American Heavyweight Championship

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.

Title history

Wrestler:	Times:	Date Won:	Location:	Notes:
Edwin Bibby	1	January 19, 1881	New York City, New York	Defeats Duncan C. Ross in a catch-as-catch-can match for "the championship of America".
Joe Acton	1	August 7, 1882	New York City, 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, Illinois	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, Illinois
Dan McLeod	1	October 26, 1897	Indianapolis, Indiana
Yusuf İsmail	1	June 20, 1898	Chicago, Illinois	Ismail defeated Evan "Strangler" Lewis for the American Heavyweight Championship in Chicago, Illinois. Lewis was neither able to overcome Ismail's massive size and strength nor manage to use his sleeper hold during the match. Ismail had the $5,000 prize money converted to gold and carried it in a money belt along with the title.
Tom Jenkins	1	November 7, 1901
Dan McLeod	2	December 25, 1902	Worcester, Massachusetts	Jenkins forfeited the title to McLeod after having blood poisoning in his leg during their match.
Tom Jenkins	2	April 3, 1903	Buffalo, New York
Frank Gotch	1	January 27, 1904	Bellingham, Washington
Tom Jenkins	3	March 15, 1905	New York City, New York
Frank Gotch	2	May 23, 1906	Kansas City, Missouri
Fred Beell	1	December 1, 1906	New Orleans, Louisiana
Frank Gotch	3	December 17, 1906	Kansas City, Missouri
Vacant		April 3, 1908		Gotch vacates the title after defeating Georg Hackenschmidt, the World Heavyweight Champion, to win that title on April 3, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois.
Henry Ordemann	1	October 25, 1910	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Defeats Charlie Cutler and awarded the title by special referee Frank Gotch.
Charlie Cutler	1	February 1, 1911	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dr. Benjamin Roller	1	March 6, 1911	Chicago, Illinois
Charlie Cutler	2	March 25, 1911	Buffalo, New York
Jess Reimer	1	November 7, 1911	Des Moines, Iowa
Henry Ordemann	2	December 14, 1911	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Charlie Cutler	3	March 25, 1912	Chicago, Illinois	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, Michigan
Ed "Strangler" Lewis	1	September 18, 1913	Lexington, Kentucky
William Demetral	1	October 21, 1913	Lexington, Kentucky
Dr. Benjamin Roller	3	July 10, 1914	Rock Island, Illinois	Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Roller during an international tournament on January 15, 1916 in New York City, New York (title may not be on line).
Wladek Zbyszko	1	January 8, 1917	Wilkes-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).
Retired				Title forgotten and abandoned.

References

External links

• American Heavyweight title history at Wrestling-Titles.com