Superstars from Overseas
12 WWE Champions
Written by Mark Adam Haggerty
Professional wrestling has grown to become an international spectacle in various nations from Japan to Mexico with everybody in-between. In recent years New Japan Pro Wrestling has toured North Korea, WWN has started to run events in China, and Jeff Jarrett promoted Ring Ka King in India for a short period before founding Global Force Wrestling. The “sport” of Sports Entertainment is continuing to grow and reach across borders once inaccessible to wrestling promotors. The WWE has a long history of promoting foreign-born talents inside the squared-circle so as to appeal to various viewers. Since the creation of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 1963, there have been 45 different champions—twelve of whom were born outside of the United States of America. My name is Mark Adam Haggerty and this is a chronological look at “Superstars from Overseas: 12 WWE Champions.”
Note: This list is about the WWE Championship ONLY. It does not include any “Big Gold Belt” title reigns, nor does it include anything from outside the WWE.
Bruno Sammartino – Italy
The very first champion in the WWE was Buddy Rogers, who happened to hail from my home state of New Jersey. But the man who would defeat him on May 17, 1963—and go on to be the longest reigning champion in WWE history—was born in Pizzoferrato, Italy on October 6, 1935. Bruno Sammartino was the perennial champion of the WWE throughout the 1960s and mid-70s, and in 2013 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Bruno’s Italian-American heritage helped draw thousands of first generation New Yorkers who rallied behind the hero of their homeland. Bruno lost his first championship to the “Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff on January 18, 1971 and won his second on December 10, 1973 when he defeated Stan “The Man” Stasiak.
Ivan Koloff – Canada
Though billed as the “Russian Bear” and coexisting as part of Soviet-themed tag teams and stables, Ivan Koloff wasn’t a native of the U.S.S.R. but of Montreal, Quebec. Koloff has the distinction of being the first-ever Canadian-born WWE champion in history, when he defeated Bruno Sammartino in January of 1971. Ivan’s career was prolific—his reign as WWE champion, however, was not. He dropped his title after just 21 days to Pedro Morales on February 8, 1971. Ivan Koloff remained with the WWE until 1972, before finding further success in the National Wrestling Alliance.
Pedro Morales – Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is a possession of the United States of America but doesn’t enjoy the same benefits afforded to U.S. citizens, so I figured the fourth WWE champion in history was fair game. Pedro Morales was the third champion in a row NOT born in the United States. Like Bruno before him, Morales played exceptionally well to the diverse demographics of New York City—especially its vast Puerto Rican population. Pedro won the WWE championship from Ivan Koloff, who was—in essence—a transitional champion. Morales held the championship from February 1971 to December 1973, for a total of 1,027 days—the fifth longest single title reign in history.
Stan Stasiak – Canada
The WWE of the 1960s and 70s—and even the ‘80s to a degree—was a promotion devoid of any altercations between babyface competitors. When the belt was to move from the waist of Bruno Sammartino to that of Pedro Morales, Canadian villain Ivan Koloff carried the championship in the interim. When the switch was to be made BACK to Bruno, another dastardly Canadian heel took the title. This time it was the mutton-chopped Stan “The Man” Stasiak—and this time it was for just 9-days. Stan Stasiak was born in Arvida, Quebec and on December 1, 1973 defeated Pedro Morales for the World Wide Wrestling Federation Championship. Stan lost his championship to Bruno Sammartino on December 10th at a house show in Philadelphia; there wouldn’t be another Canadian champion for nearly 20-years.
Antonio Inoki – Japan
Antonio Inoki’s status as a former WWE Champion is questionable as World Wrestling Entertainment does not currently recognize this Hall of Famer’s title reign. But regardless of who might recognize what, Antonio Inoki won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Bob Backlund on November 30, 1979 in Tokushima, Japan. The match ended when Backlund’s rival Tiger Jeet Singh interfered, costing Backlund his title. Antonio Inoki relinquished the title six days later in Tokyo due to the extenuating circumstances surround his victory; the following month Bob Backlund regained the vacated championship, continuing what the WWE considers an unbroken title reign. There has since never been a Japanese WWE champion, whether we’re talking about the main title or the big gold belt. There’s also never been a Japanese intercontinental champion. Believe it or not, the last Japanese-born superstar to hold a singles championship in the WWE was Funaki when he won the Cruiserweight title in 2004. But I can understand—it’s not like wrestling is big in Japan or anything like that.
The Iron Sheik – Iran
Bob Backlund’s monumental run as WWE champion came to a screeching halt on December 26, 1983 when the All-American athlete fell to the pride of the Iranian Kingdom. The Iron Sheik debuted for the WWE in 1979 and returned to the promotion full time in 1983. The former Olympic coach and contender defeated Bob Backlund with his camel clutch, and enjoyed exactly four weeks with the championship until losing it to Hulk Hogan on January 23, 1984. Hulkamania was born and for the next decade, the WWE championship stayed on U.S. soil.
Andre the Giant – France
Andre the Giant is remembered fondly for being the largest wrestler of his era, and the first inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame. He is not remembered by many, however, for his record-shattering short reign as WWE champion. Andre won the world title from Hulk Hogan in 1988 after a highly controversial decision wherein Ted DiBiase’s referee counted Hogan’s shoulders for three, despite the champion kicking out at two. Following the bell, Andre proceeded to “sell” his championship to the “Million Dollar Man,” a practice that WWE President Jack Tunney would see no part of. Andre was immediately stripped of his championship which was then declared vacant. There would be no champion for nearly two months, until Randy Savage won the title on March 27, 1988 at WrestleMania IV.
Bret Hart – Canada
The first Canadian to hold the WWE world heavyweight title in nearly two decades was Bret “The Hitman” Hart, who won his first championship from Ric Flair on a random episode of Prime Time Wrestling in 1992. He dropped it six months later to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, only to reclaim the honor one year later from the “Sumo Specialist” at WrestleMania X. Bret held the WWE championship on five separate occasion for a total of 654 days before leaving the WWE in 1997. The title would once again remain within American borders for the foreseeable future—there wasn’t a single non-American WWE champion during the entire Attitude Era.
Chris Jericho – Canada
The next foreign-born professional wrestler entrusted with the coveted WWE championship was Chris Jericho who—after defeating Steve Austin and the Rock in one night—became the Undisputed Champion on December 9, 2001. There’s a lot of debate as to from where Y2J hails, and although he’s often billed from Manhasset, New York, the “Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla” is actually from Winnipeg. Jericho is a multi-time recipient of the “Big Gold Belt,” but only held the original WWE Championship once. Chris Jericho dropped his Undisputed honors after 98 days when he lost to Triple H at WrestleMania X8 in his home country of Canada.
Edge – Canada
Hall of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland has had a breathtaking career, including 15 years as part of the WWE. In 1990 Edge and his Kayfabe brother Christian could be seen inside the Toronto Skydome at WrestleMania—and six years later were hired by the WWE. In 2005 Edge won the first-ever Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21, and cashed in 10-months later at January’s New Year’s Revolution. This was the first time a Canadian wrestler was given the WWE championship in almost 5-years—a rather short period considering the 2-decades between Stan Stasiak and Bret Hart. Edge is a 4-time WWE champion, famous for creating his own custom “spinning” belt with the “Rated-R” logo embedded in the middle. Edge was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2011 and in 2012 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Sheamus – Ireland
It’s been said that Vince McMahon Sr. was a proud Irishman, and that’s how Terry Bollea came to be known as Hulk Hogan. However it wasn’t until 2009—46 years after the creation of the championship—that an Irish-born Superstar was the WWE champion. Sheamus burst onto the WWE main stage like a hurricane by decimating any and all completion on his way to reaching the top. Sheamus debuted for WWE’s C-string television series, ECW on Sci-Fi, on June 30, 2009 and was challenging for the WWE Championship on pay-per-view by December. Sheamus shocked the world when he walked away victorious—having beaten John Cena in a Tables Match—and continued to silence his critics by keeping the title around his waist for more than two months. Sheamus lost the championship at Elimination Chamber to Cena, but regained the gold in June of that year.
Alberto Del Rio – Mexico
For years the WWE satisfied its large Latino fan base with a plethora of American-born Hispanic talents such as Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero—both of whom are former WWE champions. But it took the WWE a little while—48-years to be exact—until they decided to strap their championship around the waist of a native Mexican-born wrestler. Alberto Del Rio was brought up by his father, the legendary Dos Caras, and made his WWE debut on August 20, 2009 by defeating Rey Mysterio in the main event of Smackdown. Alberto won the Raw Money in the Bank on July 17, 2011 and cashed in to win his first WWE championship from CM Punk less than one-month later. Del Rio dropped his title at Night of Champions to John Cena, but won it back the following month inside Hell in a Cell.
It would appear Canada is in the lead behind the USA in terms of turning out WWE World Heavyweight Champions, with five legendary Superstars to its credit. Until next time this has been Mark Adam Haggerty reminding you to follow me on social media—my Twitter is @TapeTraderz and I’m on Facebook at “The B+ Players.” You can also listen to me ramble about wrestling—rather than read it—on my weekly podcast, “The B+ Players,” available through SoundCloud, YourListen, Facebook, or right here at www.Cheap-Heat.com.
