NWA World Middleweight Championship

Current Champion

Mistico, 2005

Since the first day of 2005, Mistico has reigned as NWA World Middleweight Championship.

History of Championship

The NWA World Middleweight Championship dates back to the early 1920s. The NWA name only existed to establish it as a world championship; since the 30s, it has been property of EMLL (much later CMLL.) It's one of the oldest active wrestling championships in the world.

For most of it's existance, the NWA World Middleweight Championship been held by Mexican wrestlers and defended in Mexico. In 1994, the title was sold to Ultimo Dragon, who brought it to Japan to be defended first by himself, and later as a chaampionship belt for his promotions. When Ultimo Dragon left Japan to join WWE in 2003, he sold the belt back to CMLL. CMLL held onto for a year, before doing a decision match with no particular build up.

On 01/01/05, Mistico beat Averno for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, using it as a launch point for his rise to the top of the promotion. Mistico winning was not an upset, but it signaled his transition from a momentarily favored young wrestler to a new permanent star. The match was well recieved, and the two met many times the rest of the year in rematches of the initial title match (which has never been shown on television.)

Champions Listing

#	Champion(s)	Defeated	Date	Location
68	Atlantis	Kung Fu	88/06/10	?
69	Emilio Charles Jr.	Atlantis	88/07/17	?
70	Atlantis [2]	Emilio Charles Jr.	88/07/28	?
71	Emilio Charles Jr. [2]	El Dandy	88/08/12	Mexico City
72	El Dandy	Angel Azteca	89/04/28	?
73	Atlantis [3]	El Dandy	90/08/01	Acapulco, Mexico
74	Mano Negra	Atlantis	93/03/03	Acapulco, Mexico
75	Oro	Mano Negra	93/05/23	?
76	Mano Negra [2]	Oro	93/07/03	Puebla, Mexico
77	Corazon de Leon	Mano Negra	93/12/07	Mexico City
78	Ultimo Dragon	Corazon de Leon	94/11/05	Tokyo, Japan
Ultimo Dragon vacates title '98 due to arm injury
eight man tournament for vacant title
79	the Great Sasuke	Tokyo Magnum	99/02/07	Yokohama, Japan
80	Ultimo Dragon [2]	the Great Sasuke	03/05/05	Sendai, Japan
Ultimo Dragon vacates title 03/05 due to WWE jump
81	Averno	Zumbido	04/09/03	Mexico City
82	Mistico	Averno	05/01/01	Mexico City
	1	Averno	05/01/30	Guadalajara
	2	Averno	05/02/11	Arena Mexico
	3	Averno	05/02/21	Puebla
	4	Averno	05/10/16	Guadalajara
	5	Averno	06/01/16	Puebla
title change
successful title defense
championship matches which were announced, but results were not found

Sources:

Gallery of Former Champions

Atlantis

Oro, '93

Sources

Wrestling-Titles.com