AWA World Heavyweight Championship

The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Heavyweight Championship was the highest ranked championship in the now defunct American Wrestling Association. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious championships in professional wrestling history.

History
The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was established in May 1960, after the AWA became a separate promotion from the National Wrestling Alliance, which had previously been a part of as the NWA's Minneapolis, Minnesota-area presence. The first champion was Pat O'Connor, who was recognized as the first champion upon the AWA's secession from the NWA as O'Connor held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as well, which he won on January 9, 1959. With the introduction of the championship, which had world title status for its entire existence until the promotion folded in January 1991, the NWA World Championship lost its status as the only World Championship of pro wrestling, which it had since the beginning of the 20th Century. The creation of a second world title would pave the way for the creation of many other world championships in other wrestling promotions.

The title was supposedly revived in 1996 in Dale Gagne's independent promotion AWA Superstars of Wrestling, who relicensed the AWA name. The championship is currently being defended in Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, a Japanese wrestling promotion affiliated with AWA Superstars. Its disputed, however, if the current championship is legitimately the AWA World heavyweight title that represented the American Wrestling Association, which was put in dispute when, in April 26, 2007 it was revealed that World Wrestling Entertainment had seeked legal action against Dale Gagne for the use of the AWA name, citing trademark infringement, as the WWE owns the AWA tape library.

American Wrestling Association (1959-1991)
†Title changes not officially recognized by the American Wrestling Association, retroactively announced as "official" by the AWA Superstars of Wrestling promotion.