Wrestling’s Greatest Champions: Best NWA World Heavyweight Champions

In 2020, the National Wrestling Alliance is a niche, old school wrestling promotion with a weekly YouTube show. Don’t let that put you off, it’s a very interesting promotion and if the modern ‘flippy wrestling’ doesn’t do it for you, there’s some old school vibes that you’ll enjoy. The NWA World Heavyweight title is the promotion’s main belt, and has been the main title of the NWA since its formation in 1948.

For decades this belt has been the go-to world championship in all of wrestling and has probably the most prestigious lineage of any title. The group served as a governing body, with various independent promotions being members, and sharing the NWA titles amongst them. The NWA ceased being an umbrella organisation and became a singular promotion in 2019.

So join us as we count down the greatest wrestlers to ever hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. There are, of course, some caveats. I’ve decided this list based upon how many total days each wrestler held the belt. Their stature and the amount of reigns is irrelevant.

 

Honourable Mentions

The first ever WWWF (WWE) World Champion Buddy Rogers just sits outside the top 10 with 573 days. Rob Conway never found success in the WWE, but following his run with the company, the former La Résistance member won the NWA title and held it for a total of 551 days. Shane Douglas deserves a special mention, winning the NWA World title in a tournament, then cutting a promo trashing the title, and vacating it immediately. Eastern Championship Wrestling left the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling following the incident.

There are precious few foreign workers at the top of the WWE Champion list, so it’s nice to see Japan’s Naoya Ogawa and Mexico’s Blue Demon Jr both occupy spots in the top 20. Terry Funk, a man whose name is synonymous with the NWA, is surprisingly low on the list at 424 days, putting him 17th.

Orville Brown was the first ever NWA Champion and held the title for 501 days. Sadly, he suffered career ending injuries in a car accident. I feel I must give Tim Storm some credit too. He was the final man to hold the NWA World Championship as an independent wrestler, and just scraped into the top 20 in 20th place. Storm won the belt in October 2016 after the NWA purchase by Billy Corgan, and the alliance was gradually transformed into a singular promotion.

Gary Steele deserves a mention too. While I am certain there are many who do not remember him, he was one of a great generation of forgotten British wrestlers that laid the groundwork for the British wrestling industry today. Steele held the title for a lone week in 1999, but in doing so he became the first British wrestler to ever hold a recognised world championship.

Jack Brisco narrowly missed out on appearing on this list, holding the titles for a total of 866 days. He was 10th on our list right up until 2020, where he has just been pushed out by our first entry on the list. Brisco would be remembered as one of the NWA greats and would later work for the WWF/E.

 

10. Nick Aldis – 888 Days as of 08/07/20 (2 Reigns)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9v4e1OOGB0

Nick Aldis is one of the best British wrestlers on the scene today. It’s just a shame he seemingly doesn’t get the credit he deserves. After being the most interesting character in the reboot of UK Gladiators, he moved into professional wrestling. Initially taking the name Brutus Magnus, and sporting a gladiatorial gimmick, no doubt a nod to his former career, he debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2008.

He’d later drop the gimmick and refine his wrestling skill, teaming with fellow Brit Doug Williams as The British Invasion. During this run, he won the TNA and (due to a deal between TNA and NJPW) IWGP Tag Team Championship. After a run with the TNA World Championship, Aldis jumped to the short-lived Global Force Wrestling before eventually landing at the now-Billy Corgan owned NWA.

Aldis quickly defeated Tim Storm for the title at CZW’s Cage of Death 19 in late 2017. He’d hold the title right up until the following September, when he was defeated by Cody Rhodes at All In, the independent wrestling event which would form the basis of AEW. Cody wouldn’t be champion for long though as he’d drop the title back to Aldis only a few weeks later at the NWA 70th Anniversary event, defeating Rhodes in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

Nick Aldis is, as of time of writing, still the NWA World Champion, so it is very likely that he’ll make his way up this list.

 

9. Pat O’Connor – 903 Days (1 Reign)

New Zealander Pat O’Connor was a former amateur wrestler who had spent time in the New Zealand Air Force. A former champion as an amateur, he trained for professional wrestling under another former amateur wrestler, and former Cleveland Rams Lineman, ‘Butch’ Len Levy.

O’Connor joined the NWA and won the (Chicago) Tag Team Titles with Roy McClarity in 1955. He would work for a number of NWA promotions over the next few years, and eventually defeated Dick Hutton for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1959. As champion, O’Connor wrestled big names such as Bruno Sammartino, Johnny Valiant and Yukon Eric.

O’Connor would hold onto the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until June 1961, when he lost the belt to Buddy Rogers in front of a record breaking crowd of 38,500+ fans. This record wouldn’t be broken for the next 25 years.

In the late 60s, O’Connor won the AWA and World Wrestling Association Tag Team Titles alongside Wilbur Snyder. Pat O’Connor wrestled a little in the 1970s and 80s, but not to the extent he had before. He also made an appearance for the WWF in the late 80s in a ‘old timers battle royale’.

 

8. Jeff Jarrett – 1005 Days (6 Reigns)

I’ve used quite a formal system to determine a top 10, as I didn’t want feelings to get in the way of my favourites. But I feel the need to state that Jeff Jarrett is the least deserving NWA champion on this list. My reason for this is that due to the NWA World Heavyweight title being exclusive to NWATNA from 2002 to 2007, Jarett, co-founder of TNA, basically booked himself as champion during this era.

Still, champion he was, and to be honest, Jarrett has always seemed like a man born in the wrong era. It always felt like he wished he was back in the days of the territories, and that he’d have been much more successful back then. His father, and TNA co-founder, Jerry Jarrett, also had strong links to the territories, having been involved with the United States Wrestling Association and the Continental Wrestling Association.

Jeff Jarrett won his first NWA World Heavyweight title by defeating Ron ‘The Truth’ Killings on TNA’s weekly pay per view in 2002. In doing so he unified the World Wrestling All-Stars title with the NWA belt. He’d trade the belt with AJ Styles over the next couple of years, dropping the belt to him mid-2003, before winning it back in October, only to lose it again the following April.

Jeff Jarrett won the title back later on in 2004, before losing it in controversial fashion to Ray González in 2005. The match was lost on an International Wrestling Association show in Puerto Rico, yet Jarrett had the win annulled as the sanctioned TNA referee was knocked out, and an IWA referee made the pinfall. This effectively annulled González’s title win and the belt returned to Jarrett. However, back at TNA the belt was declared vacant, and AJ Styles defeated Jarrett for the vacant belt in May. González’s title is now retroactively recognised.

A flurry of title changes saw Jarrett lift the belt twice, first defeating Raven in September before dropping it to Rhino in October, and then winning it back only 2 days later. Jarrett would lose the championship to Cristian Cage in 2006 before winning it back, only to finally lose it again to Sting. In 2007, the NWA and TNA went their separate ways, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was vacated and replaced with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

While Jarrett’s entry started on a sour note, I would like to say this. While he is not the caliber of any other wrestler on this list, in my opinion, he did his best to offer an alternative to the WWE’s increasingly stale content, and managed to develop a number of independent talents such as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and co. He even put them over, which is more than many of his peers did.

 

7. Adam Pearce – 1078 Days (5 Reigns)

Adam Pearce is one of the most recent champions on this list, but one that fans might be the least familiar with. Pearce has been wrestling since 1996, and his early career was spent working for various independent promotions. He did well enough to earn several try out matches with the WWF, and was even offered a spot at the WCW Power Plant training facility, which Pearce declined.

Pearce wrestled all over the world before landing at Ring of Honor, where he would also work with National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions. When TNA pulled out of the National Wrestling Alliance, all the belts were vacated, leaving the next champion to be crowned via a tournament. Adam Pearce eventually defeated Brent Albright in the final to be crowned the new NWA World Champion in September 2007.

Brent Albright would eventually defeat Pearce for the title, just under a year later. Pearce wouldn’t be belt-less for long, winning the belt back in September 2008. This run would prove less impressive, with Pearce holding the belt for a little over a month before losing it to Mexican star Blue Demon Jr. Blue Demon would have a successful run with the title himself, holding it for 505 days, before losing it to, you guessed it, Adam Pearce in March 2010.

This run saw Pearce hold the title for just over a year before losing it to Colt Cabana. The belt was later vacated and Pearce would win the title back by winning a four way match to crown a new champion in 2011. He’d again lost the belt to Cabana in 2012, only to win it back later that same year as part of a feud he was in with Cabana.

Later in the year, the NWA’s ownership changed hands, and Pearce’s best of seven feud with Colt Cabana would be cut short. With the NWA’s new owners unwilling to allow the best of seven to continue, Adam Pearce resigned from the NWA, and the title was vacated. He would return to the NWA, and continued to work for various independent promotions until 2014 when he retired from wrestling.

Adam Pearce currently works as a producer for the WWE on Monday Night RAW and Smackdown.

 

6. Gene Kiniski – 1131 Days (1 Reign)

Gene Kiniski was a Canadian football player during the early 1950s. After suffering a knee injury, he retired and began training as a wrestler. He made his debut in 1952, and quickly became an emerging talent, making his television debut in the mid-50s. Toward the end of 1954, Kiniski challenged the NWA Champion Lou Thesz in a losing effort.

Kiniski would return to his native Canada in the late 50s, working for Maple Leaf Wrestling. He continued to challenge various NWA Champions, such as Dick Hutton, Billy Watson and would again face off against Lou Thesz. In 1957 he would win the Montreal World Title, defeating Édouard Carpentier, but this reign would be short lived, as he dropped the title to Killer Kowalski just a month later.

Kiniski would go on to join the American Wrestling Association in 1960 and defeat the legendary Verne Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1961. Once again, this reign would end up being all too short, with Kiniski dropping the belt back to Gagne just a month later.

Kiniski would later move to the WWWF, and feud with Bruno Sammartino of the WWWF Championship, Kiniski never managed to win the title, despite coming close. His major success would come in 1966, when he finally managed to defeat Lou Thesz to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Gene Kiniski wrestled as a heel and fought many major NWA stars during his run as champion, including Bobo Brazil, Abdullah the Butcher and Pat O’Connor, amongst others. Kiniski’s run lasted over three years and took him all around the world. Exhausted, he eventually lost the belt to Dory Funk Jr in 1969.

Despite the loss, Kiniski remained very active well into the 1970s, winning the Pacific Heavyweight and Canadian Tag Team titles on multiple occasions. He’d even remain active into the 80s, wrestling infrequently and he also refereed the Ric Flair vs Harley Race NWA Heavyweight title match at Starrcade ‘83. Unbelievably, Kiniski wrestled as late as 1992, teaming alongside Lance Storm and Chris Jericho.

 

5. Dan Severn – 1559 Days (2 Reigns)

Dan Severn is known as an early pioneer in the world of mixed martial arts. Known for being the only man to win the UFC Triple Crown, his success and recognition would catch the eye of the WWF, and he became the first man to ever work for both WWF and UFC at the same time.

Severn originally started wrestling in 1992, and worked for a number of independent promotions before signing with the NWA in 1995. He would defeat Chris Candido and win his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship that same year. He became the first man to ever hold a wrestling and MMA title at the same time, and he’d continue to defend the NWA title over the next few years, most notably defeating 56 year old Dory Funk Jr in 1997.

Many WWF fans of the late 90s will be aware of Severn’s run in the company between 1998 and 1999. Severn debuted in a storyline where the NWA ‘invaded’ the WWF, alongside The New Midnight Express (Bob Holly and Bart Gunn).

Vince McMahon went cold on the NWA idea, and Jim Cornette’s New Midnight Express were soon tossed to the wayside, yet Vince saw something in Severn, although Severn struggled to get over. Severn would remain NWA World Champion throughout his WWF run, eventually dropping the title in 1999. Severn left the WWF in ‘99, before winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time in 2000, defeating Shinya Hashimoto in Tokyo.

This run with the title would be short lived however, as TNA had just agreed a deal with the NWA to have exclusive access to the NWA World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships. After 80 days, Severn was stripped of his NWA World Championship. Ken Shamrock, his former UFC rival, would win a gauntlet match to be crowned the new champion.

Severn has continued to wrestle throughout the years, including for Major League Wrestling in 2019, and he was even scheduled to face Ken Shamrock in an MMA fight in 2016, however this never happened due to Shamrock pulling out due to injury.

 

4. Dory Funk Jr. – 1563 Days (1 Reign)

Dory Funk Jr, along with his brother Terry, are two names most associated with the NWA, and are the only siblings to both win the NWA World Championship. While he only held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on a single occasion, he has the second longest continual reign in the company, second only behind Lou Thesz. Funk Jr started wrestling in 1963, and quickly found himself feuding with a number of top stars in the NWA.

Dory Funk Jr would defeat Gene Kiniski for the title in 1969, Kiniski himself holding the title for over three years. Rumour has it that he was only removed as champion due to him being hurt in a serious automobile accident in 1973, and he dropped the belt to Harley Race that same year.

Elsewhere, Funk Jr worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling alongside his NWA tenure. He’d work for the WWF in 1986, teaming with his brother Terry. The pair would defeat the Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana at Wrestlemania 2. In the late 80s, he also worked for the World Wrestling Council. In the 1990s, Funk Jr returned to AJPW, and teamed with his brother, also making occasional appearances for WCW, ECW and the WWF.

In his later years, Funk Jr returned to a number of former promotions, but most notably All Japan, where he would make several appearances during the 21st century, right up to 2017. Unbelievably, he still gets in the ring from time to time. In 2020, he wrestled a 6 man tag team match alongside the Steiner Brothers, despite being 79 years old.

 

3. Harley Race – 1,801 Days (8 Reigns)

Harley Race made his wrestling debut in the early 1960s, and worked for various minor promotions before arriving at the American Wrestling Alliance. He was teaming with Larry Hennig at this stage, and the pair quickly won the AWA Tag Team Titles. From 1962, Harley Race worked for various NWA territories. However, it wouldn’t be until 1973 until he won his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

In 1973, ‘Mad Dog’ Harley Race defeated Dory Funk Jr for his first NWA World title victory, and it would be a new, updated belt Race would receive, often referred to as the ‘10 pounds of gold’ NWA title. Race’s initial title run would be disappointing, though, only holding the belt for just under two months before dropping it to Jack Brisco. Rumour has it that Dory Funk Jr didn’t want to drop the belt directly to Brisco, but this has never been confirmed.

Race eventually won his belt back, but not until 1977, where he’d defeat Terry Funk in Toronto. This run would prove more successful, with Race holding the belt for over two and a half years. Race dropped the belt to Dusty Rhodes in 1979, but won the title back less than a week later; the first of a number of brief titleless runs for Race.

Race dropped the belt a little over two months later to Giant Baba on his tour of Japan, only to regain the title a week later. Just under a year later, Race and Baba would repeat this, with Race once again losing to Baba before winning his title back a few days later. Race also did something similar against Tenassee native Tommy Rich, losing the title to him in 1981, before winning it back four days later.

Race’s next reign came after a series of unrecognised title changes involving Ric Flair, winning the belt in early 1983 before losing it to Flair later that year. Harley Race’s final title reign was his shortest, at only three days in 1984 after beating, and then losing to, Ric Flair.

Following this, Race returned to the AWA, and then later he worked for the WWF. The WWF, wanting to put across Race as one of the greats without mentioning his earlier success, saw him winning the King of the Ring. He also worked for the World Wrestling Council and World Championship Wrestling, famously becoming the manager of Big Van Vader.

He’d later make occasional appearances for the WWE, TNA and New Japan.

 

2. Ric Flair – 3,116 Days (10 Reigns)

Okay, deep breath, this is a big one.

Ric Flair trained to wrestle with Verne Gagne in late 1971, and made his debut for Gagne’s American Wrestling Association the following year. He’d remain with the AWA up until 1974 when he began working with Jim Crockett Promotions, where he’d earn the name ‘Nature Boy’. Only one year later, Flair was involved in a serious plane accident, and broke his back in three places. At 26, he was told that he may never wrestle again.

However, Flair returned to the ring only eight months later, and by 1977, he was the NWA United States Champion. He’d win the title another four times, and then in 1981, he defeated Dusty Rhodes to win his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship, although Flair’s first reign wouldn’t be straightforward.

Flair lost the belt around four months later to The Midnight Rider, Dusty Rhodes under a mask. Due to an NWA rule that stated masked wrestlers could not be champion, the belt returned to him. Later in 1982, Flair was beaten by Jack Veneno in the Domincan Republic, but Veneno refused the belt. January 1983 saw Flair drop the belt to Carlos Colón for four days, but this run was not recognised by the NWA.

Finally, Flair lost the belt to Victor Jovica for a spell of three days before regaining the title after it was ruled that Jovica’s win was illegal due to his feet being on the ropes. Flair would eventually lose the title for real to Harley Race in mid-’83, only to claim it back in December at Starrcade of that same year.

Flair exchanged the title with Harley Race again, losing to him in March 1984 before winning the title back only a few days later. In May of the same year, Flair dropped the belt to Kerry Von Erich, only to win it back a couple of weeks later. After so much swapping of champions, Flair would finally enjoy a solid run with the title and held the belt for the next two years, losing it to Dusty Rhodes. Once again, Flair was champion only weeks later in August 1986.

Another lengthy run with the title saw Flair hold the title for a little over a year, dropping the belt to Ron Garvin in September 1987. Since 1984, the NWA World Heavyweight title could only be competed for by wrestlers contracted to Jim Crockett Promotions, but there was a big change afoot. On November 21st, 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions was purchased by Ted Turner and changed its name to World Championship Wrestling.

Only days after the purchase, Garvin dropped the title to Ric Flair. Over the next few years, Flair would enjoy some successful world title runs at WCW. His initial run lasted well over a year before Ricky Steamboat beat him in February 1989. Flair defeated Steamboat for the belt in May, and would again hold it for another 13 months, losing the belt to an up and coming star by the name of Sting.

Sting enjoyed a longer run than Steamboat and held the title until January 1991, when he was beaten by, you guessed it, Ric Flair. This was the first time that Flair was also recognised as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and was a taste of what was to come. Flair lost the title after a couple of months to Tatsumi Fujinami in Tokyo, winning it back at SuperBrawl in May.

Flair was tempted away from WCW in August of the same year, and signed for the then-WWF. Flair appeared on WWF television with the NWA ‘big gold belt’ and frequently called himself the real world champion. Flair became a two-time WWF Champion during his short tenure with the company.

Flair returned to WCW in 1993. In July, he beat Barry Windham for his last NWA World Heavyweight Championship because, only two months after Flair’s win over Windham, WCW withdrew from the NWA. From that point on, the main title of WCW was the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Flair would also become an 8-time WCW World Champion.

 

1. Lou Thesz – 3,749 Days (3 Reigns)

Lou Thesz is today considered a legend in pro wrestling circles, and is still looked up to by many active wrestlers. After making his debut in 1932, he quickly became popular and was crowned AWA World Heavyweight Champion just five years later, making him the youngest person to hold a world championship at that time, aged just 21.

When Thesz’s promotion was absorbed into the NWA, he was due to fight the first NWA World Champion, Orville Brown, in a match for the title. Sadly, weeks before the bout, Brown was involved in a career ending car accident, and Thesz was awarded the belt as number one contender. He’d set out to defeat all of the world champions of various NWA-affiliated promotions, and by 1956 he was probably the closest anyone had been to being an undisputed world champion.

However, Thesz needed time to recuperate from an ankle injury and dropped the belt to Whipper Billy Watson. Thesz defeated Watson to reclaim his title in November 1956. Thesz was the first man to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, wrestling to a number of draws with Japanese wrestler Rikidōzan. This helped to popularise wrestling in Japan, and turned it into a mainstream sport.

At the end of ‘57, Thesz dropped the belt to Dick Hutton, his successor handpicked by Thesz. Thesz went on to tour Europe and Japan, and would often be promoted as World Champion, despite losing that title. Thesz returned to the world title scene once more, coming out of semi-retirement to defeat real life rival Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Championship in 1963.

NWA promoters Toots Mondt and Vince McMahon, Sr were not happy with Thesz’s win and pulled out of the NWA, forming the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now WWE). Thesz faced off against Rikidōzan’s protégé Kintaro Ohki in 1964, following Rikidōzan’s death the previous year. Ohki had apparently been told by his home promotion that if he should bring the NWA World Championship back to Japan, they’d make him a star. Ohki began shooting on Thesz in the first round, but this was a mistake as Ohki had to be taken from the bout on a stretcher.

Thesz held the title right up until 1966, finally losing it to Gene Kiniski — not a bad run for a guy in his late 40s. Thesz continued to wrestle on a part-time basis right up until his retirement in 1979. However, he’d actually wrestle his final match in 1990 at the age of 74 year old against his protégé, Masahiro Chono.