American Heavyweight Championship

The American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first heavyweight professional wrestling championship in the United States. The title existed from 1881 through approximately 1922.[1]

American Heavyweight Championship
Details
Date establishedJanuary 19, 1881
Statistics
First champion(s)Edwin Bibby
Final champion(s)Wladek Zbyszko
Most reignsTom Jenkins, Frank Gotch, Charlie Cutler, Dr. Benjamin Roller (3 times)

Title history
Wrestler Times Date won Location Notes
Edwin Bibby 1 January 19, 1881 New York, New York Defeats Duncan C. Ross in a catch-as-catch-can match for "the championship of America".[2][3]
Joe Acton 1 August 7, 1882 New York, New York Has defeated Tom Cannon on December 9, 1881, in London, England, for the Catch-as-Catch-Can Title; Bibby is billed as champion for a match against World Greco-Roman champion William Muldoon on September 3, 1882, in Elmira, NY.
Evan "Strangler" Lewis 1 April 11, 1887 Chicago, IL Lewis unified the American Catch-as-Catch Can Championship and the American Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship by defeating Ernest Roeber on March 2, 1893, in a 3 out of 5 falls match with alternating Greco-Roman match and Catch-as-Catch can matches. The two titles became known as the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.
Martin "Farmer" Burns 1 April 20, 1895 Chicago, IL
Dan McLeod 1 October 26, 1897 Indianapolis, IN
Tom Jenkins 1 November 7, 1901 Cleveland, OH
Dan McLeod 2 December 25, 1902 Worcester, Mass. Jenkins forfeited the title to McLeod after having blood poisoning in his leg during their match.
Tom Jenkins 2 April 3, 1903 Buffalo, N.Y. [4]
Frank Gotch 1 January 27, 1904 Bellingham, Wash.
Tom Jenkins 3 March 15, 1905 New York, New York
Frank Gotch 2 May 23, 1906 Kansas City, Missouri [5]
Fred Beell 1 December 1, 1906 New Orleans, LA [6]
Frank Gotch 3 December 17, 1906 Kansas City, Missouri [6]
Vacant 1910 Gotch vacates the title after two years as a double crown champion to concentrate on the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship he won from Georg Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois.[4]
Henry Ordemann 1 October 25, 1910 Minneapolis, MN Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch.
Charlie Cutler 1 February 1, 1911 Minneapolis, MN
Dr. Benjamin Roller 1 March 6, 1911 Chicago, IL
Charlie Cutler 2 March 25, 1911 Buffalo, N.Y.
Jess Reimer 1 November 7, 1911 Des Moines, Iowa
Henry Ordemann 2 December 14, 1911 Minneapolis, MN
Charlie Cutler 3 March 25, 1912 Chicago, IL Jess Westergaard (Reimer) defeats Ordemann on January 7, 1913, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to claim a title but loses to Cutler on January 22, 1913, in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Benjamin Roller 2 July 4, 1913 Benton Harbor, Mich.
Ed "Strangler" Lewis 1 September 18, 1913 Lexington, Ky.
William Demetral 1 October 21, 1913 Lexington, Ky.
Dr. Benjamin Roller 3 July 10, 1914 Rock Island, Ill. Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Roller during an international tournament on January 15, 1916, in New York City (title may not be on line).
Wladek Zbyszko 1 January 8, 1917 Wilkes-Barre, Penn. Still/again champion as of September 22, 1922 (or a different reign, possibly by winning a tournament which has started on February 21, 1922).

See also

References
  1. "BIBBY THROWS ROSS.; WINNING A MATCH WITH THE GIANT-- THREE OUT OF FIVE FALLS GAINED. - The New York Times".
  2. "Edwin Bibby 1848 - All about Bibby".
  3. "BIBBY THROWS ROSS.; WINNING A MATCH WITH THE GIANT-- THREE OUT OF FIVE FALLS GAINED. - The New York Times".
  4. F4W Staff (April 3, 2015). "ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING TITLE CHANGE HISTORY: GOTCH VS. HACKENSCHMIDT, INOKI VS. HANSEN, GUERRERO VS. JERICHO". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  5. Hoops, Brian (May 23, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 23): Antonio Inoki Vs. Hulk Hogan, Andre Vs. Sakaguchi, Frank Gotch in a 57-minute match". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  6. Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles; "Milwaukee Journal"; "Marshfield", "WI"; "August 8, 1933"; viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA335
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