The TNA World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It is currently the highest ranked championship in TNA and is primarily defended in TNA's heavyweight division. It was unveiled on May 14, 2007 at the taping of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!; this episode of Impact! did not air until May 17, 2007. The inaugural champion was Kurt Angle.
Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result of a scripted match. Before the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was created, TNA held control over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship due to an agreement between TNA and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the organization which owned the NWA Championship. In 2007, the agreement between TNA and the NWA ended, leading to the creation of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. There have been a total of twenty-two reigns among eleven different wrestlers. Bully Ray is the current champion in his first reign.
Read more about TNA World Heavyweight Championship: History, Belt Design, Reigns, See Also, References
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“Stevenson had noble ideas—as did the young Franklin for that matter. But Stevenson felt that the way to implement them was to present himself as a thoughtful idealist and wait for the world to flock to him. He considered it below him, or wrong, to scramble out among the people and ask them what they wanted. Roosevelt grappled voters to him. Stevenson shied off from them. Some thought him too pure to desire power, though he showed ambition when it mattered.”
—Garry Wills, U.S. historian. Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders, ch. 9, Simon & Schuster (1994)