UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship

The UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (Campeonato Mundia de Peso Semicompleto Junior UWA in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship that was originally promoted by the Mexican lucha libre professional wrestling) promotion Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). the UWA operated from 1975 to 1995 but the title is still defended on the Mexican independent circuit after the UWA closed. The weight range for this championship is 97 kg (214 lb) to 107 kg (236 lb) but is not strictly enforced to these days.[lower-alpha 1][1] The UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship has also been promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling and was at one time one of the eight championships that made up the J-Crown Championship. Following the breakup of the J-Crown, the championship was used by the Toryumon promotion but has since then returned to Mexico where it's defended on the independent circuit.

UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship
The championship belt
Details
PromotionUniversal Wrestling Association
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Toryumon
Mexican independent circuit
Date establishedNovember 20, 1977
Current champion(s)Inactive

Super Nova is the current holder of the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, having defeated Operativo 209 for the title on May 17, 2013.[2] As it was a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers.[lower-alpha 2] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline,[lower-alpha 3] or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship,[lower-alpha 4] or leaving the company.[lower-alpha 5]

Title history
Key
Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed.
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won
N/A The specific information is not known
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
† Indicates Championship reigns after the UWA closed down
§ Indicates that the title reign was part of the J-Crown Championship.
  Indicates that there was a period where the lineage is undocumented, could have been inactive
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 Cesar Valentino 1 November 20, 1977 441 Mexico City, Mexico Live event Defeated Anibal America Salvaje to become the first champion. [lower-alpha 6]
2 Gran Hamada 1 February 4, 1979 66 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
3 Perro Aguayo 1 April 11, 1979 248 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
— Vacated — December 15, 1979 — N/A N/A Championship vacated when Perro Aguayo was unable to defend due to injury. [lower-alpha 6]
5 El Solitario 1 January 27, 1980 428 Mexico City, Mexico Live event Defeated Masanobu Kurisu to win the vacant title. [lower-alpha 6]
6 Eric Embry 1 March 30, 1981 119 Puebla, Puebla, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
7 El Solitario 2 July 19, 1981 691 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
8 El Signo 1 June 10, 1983 250 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
— Vacated — February 15, 1984 — N/A N/A Championship vacated after El Signo makes an unauthorized title defense against Kato Kung Lee. [lower-alpha 6]
9 Aníbal 1 May 27, 1984 111 Mexico City, Mexico Live event Defeated El Texano in a tournament final to win the vacant title. [lower-alpha 6]
10 Invader III 1 September 15, 1984 Unknown San Juan, Puerto Rico Live event   [lower-alpha 6][8]
11 Aníbal 1 1984 Unknown Unknown Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
12 Negro Navarro 1 January 6, 1985 50 Mexico City, Mexico Live event    
13 Mano Negra 1 February 25, 1985 286 Puebla, Puebla, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
14 El Cobarde II 1 December 8, 1985 86 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
15 Gran Hamada 2 March 4, 1986 257 Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
16 Blue Panther 1 November 16, 1986 190 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
17 Solar I 1 May 25, 1987 259 Puebla, Puebla, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
18 Blue Panther 2 February 8, 1988 221 Puebla, Puebla, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
19 Gran Cochisse 1 September 16, 1988 225 Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
20 Ringo Mendoza 1 April 29, 1989 423 Mexico City, Mexico Live event [lower-alpha 6][9]
21 Perro Aguayo 1 June 29, 1990 Unknown Mexico City, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
— Vacated — February 1992 — N/A N/A Championship vacated when Perro Aguayo left the promotion. [lower-alpha 6]
22 Gran Hamada 3 December 12, 1992 274 Mexico City, Mexico Live event Defeated Black Power II in a tournament final to win the vacant title. [lower-alpha 6]
23 El Engendro 1 September 12, 1993 10 Naucalpan, México, Mexico Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
24 Gran Hamada 4 September 22, 1993 792 Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico Live event After the UWA closed in 1995, Gran Hamada brings the title with him to Japan. [lower-alpha 6]
24 Sabu † 1 November 23, 1995 8 Kawasaki, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
26 El Samurai † 1 December 1, 1995 107 Niigata, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
27 Koji Kanemoto † 1 March 17, 1996 Unknown Amagasaki, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
— Vacated — May 1996 — N/A N/A Championship vacated when Kanemoto is unable to defend it due to injury. [lower-alpha 6]
28 Shinjiro Otani † 1 June 17, 1996 58 Tokyo, Japan Sky Diving J Defeated Kazushi Sakuraba to win the vacant title. [lower-alpha 6]
29 Último Dragón § 1 August 4, 1996 1 Tokyo, Japan Live event Defeated Otani in the second round of the New Japan J-Crown Tournament. [lower-alpha 6]
30 The Great Sasuke § 1 August 5, 1996 67 Tokyo, Japan Live event Defeated Dragón in the finals of the J-Crown Tournament to become the first J-Crown Champion. [lower-alpha 6]
31 Último Dragón § 2 October 11, 1996 85 Tokyo, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
32 Jushin Thunder Liger § 1 January 4, 1997 183 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World.   [lower-alpha 6]
33 El Samurai § 2 July 6, 1997 35 Sapporo, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
34 Shinjiro Otani § 2 August 10, 1997 87 Nagoya, Japan Live event   [lower-alpha 6]
— Vacated — November 5, 1997 — N/A N/A Championship vacated after the J-Crown championship is divided back into the original championships. [lower-alpha 6]
35 Gran Hamada † 5 July 30, 1998 200 Ninohe, Japan Live event Defeated Convict I to win the vacant title. [lower-alpha 6]
36 El Cobarde † 1 February 15, 1999 420 Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico Live event Defeated Perro Aguayo to win the title. [lower-alpha 6]
37 Heavy Metal † 1 April 10, 2000 Unknown Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico Live event The final champion with a verifiable connection to the original title lineage. No records can currently be found of Heavy Metal losing the title to a challenger. Further title reigns beyond this point cannot reliably be linked to the original championship at this time, and are based on a wrestler's personal claim to the title, or awarded by another company. [10]
                 
38 Silver King † 1 2006 Unknown Unknown Live event   [11]
39 Diluvio Negro II † 1 February 25, 2007 Unknown Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico Live event   [12]
                 
41 Histeria † 1 Unknown Unknown Unknown Live event   [2]
42 El Pulpo † 1 June 16, 2011 Unknown Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico Live event   [2]
                 
44 Operativo 209 † 1 March 31, 2013 47 Stockton, California, United States Live event Won an eight-man title tournament hosted by Mexican promotion WWO to crown a new champion. [2]
45 Super Nova † 1 May 17, 2013 594 Yakima, Washington, United States Live event   [12]
46 Defunct 2015 Unknown Unknown No verifiable title defenses or appearances have been made since late 2014, when champion Super Nova joined the AAA Mexican wrestling promotion. Length of title reign is marked to have ended on 1/1/15.

Footnotes
  1. The most recent case of this is Mephisto holding the NWA World Welterweight Championship, a belt with a 78 kg (172 lb) upper limit, despite weighing 90 kg (200 lb).
  2. Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win/loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters"[3]
  3. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart"[4]
  4. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson"[5]
  5. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."[6]
  6. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 397, Chapter: MEXICO: UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title [Flores, Mora] [7]

References
  • Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61321-808-2.
  • Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  1. Arturo Montiel Rojas (2001-08-30). "Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-03. Articulo 242: "Ligero 70 kilos / Welter 77 kilos"
  2. "Universal Wrestling Association World Junior Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  3. Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
  4. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
  5. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
  6. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
  7. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 397.
  8. Hoops, Brian (September 15, 2015). "Pro wrestling history (9/15): nWo wins War Games, Hennig wins WCW US title". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  9. Centinela, Teddy (April 23, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1989: Rayo de Jalisco Jr. desenmascara a Súper Halcón". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  10. "2000 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 9, 2001. pp. 2–20. issue 2488.
  11. "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana duranted el 2006". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). December 23, 2006. issue 192.
  12. "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). December 26, 2007. issue 244.
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