NWA International Heavyweight Championship

The NWA International Heavyweight Championship was a singles title recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance through its partnership with the Japan Wrestling Association, and later by All Japan Pro Wrestling. It is one of the three titles that were unified into the AJPW Triple Crown Championship in 1989. Prior to the creation of the Triple Crown, All Japan considered the NWA International title to be its top singles championship.

Under Rikidozan the belt had a design similar to Lou Thesz's original NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt during the 1950s, but after Rikidozan's death, the belt given to Giant Baba had the design seen today on the belt part of the Triple Crown. The original design was later used on the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the UWFI belt (which was the original Lou Thesz belt), and a belt later given to Kazushi Sakuraba for show.

Title history
1 Thesz was awarded the championship by the NWA. Houston NWA promoter Morris Sigel claimed that Thesz has won the title by defeating Antonino Rocca in 1949. 2 Baba defeated Dick the Bruiser for the vacant title. 3 Brazil defeated Kintaro Ohki for the vacant title. 4 Won tournament for the vacant title when Bruiser Brody was injured and unable to wrestle in the finals. Defeated Terry Funk for his first title defense instead. 5 Not acknowledged in Japan.