Giant Baba: NWA World Heavyweight Champion

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Giant Baba (1979)

Giant Baba in the locker room after his victory over Harley Race for the NWA World Championship in Nagoya, Japan, 1979.

Baba's Champagne Celebration (1974)

Giant Baba celebrated in the locker room after his NWA World title victory 

over Jack Brisco in December of 1974.

Japanese NWA Wrestling Collage

The Japanese magazines still do an excellent job of remembering the old NWA champs. These are images from a special section of a recent magazine there that looked back at the history of the NWA World title and presented a special interview with Harley Race.

Japan's Legendary Giant Baba

     Giant Baba defeated Jack Brisco for the NWA title on December 2, 1974 in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the first of three short reigns Baba would have with the NWA championship. 

     You can quickly identify that this was the title he won from Brisco (as opposed to the latter two from Harley Race) because of the way the belt looked, the true tale-tell being the white lettering on a black background above the country flags on the belt. The "Ten Pounds of Gold" book details all those small indicators that identify the version of the belt, which underwent four distinct transitions over its life from 1973-1986.

     Thanks to Eddie Cheslock for forwarding this photo to us.

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

NWA Champs in the Mid-Atlantic Era

The years 1973-1986 are wonderful years for me in pro-wrestling. Not only were these the years that Jim Crockett promotions identified their company as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", they were also the years that the domed-globe version of the NWA world heavyweight championship belt was defended in the ring. They were also, not so coincidentally, my favorite years to follow professional wrestling

The two eras overlap almost perfectly. These, more or less, are the appropriate dates:

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling:
Date began: 9/6/1973 - Eastern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Brisco presented with the first Mid-Atlantic championship belt in Greensboro NC. (See "The Origin and Evolution of the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship")

Date ended: 12/27/1986 - Ron Garvin surrenders the Mid-Atlantic belt in Atlanta GA after winning the U.S. tag team championship with Barry Windham. The title is retired.

NWA "Domed-Globe" Belt:
Date first defended: 7/20/1973 - The "Thesz" version of the NWA belt is retired and the new "domed-globe" belt is presented to NWA champion Harley Race in Houston, TX.

Date retired: 2/14/1986 - Ric Flair debuts the new "bog gold" version of the NWA belt before a title match in Orlando, FL.

Below are photos of the NWA champions during the "Mid-Atlantic" era.

Images from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives: NWA Champs in the Mid-Atlantic Era

For more information, visit "NWA Champions During the Mid-Atlantic Era" and "What's in a Name? Defining the Mid-Atlantic Era as 1973-1976"

For info on the "Ten Pounds of Gold" book, visit www.TenPoundsOfGold.com.

Domed Globe Covers

A collection of programs and magazines that featured the NWA champs wearing the domed-globe belt. (This collage is from from "Ten Pounds of Gold", found full page on p. 108 of the book.)

www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

Program Cover: Baba & Brisco

Jack Brisco and the Giant Baba traded the NWA title in 1974.

Three Great Champions

Three great NWA champions together at the National Wrestling Alliance convention in 1985. Shohei "Giant" Baba (3 time NWA champion), "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (depends on how you count them, 8 NWA world championships, as many as 21 world titles all together), and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (3 time NWA champ).

This is a page from a 1985 wrestling magazine in Japan. I got a kick out of seeing Ric and Dusty together here; talk about breaking Kayfabe (especially in 1985!)

A wonderful photo of all three true wrestling legends.