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The NWA World Middleweight Championship is a currently inactive professional wrestling championship, promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence it has been promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where it was known as the Campeonato Mundial Peso Medio de NWA. The title, being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won legitimately: it is instead won via a scripted ending to a wrestling match. The official definition of the middleweight weight class in Mexico is between 82 kg (180 lbs) and 87 kg (190 lbs), but is not always strictly enforced.
The Championship was originally called the "World Middleweight Championship", and was created by Salvador Lutteroth, owner of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). Lutteroth awarded the title to Gus Kallio, a five-time National Wrestling Association World Middleweight Champion and the "king of the middleweights" in the United States. The title was created at an unknown point before March 29, 1939. When Octavio Gaona defeated Kallio on March 29, 1939 he also won Kallio's other World Middleweight Championship. Kallio's original world middleweight title was retired in 1940 to keep the focus on the Mexican version of the championship. When EMLL became a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1952 the belt was given the "NWA" prefix. In the early 1990s EMLL withdrew from the NWA and changed their name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in order to create a clean break from their past NWA association. While they withdrew from the NWA, they retained the ownership of three NWA-labelled championships that all originated in EMLL. The other two titles were the NWA World Welterweight Championship and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. The titles are still promoted as "NWA Championships" by CMLL despite not being officially recognized by the NWA since the early 1990s. In 1994 Último Dragón paid CMLL for the rights to the NWA World Middleweight Championship, giving him control of the Championship. Dragón won the title from Corazón de León on November 8, 1994, after which he began promoting the belt in Japan; where it and the title remained in Japan for almost ten years. In 2003 Último Dragón signed with World Wrestling Entertainment and sold the title back to CMLL. Averno defeated Zumbido to win the vacant title in the first CMLL-based title match since 1994. In March 2010 Blue Demon, Jr., the president of NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, telling them to stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. NWA Mexico has previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. The promotion did not directly respond to the latest claim either; the NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL. Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship and returned the old belt to NWA. NWA has not determined a new champion since getting the title back from CMLL. There have been 84 reigns between 45 different wrestlers. René Guajardo has held the championship on six separate occasions, the most by any wrestler. Tarzán López's four reigns combine for 2,977 days, the longest of any champion, while the Great Sasuke's single reign is the longest individual reign with 1,487 days. Oro is the person who has held the title the shortest time, 41 days.
Title history
- Key
| Symbol | Meaning |
| # | The overall championship reign |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands |
| N/A | The specific information is not known |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
| [Note ] | Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details. |
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1
|
Gus Kallio
|
1
|
Unknown
|
N/A
|
Live event | Gus Kallio was awarded the championship in late 1938 or early 1939 due to the fact that he already held the World Middleweight Championship in the United States. | |
| 2
|
Octavio Gaona
|
1
|
February 19, 1939
|
350 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | Octavio Gaona won the championship to permanently establish it as an EMLL title. He also won Kallio's other World Middleweight Championship. |
| 3
|
Tarzán López
|
1
|
February 4, 1940
|
681 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | López won both versions of the World Middleweight Championship. After this title change only the Mexican version remained active. |
| 4
|
Black Guzmán
|
1
|
December 16, 1941
|
57 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 5
|
Tarzán López
|
2
|
February 11, 1942
|
1473 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 6
|
Gory Guerrero
|
1
|
February 23, 1946
|
782 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 7
|
Mike Kelly
|
1
|
April 12, 1948
|
411 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 8
|
Tarzán López
|
3
|
May 28, 1949
|
481 | N/A
|
EMLL 15th Anniversary Show | |
| 9
|
Sugi Sito
|
1
|
September 21, 1950
|
368 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 10
|
Enrique Llanes
|
1
|
September 24, 1951
|
132 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | EMLL 18th Anniversary Show | |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
February 3, 1952
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. |
| 11
|
Tarzán López
|
4
|
July 13, 1952
|
342 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | Tarzán López won a tournament to win the vacant title. |
| 12
|
Sugi Sito
|
2
|
June 20, 1953
|
195 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 13
|
El Santo
|
1
|
January 1, 1954
|
1021 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 14
|
Rolando Vera
|
1
|
October 19, 1956
|
1455 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 15
|
René Guajardo
|
1
|
October 13, 1960
|
415 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 16
|
Antonio Posa
|
1
|
December 2, 1961
|
140 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 17
|
René Guajardo
|
2
|
April 18, 1962
|
190 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 18
|
Rayo de Jalisco | 1
|
October 25, 1962
|
583 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 19
|
Benny Galant
|
1
|
May 30, 1964
|
118 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 20
|
Rayo de Jalisco | 2
|
September 25, 1964
|
196 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 21
|
René Guajardo
|
3
|
April 9, 1965
|
400 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 22
|
Jerry London
|
1
|
May 14, 1966
|
48 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 23
|
René Guajardo
|
4
|
July 1, 1966
|
253 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 24
|
Ray Mendoza
|
1
|
March 11, 1967
|
|
Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
May 1967
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. |
| 25
|
René Guajardo
|
5
|
July 29, 1967
|
629 | N/A
|
Live event | Guajardo won a decision match for the vacant title. |
| 26
|
Rayo de Jalisco | 3
|
April 18, 1969
|
119 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 27
|
El Solitario
|
1
|
August 15, 1969
|
378 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 28
|
Mashio Koma
|
1
|
June 28, 1970
|
161 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 29
|
Aníbal | 1
|
December 6, 1970
|
845 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 30
|
René Guajardo
|
6
|
March 30, 1973
|
|
Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
1974
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
EMLL vacated the championship for unknown reasons. |
| 31
|
Aníbal | 2
|
September 20, 1974
|
|
Mexico City, Distrito Federal | EMLL 41st Anniversary Show | Aníbal defeated El Cobarde in a decision match to win the title. |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
May 1975
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
The championship was vacated when Aníbal left EMLL to work for the Universal Wrestling Association. |
| 32
|
Perro Aguayo
|
1
|
July 4, 1975
|
476 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | Perro Aguayo won a tournament to claim the vacant championship. |
| 33
|
El Faraón
|
1
|
October 22, 1976
|
140 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 34
|
Perro Aguayo
|
2
|
March 11, 1977
|
114 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 35
|
Ringo Mendoza
|
1
|
July 3, 1977
|
101 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 36
|
Joe Plardy
|
1
|
October 12, 1977
|
44 | Acapulco, Guerrero | Live event | |
| 37
|
El Faraón
|
2
|
November 25, 1977
|
84 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 38
|
Ringo Mendoza
|
2
|
February 17, 1978
|
51 | Los Angeles, California | Live event | |
| 39
|
Perro Aguayo
|
3
|
April 9, 1978
|
75 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 40
|
Ringo Mendoza
|
3
|
June 23, 1978
|
51 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 41
|
Tony Salazar
|
1
|
August 13, 1978
|
174 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 42
|
Ringo Mendoza
|
4
|
February 3, 1979
|
218 | Acapulco, Guerrero | Live event | |
| 43
|
Satoru Sayama
|
1
|
September 9, 1979
|
201 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 44
|
El Satánico
|
1
|
March 28, 1980
|
20 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 45
|
Cachorro Mendoza
|
1
|
April 17, 1980
|
59 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 46
|
Sangre Chicana | 1
|
June 15, 1980
|
217 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 47
|
Tony Salazar
|
1
|
January 18, 1981
|
54 | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Live event | |
| 48
|
Sangre Chicana | 2
|
March 13, 1981
|
21 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 49
|
Ringo Mendoza
|
5
|
April 3, 1981
|
240 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 50
|
El Faraón
|
3
|
November 29, 1981
|
124 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 51
|
César Curiel
|
1
|
April 2, 1982
|
206 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 52
|
El Satánico
|
2
|
October 25, 1982
|
0 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 53
|
El Jalisco
|
1
|
October 25, 1982
|
139 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 54
|
El Satánico
|
3
|
March 13, 1983
|
82 | N/A | Live event | |
| 55
|
Lizmark | 1
|
June 3, 1983
|
182 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 56
|
El Satánico
|
4
|
December 2, 1983
|
250 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 57
|
Gran Cochisse | 1
|
August 8, 1984
|
37 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 58
|
El Satánico
|
5
|
September 14, 1984
|
16 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 59
|
Gran Cochisse | 2
|
September 30, 1984
|
49 | Guadalajara, Jalisco | Live event | |
| 60
|
Gran Hamada | 1
|
November 18, 1984
|
138 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 61
|
La Fiera
|
1
|
April 5, 1985
|
106 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 62
|
Chamaco Valaguez
|
1
|
July 20, 1985
|
302 | Puebla, Puebla | Live event | |
| 63
|
Gran Cochisse | 3
|
May 18, 1986
|
152 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 64
|
Kung Fu | 1
|
October 17, 1986
|
273 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 65
|
El Dandy
|
1
|
July 17, 1987
|
81 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 66
|
Kung Fu | 2
|
October 6, 1987
|
248 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 67
|
Atlantis | 1
|
June 10, 1988
|
37 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 68
|
Emilio Charles, Jr.
|
1
|
July 17, 1988
|
11 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 69
|
Atlantis | 2
|
July 28, 1988
|
15 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 70
|
Emilio Charles, Jr.
|
2
|
August 12, 1988
|
259 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 71
|
Ángel Azteca
|
1
|
April 28, 1989
|
400 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 72
|
El Dandy
|
2
|
June 2, 1990
|
60 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 73
|
Atlantis | 3
|
August 1, 1990
|
945 | Acapulco, Guerrero | Live event | |
| 74
|
Mano Negra | 1
|
March 3, 1993
|
81 | Acapulco, Guerrero | Live event | |
| 75
|
Oro | 1
|
May 23, 1993
|
41 | N/A
|
Live event | |
| 76
|
Mano Negra | 2
|
July 3, 1993
|
155 | Puebla, Puebla | Live event | |
| 77
|
Corazón de León
|
1
|
December 4, 1993
|
339 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | |
| 78
|
Último Dragón
|
1
|
November 8, 1994
|
|
Tokyo, Japan | Live event | |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
1998
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Último Dragón was forced to vacate the championship due to an arm injury. |
| 79
|
Great Sasuke
|
1
|
February 7, 1999
|
1487 | Yokohama, Japan | Live event | Great Sasuke defeated Tokyo Magnum in tournament final to win the championship. |
| 80
|
Último Dragón
|
2
|
March 5, 2003
|
|
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan | Live event | |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
April 2003
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
The championship was vacated when Último Dragon began to work for World Wrestling Entertainment. |
| 81
|
Averno | 1
|
September 3, 2004
|
161 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Live event | Averno defeated Zumbido in a decision match for the vacant championship. |
| 82
|
Místico
|
1
|
February 11, 2005
|
455 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | CMLL Super Viernes | |
| 83
|
Black Warrior | 1
|
May 12, 2006
|
474 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | CMLL Super Viernes | |
| 84
|
Místico
|
2
|
April 29, 2007
|
215 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | Dia de los Niños | |
| 85
|
Averno | 2
|
November 30, 2007
|
986 | Mexico City, Distrito Federal | CMLL Super Viernes | Title renamed the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship on August 12, 2010. |
| —
|
Vacated | —
|
August 12, 2010
|
—
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
The championship was vacated when CMLL returned it to NWA. |
Reigns by combined length
- Key
| Symbol | Meaning |
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| ¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. |
| + | Indicates that the date changes daily for the current champion. |
| Rank | Wrestler | # Of Reigns | Combined Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarzán López | 4 | 2,977 |
| 2 | René Guajardo | 5 | 1,938¤ |
| 3 | Great Sasuke | 1 | 1,487 |
| 4 | Rolando Vera | 1 | 1,455 |
| 5 | Último Dragón | 2 | 1,177¤ |
| 6 | Aníbal | 2 | 1,122¤ |
| 7 | El Santo | 1 | 1,021 |
| 8 | Atlantis | 3 | 997 |
| 9 | Averno | 2 | 986 |
| 10 | Rayo de Jalisco | 3 | 898 |
| 11 | Gory Guerrero | 1 | 782 |
| 12 | Místico | 2 | 670 |
| 13 | Perro Aguayo | 3 | 665 |
| 14 | Ringo Mendoza | 5 | 661 |
| 15 | Sugi Sito | 2 | 564 |
| 16 | Kung Fu | 2 | 521 |
| 17 | Black Warrior | 1 | 474 |
| 18 | Mike Kelly | 1 | 411 |
| 19 | Ángel Azteca | 1 | 400 |
| 20 | El Satánico | 5 | 388 |
| 21 | El Solitario | 1 | 378 |
| 22 | Octavio Gaona | 1 | 350 |
| 23 | El Faraón | 3 | 348 |
| 24 | Corazón de León | 1 | 339 |
| 25 | Chamaco Valaguez | 1 | 302 |
| 26 | Emilio Charles, Jr. | 2 | 270 |
| 27 | Gran Cochisse | 3 | 238 |
| 28 | Sangre Chicana | 2 | 237 |
| 29 | Mano Negra | 2 | 236 |
| 30 | Tony Salazar | 2 | 228 |
| 31 | César Curiel | 1 | 206 |
| 32 | Satoru Sayama | 1 | 201 |
| 33 | Lizmark | 1 | 182 |
| 34 | Mashio Koma | 1 | 161 |
| 35 | El Dandy | 2 | 141 |
| 36 | Antonio Posa | 1 | 140 |
| 37 | El Jalisco | 1 | 139 |
| 38 | Gran Hamada | 1 | 138 |
| 39 | Enrique Llanes | 1 | 132 |
| 40 | Benny Galant | 1 | 118 |
| 41 | La Fiera | 1 | 106 |
| 42 | Cachorro Mendoza | 1 | 59 |
| 43 | Black Guzmán | 1 | 57 |
| 44 | Ray Mendoza | 1 | 51¤ |
| 45 | Jerry London | 1 | 48 |
| 46 | Joe Plardy | 1 | 44 |
| 47 | Oro | 1 | 41 |
| 48 | Gus Kallio | 1 | Unknown¤ |