![]() “Superstar” Billy Graham, WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, 1978 Harley Race, NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion vs. It solidified Giant Baba as an international threat, who would challenge for the NWA World’s title for years to come (including becoming a 3x NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion himself by 1980). On January 23, 1973, All Japan’s PWF Champion Giant Baba faced NWA World Champion Jack Brisco in Nagasaki, Japan, in another match that ended in a time limit draw. In AJPW, the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) Heavyweight Championship from the NWA had become All Japan’s top singles title (it would be merged with NWA United National Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship in 1989 to form the Triple Crown Championship). In 1972, Rikidozan pupils Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba had left their late mentor’s Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) to launch New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) respectively. Dick The Bruiser, WWA World Heavyweight Champion, 1966 Gene Kiniski, NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion vs. ![]() They won one round each (World title matches were usually done in Best 2-out-of-3 matches) and the last round ended in double count-out, ensuring both men returned to their promotions justified in being World Champion. In front of 9,000 people at the Victory Field baseball stadium, the two fought to a double count-out in a match that showed that Thesz’s technical strategies were on par with The Bruiser’s power game. But on July 17, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana (WWA’s home city), WWA World Champion Dick The Bruiser challenged Thesz in a World title vs title match. Thesz and WWA World Champion Dick The Bruiser had been fighting over the gold since 1958, but it was always on the NWA’s terms. But the World Wrestling Association (WWA) had seceded from the NWA in 1964 and become one of the original outlaw territories in the United States. Lou Thesz was a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) icon and one of its greatest World Champions. Dick The Bruiser, WWA World Heavyweight Champion, 1965 Here’s a look at some of the cross-promotional World Champion battles throughout history between two opposing ownerships of said promotions, Lou Thesz, NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion vs. But when two separately owned promotions agree to a true showcase of Champions, that is something truly special. WWE owned both WWE and WCW when they unified the titles in 2001 with Chris Jericho. While there have been some crazy unification matches or cross-brand match-ups, such as WWE vs WCW or ECW in the early 2000s, many of them were the result of one promotion actually owning both brands. Swann is a historical match-up regardless of its outcome. With the new “Forbidden Door” now kicked wide open, Omega vs. Before that, it was during the 1970s and 1980s, when you were given match-ups between NWA vs AWA, NWA vs WWF, NWA vs All Japan, WWF vs NJPW, and more. At the time, ROH was still an independent and the NWA was a smattering of indie promotions, far removed from the national presence it was for decades. If that doesn’t feel so major, you’re probably right. In fact, while it was 13 years ago that the last major title vs title happened, and that was ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness facing NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce in 2008. While it happens often on the independent circuit, major North American promotions are very wary of doing such a stunt. In wrestling’s storied 100+ year history, major promotions putting their titles on the line against others is a rarity. On Sunday night at IMPACT Rebellion, the IMPACT Wrestling World Champion Rich Swann goes one on one with the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) World Champion Kenny Omega in a title vs title match of historic proportions.
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