NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version)

The NWA Toronto United States Heavyweight Championship was the version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship that was defended in Frank Tunney's Toronto-based Maple Leaf Wrestling. It existed from 1962 until 1973. A different version of the title was brought to the territory by The Sheik in 1974 and defended until 1977. After that, Maple Leaf Wrestling recognized the Mid-Atlantic version of the title from May 1978 until July 1984 when promoter Jack Tunney allied himself with the WWF.[1]

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto)
Details
PromotionMaple Leaf Wrestling
Date establishedSeptember, 1962
Date retiredJuly, 1977
Statistics
First champion(s)Johnny Valentine
Most reignsJohnny Valentine (7 reigns)
Longest reignThe Sheik
(850 days)
Shortest reignJohnny Valentine and Professor Hiro (7 days)
Oldest championThe Sheik (52 years, 211 days)
Youngest championBruno Sammartino (27 years, 47 days)

Title history

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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  Johnny Valentine  September 1962  MLW show N/A  1  N/A  Billed as champion on arrival in Toronto  
 2  Bruno Sammartino  November 22, 1962  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  22     
 3  Johnny Valentine  December 14, 1962  MLW show Toronto, ON  2  N/A     
 4  John Paul Henning  June 1963  N/A Washington, DC  1  N/A  Fictitious title change  
 5  Johnny Valentine  July 11, 1963  MLW show Toronto, ON  3  98     
 6  The Beast  October 17, 1963  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  140     
 7  Johnny Valentine  March 5, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  4  91    [2]
 8  Professor Hiro  June 4, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  133     
 9  Johnny Valentine  October 15, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  5  7  Won by referee's decision  
 10  Professor Hiro  October 22, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  2  8  won by disqualification  
 11  Johnny Valentine  October 30, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  6  58     
 12  The Sheik  December 27, 1964  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  7     
 13  Johnny Valentine  January 3, 1965  MLW show Toronto, ON  7  889  Loses to Antonio Inoki on November 19, 1966 in Osaka, Japan, in a card by the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling; Inoki begins defending a version of the title until January 30, 1967 when TPW collapses and is absorbed into International Wrestling Enterprise.  
 14  Tiger Jeet Singh  June 11, 1967  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  2031-2061  Title inactive from 1968 to 1971; recognized as champion again in 1971  
Vacated  January 1973 Title vacated  Championship vacated for undocumented reasons  
 15  The Sheik  July 1974  N/A N/A  2  842-872  Reigning Detroit version champion-recognized in Toronto  
 16  Thunderbolt Patterson  November 19, 1976  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  37     
 17  The Sheik  December 26, 1976  MLW show Toronto, ON  3  42     
 18  Bobo Brazil  February 6, 1977  MLW show Toronto, ON  1  21     
 19  The Sheik  February 27, 1977  MLW show Toronto, ON  4  N/A     
Vacated  July 1977  N/A  Sheik left the Toronto area; Mid-Atlantic version is recognized in Toronto from May 1978 until July 1984.  

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  2. ^ Hoops, Brian (March 5, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (03/05): The Hardy Boyz win WWF tag team gold". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 5, 2017.