MLW World Heavyweight Championship

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MLW World Heavyweight Championship
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The second design of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship belt
(2018-present)
Details
PromotionMajor League Wrestling (MLW)
Date establishedApril 7, 2002
Current championMads Krule Krügger
Date wonSeptember 13, 2025
Other names
  • MLW Championship
  • MLW World Heavyweight Championship
    (2002–present)
Statistics
First championShane Douglas
Most reignsSatoshi Kojima (2)
Longest reignJacob Fatu (819 days)
Shortest reignMike Awesome (10 minutes)
Oldest championSatoshi Kojima (53 years)
Youngest championShane Strickland (28 years)
Heaviest championMike Awesome (292 lbs)
Lightest championLow Ki (174 lbs)

The MLW World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by Major League Wrestling (MLW). It is the promotion's principal championship.[1] The championship was established on June 15, 2002 at the Genesis and was active until February 10, 2004 after the promotion stopped hosting events.[2] The championship was reactivated in 2018.

History

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File:Shane Douglas at Alpha-10 April 2016.jpg
Shane Douglas became the first champion when he won the title in 2002

On June 15, 2002, Major League Wrestling held an eight-man single-elimination tournament to crown the first MLW Champion at its inaugural Genesis event.[3] Jerry Lynn, Shane Douglas, Vampiro and Taiyo Kea advanced to the semifinals.[3] Douglas defeated Lynn to advance to the finals, and caused the match between Vampiro and Kea to be declared a no contest. As a result, both wrestlers advanced to the finals for a three-way dance.[3] Douglas defeated both Kea and Vampiro to become the first champion.[3] Afterwards, Douglas threw the belt down, like he did with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt.[4][5] Referee John Finnegan threatened that Douglas would be banned from wrestling in Philadelphia if he didn't defend the title.[6] MLW went on hiatus for three months after the match.

Upon the company's return, Satoshi Kojima defeated Jerry Lynn in New York City, New York at MLW's Reload event on September 26 for the vacant MLW World Heavyweight Championship.[7][8] MLW promoter Court Bauer would later confirm that this title lineage and belt design was a separate championship from the MLW Championship won by Shane Douglas in June 2002.[9] As such, Kojima was recognized as the first MLW World Heavyweight Champion. Kojima defended the title in his home promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), with the defenses airing on both MLW Underground TV and AJPW broadcasts in Japan.[7][8] Kojima lost the title at Hybrid Hell on June 20, 2003 to Mike Awesome. Afterwards, Awesome lost the title to Steve Corino, as Corino exercised Awesome's promise for a title shot.[6] It was later reported that Kojima's employers, AJPW would not allow him to drop the title to an employee of a rival company Pro Wrestling Zero-One, which was Steve Corino.[10] Corino remained champion until the promotion closed on February 10, 2004.[2]

MLW resumed wrestling operations in July 2017. In January 2018, MLW announced its Road to the World Championship, an eight-man single-elimination tournament to crown a new champion.[11] During the tournament, A. C. H. replaced Tom Lawlor in the semi-finals, after he suffered an injury.[12][13] On April 12, Shane Strickland defeated Matt Riddle in The World Championship Finals.[14][15][16][17] Low Ki made the first international title defense since 2003 in Claremont, Australia, as he defeated Jonah Rock on November 30 in a New Horizon Pro Wrestling event.[18] Starting in July 2019, MLW would begin playing a Championship Lineage video (similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling) highlighting all previous MLW World Heavyweight Champions before sanctioned championship matches.[19] This lineage package would once again confirm Shane Douglas' reign as not recognized as part of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship history.

Championship tournaments

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Inaugural MLW World Championship Tournament (2002)

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Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
Jerry Lynn Pin
La Parka 7:04
Jerry Lynn Pin
Shane Douglas 7:32
Shane Douglas Pin
Steve Corino 9:40
Shane Douglas Pin
Taiyo Kea
Vampiro 		1:15
Taiyo Kea Pin
The Wall 6:43
Taiyo Kea Bye
Vampiro 17:00
Vampiro Pin
Christopher Daniels 13:56

Road to the Championship Tournament (2018)

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File:Shane Strickland 2017 (cropped).jpg
When the title was reactivated, Shane Strickland won a tournament to win the championship in 2018
First round
Road To The World Championship
(February 8)[20] 		Semifinals
Spring Break
(March 8)[21] 		Final
The World Championship Finals
(April 12)[22]
         
MVP 10:44[20]
Tom Lawlor Pin
A. C. H. [21]
Matt Riddle Pin
Matt Riddle Pin
Jeff Cobb 13:40[20]
Matt Riddle 21:45[22]
Shane Strickland Pin
Shane Strickland Pin
Brody King 10:53[20]
Shane Strickland Pin
Jimmy Havoc [21]
Jimmy Havoc Pin
Maxwell Jacob Friedman 9:36[20]

Reigns

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As of February 5, 2024, there have been twelve reigns and one vacancy shared between eleven different champions. Shane Douglas was the inaugural champion, defeating Taiyo Kea and Vampiro at Genesis on June 15, 2002, to become the inaugural champion. Jacob Fatu's reign is the longest at 819 days, while Mike Awesome's reign is the shortest at 10 minutes. Satoshi Kojima is the oldest champion when he won it at 53 years old, while Shane Strickland is the youngest champion at 28 years old.

Mads Krule Krügger is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion Matt Riddle and Donovan Dijak in Krügger's Gravity Gramble cash-in match at Fightland on September 13, 2025, in North Richland Hills, Texas.

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
<1 Reign lasted less than a day
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
Major League Wrestling (MLW)
1 Shane Douglas June 15, 2002 Genesis Philadelphia, PA 1 90 Defeated Taiyō Kea and Vampiro in a three way dance to become inaugural champion. Douglas immediately threw down the championship after the match. This reign has only received occasional recognition from MLW. [23]
— Vacated September 13, 2002 — — — — Shane Douglas was stripped of the championship due to his controversial actions at Genesis.
2 Satoshi Kojima September 26, 2002 Reload New York City, NY 1 267 Defeated Jerry Lynn to win the vacant title. [24]
3 Mike Awesome June 20, 2003 Hybrid Hell Fort Lauderdale, FL 1 <1 [25]
4 Steve Corino June 20, 2003 Hybrid Hell Fort Lauderdale, FL 1 235 Corino challenged Mike Awesome to a match following Awesome's victory over Satoshi Kojima. [25]
— Vacated February 10, 2004 — — — — Steve Corino was no longer listed as the MLW World Heavyweight Champion after the company stopped hosting events.
— Deactivated 2004 — — — — The title became deactivated when the company stopped hosting events.
5 Shane Strickland April 12, 2018 The World Championship Finals Orlando, FL 1 91 Defeated Matt Riddle in the tournament finals to win the revived title. [22]
6 Low Ki July 12, 2018 Fusion Orlando, FL 1 205 MLW recognizes this reign as beginning on July 20, 2018, when the match aired on tape delay. [26]
7 Tom Lawlor February 2, 2019 SuperFight Philadelphia, PA 1 154 [27]
8 Jacob Fatu July 6, 2019 Kings of Colosseum Cicero, IL 1 819 [28][29]
9 Alexander Hammerstone October 2, 2021 Fightland Philadelphia, PA 1 644 This was a Winner takes all match where Hammerstone's MLW National Openweight Championship was also on the line. [30]
10 Alex Kane July 8, 2023 Never Say Never Philadelphia, PA 1 210 [31]
11 Satoshi Kojima February 3, 2024 SuperFight Philadelphia, PA 2 343 [32]
12 Matt Riddle January 11, 2025 Kings of Colosseum North Richland Hills, TX 1 245 [33]
13 Mads Krule Krügger September 13, 2025 Fightland North Richland Hills, TX 1 238+ This was a three-way match also involving Donovan Dijak in which Krügger cashed-in his Gravity Gramble contract. [34]

Combined reigns

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As of May 9, 2026.

File:Jacob Fatu 2019.jpg
Longest reigning champion at 819 days, Jacob Fatu
† Indicates the current champions
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns 		Combined
days
1 Jacob Fatu 1 819
2 Alexander Hammerstone 1 644
3 Satoshi Kojima 2 610
4 Matt Riddle 1 245
5 Steve Corino 1 235
6 Alex Kane 1 210
7 Low Ki 1 205
8 Tom Lawlor 1 154
9 Shane Strickland 1 91
10 Shane Douglas 1 90
11 Mads Krule Krügger † 1 238+
12 Mike Awesome 1 <1

References

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  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). at Cagematch.net
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). at Wrestling-Titles.com
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