World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
The World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version) refers primarily to the championship established in 1905 by the American promoters associated with Frank Gotch and later continued by various professional wrestling organizations. This lineage is distinct from later championships also bearing the same name, most notably the one created by WWE in 2002, and requires careful disambiguation.
The history of this original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship is complex and marked by competing claims and splintering organizations. The initial championship was established to recognize a single, universally accepted world champion in professional wrestling. However, as wrestling grew in popularity and regional promotions emerged, disputes over the rightful champion arose. These disputes often resulted in different wrestlers being recognized as champion in different territories.
Key figures in the early history of the championship include Frank Gotch, who is often considered the first champion of this lineage, as well as George Hackenschmidt, and later, Ed "Strangler" Lewis. Various sanctioning bodies, such as the National Wrestling Association (NWA, not to be confused with the later NWA established in 1948) and individual promoters, played a role in recognizing and sometimes disputing the legitimacy of different champions.
The title's lineage continued through the "Gold Dust Trio" era, featuring Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Toots Mondt, and Billy Sandow, where they essentially controlled the wrestling business for a time and ensured Lewis's dominance. However, regionalization continued to be a factor, with different versions of the World Heavyweight Championship being defended in various territories.
Ultimately, this original version of the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship became fragmented and less unified as the professional wrestling landscape evolved. Different territorial promotions recognized their own champions, leading to a decline in the singular authority and recognition the title once held. The emergence of new championships and sanctioning bodies, particularly the aforementioned NWA in 1948, further diluted the significance of this original championship. The NWA effectively became the dominant world title, although various regional titles and claims to world championships still existed for some time afterward. Distinguishing this original championship from later iterations with the same name is critical to understanding the history of professional wrestling titles.