AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship Belt

Description

The AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship is one of the most famous and chaotic regional titles in the history of professional wrestling. It was the absolute lifeblood of the Memphis, Tennessee wrestling territory from the 1970s through the late 1980s.

If you are talking about the Memphis territory, you are talking about this belt. Here is the breakdown of its fascinating history.

1. The Name Changes (NWA to AWA)

The title had a bit of an identity crisis over the decades depending on who the local promoter was partnering with:

• The Origin (1974): It started out in the NWA Mid-America promotion when Jerry Lawler defeated Tommy Gilbert for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship. Lawler was getting too big for the junior division, so the promotion dropped the “Junior” and renamed it the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Memphis version).

• The AWA Era (1978): When promoter Jerry Jarrett split off to fully run the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), he dropped his NWA affiliation and partnered with Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA). Thus, the belt became the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.

• The Magazine Loophole: Pro Wrestling Illustrated and other major magazines of the era actually referred to it as the Mid-Southern Heavyweight Championship just so fans wouldn’t confuse it with the Southern titles being defended in Florida or Georgia.

2. Jerry “The King” Lawler’s Personal Property

You cannot talk about the Southern Heavyweight Title without talking about Jerry “The King” Lawler. It was essentially built around him.

While exact wrestling records from the territory era can be notoriously murky due to phantom title changes, impromptu tournament resets, and “held-up” matches, Lawler is widely credited with winning the Southern Heavyweight Championship over 50 times.

Whenever a hot new heel arrived in Memphis (like Koko B. Ware, Rick Rude, Kamala, or Jimmy Valiant), the formula was simple: they would beat Lawler for the Southern Title to get massive heat, torment the city for a few months, and then Lawler would inevitably win his prize back in a bloody Monday night match at the Mid-South Coliseum.

3. Notable Champions

Outside of Lawler, the belt was a rite of passage for future megastars, legends, and unforgettable territory heels, including:

• Austin Idol

• Bill Dundee (Lawler’s greatest rival and frequent tag partner)

• Dutch Mantell (later known as Zeb Colter in WWE)

• Rocky Johnson (The Rock’s father)

• Tommy Rich

• Nick Bockwinkel (who famously held it while also being the AWA World Champion)

• Jimmy Hart (Yes, the manager famously won the title in 1981 after Jerry Lawler was forced to lay down for him, creating an all-time great Memphis angle).

4. The Unification and Resurrection

As mentioned previously, the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title technically “died” on December 7, 1987, when Jerry Lawler unified it with the CWA/AWA International and NWA Mid-America titles to create the single CWA Heavyweight Championship.

However, the lineage didn’t completely disappear:

• In 1989, when the CWA merged with World Class to create the USWA (United States Wrestling Association), promoters realized they missed having a localized, secondary title.

• They revived it as the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. Jerry Lawler, naturally, won it another couple dozen times, alongside a young Brian Christopher (Lawler’s son, Grand Master Sexay) and Jeff Jarrett.

Ultimately, it stands as a symbol of the golden era of studio wrestling—a time of wild promos, chaotic weekly storylines, and a fiercely loyal Memphis crowd.