As it is a professional wrestling championship, the championship is not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers.[a] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline,[b] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship,[c] or leaving the company.[d]
There have been a total of 47 reigns and five vacancies shared between 31 different champions. The title is currently held by The Wolf.
Title history
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
N/A
Unknown information
(NLT)
Championship change took place "no later than" the date listed
†
Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
This was a 3-way match for the IWA Hardcore and the IWA/UWA Unified World Junior Heavyweight titles also involving Lobo. This title change is not recognized by Freedoms.
^Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters"[4]
^Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart"[5]
^Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson"[6]
^Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."[7]
^ abcdefgDue to sparse record keeping in Mexico at the time, no documentation of the date the championship changed hands is found and is too uncertain to calculate.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstDuncan & Will (2000) p. 397, Chapter: MEXICO: UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title [Flores, Mora] [8]
^The date of at least one of the title changes in this reign is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 370 and 734 days.
References
Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. ISBN978-1-61321-808-2.
Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
