42.) Adam Pearce
Total Combined Days: 1,078
Number of Reigns: 5
Nowadays you may know Adam Pearce as the bald guy that appears on backstage segments in the WWE usually stopping brawls between fighting wrestlers but before that, he is one of the most well known and decorated wrestlers in the independent circuit. I know Christopher Daniels is dubbed by many as “King of the Indies” but there was a point in time where Pearce could’ve been argued as such as well. He has wrestled for pretty much every major indie promotion you could think of since the 2000’s until the early 2010’s across the United States but also internationally in Japan and Mexico. Pearce is the definition of a “journeyman” in wrestling although unlike most who get the same label, he was at least successful and had a decorated career for himself, most notably being a 5x NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After the partnership with TNA has ended, the NWA was back to having no permanent home, instead they would have the belt be defended on different promotions that would take it which is still what is somewhat happening today. Before that though it was vacated for a long time and they held a tournament to crown a new champion post TNA era. Pearce was a part of that tournament but was eliminated in the semis by Bryan Danielson but he would eventually withdraw due to a retina injury thus Pearce substituted for him and went on to defeat Brent Albright in the finals of the Reclaiming the Glory Tournament hosted by IWA Puerto Rico. He had an impressive 336 day reign as the new champion and successfully defended it 17 times across various promotions in the US before losing to Brent Albright at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor in 2008. Pearce won the belt four more times afterwards, even having a rivalry against Colt Cabana for the belt which somewhat gave a “life” to what is a championship losing its presence among the wrestling world. His third run was his longest reign at 357 days with 28 successful title defenses. 2014 would be his last year as a wrestler, he had his final match in Metro Pro Wrestling against fellow indie veteran Ace Steel. Pearce is one of the most underrated workers in modern day wrestling, if he would’ve had his prime now in the social media driven times, perhaps he would’ve gotten more attention but he at least gets the respect he deserves for those who have seen his work.
43.) Brent Albright
Total Days: 49
Number of Reigns: 1
To be honest I only found out about Brent Albright a couple of years ago while doing my research for the history of the NWA Title. Beforehand, I had no clue on who he is. From what I’ve seen he is a pretty good wrestler, primarily competed in the indies mainly for OVW. He also had a short stint in the WWE for their SmackDown brand where he wrestled as “Gunner Scott.” He also had few matches for TNA and NOAH but the biggest highlight of his career was winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Adam Pearce at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor in 2008. It was only a short run but he did have some notable defenses during it, in his first defense he defeated NOAH wrestler Go Shiozaki. He would eventually drop the belt back to Pearce this time at the Glory By Honor event. Albright continued wrestling, spending his final years at IZW before ultimately retiring from in-ring competition. Honestly a forgettable champion altogether but every belt has them as you have previously seen already.
44.) Blue Demon Jr.
Total Days: 505
Number of Reigns: 1
When talking about great second generation wrestlers, luchadors are often forgotten to be included in the mix but a lot of great wrestling dynasties have come from Mexico, one of the most notable examples would be Blue Demon Jr. His father the original Blue Demon was a massive star in his prime, mainly being the heel rival to the eternal babyface El Santo. Together with Mil Mascaras, the three legends shaped what lucha libre is today and help it grow as a part of Mexican culture. Blue Demon Jr. made his pro wrestling debut in 1985 but spent the majority of his prime for AAA. Around the 2000’s he started to actively wrestle elsewhere including the United States and in 2008 became a staple of the NWA having a rivalry against World Champion Adam Pearce. The same year Demon defeated Pearce for the belt, marking a historic moment as for the first time the title changed hands in Mexico as they wrestled at the NWA subsidiary owned by Demon himself. He would hold onto the belt for an impressive 505 days although in that timeframe only defended it 11 times. It is the longest title reign of the belt over the past two decades. Demon would eventually lose the belt in 2010 in a three way match involving Phil Shatter and Adam Pearce, which the latter won. These days Blue Demon Jr. is still an active wrestler, he was a part of the early days of Lucha Underground and is still a staple member of the AAA roster. Just recently he headlined TripleMania this year against fellow veteran Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. hair match.
45.) Colt Cabana
Total Combined Days: 152
Number of Reigns: 2
Another veteran of independent wrestling and a man that truly showcased that you do not necessarily need to be a WWE superstar to still be one of the most recognizable and respected names amongst the wrestling community, that is of course: Colt Cabana. He made his debut in 1999 and has also wrestled for pretty much every indie you could think of past and present. Colt also had a short stint with the WWE as “Scotty Goldman” but that went nowhere and he found more success in the independents afterwards. I’ve mentioned it previously, one of the highlights of the NWA Title around this time was the Cabana vs. Pearce rivalry. They fought for the belt many times and exchanged title reigns as well. Colt won the belt for the first time in March 2011 at NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, ending Adam Pearce’s 357 day run as champion although he only held the belt for 48 days with four successful defenses before losing it to The Almighty Sheik. A year later he’d win the belt back from Pearce again in 2012 this time having a much lengthier 104 day run, him and Scrap Iron faced three times throughout this title reign and by the trilogy Colt once again loss to Pearce. Colt Cabana doesn’t get enough credited for utilizing the internet as a part of the job being a wrestler, yes Zack Ryder used it to get over, but Colt’s merchandising tactics, the podcasts, he innovated it all and it may seem like a crazy idea but in a way it is true, he is one of the reasons why All Elite Wrestling is even existing right now because of the ways he got over using the power of the internet. What’s great about Colt as well, especially in his prime, yes he can be a silly wrestler in fact he is best known as a comedic talent but once things get serious, he can give you an outstanding technical match and those are the type of wrestlers that I enjoy watching as well. Colt is still going strong in the indies but is primarily performing for ROH and NWA.
46.) The Almighty Sheik
Total Days: 79
Number of Reigns: 1
Another forgotten champion of the indies era for the NWA Title is The Sheik, not the late great Ed Farhat, but The Almighty Sheik. He made his pro wrestling debut in 1998 and has wrestled for different independent promotions ever since. Around the early 2010’s Sheik became one of the staple members of the NWA roster and finding success in the Japanese promotion: ZERO1 as well, winning that company’s World Title too. On April 2011 he defeated Colt Cabana in Jacksonville, Florida for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He defended the belt three times, most notably in ZERO1 where he defeated Ryouji Sai, ended up winning with both World Titles at the end of the night in July at Tokyo. His reign didn’t last long and it ended with controversy as Sheik was said to be a hard wrestler to deal with, the NWA stripped him off the title after claiming that he refused to defend the belt against Adam Pearce. Sheik on the other hand has claimed that he was not aware of the defense to begin with but that pretty much ended his affiliations with the promotion. Nowadays he is a part of the Major League Wrestling (MLW) promotion and now wrestles under the ring name “Josef Samael.”
47.) Kahagas
Total Days: 134
Number of Reigns: 1
“The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas is another veteran of the independent circuit that wounded up winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2012 after the belt was vacated from Almighty Sheik. Prior to that he has been wrestling since 2000 for multiple independent promotions in the US. He won the belt at an elimination match that involved eight other wrestlers. Kahagas became a double champion when he won the World Title as he was also the reigning NWA National Heavyweight Champion at the time. He defended the belt 10 times primarily around the Florida circuit before losing it to Rob Conway in 2013.
48.) Rob Conway
Total Combined Days: 551
Number of Reigns: 2
From 2013 to 2014 there was a clear de facto face for the NWA and it’s none other than Rob Conway. He is probably best known for his seven years of work with the WWE where he was a tag-team champion at best with La Resistance. With his departure from the WWE, Conway competed in the indies and in 2013 became the top star for the floundering NWA brand. In March 2013 he defeated Kahagas to win the belt for the first time, he had an impressive 294 day run with the belt. By this point the NWA were able to have a partnership with NJPW so Conway would sometimes defend the belt there as well, notably against guys like Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin “Thunder” Liger. He also won over a bunch of who’s who of wrestler during that time period like Ricky Morton, Chris Masters, and Chase Owens in the indies just to name a few. Perhaps Conway’s biggest match of his career though was at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in the Tokyo Dome where his title run ended at the hands of a former challenger, Satoshi Kojima. Six months later, Conway got the belt right back from Kojima for his second reign at a Cauliflower Alley Club reunion show and this time had a 257 day run. He primarily defended the belt in the US but would lose it to Japan again this time against Kojima’s tag-team partner: Hiroyoshi Tenzan. It’s crazy how both members of TenCozy are so connected with Rob Conway’s career. Conway was a decent wrestler but clearly not the World Champion the NWA thought would be a game changer but at that time, they really didn’t have a lot of choices as most top stars were wrestling for much bigger and relevant promotions. Conway is still wrestling in the indies but mostly in his residence state of Indiana.
49.) Satoshi Kojima
Total Days: 149
Number of Reigns: 1
By the time he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Satoshi Kojima is already an established star. He is one of the most accomplished and greatest wrestlers in Japan, a member of the “Fourth Generation” group of young lions that graduated from the NJPW Dojo along with Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata, and Manabu Nakanishi. Kojima is the first and only wrestler to hold New Japan’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship and AJPW’s Triple Crown Championship simultaneously, both titles he won twice in his career as well as being a 7x IWGP Tag-Team Champion and the second overall and only Japanese wrestler so far to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship way back in 2002. At Wrestle Kingdom 8 in 2014, Kojima defeated Rob Conway for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. They have been feuding for awhile before this, he would go on to have a 149 day reign with his first three defenses were at New Japan, first against Big Daddy Yum Yum (what a name eh?), Rob Conway, and Wes Brisco respectively. Kojima had two more defenses after that in the US before dropping the belt back to Conway. It was a good addition to Satoshi Kojima’s overall legacy but the belt still didn’t mean much at that point and was relegated to lower card title matches at big time events.
50.) Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Total Days: 196
Number of Reigns: 1
Back to back we got the other half of the successful TenCozy tag-team: Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Similar to Kojima, when Tenzan won the NWA World Title, it was just another great addition to his already decorated career. He was mainly one of the top wrestlers at New Japan during the Inokism years along with Yuji Nagata, despite the large influx of MMA influence brought forth by Antonio Inoki, Tenzan stayed loyal to the company. He is a 4x IWGP Heavyweight Champion and a record 12x IWGP Tag-Team Champion. The innovator of the Anaconda Vice submission hold won the title at The New Beginning in Sendai in 2015 when he defeated Rob Conway. Despite the lengthy 196 day run, Tenzan only defended the belt four times, once against his long time rival/partner: Satoshi Kojima in NJPW, then against Big Daddy Yum Yum, Nathan Briggs, and eventually lost it to Jax Dane at an NWA event in San Antonio, Texas. Tenzan and Kojima are still actively wrestling these days, they are far from their glory days as prime main eventers but are still serviceable veterans especially in helping the much younger talent grow as performers.
51.) Jax Dane
Total Days: 419
Number of Reigns: 1
Despite being as latest as three years ago, most people have already forgotten about Jax Dane as NWA World Champion. The NWA was still a floundering brand and they really ran out of big names to put the title onto thus having a locally accomplished wrestler like Jax Dane hold the belt for a long period of time as well. For those who don’t know him, Jax Dane is a big man wrestler, a hoss type if you will but clearly far from the levels of guys like Stan Hansen or Vader. He debuted in 2009 and before his World Title run, his most noteworthy highlight was teaming up with Rob Conway as The IronGodz wherein they are former NWA World Tag-Team Champions. Dane won the title in 2015 defeating veteran Puroresu wrestler Hiroyoshi Tenzan. He would go on to be the champion for almost the entirety of 2016 having 17 successful title defenses in NWA affiliated promotions. On October he would lose the belt to Tim Storm. At 38 years old, Jax Dane is still pretty active as a wrestler in various promotions today, he had a few matches at IMPACT this year but don’t really expect him to be on any big World Title scenarios anytime soon.
52.) Tim Storm
Total Days: 414
Number of Reigns: 1
Before NWA started to gain some following online, they were first ridiculed with their decision on giving veteran wrestler Tim Storm the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. I couldn’t blame the fans though as it seemed like the association has really stunk to the bottom of the barrel on awarding what was once such a prestigious and historic belt to basically a nobody. But little did we know, Tim Storm who made his debut way back in 1995, would go on to become one of the most favorite babyfaces by those who started to watch the NWA as Billy Corgan focused more on integrating online presence for the company when he bought it. Prior to all of this, Tim Storm won the belt in 2016 from Jax Dane and held the belt for an entire year but only had a few recorded defenses, two of which were in Japan, one of those matches which I found interesting was against former sumo and AJPW Triple Crown Champion: Ryota Hama, who is one of my personal guilty pleasure wrestlers. Anyway, as the “Ten Pounds of Gold” era started Tim Storm was presented with a relatable underdog story that a lot of fans gravitated towards. From being a wrestler nobody knew about to gaining the support of many fans that watched their online series. A new rival would enter the field in the form of Nick Aldis who would eventually put an end to Tim Storm’s 414 day reign as champion at a CZW event on December 2017. Today, Storm is still a part of the NWA roster and has been consistently performing for their “NWA Power” show.
53.) Nick Aldis
Total Combined Days: 641+ (ongoing)
Number of Reigns: 2
Currently the man leading the charge for the NWA as their top star is “The National Treasure” Nick Aldis. From Norfolk, England, Aldis made his wrestling debut in 2003 and in 2008 signed with TNA becoming one of their premier wrestlers as “Magnus.” In his eight years in TNA, Magnus managed to make a name for himself by becoming a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and 2x TNA World Tag-Team Champion. Thanks to their Japanese partnerships, he is also a former tag-team champion for NJPW’s IWGP Tag-Team and NOAH’s GHC Tag-Team titles. In 2015 he left the company and two years later found his home with the NWA who was desperately in need of a big name to build their company around. There really weren’t any other top stars they could’ve signed, so Nick Aldis became the focus of the re-brand for the NWA entering their “Ten Pounds of Gold” era that started with the online series of the similar name which would eventually lead to the NWA Power show. Aldis won the World Title at a CZW event defeating Tim Storm, he would go on to have an impressive 266 day run with the belt and his entire run was actually documented which gained some interests from other fans. He has defended the belt from a variety of wrestlers, guys like James Ellsworth, David Starr, Colt Cabana, Tommy Dreamer, Robbie Eagles, Mr. Anderson, and many more. He would lose the belt eventually on September 2018 at the massive event known as “All In” to Cody Rhodes. Just 50 days in though Aldis would gain the belt right back and as of the writing of this article is now on his 17th defense on his ongoing 378 days as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Aldis got a lot of flack in his initial run with the belt, ridiculing the NWA that they could have found a better star, but slowly the fans would appreciate his work as a wrestler. Yes he isn’t as flashy as a lot of wrestlers are nowadays but given the proper story and opponent, Aldis could shine as a top talent and he certainly fits the bill perfectly with the whole “old school revival” brand the NWA is going for right now. Let’s see where he goes from here as the champion.
54.) Cody
Total Days: 50
Number of Reigns: 1
To cap it all off we got a championship run that is 40 years in the making since Dusty Rhodes won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in 1979, fast forward to the biggest independent wrestling event: All In, Cody Rhodes defeated Nick Aldis to capture the same title his father once held making them the only father and son wrestlers to win the World Title. Cody’s journey before that though was definitely interesting, after his long tenure with the WWE, Cody began wrestling in the indies and would make a name for himself in both ROH and NJPW. The biggest highlight eventually of his career post WWE was joining the Bullet Club faction and later on had their own sub group of The Elite. The thing about Cody is that once he left WWE, he became an even bigger star, probably more popular than some of the wrestlers they got today. With the continuous success of the Elite they were able to host their own independent show that also involved wrestlers from other promotions, Cody and Aldis were able to have one of the most entertaining matches of the night and his victory definitely was an emotional one, with it mainly being a tribute to his late father. However Cody’s run with the belt didn’t last for long, fans thought he’d be the one to lead the NWA as they finally found the big name they were looking for but once again it was more of a moment rather than a lengthy reign in mind as Cody also had other bigger priorities at the time. In his first defense, he dropped the belt back to Aldis at NWA’s 70th Anniversary Show in 2018. As of now, Cody is one of the main event wrestlers for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and looks to continue to grow the promotion and his own personal success as a wrestler.
The NWA World Heavyweight Championship will always be one of the premier titles in all of professional wrestling. The prestige of the belt remains strong despite suffering some setbacks here and there. All the men that have held it in the seven decades of existence have shared their parts towards the lineage and rich history of the belt. Each story that is interwoven and connected together to make it what it is now. The legacies of the belt itself and those who were crowned it’s champions will be forever immortalized in the lore of pro wrestling.
Sources: Wikipedia and CAGEMATCH
Thank you for reading.
