable house show title changes include an August 10, 1987 match where The Rougeau Brothers ( Raymond and Jacques ) won over the champion Hart Foundation ( Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart ) to take the WWF Tag Team championship in

1624-419: The advent of WWE Network , WWE has televised portions of what are otherwise house shows as hour-long specials on the service, such as Starrcade —an event that shares the name with the flagship pay-per-view of the now-defunct WCW (whose assets were acquired by WWE), and The Shield's Final Chapter —a special which featured Dean Ambrose 's final WWE appearance with his stable The Shield before his departure from

1680-498: The alleged injury had occurred 5 months before. Lawler described the neck brace as a "flea collar" and tensions rose between them until Lawler stood up and slapped the Kaufman out of his chair and off the stage. Kaufman unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on Lawler, culminating with Kaufmann throwing a cup of coffee at him. Kaufman continued cursing Lawler as he (Kaufmann) stormed out of the studio. The antics of Lawler and Kaufman made

1736-595: The branding of a former WWE television series ) and "Sunday Night Stunner". Because house shows are not televised, sometimes controversial things occur during them (although this is rare) which might not happen on a televised show. For example, on May 19, 1996, the MSG "Curtain Call" , which was also a rare example of a shoot , occurred at a house show taped at Madison Square Garden . At the same show, The Bodydonnas lost their WWF Tag Team Championship to The Godwinns . With

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1792-521: The comedian on a tirade. The fans loved every second of it, watching the local star defend the sport against the arrogant actor from Hollywood. During the inevitable Lawler/Kaufman match, Lawler executed two Piledrivers (a move that was "banned" in Memphis) after which Kaufman was carried out of the arena on a stretcher (kayfabe). The following day several newspapers reported that Kaufman had in fact broken his neck. Several weeks later, Kaufman returned to

1848-669: The cooperative attempt with the AWA failed, Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW from the Von Erichs and unified the two promotions as the United States Wrestling Association in 1989, thus ending the era of Continental Wrestling Association. Through the summer until the early fall of 1977, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee had their first of many feuds take place. From July to September, the pair faced each other 10 times. The matches varied in types of wrestling matches and in stipulations. The types of matches varied from

1904-445: The early 1980s, Andy Kaufman routinely wrestled women during his shows, proclaiming himself the “Intergender Wrestling Champion” and offering women $ 1000 if they could beat him. As part of this performance, Kaufman would imply that these matches were “real” and thus also imply that professional wrestling was not “real”, which countered the sacrosanct belief of fans in that era that wrestling was "real". Kaufman even started appearing in

1960-796: The early 1990s. These shows showcased a series of wrestlers as they made their way through the Memphis territory including Hulk Hogan , Harley Race , Terry Funk , Jack Brisco , and Ric Flair . The biggest run of the promotion was the Jerry Lawler- Jimmy Hart feud which lasted throughout the early 1980s. Jimmy Hart's "First Family" included dozens of wrestlers who Hart brought in to face Lawler. Included in this list were The Iron Sheik , The Dream Machine, The Nightmares, Eddie Gilbert , Ken Patera , Jesse Ventura , Hulk Hogan, Bugsy McGraw , Kevin Sullivan , Bobby Eaton , "Killer Tim Brooks", and Paul Ellering . The feud ended when Hart

2016-470: The end of the match, Jimmy Hart showed up revealing the bandaged man to be Andy Kaufman. In the confusion Bockwinkel won the match. The Lawler/Kaufman feud ended in the early part of 1983 after Lawler threw a fireball at Kaufman, ending his run with the CWA. After Kaufman left, Lawler refocused his efforts on Jimmy Hart and his First Family stable . Lawler challenging for the World title and almost winning it

2072-403: The other half of the territory. Many of the wrestlers in the promotion were upset at Gulas for over booking his son George Gulas in the profitable Memphis half of the territory. It was very hard to believe that George could regularly beat his larger more experienced foes. George was given matches and wins over longtime veterans of the territory without "paying his dues". After Jarrett had invested

2128-411: The promotion's flagship venues. Prior to the 1980s, these were house shows, though with the advent of closed-circuit television , and later pay-per-view , these became televised events as well. Later on in the 1990s, the advent of weekly shows such as WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro , where competitive matches between upper level talent and storylines play out as they happen in front of

2184-535: The promotion. Starting in March 2023, All Elite Wrestling launched a series of house shows under the "House Rules" brand. Most major promotions try to develop their angles only during televised shows and will rarely book a major development (such as a title change) for house shows. House show title changes can occur both to gauge how fans would react to a certain outcome, and allow for outcomes that would appeal to local fans—such as Edge winning his first WWF Intercontinental Championship over Jeff Jarrett at

2240-492: The ratings for the weekly CWA show which drew previously unheard of shares behind the strength of Lawler's local popularity. Throughout the late 1970s, the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Jerry Lawler also engaged in feuds with Dutch Mantell , Robert Fuller , The Mongolian Stomper , Bruiser Brody , Jimmy Valiant , Austin Idol , Rocky Johnson , Tommy Rich , Randy Savage , Rick Rude , and Bill Dundee among others. These men were also on and off again partners to Lawler. In

2296-801: The reigning AWA World Champion Curt Hennig and won the title. As the year went on the AWA/CWA alliance was expanded to include the World Class Wrestling Association out of Texas, with a title unification match set for the AWA’s first (and only) pay-per-view , AWA SuperClash III . Lawler retained the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and won the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion—the match

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2352-401: The ring after he had his head slammed into a table by Lawler. This match is remembered as being the first time Lawler had ever dropped his strap on his wrestling singlet and not won the match immediately. Before this match, Lawler would drop his strap and immediately beat his opponent. After this match, Funk was extremely upset that he had lost. He wanted to get his revenge on Lawler during

2408-481: The same setup for staging or pyrotechnics used for their television counterparts. In the past, a WWE house show would consist mainly of a ring, essential lighting, and a crowd. In late 2011, WWE invested US$ 1.5 million in production improvements, which included three LED -lit entrance stages (one each for Raw and SmackDown , and one backup) featuring a ramp and video display, and leveraging venues' existing AV equipment for multimedia such as entrances . As of 2021,

2464-868: The territory defending the title against top contenders. The main title of the CWA was the Southern Heavyweight Title, which was nominally sanctioned by the NWA (into 1978) or the AWA (beginning in 1978). The cornerstone of the CWA was the weekly Monday night shows from the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, where the cards regularly drew full houses. These shows were repeated in some form weekly in Louisville and Nashville (on Saturday nights). Having three major shows at all three cities, and additional shows through other towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Northern Alabama provided significant profits into

2520-543: The title back in time for Nitro . Edge similarly lost the aforementioned Intercontinental Championship back to Jarrett at Fully Loaded the next evening in Buffalo . Even rarer is the top title of a promotion changing hands. This has occurred relatively few times, notable occurrences include Bret Hart winning the then- WWF Championship from Ric Flair in 1992 at a live event in Saskatchewan and Diesel winning

2576-1077: The title by countout.  21   Phil Hickerson   October 21, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  3  19  22   Dutch Mantel   November 9, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  86  23   Rick Casey   February 3, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  28  24   Abdul Gaddafi   March 3, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  21  25   Billy Travis   March 24, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  42  26   Bill Dundee   May 5, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  70  27   Jerry Lawler   July 14, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  3  56 This

2632-445: The week after promised to beat Lawler for the title or else he would shave his wife's head. Dundee lost this match as well, and his wife's head was shaven. This was a notable feud in the CWA, as it did a lot of business in terms of ticket sales. According to newspaper clippings, the pair sold a total of 85,538 tickets over their 10-match feud. That is roughly an average of 8,500 people coming to watch wrestling every Monday night at

2688-1435: Was a "loser leaves town" match. — Vacated   September 8, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee — — Vacated for undocumented reasons  28   Big Bubba   October 6, 1986   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  90  29   Soul Train Jones   January 4, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  106  30   Chick Donovan   April 20, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  54  31   Bill Dundee   June 13, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  65  32   George Barnes   August 17, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  14  33   Bill Dundee   August 31, 1987   House show Memphis, Tennessee  3  41 — Vacated   October 11, 1987 — — — — Dundee and Lawler wins AWA World Tag Team Titles  34   Bill Dundee   October 27, 1987   House show Nashville, Tennessee  4  6 Won

2744-458: Was a National Wrestling Alliance champion from 1975 to 1977, and was considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers of his generation. The first Lawler vs Funk match occurred on March 23, 1981, in the Mid-south Coliseum. This match was a No Disqualification match. Terry Funk had Jimmy Hart at ringside. The two men wrestled for about 11 minutes. Jerry Lawler won the match by count out, as Terry Funk had been incapacitated and could not return to

2800-1838: Was a bullrope match.  9   Randy Savage   April 23, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  21  10   Austin Idol   May 14, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  4  33  11   Masao Ito   June 16, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  23  12   Tommy Rich   July 9, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  48  13   Eddie Gilbert   August 26, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  22  14   Dutch Mantel   September 17, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  7  15   Eddie Gilbert   September 24, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  95  16   Terry Taylor   December 28, 1984   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  191  17   Phil Hickerson   July 7, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  8  18   Terry Taylor   July 15, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  7  19   Phil Hickerson   July 22, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  70  20   Mongolian Stomper   September 30, 1985   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  21 Won

2856-482: Was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance until 1986 and affiliated with the American Wrestling Association until 1989. In 1989, the CWA merged with the World Class Wrestling Association to form the United States Wrestling Association thus ceasing to exist as a separate entity. Lance Russell and Dave Brown were the television commentators and hosts for the Memphis territory, including

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2912-597: Was a recurring theme throughout the mid-1980s, with neither the AWA nor the NWA being willing to actually put their main title on Lawler. The NWA World title was not defended very often in the Memphis area, usually touring with companies that had more political clout in the Alliance, which meant that the CWA actually featured the AWA World champion more regularly than the group of which they were actually dues-paying members. In 1988, plans were set in motion to actually merge

2968-1098: Was awarded the title as the first champion.  2   Jerry Lawler   March 7, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  70  3   Ken Patera   May 16, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  70  4   Jerry Lawler   July 25, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  21  5   Ken Patera   August 15, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  26  6   Austin Idol   September 10, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  2  2  7   Stan Hansen   September 12, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  1  21  8   Austin Idol   October 3, 1983   House show Memphis, Tennessee  3  203 This

3024-436: Was signed by the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, and Lawler won a match against Eddie Gilbert in which the stipulation was Hart leaving the territory. The federation also aired live Saturday-morning wrestling cards from the studios of WMC-TV in Memphis, hosted by Lance Russell and Dave Brown . In the territorial era of wrestling, many local promotions had huge ratings with their wrestling shows, but none of them topped

3080-510: Was stopped due to excessive blood loss from Kerry Von Erich —and was declared the “Unified World Champion”, cementing his claim by carrying the AWA and WCCW titles with him. Due to controversies following the PPV, the CWA (and WCCW) broke off their relationship with the AWA, and Lawler was stripped of the AWA World title. In retaliation, Lawler kept the physical AWA World Heavyweight championship belt for not getting his payoff for SuperClash III. After

3136-548: Was the comedian's own idea. At the end of 1982, Jerry Lawler had seemingly won the American Wrestling Association (AWA)'s World Title from Nick Bockwinkel , but due to the match's controversial ending, the title was returned to Bockwinkel with a rematch scheduled for January 1983. On the night of the match, manager Jimmy Hart showed up in Bockwinkel's corner, face bandaged after being beaten up by Lawler in December. Near

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