Forgotten Titles
Chapter Three: NWA (WCW) Austra-Asian Heavyweight Title - The Barnett Years
#PWHS #Article #ForgottenTitles #FT #WCW # NWA #Australia
WCW you say? Yes, yes it is World Championship Wrestling. No, no it's not the one owned by Ted Turner and went head to head with the WWF. This is the one based out of Australia and at the time the titles were created it was owned by Jim Barnett.
In 1969 WCW joined the National Wrestling Alliance and found they had to change their title structure around to fit with the new governing body. With it this title was created and is a perfect fit for this series of articles. Of course it's pretty much completely forgotten by wrestling fans, most of them don't even realize what a long, luxurious and profitable wrestling scene they had in Australia.
So, Who Held It?
The Killer Greek
For three years WCW got away with still recognizing the World Heavyweight Championship of the (Australian) International Wrestling Alliance sanctioning body. Finally the NWA demanded they recognize their World Heavyweight Champion if they are to be a part of the alliance. Barnett succumbed and disposed of the IWA World Heavyweight Championship.
In it's place would be the brand new NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship as the national big one, whilst the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would come in to defend as he did with other territories. To crown a new champion a match was held between two of the biggest names in the area, Spiros Arion and Killer Karl Kox. Arion picked up the victory on April 28, 1972. Kox never would hold the title.
In 1969 WCW joined the National Wrestling Alliance and found they had to change their title structure around to fit with the new governing body. With it this title was created and is a perfect fit for this series of articles. Of course it's pretty much completely forgotten by wrestling fans, most of them don't even realize what a long, luxurious and profitable wrestling scene they had in Australia.
So, Who Held It?
The Killer Greek
For three years WCW got away with still recognizing the World Heavyweight Championship of the (Australian) International Wrestling Alliance sanctioning body. Finally the NWA demanded they recognize their World Heavyweight Champion if they are to be a part of the alliance. Barnett succumbed and disposed of the IWA World Heavyweight Championship.
In it's place would be the brand new NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship as the national big one, whilst the NWA World Heavyweight Championship would come in to defend as he did with other territories. To crown a new champion a match was held between two of the biggest names in the area, Spiros Arion and Killer Karl Kox. Arion picked up the victory on April 28, 1972. Kox never would hold the title.
The Brute, the Bulldog & the Greek
Naturally as the top title within the company that was in their possession constantly it was contested over heavily between long term Australian stars and Americans coming in on tours. There was one essential part of the puzzle though and that was there had to be a Greek on the card as the main cities had a fairly large Greek influence. Barnett being a clever booker saw this and would take the strap off Spiros a couple of times only for him to then conquer the foe.
That went on for the first 8 months after Arion first won the title. When 1973 came around his commitments were split as he sought the Austra-Asian Tag-Team Championship. His schedule went on that way until October when he and Mark Lewin lost the tag titles. Shortly after at the very end of 1973 Jim Barnett sold the promotion and...
What Actually Happened?
Some sources do list that Spiros Arion dropped the title to Waldo Von Erich in Fiji at some point in 1974, ranging from February to December. To note, there are known champions before 1974, so that rules that month out. It appears that when Barnett sold the promotion, Arion left with him and took the title too. As a way to explain the new champion, Waldo Von Erich, WCW announced, most likely, that he had defeated Arion while on a tour of Fiji.
At this point I can't say definitively this is what happened, but, it seems to make the most sense and as you will notice as we keep going through these titles this kind of thing was a fairly regular occurrence, I also can not find any record of a match for Spiros versus Waldo in 1974. We'll go on to look at what happened after Waldo Von Erich became champion in Part Two of the NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship.
Naturally as the top title within the company that was in their possession constantly it was contested over heavily between long term Australian stars and Americans coming in on tours. There was one essential part of the puzzle though and that was there had to be a Greek on the card as the main cities had a fairly large Greek influence. Barnett being a clever booker saw this and would take the strap off Spiros a couple of times only for him to then conquer the foe.
That went on for the first 8 months after Arion first won the title. When 1973 came around his commitments were split as he sought the Austra-Asian Tag-Team Championship. His schedule went on that way until October when he and Mark Lewin lost the tag titles. Shortly after at the very end of 1973 Jim Barnett sold the promotion and...
What Actually Happened?
Some sources do list that Spiros Arion dropped the title to Waldo Von Erich in Fiji at some point in 1974, ranging from February to December. To note, there are known champions before 1974, so that rules that month out. It appears that when Barnett sold the promotion, Arion left with him and took the title too. As a way to explain the new champion, Waldo Von Erich, WCW announced, most likely, that he had defeated Arion while on a tour of Fiji.
At this point I can't say definitively this is what happened, but, it seems to make the most sense and as you will notice as we keep going through these titles this kind of thing was a fairly regular occurrence, I also can not find any record of a match for Spiros versus Waldo in 1974. We'll go on to look at what happened after Waldo Von Erich became champion in Part Two of the NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship.
List of Champions: The Barnett Years
01 - Spiros Arion, April 28, 1972
02 - Bulldog Brower, September 8, 1972
03 - Spiros Arion, September 22, 1972
04 - Brute Bernard, November 4, 1972
05 - Spiros Arion, November 25, 1972
06 - Waldo Von Erich, February 1974 (Date not confirmed)
01 - Spiros Arion, April 28, 1972
02 - Bulldog Brower, September 8, 1972
03 - Spiros Arion, September 22, 1972
04 - Brute Bernard, November 4, 1972
05 - Spiros Arion, November 25, 1972
06 - Waldo Von Erich, February 1974 (Date not confirmed)
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Forgotten Titles: Chapter Three.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: August 18, 2014.
Article: #53.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Forgotten Titles: Chapter Three.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: August 18, 2014.
Article: #53.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
A big thank you goes out to Geoff Brown who proof read this article for me and confirmed that the Spiros Arion-Waldo Von Erich title change was definitely a phantom title change. He also provided me with both of the pictures used in this article. Mr. Brown currently co-runs the World Championship Wrestling (Australia 1964-1978) Facebook page and runs the The Oklahoma Kid- Elmer 'Ray' Gearlds Tribute Page.
As with the majority of NWAlliance titles, this was a title that bore the brand, but was not officially sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance board. It was controlled and recognized only by the territory it was from.
As with the majority of NWAlliance titles, this was a title that bore the brand, but was not officially sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance board. It was controlled and recognized only by the territory it was from.
Forgotten Titles: Chapter Four - Read Here.
Forgotten Titles: Chapter Two - Read Here.
Other articles by Jimmy can be Read Here.