AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

[ Japanese ]

Pat O'Connor	59/01/09	St. Louis, MO
Reigning NWA World Heavyweight champion, recognized as the first AWA World Heavyweight champion in 60/05, but given 90 days to defend the title against Verne Gagne or be stripped.
Verne Gagne	60/08/16
Awarded after O'Connor fails to defend the title against Gagne.
Gene Kiniski	61/07/11	Minneapolis, MN
Verne Gagne [2]	61/08/08	Minneapolis, MN
Mister M (Bill Miller)	62/01/09	Minneapolis, MN
Verne Gagne [3]	62/08/21	Minneapolis, MN
Crusher Lisowski	63/07/09	Minneapolis, MN
Has won Omaha world title from Verne Gagne on 63/02/15 in Omaha, NE.
Verne Gagne [4]	63/07/20	Minneapolis, MN
Wins both Omaha and AWA titles.
Fritz Von Erich	63/07/27	Omaha, NE
Wins both Omaha and AWA titles.
Verne Gagne [5]	63/08/08	Amarillo, TX
Wins AWA world title; defeats Von Erich on 63/09/07 in Omaha, NE to unify Omaha World title.
Crusher Lisowski [2]	63/11/16	St. Paul, MN
Verne Gagne [6]	63/12/14	Minneapolis, MN
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon	64/05/02	Omaha, NE
Verne Gagne [7]	64/05/16	Omaha, NE
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon [2]	64/10/20	Minneapolis, MN
Mighty Igor Vodic	65/05/15	Omaha, NE
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon [3]	65/05/22	Omaha, NE
Crusher Lisowski [3]	65/08/21	St. Paul, MN
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon [4]	65/11/12	Denver, CO
Tim Woods #	66/01/08	Omaha, NE
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon #	66/01/14	Omaha, NE
AWA president Stanley Blackburn reviews the match from 66/01/08 and declares it "no contenst" on 66/01/14 since Woods's legs are on the rope while pinning Vachon during the final fall; Vachon defeats Woods on 66/01/14.
Dick the Bruiser	66/11/12	Omaha, NE
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon [5]	66/11/19	Omaha, NE
Verne Gagne [8]	67/02/26	St. Paul, MN
Dr. X (Dick Beyer)	68/08/17	Bloomington, MN
Verne Gagne [9]	68/08/31	Minneapolis, MN
Nick Bockwinkel	75/11/08	St. Paul, MN
Wrestle to a double cout-out against WWF Heavyweight champion Bob Backlund on 79/03/25 in Toronto, ON.
Verne Gagne [10]	80/07/18	Chicago, IL
Nick Bockwinkel [2]	81/05/19
Awarded when Gagne retires.
Hulk Hogan #	82/04/18	St. Paul, MN
Defeats Bockwinkle, with both parties using a foreign object during the match, and is declared by the referee as champion.
Nick Bockwinkel #	82/04/24
Awarded back by AWA president Stanley Blackburn due to the involvement of a foreign object during the match.
Otto Wanz	82/08/29	St. Paul, MN
Nick Bockwinkel [3]	82/10/09	Chicago, IL
Jerry Lawler #	82/12/27	Memphis, TN
Held up afterwards.
Nick Bockwinkel [4]	83/01/10	Memphis, TN
Defeats Lawler in rematch; Hulk Hogan defeats Bockwinkle on 83/04/24 in Minneapolis, MN in a no DQ match; however, AWA president Stanley Blackburn, unable to disqualify Hogan for throwing Bockwinkle over the tope rope, strips Hogan of the title anyway and returns it to Bockwinkle right after the match.
Jumbo Tsuruta	84/02/22	Tokyo, JPN
Rick Martel	84/05/13	St. Paul, MN
Wrestles to a double count-out against NWA World heavyweight champion Ric Flair on 85/10/02 in Tokyo, JPN.
Stan Hansen	85/12/29	E. Rutherford, NJ
Nick Bockwinkel [4]	86/06/28	Denver, CO
Awarded when Hansen leaves the promotion after not appearing the match on 86/06/28 in Denver, CO, but Hansen takes the belt and defends it on All Japan cards in 86/07.
Curt Hennig	87/05/02	San Francisco, CA
Jerry Lawler	88/05/09	Memphis, TN
Unifies WCWA World title defeating Kerry Von Erich on 88/12/13 in Chicago, IL to become Unified World Heavyweight Champion, but stripped of AWA title on 89/01/20 after CWA splits with AWA.
Larry Zbyszko	89/02/07	St. Paul, MN
Wins title in battle royal, eliminating Tom Zenk.
Mr. Saito (Masa Saito)	90/02/10	Tokyo, JPN
Larry Zbyszko [2]	90/04/08	St. Paul, MN
Stripped on 90/12/12 when Zbyszko leaves inactive AWA for WCW; AWA closes in 91; still claims the title as of 95/01.

* See also A.W.A.World Heavyweight Title (AWA Superstars of Wrestling).