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What are the true world titles?


BillThompson

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Another to add...

NWF World Title- 70-81 defended in the US and Japan. was mid major in Ohio in 70s before being the top title in NJPW with Inoki. 10 years defended worldwide

 

There should be mid major titles that didn't quite fit the criteria

I would put these titles under there

WWA- Indianapolis

Montreal World Title

Omaha World Title -Merged with AWA title

American Wrestling Alliance Cleveland- Merged with NWA title

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Another to add...

NWF World Title- 70-81 defended in the US and Japan. was mid major in Ohio in 70s before being the top title in NJPW with Inoki. 10 years defended worldwide

 

There should be mid major titles that didn't quite fit the criteria

I would put these titles under there

WWA- Indianapolis

Montreal World Title

Omaha World Title -Merged with AWA title

American Wrestling Alliance Cleveland- Merged with NWA title

 

The issue I have with Omaha and Montreal (Both Carpentier issues) as not listed as WORLD titles is that they were both broken off from the NWA title, so technically they were World Titles still due to their lineage....but I guess they werent "World" Titles anymore, so I dont know where they'd go....Omaha World Title was still defended in diff parts of US, but not World anymore, same with Montreal in Canada...

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Yeah that's my point though. There should be a division between true world titles and mid major world titles, sort of like the way the wbo was looked at compared to the WBC, WBA, and ibf in boxing. The Wwa is a mid major, the awa is a world title

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Should size of company matter for a "world" title designation? ROH has been around for awhile, but what's the biggest house they have ever drawn? The USWA used to claim the Unified Title was a world title, but nobody really considers that to be on the level with the rest of the titles being mentioned so far.

 

Catch Wrestling Association (the one Otto Wanz owned), CMLL and AAA might deserve world title status as well.

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I remember Phil Schneider once making a good point that if you decide that you're going to talk about pro wrestling as a work, it makes no sense to view champion status as anything more than just another gimmick to entertain fans and make money. Setting up some arbitrary and ill-defined criteria to exclude certain champion gimmicks makes about as much sense as doing the same to decide what counts as a "true" biker gimmick or even a "true" ladder match.

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Yeah that's my point though. There should be a division between true world titles and mid major world titles, sort of like the way the wbo was looked at compared to the WBC, WBA, and ibf in boxing. The Wwa is a mid major, the awa is a world title

 

Yeah, good point....I think I was thinking the same as I was typing my reply above

 

I remember Phil Schneider once making a good point that if you decide that you're going to talk about pro wrestling as a work, it makes no sense to view champion status as anything more than just another gimmick to entertain fans and make money. Setting up some arbitrary and ill-defined criteria to exclude certain champion gimmicks makes about as much sense as doing the same to decide what counts as a "true" biker gimmick or even a "true" ladder match.

 

He and you are free to feel how you want, but taking this as a "real sport" and allowing yourself to be fully involved in it and suspend reality, then you can look at some as true WORLD titles and some as not, all depending on how they were presented, where they were defended, etc...

 

If its looked at your way, then really only the NWA title would be a WORLD title as a LOT of those matches back in older days were shoots with real wrestlers, no gimmicks, getting it on for the title.

 

With that in mind, the ROH Title would definately fit as a World Title..its been defended all over the place with many different people trying to win it as well as foreigners winning it...

 

I do find funny that using Canadians as the example of a foreign champion!! When it comes to wrestling, the US and Canada are kind of tied at the hip!

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He and you are free to feel how you want, but taking this as a "real sport" and allowing yourself to be fully involved in it and suspend reality, then you can look at some as true WORLD titles and some as not, all depending on how they were presented, where they were defended, etc...

 

If its looked at your way, then really only the NWA title would be a WORLD title as a LOT of those matches back in older days were shoots with real wrestlers, no gimmicks, getting it on for the title.

Actually, if you bring "real sports" into the conversation, it becomes even more obvious that a world championship is just a marketing gimmick. To go back to the boxing example brought up before, there are shitloads of world titles in that sport and even the organizations commonly recognized as "legit" do all kinds of shady shit like giving guys titles to help market them or making up extra belts to make some money off sanctioning. It's pretty much boxing's worst kept secret that there's tons of corruption and greed involved in the world title business, but people just go along with it because it's part of the fun of the sport. I'd argue it falls more in line with your ideal of "suspending reality" to just go along with what promotions bill as a world title than to come up with ways to exclude certain promotions.

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For my research purposes I suppose it's important to note that I am very strict when it comes to promotional name changes. I view Eastern Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling as different promotions, same goes for World Wide Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Federation, and World Wrestling Entertainment. I know this doesn't matter to most, but it matters to me and it's a line in the sand I take into account.

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As of right now these are the promotions I'll be doing research on for linear world title histories: American Wrestling Association, Extreme Championship Wrestling, International Wrestling Grand Prix, National Wrestling Alliance, National Wrestling Federation, Pacific Wrestling Federation, Ring of Honor, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Universal Wrestling Association, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, and World Wrestling Federation.

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