The American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first heavyweight professional wrestling championship in the United States. The title existed from 1881 through approximately 1922.
Title history Wrestler Times Date won Location Notes Edwin Bibby1January 19, 1881New York City Defeats Duncan C. Ross in a catch-as-catch-can match for "the championship of America".Joe Acton1August 7, 1882New York City 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" Lewis1April 11, 1887Chicago 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" Burns1April 20, 1895ChicagoDan McLeod1October 26, 1897IndianapolisYusuf İsmail1June 20, 1898ChicagoTom Jenkins1November 7, 1901Cleveland, OhioDan McLeod2December 25, 1902Worcester, Massachusetts Jenkins forfeited the title to McLeod after having blood poisoning in his leg during their match.Tom Jenkins2April 3, 1903Buffalo, N.Y.Frank Gotch1January 27, 1904Bellingham, WashingtonTom Jenkins3March 15, 1905New York CityFrank Gotch2May 23, 1906Kansas City, MissouriFred Beell1December 1, 1906New Orleans Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles; "Milwaukee Journal"; "Marshfield", "WI"; "August 8, 1933"; viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA335Frank Gotch3December 17, 1906Kansas City, MissouriVacant1910 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.Henry Ordemann1October 25, 1910Minneapolis Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch.Charlie Cutler1February 1, 1911MinneapolisDr. Benjamin Roller1March 6, 1911ChicagoCharlie Cutler2March 25, 1911Buffalo, N.Y.Jess Reimer1November 7, 1911Des Moines, IowaHenry Ordemann2December 14, 1911MinneapolisCharlie Cutler3March 25, 1912Chicago 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 Roller2July 4, 1913Benton Harbor, MichiganEd "Strangler" Lewis1September 18, 1913Lexington, KentuckyWilliam Demetral1October 21, 1913Lexington, KentuckyDr. Benjamin Roller3July 10, 1914Rock Island, Illinois Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Roller during an international tournament on January 15, 1916, in New York City (title may not be on line).Wladek Zbyszko1January 8, 1917Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 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
Professional wrestling in the United States Early wrestling championships World Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship World Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship
References
External links American Heavyweight title history at Wrestling-Titles.com