NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship

This article is about the NWA welterweight title that CMLL introduced in 2010. For the original NWA middleweight title created in 1939, see NWA World Welterweight Championship.
NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship

A picture of masked wrestler Último Guerrero in the ring during and outdoor wrestling event

Último Guerrero, the current NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion (before he lost his mask in 2014)
Details
Promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Date established August 12, 2010[1]
Current champion(s) Último Guerrero[2]
Date won August 31, 2015[2]
Other name(s)
CMLL Historic Middleweight Championship[3]

The NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship (Campeonato Mundial Historico de Peso Medio de la NWA in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The title, being a professional wrestling championship, is not won legitimately: it is instead won via a scripted ending to a wrestling match. The official definition of the middleweight weight class in Mexico is between 82 kg (181 lb) and 87 kg (192 lb), but is not always strictly enforced. For example, the current NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion Último Guerrero is billed as weighing 95 kg (209 lb).

For over 62 years CMLL controlled NWA World Middleweight Championship, even after leaving the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in the late 1980s. Up until 2010 the NWA more or less ignored CMLL's use of the championship, but in March 2010 Blue Demon Jr., the president of the newly formed NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, demanding that they stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the organization. NWA Mexico had previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship belt and named Averno, the final CMLL-recognized NWA World Middleweight Champion, as the inaugural champion.

Background

A close of up of a masked wrestler, wearing a blue fabric mask with white horns.
Averno, the first NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion

In 1933 the Mexican National Middleweight Championship was introduced as Yaqui Joe won it in a tournament. The same year Salvador Lutteroth founded Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL; "Mexican Wrestling Enterprise") and would later be allowed to host matches for the Mexican National Middleweight Championship although they did not have exclusive rights to the championship.[4][5]

In either late-1938 or early-1939 Lutteroth and EMLL declared that Gus Kallio, due to holding the National Wrestling Association World Middleweight Championship was also recognized as the World Middleweight Champion in Mexico.[6] On February 19, 1939 Kallio lost the championship to EMLL wrestler Octavio Gaona, to create EMLL's main championship for the middleweight division.[6] In 1952 EMLL joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the middleweight championship was rebranded as the NWA World Middleweight Championship from that point forward.[6] In 1989 EMLL left the NWA because the promoters did not want to deal with the internal politics of the NWA at the time.[7] While they left the NWA they kept promoting the NWA Wold Middleweight Championship as well as the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship that they had controlled for years.[6][8][9]

In 1991. EMLL changed their name to "Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre" (CMLL; "World Wrestling Council") and began to introduce a number of CMLL branded championships. On December 18, 1991, Blue Panther won the CMLL World Middleweight Championship in a tournament, giving CMLL control of three different middleweight championships at the time.[4][6][10] In 1992, then-CMLL promoter Antonio Peña left CMLL along with a number of CMLL wrestlers, and founded rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA).[11] One of the wrestlers that left CMLL was Octagón, who was the reigning Mexican National Middleweight Champion. The Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission granted AAA the rights to promote the Mexican National Middleweight Championship from that point on.[4][5]

On December 4, 1993, Corazón de León won the NWA World Middleweight Championship on a CMLL show and then took the title with him when he began working in Japan.[6] On November 8, 1994, Último Dragón won the championship and for the next 10 years the title was promoted primarily in Japan.[6] On September 3, 2004, Averno defeated Zumbido to win the vacant championship, bringing it back under CMLL's control.[12]

In March 2010, Blue Demon Jr., the president of the newly formed NWA Mexico, reached out to CMLL, demanding that they stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. While the NWA had previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, those requests were ignored by CMLL.[13][14] The promotion did not directly respond to the latest request either; instead the then-NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented on the situation, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL.[15] Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL announced that they were replacing the NWA World Middleweight Championship with the CMLL World Historic Middleweight Championship and named Averno, the final CMLL-recognized NWA World Middleweight Champion, as the inaugural champion.[1] When Averno made his first appearance with the championship it had been rebranded as the "NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship" (Campeonato Mundial Historico de Peso Medio de la NWA in Spanish).[1]

Reigns

Color photo of Mexican wrestler Volador Jr. during a match
Volador Jr., the shortest reigning champion at 45 days (takein in May 2016).

Último Guerrero is the current NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion, having defeated the previous champion, La Sombra, on August 31, 2015 in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.[2] Último Guerrero is the seventh overall champion, with no wrestler holding the championship more than once so far. The championship has not been declared vacant since it's creation in 2010 and has been defended in both Mexico and in Japan.[16][17][18] Volador Jr. was the shortest reigning champion, holding the title for 45 days in early 2012,[19][20] while La Sombra currently holds the record for the longest reign, 953 days or over two-and-a-half years.[2][18] When La Sombra defeated Dragón Rojo Jr. to win the championship during the Fantastica Mania 2013 show in Bunkyo, Tokyo, it marked the first time the championship changed hands outside of Mexico.[3][16][17][18][19][20]

With his victory on August 31, 2015, Último Guerrero became the oldest wrestler to win the championship, being 43 years, 183 days old,[2][21] while La Sombra was the youngest wrestler to win the championship, 23 years, 78 days old.[18][22] At an official weight of 79 kg (174 lb) Averno is the lightest wrestler to hold the championship,[22] while Último Guerrero, at 93 kg (205 lb), is the heaviest champion.[21]

Rules

The championship, being a professional wrestling championship, is not won legitimately: it is instead won via a scripted ending to a wrestling match. The official definition of the middleweight weight class in Mexico is between 82 kg (181 lb) and 87 kg (192 lb), but is not always strictly enforced.[23] For example, the current NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion Último Guerrero is billed as weighing 93 kg (205 lb), significantly above the official weight limit.[24] All championship matches held in Mexico take place under best two-out-of-three-falls rules,[16][17] while championship matches held in Japan normally conform to the one fall rule that is customary in Japanese wrestling.[18]

Title history

Key
Symbol Meaning
# The overall championship reign
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
N/A The specific information is not known
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref
1 Averno 1 August 12, 2010 467 N/A N/A Averno was the final CMLL-recognized NWA World Middleweight Champion and was thus named the first NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion. [3]
2 La Máscara 1 November 22, 2011 84 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Live event [16]
3 Volador Jr. 1 February 14, 2012 45 Guadalajara, Jalisco CMLL Guadalajara Martes [19]
4 Devitt, PrincePrince Devitt 1 March 30, 2012 182 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Super Viernes [20]
5 Dragón Rojo Jr. 1 September 28, 2012 114 Mexico City, Distrito Federal CMLL Super Viernes [17]
6 Sombra, LaLa Sombra 1 January 20, 2013 953 Bunkyo, Tokyo Fantastica Mania 2013   [18]
7 Último Guerrero 1 August 31, 2015 464+ Puebla, Puebla CMLL Lunes Clasicos   [2]

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Campeones" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Último Guerrero destronó a La Sombra". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Boutwell, Josh (August 20, 2010). "Viva la Raza! Lucha Weekly". Wrestleview. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  5. 1 2 "Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). 2004-12-20. Especial 21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middlweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ↑ Madigan, Dan (2007). "Okay ... what is Lucha Libre?". Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 29–40 and 114–118. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  8. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  9. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA Welterweight Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  10. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: EMLL CMLL Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Middleweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 395. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  11. ↑ Ocampo, Ernesto (October 7, 2006). "El fin de una era" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Número Especial - Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2004". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 12, 2011. 399.
  13. ↑ "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana 2008". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 6, 2009. 296. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  14. ↑ "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana 2009". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 8, 2010. 348.
  15. ↑ Ruiz Glez, Alex (March 12, 2010). "Mephisto responde a Blue Demon Jr.: "No tengo que entrar a ninguna eliminatoria porque yo soy el campeón..."". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Huerta, Diego (November 22, 2011). "La Máscara recuperó el cetro Peso Medio". Récord (in Spanish). Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 29, 2012). "Viernes 28 de Septiembre '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2013". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  19. 1 2 3 Ruiz Glez, Alex (February 15, 2012). "Coliseo de Guadalajara (resultados 14 de Febrero 2012) Volador Jr. nuevo Campeón Mundial Histórico Peso Medio NWA". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 Salazar López, Alexis A. (March 31, 2012). "Viernes 30 de Marzo '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  21. 1 2 PWI Staff (February 2009). "PWI Official Rankings". The Pro Wrestling Illustrated. London Publishing. p. 145. Vol 30, Nr. 2 2009.
  22. 1 2 "Statistics for Professional wrestlers". PWI Presents: 2008 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts. Kappa Publications. pp. 66–79. 2008 Edition.
  23. ↑ Arturo Montiel Rojas (2001-08-30). "Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2006. Retrieved July 6, 2012. Articulo 242: "Super welter 82 kilos / Medio 87 kilos"
  24. ↑ "Último Guerrero". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). April 17, 2015. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
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