British Heavyweight Championship (XWA)
The British Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in the XWA. The championship was originally created and contested for in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance but moved to XWA when the former company became defunct. It has also been contested for in Ring of Honor due to a working relationship between them and FWA.
The championship has been known as:
- FWA British Heavyweight Championship
- XWA British Heavyweight Championship
History
Originally the belt was mostly defended under two out of three falls match rules, as was the tradition in British wrestling. This changed on 12 April 2005, when champion Alex Shane signed a cast-iron contract to make new FWA British Title rules official and permanent making all future championship matches simply one fall.
On 13 May 2006 the FWA British Heavyweight Title belt was stolen from the Morecambe Dome immediately following the FWA event at the venue during an FWA versus All-Star Wrestling show. Due to being stolen a new belt had to be created. When the FWA was forced to retire in its interpromotional war with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, the XWA carried the lineage of the championship simply renaming it the British Heavyweight Championship and using the same physical belt. However, in April 2009, XWA founder Greg Lambert announced the creation of a new British Heavyweight Championship that did not bear the FWA initials and gave the original belt back to Alex Shane in time for the resurrection of the FWA.
On 17 February 2018 Rhia O’Reilly became the first woman to hold the title, defeating Cara Noir in an inter-promotional show with Pro Wrestling: EVE.
Title history
No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref. |
Mark Sloan | 11 07 1999 | Portsmouth, Hampshire | No Surprises | Defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final | ||||
Alex Shane | 27 02 2000 | Birmingham, West Midlands | Black Country Chaos | Two out of three falls match | ||||
Guy Thunder | 05 07 2000 | Hertford, Hertfordshire | Live event | Two out of three falls match | ||||
Vacant | 13 07 2000 | N/A | ||||||
Justin Richards | 05 08 2000 | Halifax, West Yorkshire | Evil Intentions | Defeated Scottie Rock, Guy Thunder & Jorge Castano in a four-way match | ||||
Vacant | 21 04 2001 | Bolton, Greater Manchester | When Thunder Strikes | Stripped for missing title defence | ||||
Doug Williams | 19 05 2001 | Portsmouth, Hampshire | High Potential | Defeated Scott Parker in a tournament final | ||||
Flash Barker | 22 03 2002 | Walthamstow, London | Urban Legends | Two out of three falls match | ||||
Jody Fleisch | 28 07 2002 | Portsmouth, Hampshire | No Surprises | Two out of three falls match | ||||
Vacant | 03 08 2002 | N/A | ||||||
Jody Fleisch | 13 10 2002 | Bethnal Green, London | British Uprising | Defeated Flash Barker in a ladder match | ||||
Christopher Daniels | 25 10 2002 | Walthamstow, London | London Calling | Defeated Jody Fleish & Doug Williams in a three-way match | ||||
Doug Williams | 22 03 2003 | Philadelphia, PA | Night of Champions | |||||
Alex Shane | 13 11 2004 | Coventry, West Midlands | British Uprising 3 | |||||
Hade Vansen | 05 02 2006 | Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire | New Frontiers | Defeated Alex Shane, Joe Legend, Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm in The Champion Series five-way match | ||||
Robbie Brookside | 15 07 2006 | Morecambe, Lancashire | Summer Classic | Defeated Hade Vansen & Jonny Storm in a no-disqualification three-way match. Championship renamed British Heavyweight Championship | ||||
Jonny Storm | 07 04 2007 | Morecambe, Lancashire | War On The Shore 3 | |||||
Stevie Knight | 05 07 2008 | Morecambe, Lancashire | Vendetta 2008 | Defeated Jonny Storm, Sam Slam, and Johnny Phere in a Final Four match | ||||
Sam Slam | 06 09 2008 | Morecambe, Lancashire | Last Fight at the Prom 2008 | |||||
Spud | 12 09 2009 | Morecambe, Lancashire | Last Fight at the Prom 2009 | Spud becomes XWA's first double champion by holding the British Flyweight Championship before this match | ||||
Johnny Phere | 03 04 2010 | Morecambe, Lancashire | War On The Shore 6 | |||||
Alex Shane | 03 04 2010 | Morecambe, Lancashire | War On The Shore 6 | |||||
Johnny Phere | 08 10 2011 | Morecambe, Lancashire | Last Fight At The Prom 2011 | |||||
Vacant | 28 07 2012 | Morecambe, Lancashire | XWA vs GPW Vendetta | The company went on hiatus after being defeated by GPW | ||||
Damian O'Connor | 31 10 2014 | Sudbury, Suffolk | XWA Revival | Defeated Doug Williams, Martin Stone and Jimmy Havoc in a Four-way match | ||||
Lion Kid | 14 08 2016 | Colchester, Essex | XWA 42: The Summer Supershow | |||||
Thomas Dawkins | 27 11 2016 | Colchester, Essex | XWA 44: Go Big! | Defeated Paul London and Lion Kid in a triple threat match | ||||
Vacant | 11 03 2017 | Colchester, Essex | XWA 45: Goldrush | Vacated after interference from a mystery assailant on behalf of the champion, the winner of the Goldrush rumble later in the evening would become the new champion | ||||
Cara Noir | 11 03 2017 | + | Colchester, Essex | XWA 45: Goldrush |