The USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship formed in 1988, which consisted of the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship from World Class Championship Wrestling and the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from the American Wrestling Association. The title was unified on December 13, 1988, when AWA World Champion Jerry Lawler defeated WCWA World Champion Kerry Von Erich in a unification match.

The title was primarily recognized by and defended in the United States Wrestling Association until 1997, when the company ceased operations. However, the AWA withdrew its recognition of the championship shortly after the unification match when Lawler was stripped of the AWA world title. The title was also contested in the World Wrestling Federation in 1993.

Title history

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World heavyweight championship may refer to:

A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations.

Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes.

History

Professional wrestling utilizes the structure of title match combat sports. Participants compete for a championship, and must defend it after winning it. These titles are represented physically by a championship belt that can be worn by the champion. In the case of team wrestling, there is a belt for each member of the team.

Almost all professional wrestling promotions have one major title, and some have more. Championships are designated by divisions of weight, height, gender, wrestling style and other qualifications.

Typically, each promotion only recognizes the "legitimacy" of their own titles, although cross-promotion does happen. When one promotion absorbs or purchases another, the titles from the defunct promotion may continue to be defended in the new promotion or be decommissioned, usually through championship unification.

The Fitzsimmons-Maher Prizefight (February 21, 1896), also considered, unofficially, as the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship, occurred between Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher on a sandbar in the Rio Grande River just far enough outside of the American city of Langtry, Texas, in which state boxing was illegal, to be considered technically in the Mexican state of Coahuila de Zaragoza. Fitzsimmons was victorious, knocking Maher out in the first round; however, upon hearing of the outcome of the fight, the 1895 World Heavyweight Champion James J. Corbett immediately rescinded his retirement.

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