AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version)
# AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version)

The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship promoted by Paul Bowser in Boston.

The title was created by Bowser after Gus Sonnenberg, who had beaten Ed Lewis for the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1929, was stripped of recognition as champion by the National Boxing Association. Browser continued to recognize Sonnenberg as champion and named his championship after the "American Wrestling Association" governing body, which hitherto did not actually exist. Rival promoters, including Jack Curley, countered by forming the National Wrestling Association and its NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

During Don Eagle's second reign, splinter titles were created by regional promoters in Chicago and Ohio. Bowser abandoned the championship later in Eagle's reign, while he was rendered inactive due to injuries in November 1952.

## Title history

### AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version)

Key :

| No. | Overall reign number |
| - | - |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes | Ref. |
| 1 | Ed Lewis | February 20, 1928 | Live event | St. Louis, Missouri | 1 | 319 | Defeated Joe Stecher to win the original main line title | |
| 2 | Gus Sonnenberg | January 4, 1929 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 705 | | |
| 3 | Ed Don George | December 10, 1930 | Live event | Los Angeles, California | 1 | 124 | | |
| 4 | Ed Lewis | April 13, 1931 | Live event | Los Angeles, California | 2 | 21 | | |
| 5 | Henri Deglane | May 4, 1931 | Live event | Montreal, Quebec | 1 | 648 | Won by DQ after allegedly being bitten; recognized in Boston and Montreal as AWA champion; Lewis still recognized in California and also wins New York State Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship the following year. | |
| 6 | Ed Don George | February 10, 1933 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 2 | 900 | | |
| 7 | Danno O'Mahoney | July 30, 1935 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 352 | The title was unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and New York State Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship to be the Unified World Heavyweight Championship; loses to Dick Shikat on March 2, 1936 in New York, but continues to be recognized as champion by AWA. | |
| 8 | Yvon Robert | July 16, 1936 | Live event | Montreal, Quebec | 1 | 531 | | |
| — | Vacated | December 1937 | — | — | — | — | Robert was stripped of the championship for not defending it against Lou Thesz. | |
| 9 | Lou Thesz | December 29, 1937 | Live event | St. Louis, Missouri | 1 | 44 | Defeats Everett Marshall and is presented with the AWA championship belt. Retroactively recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the real World champion. | |
| 10 | Steve Casey | February 11, 1938 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 384 | Retroactively recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the real World champion until September 13, 1938 due to Casey being out of the country (actually defending the AWA title during a tour in the Irish Free State). | |
| 11 | Marv Westenberg | March 2, 1939 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 14 | | |
| 12 | Gus Sonnenberg | March 16, 1939 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 2 | 13 | | |
| 13 | Steve Casey | March 29, 1939 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 2 | 20 | | |
| 14 | Ed Don George | April 18, 1939 | Live event | Albany, New York | 3 | 199 | | |
| 15 | Steve Casey | November 3, 1939 | Live event | Buffalo, New York | 3 | 192 | | |
| 16 | The French Angel | May 13, 1940 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 730 | | |
| 17 | Steve Casey | May 13, 1942 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 4 | 811 | | |
| 18 | The French Angel | August 1, 1944 | Live event | San Francisco, California | 2 | 14 | | |
| 19 | Steve Casey | August 15, 1944 | Live event | San Francisco, California | 5 | 253 | Casey joined the US Army; Sándor Szabó emerged from a series of elimination bouts as the duration world champion; Casey defeats Szabo in the consolidation match on April 4, 1945 in Boston, Massachusetts. | |
| 20 | Sándor Szabó | April 25, 1945 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 7 | | |
| 21 | Frank Sexton | May 2, 1945 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 1 | 35 | | |
| 22 | Steve Casey | June 6, 1945 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 6 | 21 | | |
| 23 | Frank Sexton | June 27, 1945 | Live event | Boston, Massachusetts | 2 | 1,791 | | |
| 24 | Don Eagle | May 23, 1950 | Live event | Cleveland, Ohio | 1 | 3 | | |
| 25 | Gorgeous George | May 26, 1950 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 97 | This was a screwjob finish orchestrated by promoter Fred Kohler to weaken Eagle's value as an attraction. The title change was initially ignored by Bowser and other promoters. | |
| 26 | Don Eagle | August 31, 1950 | Live event | Columbus, Ohio | 2 | | This change re-established the lineage, which was disputed after George defeated Eagle in a screwjob finish. | |
| — | Deactivated | November 1952 | — | — | — | — | Vacated in November 1952 when Eagle was inactive due to back injuries. | |

### Splinter titles

**AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Chicago version)**

Key :

| No. | Overall reign number |
| - | - |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes | Ref. |
| 1 | Don Eagle | August 31, 1950 | Live event | Cleveland, Ohio | 1 | 244 | Defeats Gorgeous George for the main line title (above). | |
| 2 | Ruffy Silverstein | May 2, 1951 | N/A | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 105 | | |
| 3 | Dr. Bill Miller | August 15, 1951 | N/A | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 133 | | |
| 3 | Ruffy Silverstein | December 26, 1951 | N/A | Chicago, Illinois | 2 | 296 | | |
| 4 | Buddy Rogers | October 17, 1952 | N/A | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 0 | | |
| — | Deactivated | October 17, 1952 | — | — | — | — | Rogers was already the Ohio AWA Champion (see below) and his reign continued under that lineage. | |

**AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version)**

Ohio-based promoter Al Haft created a splinter version of the title after recognizing Don Eagle's loss to Dr. Bill Miller on May 1, 1952 as a title change. The change was not recognized by Bowser. That title continued until 1954 when incumbent Buddy Rogers was stripped of the title.

Key :

| No. | Overall reign number |
| - | - |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes | Ref. |
| 1 | Don Eagle | August 31, 1950 | Live event | Columbus, Ohio | 2 | 609 | | |
| 2 | Dr. Bill Miller | May 1, 1952 | N/A | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 1 | 124 | | |
| 3 | Don Arnold | September 2, 1952 | N/A | Dayton, Ohio | 1 | 24 | | |
| 4 | Buddy Rogers | October 14, 1952 | N/A | Dayton, Ohio | 1 | 79-107 | | |
| 5 | Don Arnold | January 1953 | N/A | N/A | 2 | 0-28 | | |
| 6 | Buddy Rogers | January 29, 1953 | N/A | Cleveland,Ohio | 2 | 33 | | |
| 7 | Antonino Rocca | March 3, 1953 | N/A | Cleveland Ohio | 1 | 37 | | |
| 8 | Buddy Rogers | April 9, 1953 | N/A | Cleveland,Ohio | 3 | 387-417 | | |
| — | Deactivated | May 1954 | — | — | — | — | Rogers was stripped of the title in 1954 for not defending his championship against Ruffy Silverstein. A tournament was scheduled to crown a new champion in May 1954 but never took place. | |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Don Eagle's second reign lasted between 759 and 822 days.
