Real World Championship
New Japan Pro-Wrestling championship (1972)
The World Heavyweight Championship (世界ヘビー級王座, sekai hebī-kyū ōza), also referred to as the Real World Championship was a championship established and promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Karl Gotch was billed as a first champion by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It used the belt (or belt replica) of American Wrestling Alliance (Ohio)'s AWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by Karl Gotch from September 11, 1962 to September 7, 1964. The title was successfully defended only once, by Antonio Inoki against Red Pimpernel on day 12 of New Golden Series on October 9, 1972. Karl Gotch was the final champion in his second reign, winning the title from Antonio Inoki on October 10, 1972.
01Title history
Over the championship's one-year history, there were only two reigns between two champions. Karl Gotch was the inaugural champion with most reigns, at two times. Gotch was also the final champion.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defences | Number of successful defences |
| N/A | Unknown information |
| (NET) | Championship change took place "no earlier than" the date listed |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defences | ||||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | |||||||||||
| 1 | Karl Gotch | January 13, 1972 (NET) |
N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A | 0 | Recognized as a champion by NJPW using the belt (or its replica) of AWA World Heavyweight Championship. | |||
| 2 | Antonio Inoki | October 4, 1972 | New Golden Series | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 6 | 1 | Won the title via count-out. Lou Thesz was the special guest referee. | |||
| 3 | Karl Gotch | October 10, 1972 | New Golden Series | Osaka, Japan | 2 | N/A | 0 | ||||
| , | Deactivated | October 10, 1972 (NET) |
, | , | , | , | , | The championship was abandoned without any formal announcement. | |||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Real World Championship”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Awal-h.png by American Wrestling Alliance, Fair use
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