Professional wrestling championship
The AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a title in theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1981 until it closed in 1991.
Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for the specific champion Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days American Wrestling Association (AWA) 1 Mike Graham June 1981 House show [ Note 1] 1 [ Note 2] Graham was awarded the title. [ 1] 2 Buck Zumhofe June 19, 1983 House show Hamburg, Minnesota 1 280 [ 1] 3 Steve Regal March 25, 1984 House show Saint Paul, Minnesota 1 613 [ 1] 4 Buck Zumhofe November 28, 1985 House show Saint Paul, Minnesota 2 [ Note 3] [ 1] — Vacated July 1986 — — — — Zumhofe is sent to prison 5 Mike Graham December 13, 1988 House show Chicago, Illinois 2 [ Note 4] Records are unclear on how Graham won the championship. [ 1] Championship history is unrecorded fromDecember 13, 1988 toAugust 11, 1990 . 6 Buck Zumhofe August 11, 1990 House show Rochester, Minnesota 3 [ Note 5] Defeated Jonnie Stewart to win the title in AWA. [ 1] [ 2]
In 1989, the Japan-basedFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) began billingFlorida Championship Wrestling/Professional Wrestling Federation championJim Backlund as the AWA champion. This was never sanctioned by the AWA. FMW's claimed title became FMW's lower weight division title. In 1992, FMW renamed the title to the WWA World Martial Arts Junior Heavyweight Championship before retiring it in 1993.[ 1]
Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for the specific champion Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) 1 (6) Jim Backlund December 10, 1988 House show Tampa, Florida 1 477 Backlund defeated Tyree Pride for the FCW Light Heavyweight Championship; because of this victory Backlund is recognized as the sixth AWA champion by FMW in Japan during 1989 but not by the AWA itself. [ 1] 2 (7) Lee Gak-soo April 1, 1990 House show Tokyo, Japan 1 [ Note 6] [ 1] — Vacated September 1990 — — — — Title vacated after Lee left FMW. [ 1] 3 (8) Katsuji Ueda September 25, 1990 Battle Field Nagoya, Japan 1 41 DefeatedJim Backlund in a "Different Style Match" tournament final. [ 1] 4 (9) Jim Backlund November 5, 1990 FMW 1st Anniversary Show Tokyo, Japan 2 205 [ 1] 5 (10) Ricky Fuji May 29, 1991 House show Tokyo, Japan 1 87 [ 1] 6 (11) Mark Starr August 24, 1991 House show Tokyo, Japan 1 7 [ 1] 7 (12) Katsuji Ueda August 31, 1991 House show Chiba, Japan 2 205 [ 1] 8 (13) Dr. Luther March 23, 1992 House show Saitama, Japan 1 197 The title is renamed to the WWA World Martial Arts Junior Heavyweight Championship in April 1992. [ 1] 9 (14) Katsuji Ueda September 7, 1992 House show Saitama, Japan 3 [ Note 7] [ 1] — Deactivated 1993 — — — — The title is retired and replaced with theIndependent World Junior Heavyweight Championship . [ 1]
^ The location of the title change is not documented. ^ The date the title is changed is not documented making the championship reign too uncertain to calculate. ^ The exact date the championship was vacated is unknown, which means that the reign lasted between 215 and 244 days. ^ The length Graham's reign has not been verified by documentation, making the length of the actual reign too uncertain to calculate. ^ The exact date the AWA stops promoting on a regular basis is unknown making the length of the reign too uncertain to calculate. ^ The exact date the championship was vacated which means that the reign lasted between 518 and 542 days. ^ The date the title is abandoned is not documented making the championship reign too uncertain to calculate.
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