Impact World Championship facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Impact World Championship
The current Impact World Championship belt (2020–present)
Details
Current champion(s)	Alex Shelley
Date won	June 9, 2023
Date established	May 13, 2007
Promotion	Impact Wrestling
Other name(s)
TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2007–2017) Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (2017) Unified GFW World Heavyweight Championship (2017) GFW Global Championship (2017) Impact Global Championship (2017) Impact World Championship (2017-present) Impact Unified World Championship (2021)
Statistics Most reigns Kurt Angle (6 reigns) First champion(s) Kurt Angle Longest reign Josh Alexander (2nd reign, 335 days) Shortest reign Josh Alexander (1st reign, 3 minutes) Oldest champion Sting (52 years, 113 days) Youngest champion Tessa Blanchard (24 years, 170 days) Heaviest champion Moose (299 lbs) Lightest champion Tessa Blanchard (125 lbs)

The Impact World Championship is a top prize in professional wrestling. It is the main championship created and used by Impact Wrestling. Just like in most wrestling, the champion wins the title in a match that has a planned outcome. The current champion is Alex Shelley, and this is his first time holding the title.

Before this championship existed, the company, then called Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), used the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. They had an agreement with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In 2007, this agreement ended. This led to TNA creating its own championship, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The new title was shown on May 14, 2007, during the filming of TNA's TV show, Impact!. It aired on May 17, 2007. Kurt Angle was the very first champion. He also holds the record for winning the title the most times, with six reigns.

When TNA changed its name to Impact Wrestling in March 2017, the title's name also changed. Later that year, Impact Wrestling briefly rebranded as GFW. The title then combined with the original GFW Global Championship at Slammiversary XV. It became the Unified GFW World Heavyweight Championship. After another event called Destination X, the title was called the GFW Global Championship. It still kept the history of the old TNA title. On October 23, 2017, the GFW name was dropped. The company went back to being Impact Wrestling. However, the championship was still called the Impact Global Championship for a while. On February 1, 2018, the title officially became known as the Impact World Championship. On June 4, 2018, it combined with the Impact Grand Championship. On March 13, 2021, it also combined with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, which was a separate title for a short time in 2021.

How the Championship Started

Impact Wrestling began as NWA: Total Nonstop Action in May 2002. Later that year, TNA was given control over the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships. This happened through an agreement with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). TNA then became an official NWA territory, known as NWA-TNA.

On June 19, 2002, NWA-TNA held its first show. It was a weekly pay-per-view event. The main match was a twenty-man Gauntlet for the Gold match. In this match, wrestlers tried to throw each other over the top rope. The last two wrestlers then had a regular singles match. The winner became the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA era. Ken Shamrock won the vacant championship by defeating Malice. Ricky Steamboat was the special guest referee for this match.

Creating the Impact Title

The NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships were used in TNA until May 13, 2007. On that day, the NWA announced they were ending their five-year agreement with TNA. This agreement had given TNA full control over both titles. The NWA also said that the current champions, Christian Cage (NWA World Heavyweight Champion) and Team 3D (NWA World Tag Team Champions), were no longer champions. This happened because Cage reportedly refused to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against wrestlers from NWA territories.

On the same day, TNA was set to hold its Sacrifice event. Both Cage and Team 3D were supposed to defend their titles. Cage was scheduled to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle and Sting in a three-way match. During the event, the TV graphics still showed Cage and Team 3D as NWA champions. Angle won the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Cage and Sting.

The next day, May 14, TNA filmed two episodes of Impact!. These episodes would air later, on May 17 and May 24. At the first filming, Angle came to the ring with a new championship belt. He announced he was the "new TNA World Heavyweight Champion." TNA commentator Mike Tenay explained that Management Director Jim Cornette decided TNA needed its own titles. This was because TNA was becoming more popular worldwide. This was the storyline reason for the new championship.

Later in the broadcast, Cornette took the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Angle. This was due to a controversial ending to the match at Sacrifice. Cornette then announced that a new champion would be decided at TNA's Slammiversary on June 17, 2007. The match would be a King of the Mountain match. This match involves five wrestlers. They must get a pinfall or submission to become eligible to hang the championship belt to win. On May 15, 2007, Jeremy Borash showed off the new TNA World Heavyweight Championship belt on TNA's online show, TNA Today.

The five wrestlers for the King of the Mountain match were chosen through a series of matches on Impact!. Angle defeated Rhino on May 17 to enter the match. On May 24, Samoa Joe defeated Sting to become the second participant. A.J. Styles won against Tomko on May 31. A match between Chris Harris and James Storm on June 7 ended in a double disqualification. So, neither advanced. Finally, Christian Cage defeated Abyss on June 14. At Slammiversary, Angle won the King of the Mountain match. He defeated Joe, Cage, Styles, and Chris Harris, who was a surprise participant. Angle became the "undisputed TNA World Heavyweight Champion."

Changes to the Championship Name

In early 2017, TNA changed its name to Impact Wrestling. The TNA World Heavyweight Championship then changed its name to the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. This was to match the company's new name.

At Slammiversary XV, Alberto El Patron, who was the GFW Global Champion, defeated Bobby Lashley, the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. This combined the two titles. The GFW Global Championship was retired. The Impact World Heavyweight Championship was renamed the Unified GFW World Championship. This happened as Impact Wrestling was briefly rebranding as GFW. In September 2017, GFW changed back to Impact Wrestling. The championship then became known as the Impact Global Championship.

Since the February 1, 2018, episode of Impact!, the title has been called the Impact World Championship. On June 4, 2018, it combined with the Impact Grand Championship. The Grand Championship was then officially retired.

At Rebellion, Moose appeared with an old TNA World Heavyweight Championship belt. He declared himself the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He had defeated Hernandez and Michael Elgin in a three-way match. This match was originally for the Impact World Championship. However, the champion, Tessa Blanchard, could not attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Impact Wrestling did not officially recognize Moose's title at first. But Moose defended it several times. On February 23, 2021, Impact's Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore announced that Moose's championship was now officially recognized. At Sacrifice, Impact World Champion Rich Swann defeated Moose. This combined the two championships. The TNA title was then retired. The Impact World Championship was briefly called the Impact Unified World Championship.

Championship Tournaments

Sometimes, a championship becomes vacant, meaning no one holds it. When this happens, a tournament is often held to find a new champion.

2010 Tournament for the Title

On August 19, 2010, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was vacated. The champion, Rob Van Dam, had a storyline injury. A tournament was set up with the top eight ranked wrestlers in TNA. The finals of this tournament took place at Bound for Glory on October 10.

* Angle and Hardy had another draw on September 16. This led to Eric Bischoff making the final match at Bound for Glory a three–way.

2013 Tournament for the Title

On October 29, 2013, TNA President Dixie Carter announced the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was vacant. The previous champion, A.J. Styles, had left the company with the title belt. On October 31, Carter announced an eight-man tournament. It would start on November 7 to find a new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Seven of the eight wrestlers were former TNA World Heavyweight Champions. These included Jeff Hardy, Chris Sabin, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Kurt Angle, Austin Aries, and Samoa Joe. The eighth spot was decided in a gauntlet match, won by Magnus.

Carter also announced the "Wheel of Dixie." She would spin a wheel to choose different match rules for the tournament. The rules included a Falls Count Anywhere match, a Bull Rope match, and a Ladder match. The final match for the vacant title was held at TNA Final Resolution in 2013.

Looking at the Championship Belts

The Impact World Championship has had five different belt designs over time.

The first belt, shown in May 2007, had a large eagle on its center plate. The word "World" was above the eagle's head. "Heavyweight Wrestling" was written across the eagle's chest. The TNA logo was at the top of the center plate. Smaller side plates had a globe with the TNA logo.

On November 8, 2010, a new design was introduced. Champion Jeff Hardy called it the "Immortal Championship." It had a purple strap and a silver center plate. This plate looked like a masked face, designed to resemble Hardy's face paint. It had the TNA logo on the forehead.

The "Immortal" belt was replaced by a third design on March 14, 2011. This belt was introduced by the champion, Sting. It had seven gold plates on a black leather strap. The main plate had many rounded edges and looked similar to the Big Gold Belt. It had a large TNA Wrestling logo and "Heavyweight Champion" written below it. This belt, with a white strap, returned in April 2020. This happened when Moose declared himself "TNA World Heavyweight Champion." Moose's title was not recognized until February 2021.

After Slammiversary XV, both the TNA and GFW Global Championship belts were used together. At Destination X 2017, the GFW Global Championship belt became the only one used. It had updated colors and Impact logos. When Jeff Jarrett left the company, it went back to being Impact Wrestling. The belt was updated with an "Impact" name plate.

A new belt design was shown at Impact Wrestling's Redemption on April 22, 2018. The gold center plate has the Impact logo with "World Champion" below it. An owl sits above the Impact logo. This owl represents Impact's parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The side plates have globes and Impact logos. The belt originally had blue shading. In 2020, this changed to red shading to match the new Impact Wrestling logo.

At Sacrifice on March 13, 2021, Impact World Champion Rich Swann defeated TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose. This combined the two championships. After this, both the red-shaded Impact belt and the white-strapped TNA belt were used together. The combined title was briefly called the Impact Unified World Championship. It then went back to being called the Impact World Championship. In August 2021, after Christian Cage won the title, the TNA belt was retired again.

Champions and Their Reigns

Current champion Alex Shelley

In total, 34 different wrestlers have held the championship, with 58 reigns. Kurt Angle was the first champion. He won it by defeating Christian Cage and Sting on May 13, 2007. Kurt Angle also holds the record for the most reigns, with six. Josh Alexander's first reign was the shortest, lasting only three minutes. His second reign was the longest, lasting 335 days. Tessa Blanchard is the only woman to ever win this world title. The title has been left vacant seven times.

Alex Shelley is the current champion. This is his first time holding the title. He defeated Steve Maclin on June 9, 2023, at Against All Odds in Columbus, Ohio to win the championship.

Images for kids

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  Kurt Angle with the original TNA World Heavyweight Championship title belt design with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship beside it.

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  Jeff Hardy with his custom design, called the "Immortal Championship." This later became the second official belt design.

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  Ethan Carter III with the third title belt design (2011–2017).

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  Eli Drake with the fourth title belt design. Notice the "Impact" plate added.

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  Johnny Impact with the fifth design of the belt, introduced in 2018, in its blue version.

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  The sixth and current design of the belt, introduced in 2020, in its red version.

See also

In Spanish: Impact World Championship para niños

• List of NWA World Heavyweight Champions