UWF/UWFI Title History?

[AndrewTC]

Can anyone list the complete title history of UWF/UWFi ?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Neither the original UWF (mid-80s) nor new UWF(late-80s) had titles.

UWF International had "Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship" which uses a Lou Thesz belt.

Nobuhiko Takada 92/09/21 Osaka
* Defeats Gary Albright to become the first champ.
Super Vader 94/08/18 Tokyo
Nobuhiko Takada [2] 95/04/20 Nagoya
* Title vacant when Lou Thesz dropped recognition in 95/10. He didn't like the idea of the title unification match against IWGP champ.

[Peru-Yakuza]

I thought Gary Albright had held it before Takada. What's the real story? You yourself put it on Gary's obituary that he had held the UWFI title.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Originally posted by Peru-Yakuza
I thought Gary Albright had held it before Takada. What's the real story?

Takada was the first champ?

You yourself put it on Gary's obituary that he had held the UWFI title.

Did I? I might have made a mistake. Could you give me the URL?

[Peru-Yakuza]

When people die, you change the intro page as you do with Lou Thesz now, right? So when Gary died you put that "fact" in the Intro page. You probably removed it a long time ago from the server...

[GlobalHonored]

What belts were used or won from other promotions by UWF & UWFI fighters? I can remember some of the UWFI Title picture like Lou Thesz lending Takada his old NWA Title belt to award to the "Undisputed World Champion." Takada, Albright and Vader all held it at least once. Also, Takada took the IWGP title from Mutoh and later along with Kakihara & Sano? won the WAR 6-Man Tag belts. I believe he was representing UWF when he was IWGP Jr. Champ, but that was merely an "invasion" gimmick as he was a true employee of NJ at the time, in between UWF's 1st and 2nd run. Does anyone have a Title history from the UWF or UWFI days or any other information concerning UWF Titles?

[Peru-Yakuza]

Check out this thread:

http://www.puroresu.com/forums/showt...p?threadid=721

[admin note: I merged the thread mentioned above into this one]

[GlobalHonored]

Albright defeats Takada on 5/8/92? to win UWFI Title. Correct?

[GlobalHonored]

Thanks Peru. It still seems that there is no real definative documentation of the UWFI Title history, as of the few champions that we do know of;well, it isn't clear if they really were champions or not. Albright I believe won the title in 5/92 from Takada, but then again I'll have to go back and watch it to find out if a title was indeed put on the line for that match. It seems that the promotion placed an "ace" type position ahead of a Belt-wearing Champion, so that Takada was "ace" until he was beaten, then Albright carried the torch, Vader, later Tamura and Anjoh, etc. Thesz's Title was used until '95 though when he asked Takada to vacate the historic belt instead of put it up in a unification match with IWGP Champ Keiji Mutoh, which Takada agreed to with much respect for his mentor, the legendary Lou Thesz. Thesz didn't like the idea of mixing the "real" UWFI style with the "performance" style that NJ and guys like Great Muta, Power Warrior, etc. promoted. In the end, despite some huge Tokyo Dome crowds and big pay days, Thesz may have been right as UWFI died out after they were bested in the NJ feud. What a ride though.

[GlobalHonored]

According to Gary Wills' Pro Wrestling Title History he has the UWFi Title history as:

1.Nobuhiko Takada
09/21/92-Osaka
Lou Thesz presents Takada with an old NWA belt.

2.Super Vader (Big Van Vader)
08/18/94 Tokyo

3.Nobuhiko Takada [2]
04/20/95-Nagoya

TITLE VACANT
10/02/95
Takada vacates the title due to Lou Thesz pulling his support from the UWFI.

PROMOTION CLOSES
12/27/96


-I still would like to have a more definative outlook, including any title defenses, the tournament held in '94 and its relation to the title, as well as any outside titles that may have been fought over by UWFI and UWF fighters. I seriously could have sworn that Albright was regarded as a past UWFI Champion. Perhaps not though.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Originally posted by Peru-Yakuza
When people die, you change the intro page as you do with Lou Thesz now, right? So when Gary died you put that "fact" in the Intro page. You probably removed it a long time ago from the server...

I digged the old files and found it. Yes, I said he was the former champ, and it was my big mistake. Gary Will had Albright listed in the third edition of his book, and in fact, I was the one who made a correction to him. I have no idea why I put the misinfo on the page you mentioned. I apologize for the confusion.

As far as I know, the 92/05/08 match wasn't for the title. It was one of Albright's first matches in UWF Int'l, and the press conf to announce the championship was announced after that. I have both matches as well as the press conf on video, but I gotta dig out my video boxes before I can confirm that.

Again, sorry about the confusion that I probably caused.

[GlobalHonored]

I could have sworn that Albright had won the title, I suppose for that 5/92 match; but the facts according to Gary Will, a reliable source, prove otherwise, especially considering the title I was giving him wasn't even around until a few months later. Do you know which show or commercial tape that the Thesz Title press conference takes place Hisa? Would it be on the 9/21 tape that featured that classic Albright-Takada clash or perhaps on the previous show from August? And also, was it to be awarded to the winner of the match as if they were deemed top contenders or was the title specifically intended for Takada and Albright was just another test to prove his worth to hold it? I guess I should just check out the press conference.

I am also a bit confused on the 1994 World Heavyweight Championship Tournament held by UWFI from 4/3 - 8/18. It was a solid 16 man single-elimination event that included Takada as a participant. on 12/15/93 UWFI Champ Takada beat WCW Champ Vader to become "Undisputed" World Champ with post-match celebrations and all. Then soon after they set up this tourney. Given that it was pretty clear that it was set up for a rematch between the two from the get go, it still confuses me to include the champ in a tournament to crown a champ, if that was the case, which appears so, as Vader beats Takada in the final to win the title. What if, hypothetically, Takada lost to Yamazaki in the opener or Albright in the semis? Would they have become champ and then had to defend as they advanced? Or would the two finalists just compete for the crown? If that's the case, then wouldn't it have to have been officially vacated before the tournament took place? Ughh.

End the end, it was a helluva tournamant that paid off with a final that is arguably THE best UWFI match. But still, the whole Title picture gets blurred b/c of the fact that the title was on the line with the champ involved. Are his wins over Yamazaki, Albright and Lydick considered title defenses? Or should this just be looked at as a tournament with the title in virtual limbo until the final was decided?

[GlobalHonored]

Here's some more UWF/I Title Involvement:

*WAR 6-Man Tag Team Title:

(UWFI) Yoji Anjoh, Yoshihiro Takayama, & Ken'ichi Yamamoto defeated (WAR) Hirmoichi Fuyuki, Gedo & Jado
[96/05/26 Yokohama]


-More from original "UWF/NJ" feud

*IWGP Tag Titles:

(8/5/86 @ Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan) Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido beat Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura (13:52) when Kido used an inside cradle on Kimura.

(3/26/87 @ Osaka Castle Hall) Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada beat Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka (15:29) when Takada used a cross knee scissors hold on Koshinaka.

(9/1/87 @ Fukuoka Sports Center) Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki beat Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada (17:39) when Yamazaki used a German suplex hold on Takada. ? Not sure of Fujiwara & Yamazaki's "affiliation" at the time, but they also might have been UWF representatives

[Peru-Yakuza]

All right... my final word on the subject.

I saw Bushido tonight on cable and the UWFI had chosen Takada and Albright to fight for the belt in a decision match, which took place on September in Osaka. Since UWFI counted singles matches as individual "fights" (remember shoot federations ran cards only once or twice a month), Albright had a 11-0 record and Takada had a 10-1, so Albright was the top favorite and Takada, whose 1 loss was against Gary, the No. 2 contender. Of course we all know the result of this great match, Albright jobbed and Thesz, Danny Hodge and Billy Robinson presented Takada with the belt. So it was a match of No. 1 contenders.

The wins of former UWFers in New Japan of the IWGP tag belts was strictly New Japan. The UWF was essentially an NWO-type force, invading New Japan but under contract to them. Also, I remember a first UWF match in which Maeda fought Dutch Mantel (Uncle Zebekiah for those WWF/E fans) and brought his "WWF" International belt, though the match was not billed as a title defense. He abandoned the belt two months later.

[GlobalHonored]

Thanks Peru. Case closed.