A Brief History of the National Championship

The History of the National Championship dates back to the 1980s. Initially it was the main championship for Georgia Championship Wrestling. It would be reintroduced in the late 90s as the number two contender to the World Title. It was one of six titles controlled by the NWA Board of Directors. Billy Corgan introduced the title for a third time in 2018 at the 70th Anniversary Show. The current NWA National Champion is Chris Adonis.

Georgia and the National Championship

GCW was one of the hottest territories for the National Wrestling Alliance in the late 70s and early 80s. GCW introduced the NWA National Championship in 1980, this title was the top prize of the Georgia territory. Some believe that Austin Idol was the first champion. Others believe it was former Worlds Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco. The title was briefly recognized by the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, when the WWF purchased GCW. The last champion of GCW, the Spoiler, would also sign with the WWF.

Former booker for GCW, Ole Anderson started promoting under the name of Championship Wrestling from Georgia. They would recognize Ted Dibiase as the New NWA National Champion. This would mark the second National Title run Dibiase had.

In 1986 when Jim Crockett Promotion began it’s national expansion, CWFG was one of it’s first pick ups. Some of the greats of the JCP era would win the title. It would be held by Terry Taylor, Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, and Chief Wahoo McDaniel. McDaniel actually won the title in California. The only other champion to do that was Trevor Murdoch in 2020. The Championship was unified by Nikita Kolloff with the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling US Championship. Of course the history of the United States Championship continues to this day with WWE. But the NWA reclaimed the lineage of the National title several years after the WCW/NWA Split.

A New National Championship

Reintroduced in 1997 Big Slam Vader would become the first new National Champion in over a decade. Instead of being a regional title, it was now a Board Controlled title, meaning the Board of Directors would vote on new champions. The title would be one of the more well travelled titles, living up to it’s name. It would be defended in many of the NWA promotions, NWA Southwest, NWA Florida, NWA New Jersey and more. In 1998, the NWA North American title was exclusive to the WWF as part of the NWA Invasion. The World Title was tied up with Dan Severn’s busy MMA schedule and WWF schedule. This would leave the National Championship to be he primary title of the NWA for a while. Names connected to the National Title would be a veritable “Who’s Who?” of the National Wrestling Alliance in the 2000s. Kevin Northcutt, Hotstuff Hernandez, Chance Prophet, Pepper Parks (aka AEW’s The Blade), Phil Shatter (aka WWE’s Jaxson Ryker), Tokyo Monster Kahagas, Damian Wayne, Lou Marconi, and Jax Dane would all hold the prestigious championship for the next 17 years. New leadership purchased the NWA, it would appear that the titles history would be sealed.

Until the line up was announced for the NWA 70th Anniversary Show. The title was once again reintroduced to the NWA. Since the day Willie Mack won the title in, the National Championship has become the most volatile title in the NWA. Since that date, there have been six men to hold the National Title. Chris Adonis victory Tuesday solidifies his standing on NWA POWERRR and his NWA Legacy.