NWA National Heavyweight Championship

The original version NWA National Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in the NWA-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1980 until 1986. In spite of its name, the championship was never defended on a national basis but, rather, it was used only within the territorial region in which Georgia Championship Wrestling ran its operations.

In 1984, Vince McMahon's Titan Sports, Inc. (which operated under the World Wrestling Federation brand name) bought Georgia Championship Wrestling, Inc. The National champion at the time of the sale was The Spoiler (Don Jardine). Spoiler went to work for the WWF and was briefly recognized by that company as National Heavyweight Champion.

Meanwhile, a rival group with NWA sanctioning began in Georgia. This group was called Championship Wrestling from Georgia. They awarded the NWA National Heavyweight Championship to Ted DiBiase (proclaiming that he had won the title from The Spoiler, which actually wasn't the case except for storyline purposes).

In 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions purchased the TBS Saturday night and Sunday night television slots from the WWF and began production on a new era of "World Championship Wrestling." JCP essentially consolidated Championship Wrestling from Georgia (taking over that group's Saturday morning time slot as well) and began to recognize their championships.

Eventually Crockett held a unification match between his company's United States champion and the National champion. The U.S. champ won and that version of the National title was abandoned.

Beginning in 1997, the NWA Board of Directors created another NWA National Heavyweight Championship. Unlike some other NWA sanctioned championships that were once inactive, the NWA had to create another title with a separate lineage from the first one as Georgia Championship Wrestling, its video archives and championships are currently owned by World Wrestling Entertainment. Unlike the original version, the current NWA National Heavyweight Championship is defended in various NWA affiliated promotions throughout the United States.