British Heavyweight Championship (XWA)

British Heavyweight Championship
Details
Current champion(s)	Damian O'Connor
Date won	31st October 2014
Date established	July 11, 1999
Promotion	XWA Frontier Wrestling Alliance
Other name(s)
FWA British Heavyweight Championship
Statistics First champion(s) Mark Sloan Most reigns Jody Fleisch, Doug Williams, Alex Shane (2 reigns) Longest reign Doug Williams (602 days) Shortest reign Johnny Phere (<1 day) Oldest winner Robbie Brookside (40 years, 4 months) Youngest winner Mark Sloan (21 years, 4 days) Heaviest champion Damo O'Connor (295 lb (134 kg; 21.1 st)) Lightest champion Mark Sloan (163 lb (74 kg; 11.6 st))

The British Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in the XWA. The championship was originally created and contested for in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) but moved to XWA when the former company became defunct. It has also been contested for in Ring of Honor (ROH) due to a working relationship between them and FWA.

The championship has been known as:

• FWA British Heavyweight Championship (1999–2007)
• XWA British Heavyweight Championship (2007 – current)

History

The first Champion was Mark Sloan, who defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final on 11 July 1999.^[1] Jody Fleisch was the first person to win the belt twice after being stripped of it, while American wrestler Christopher Daniels was the first non-British person to win the belt^[2] and go on to defend it on foreign soil.^[3]

Originally the belt was mostly defended under two out of three falls match rules, as was the tradition in British wrestling. This changed on 12 April 2005, when champion Alex Shane signed a cast-iron contract to make new FWA British Title rules official and permanent making all future championship matches simply one fall.

On 13 May 2006 the FWA British Heavyweight Title belt was stolen from the Morecambe Dome immediately following the FWA event at the venue during an FWA versus All-Star Wrestling show.^[4] Due to being stolen a new belt had to be created.^[5] When the FWA was forced to retire in its interpromotional war with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, the XWA carried the lineage of the championship simply renaming it the British Heavyweight Championship and using the same physical belt.^[6] However, in April 2009, XWA founder Greg Lambert announced the creation of a new British Heavyweight Championship that did not bear the FWA initials and gave the original belt back to Alex Shane in time for the resurrection of the FWA.^[7]

Title history

No.	Champion	Reign	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes	Ref.
1	Mark Sloan	1	July 11, 1999	231	Portsmouth, Hampshire	No Surprises	Defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final	[1]
2	Alex Shane	1	February 27, 2000	129	Birmingham, West Midlands	Black Country Chaos	Two out of three falls match	[2]
3	Guy Thunder	1	July 5, 2000	8	Hertford, Hertfordshire	Live event	Two out of three falls match	[2]
-	Vacant	-	July 13, 2000			N/A		[8]
4	Justin Richards	1	August 5, 2000	259	Halifax, West Yorkshire	Evil Intentions	Defeated Scottie Rock, Guy Thunder & Jorge Castano in a four-way match	[2]
-	Vacant	-	April 21, 2001		Bolton, Greater Manchester	When Thunder Strikes	Stripped for missing title defence	[8]
5	Doug Williams	1	May 19, 2001	307	Portsmouth, Hampshire	High Potential	Defeated Scott Parker in a tournament final	[9]
6	Flash Barker	1	March 22, 2002	128	Walthamstow, London	Urban Legends	Two out of three falls match	[10]
7	Jody Fleisch	1	July 28, 2002	6	Portsmouth, Hampshire	No Surprises	Two out of three falls match	[10]
-	Vacant	-	August 3, 2002			N/A		[8]
8	Jody Fleisch	2	October 13, 2002	12	Bethnal Green, London	British Uprising	Defeated Flash Barker in a ladder match	[10]
9	Christopher Daniels	1	October 25, 2002	148	Walthamstow, London	London Calling	Defeated Jody Fleish & Doug Williams in a three-way match	[10]
10	Doug Williams	2	March 22, 2003	602	Philadelphia, PA	Night of Champions		[3]
11	Alex Shane	2	November 13, 2004	449	Coventry, West Midlands	British Uprising 3		[11]
12	Hade Vansen	1	February 5, 2006	160	Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire	New Frontiers	Defeated Alex Shane, Joe Legend, Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm in The Champion Series five-way match	[12]
13	Robbie Brookside	1	July 15, 2006	266	Morecambe, Lancashire	Summer Classic	Defeated Hade Vansen & Jonny Storm in a no-disqualification three-way match. Championship renamed British Heavyweight Championship	[12]
14	Jonny Storm	1	April 7, 2007	455	Morecambe, Lancashire	War On The Shore 3		[13]
15	Stevie Knight	1	July 5, 2008	63	Morecambe, Lancashire	Vendetta 2008	Defeated Jonny Storm, Sam Slam, and Johnny Phere in a Final Four match	[14]
16	Sam Slam	1	September 6, 2008	371	Morecambe, Lancashire	Last Fight at the Prom 2008		[15]
17	Spud	1	September 12, 2009	203	Morecambe, Lancashire	Last Fight at the Prom 2009	Spud becomes XWA's first double champion by holding the British Flyweight Championship before this match.	[16]
18	Johnny Phere	1	April 3, 2010	0	Morecambe, Lancashire	War On The Shore 6		[17]
19	Alex Shane	3	April 3, 2010	553	Morecambe, Lancashire	War On The Shore 6		[17]
20	Johnny Phere	2	October 8, 2011	172	Morecambe, Lancashire	Last Fight At The Prom 2011
-	Vacant	-	July 28, 2012		Morecambe, Lancashire	XWA vs GPW Vendetta	The company went on hiatus after being defeated by GPW
21	Damian O'Connor	1	October 31, 2014	495+	Sudbury, Suffolk	XWA Revival	Defeated Doug Williams, Martin Stone and Jimmy Havoc in a Four-way match	[18]

References

1. "FWA Results – 1999". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
2. "FWA Results 2000". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
3. "Past Events". Ring of Honor. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
4. "One Phere over the Cuckoo's Nest". XWA. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
5. "The FWA's fifty golden moments". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
6. "XWA – The legend lives on". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 2007-05-31. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
7. "XWA War On The Shore V". XWA. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
8. "FWA British Heavyweight Title". Title Histories. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
9. "FWA Results 2001". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
10. "FWA Results 2002". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
11. "FWA Results 2004". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
12. "FWA Results 2006". Frontier Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
13. "XWA War on the Shore 3". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
14. "XWA Vendetta 2008". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
15. "XWA Last Fight at the Prom 2008". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
16. "LastFight News – Spud v Sam Slam aftermath". XWA. 2009-09-13. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
17. "XWA War On The Shore VI – Official Review". XWA. 2009-09-13. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
18. "XWA Wrestling 'Revival' Results *NEW CHAMPION*". Wrestle Ropes. Retrieved 2016-02-11.