NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (Mid-America version)

NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
Details
Date established	1955
Date retired	1974
Promotion	NWA Mid-America
Statistics First champion(s) Jesse James Most reigns Don Greene (9 reigns)

The NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship was a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) sanctioned professional wrestling championship promoted by NWA Mid-America in and around their Tennessee and Kentucky territory from 1955 until 1974. The championship was limited to wrestlers in the Junior Heavyweight division, limited to wrestlers weighing less than 220. lb (100 kg). The NWA also sanctioned the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the United States version serving as one of several local level Junior Heavyweight Championships. Because the championship was a professional wrestling championship, it was not won or lost competitively but instead by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The championship was awarded after the chosen wrestler "won" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.^[1]

Title history

Key

Symbol	Meaning
#	The overall championship reign
Reign	The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed.
Event	The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
—	Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
	Indicates periods of unknown lineage
(NLT)	Indicates that the championship changed hands "No Later Than" a certain date.

#	Team (members)	Reign	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes
1	Jesse James	1	February 15, 1959 (NLT)	[Note 1]	[Note 2]	N/A	Announced as a new champion; still billed as champion as of on February 23, 1959
2	Yoshinosato	1	February 1962 (NLT)	[Note 3]	[Note 2]	Live event
3	Johnny Walker	1	May 1967	[Note 4]	[Note 2]	Live event	Won a tournament sometime after May 16, 1967
4	Kenny Mack	1	June 14, 1967	14	Kingsport, Tennessee	Live event
5	Johnny Walker	2	June 28, 1967	[Note 5]	Kingsport, Tennessee	Live event	Still billed as champion on October 17, 1967
5	Johnny Walker	3	February 9, 1970 (NLT)	[Note 6]	Hawaii	Live event	Defeated Johnny Valentine.
7	Bobby Hart	1	May 27, 1970	62	Nashville, Tennessee	Live event	The title change was repeated in Memphis on May 30, 1970
8	Johnny Walker	4	July 28, 1970	[Note 7]	Louisville, Kentucky	Live event
—	Vacated	N/A	1970	N/A	N/A	N/A	Championship vacated for undocumented reasons
9	Don Greene	1	September 14, 1970	[Note 8]	Memphis, Tennessee	Live event	Defeated Dennis Hall in 4-man tournament final.
10	Johnny Walker	5	September 21, 1970 (NLT)	[Note 9]	[Note 2]	Live event
11	Bobby Hart	2	November 25, 1970	[Note 10]	Nashville, Tennessee	Live event
12	Don Greene	2	March 23, 1971 (NLT)	[Note 11]	[Note 2]	Live event	Still billed as champion on October 27, 1971
13	Len Rossi	1	February 3, 1972 (NLT)	[Note 12]	[Note 2]	Live event
14	Tony Charles	1	May 10, 1972 (NLT)	[Note 13]	[Note 2]	Live event
15	Don Greene	3	August 1972 (NLT)	[Note 14]	[Note 2]	Live event
16	Johnny Walker	6	October 6, 1972 (NLT)	[Note 15]	[Note 2]	Live event	Change took place sometime between September 28 and October 16, 1972
17	Don Greene	4	October 17, 1972	279	Memphis, Tennessee	Live event
18	Lorenzo Parente	1	July 23, 1973	[Note 16]	Memphis, Tennessee	Live event
19	Don Greene	5	July 1973	[Note 17]	[Note 2]	Live event
20	Lorenzo Parente	2	August 1, 1973	[Note 18]	Nashville, Tennessee	Live event
21	Don Greene	6	October 2, 1973 (NLT)	[Note 19]	[Note 2]	Live event
22	Intern #1	1	October 25, 1973	[Note 20]	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Live event
23	Don Greene	7	December 23, 1973 (NLT)	[Note 21]	[Note 2]	Live event
24	Ali Baba	1	March 11, 1974	[Note 22]	Birmingham, Alabama	Live event
25	Don Greene	8	March 1974	[Note 23]	Birmingham, Alabama	Live event
26	Ali Baba	2	March 21, 1974	20	Florence, Alabama	Live event	Title change was repeated on March 27 in Nashville
27	Steve Kovac	1	April 10, 1974	24	Nashville, Tennessee	Live event
28	Jerry Lawler	1	May 4, 1974	[Note 24]	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Live event
29	Don Greene	9	June 6, 1974 (NLT)	[Note 25]	[Note 2]	Live event	Still billed as champion in July 1974
—	Abandoned	N/A	1974	N/A	N/A	N/A	Championship abandoned.

Footnotes

1. The date the championship was lost has not been documented and is too uncertain to calculate, at the least Jesse James held the championship for 8 days.
2. The location of the match was not captured as part of the championship documentation.
3. The date the championship was won and lost has not been documented and is too uncertain to calculate.
4. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 14 days and 44 days.
5. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and −139 days.
6. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere at most 107 days.
7. The date the championship was vacated has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 47 days.
8. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 7 days.
9. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 65 days and 72 days.
10. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 118 days.
11. The date the championship was won and lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 317 days.
12. The date the championship was won and lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 97 days.
13. The date the championship was won and lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 113 days.
14. The date the championship was won and lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 66 days.
15. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 11 days and 77 days.
16. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 7 days.
17. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 31 days.
18. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 61 days.
19. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 23 days and 84 days.
20. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 59 days.
21. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 78 days and −58 days.
22. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 9 days.
23. The date the championship was won has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 8 days.
24. The date the championship was lost has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 1 day and 33 days.
25. The date the championship was abandoned has not been documented which means the championship reign lasted anywhere between 25 days and 208 days.

References

General

• Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Tennessee: U.S. Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 195. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
• "NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title [Mid-America]". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 23, 2015.

Specific

1. Ed Grabianowski. "How Pro Wrestling Works". How Stuff Works. Retrieved April 5, 2009.