Two World Champions

Edouard Carpentier defeated Lou Thesz for the world heavyweight title on 1957-06-14 in Chicago, IL when Thesz was “disqualified” for refusing to wrestle the third fall due to a back injury.

Thesz defeated Carpentier on 1957-07-24 in Montreal, QC when Carpentier was “disqualified”. According to a local paper, however, Carpentier was “backed by” NWA president Sam Muchnick as the world champion. Both wrestlers continued to claim the title.

Muchnick invited Jack Pfefer, a controversial promoter, to the annual convention at St. Louis, MO in 1957-08. This lead Paul Bowser (Boston, MA) and Eddie Quinn (Montreal) who is also Carpentier’s manager to resign from the NWA. Quinn withdrew Carpentier’s NWA title claim, and NWA voided all recognition of Carpentier as champion on 1957-08-25.

Paul Bowser (Boston), Joe Dusek (Omaha, NE), and Cal Eaton (Los Angeles, CA) subsequently recognized Carpentier as the champion to legitimate the lineages of their world titles.

World Heavyweight Title Histories – Wrestling-Titles.com

Sources