First Junior Heavyweight Champion

NWA world junior heavyweight championship, known for its complex history and controversies, was once defended across various locations in the United States. At least from the 1950s to the early 1970s, it can be said that it was the pinnacle of the junior heavyweight division.

In the previously published official NWA lineage, the inaugural champion was listed as Alvin Britt, who won a tournament held in Hollywood in 1936-04. It is a combined lineage of the Association and Alliance versions, omitting the early history of the Alliance championship. The Association title won by Britt would eventually pass to Leroy McGuirk in 1939-06, about three years later.

Pinky George, a Des Moines, Iowa based promoter, had been using the name “National Wrestling Alliance” even before the establishment of the NWA (Alliance), and he had recognized Orville Brown as the world heavyweight champion and Billy Goelz as the world junior heavyweight champion. When George officially established the NWA (Alliance) in 1948-07, Brown and Goelz were recognized as the inaugural champions. Similarly to how Brown’s name was not included in the old NWA heavyweight championship lineage, Goelz was also excluded from the “official records” of the junior heavyweight division. However, it seems that one significant reason for this was that McGuirk, who had held the Association title for many years since 1939, was entrusted with the management of the same championship by the NWA headquarters.

Billy Goelz

The Iowa version of the world junior heavyweight championship held by Goelz can be traced back to the summer of 1942.

In the late 1920s, Johnny Carlin, known as “Swede Carlin,” began calling himself the light heavyweight champion of Sweden due to his Swedish heritage. As he was a wrestler primarily active in the United States, there was no official recognition by any domestic organization, but even in 1940, more than ten years later, he still claimed the title.

Johnny Carlin

However, in 1942-08, Carlin was introduced as the NWA (Association) world light heavyweight champion in Des Moines, Iowa, Pinky George’s base of operations. In reality, the official Association champion at that time was Red Berry, but the name “National Wrestling Association” was randomly used in various regions, and Carlin’s title was no exception. As another example, in Texas in 1935, Ralph Hammond was recognized as the Association junior heavyweight champion. However, as mentioned earlier, even after Alvin Britt was officially recognized in 1936, Hammond continued to defend the title in Texas. In the spring of 1937, Hammond moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he continued to be recognized as the champion. In other words, Hammond was the first wrestler to claim the world junior heavyweight championship with the “NWA” prefix, even though it was under the Association.

On the other hand, Carlin lost the NWA (Association) world light heavyweight championship to Ken Fenelon on 1942-08-26 in Des Moines. In 1943-05, Pinky George brought Ede Virag, who had been recognized as the “National Wrestling Alliance” world heavyweight champion in Wichita, Kansas, to Iowa. From this time onwards, George also began using the NWA (Alliance) name in his own territory. While Fenelon’s title was initially the NWA (Association) world light heavyweight championship on 1943-05-17, the following week it became the NWA (Alliance) world junior heavyweight championship.

Ken Fenelon

The Iowa version of the championship changed hands several times between Fenelon, Marshall Estep, Larry Tillman, and Ray Steele. In 1947-10, Billy Goelz captured the title from Estep. When the NWA (Alliance) was officially established in 1948-07, Goelz was recognized as the inaugural champion.

However, at the organization’s 1949 convention, it was decided that Leroy McGuirk, who had continued to hold the Association title since 1939, would be recognized as the Alliance champion instead of Goelz. Goelz continued to defend the championship not only in Iowa but also in surrounding areas such as Wisconsin and Illinois. Finally, in 1949-12, he was defeated by McGuirk in a unification match held in Des Moines.

1949-12-28 Des Moines, IA
World Junior Heavyweight Unification Match

From that point on, the belt awarded to Alvin Britt for the Association title he won in the Hollywood tournament of 1936 was used for the NWA (Alliance) world junior heavyweight championship. Vern Gagne and Danny Hodge also wore the same belt and defended it all over the United States.

The NWA world junior heavyweight championship disappeared once when Jim Crockett Promotions was acquired by Ted Turner and became WCW in 1988. It was revived in 1995 by Wrestle You-Me Factory in Japan and was unified during the J-Crown Tournament which was organized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It temporarily became inactive again in 2017 when Billy Corgan purchased the NWA brand from Bruce Tharpe. Corgan crowned a new champion in 2020, and since then, the title has been defended in various organizations throughout the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, and Australia.

*** Wikipedia lists Fenelon as the first NWA world junior heavyweight champion, and many others copy the information (including the current version of the NWA which actually inscribed Fenelon’s initial on the junior heavyweight championship belt). If Fenelon is included in the lineage, the heavyweight title history should also include Ede Virag, Ray Steele, Dave Levin, and Sonny Myers who held the regional world heavyweight title in Iowa prior to the foundation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948.

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