The AWA Heavyweight Championship

[Jack-Hammer]

As far as what makes a "world" championship, it's entirely subjective. Any company can label their main event singles and tag titles "world" titles. Lots of independents all over the world do it and while I don't see those as having any legitimate credibility, my perception might be different than someone elses. Nobody can legally tell a company or governing body that they can't, no matter which world titles PWI recognizes.

As to the question of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, it was pretty prestigious back in its heyday of the 60s and 70s but really just started to run out of steam by the 80s. The AWA itself was the first NWA affiliated company to break from the NWA. I think it started out as the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling & Boxing Club and ran shows out of the same general area as the AWA would later. Verne Gagne was a big star during the 50s due to a lot of exposure he received on the old DuMont Network and the AWA would've probably not lasted without him to give the company and title some legitimacy.

I think one reason, however, why the AWA title doesn't get as much respect as some of the other major world titles could be because of Verne himself. Verne Gagne, like a lot of promoters that also happened to be wrestlers, liked to be the big star of his company. Nothing wrong with that and Verne's audience liked what he brought at the time. But, over time and looking back on everything, if Vern didn't hold the title then he himself decided who got it. Verne Gagne was the head of the AWA, could keep the title for however long he wanted it or always picked who carried it. The fact that Verne was a performer and promoter at the same time puts a different spin on the AWA title. In the NWA, no single person decided who would win the title and, in the WWWF, Vince, Sr. wasn't a wrestler. Some hail Verne as one of the all time greats and that's fine and dandy, but anybody can be a 10 time world champion when you're the person that owns the company. I think that's kind of tainted the AWA title for some.