NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship

NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
Ric Flair held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship four times and had the eight-longest combined reign, at 408 days.
Details
Promotion	National Wrestling Alliance Jim Crockett Promotions Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
Date established	October 13, 1970 (Re-established in 1996)
Date retired	December 26, 1986
Other name(s)
NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship
Statistics First champion(s) Pat O'Connor Most reigns Wahoo McDaniel (7 times) Longest reign Buff Bagwell (1,807 days) Shortest reign Pat O'Connor (1 day)

The NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship contested for in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a territory-promotion governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was only contestable by male individual wrestlers. Since 1974, JCP was also known as "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" (MACW), which is why all of its championships included "Mid-Atlantic" in their names. Being a professional wrestling championship, it was not won legitimately; it was instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. In 1970, the championship was introduced as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship during a taping of Championship Wrestling on October 13, 1970. It was announced that the Missouri Mauler had defeated the defending champion Pat O'Connor in New York City to win the title; this title change was fictitious and a storyline to introduce the championship to the promotion; nevertheless, O'Connor's reign is denoted as the first official reign. Because it was fictitious, further information regarding O'Connor's reign is unavailable.

On the September 6, 1973 taping of Championship Wrestling, JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr. announced the retirement of the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Championship and the establishment of the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship; this coincided with the rebranding of JCP as MACW. At the time of this change, Jerry Brisco was in his fourth reign as the NWA Eastern Heavyweight Champion, and as a result of never losing the title, he was recognized as the first NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. Because Brisco's fourth reign did not end, being awarded the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title is not counted as a new reign overall in the title's history. On December 26, 1986, Ron Garvin, after winning JCP's version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with Barry Windham, vacated the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title and handed the belt to Crockett, Jr. on a taping of World Championship Wrestling. Crockett, Jr. deactivated the championship for unknown reasons, and eventually, JCP was sold to Ted Turner in 1988. As a result, Garvin was the final wrestler to hold the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title. In the late 1990s, a group of promoters was given permission by the NWA to establish a territory called "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW)"; however, this territory has not claimed any connection to the original JCP/MACW. As a result, their prime championship, called the MACW Heavyweight Championship, has no connection to this original JCP/MACW championship.