The FWE Championship is a championship belt, currently defended at Fiction Wrestling Entertainment. The title is the primary title of the Blitzkrieg roster, the first title in the company's history, and, alongside the World Heavyweight Championship, the most prestigious one.
History[]
The FWE Championship was created in April of 1983, alongside Fiction Wrestling Entertainment, and formally introduced in August of 1983 to the crowd. The belt spent the first year of its' life lying on a silk cushion behind a glass dome at ringside, constantly being hyped up by Olimpio Valant as "the championship only the most deserving could hold". In reality, the federation's creative commitee was, at the time, afraid of folding at any possible moment, and decided to focus on building the roster and the various rivalries before awarding the belt.
Eventually, the belt was put on the line in a long, thirty-two men tournament taking place through-out the Fall and Winter of 1984, with Mr. Dream facing Rocco Parondi in the finals at the second-ever pay-per-view event in the federation's history, the first-ever edition of World at War. In an even match that slowly saw Parondi prevail, what is most remembered is the ending, as Olimpio Valant shockingly interfered by striking Parondi during a moment of ringside confusion, allowing Dream to capitalize, winning the match and becoming the first-ever FWE Champion.
Through-out the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, the belt would usually remain in the hands of a champion for the majority of an year, with the average reign clocking in at well over 150 days. The two most blatant exceptions to this were Ugo Fantozzi's second reign as FWE Champion, which lasted only a shocking five days before Massimo Zanardi won the belt, and Cyrano de Bergerac's sole reign, which lasted eight days between defeating Death Adder and being defeated by Mr. Dream.
The belt received its' first styling update in August of 1994, coinciding with the FWE moving its' base of operations from Italy to the United States, and was awarded to then-champion Sandokan, who successfully defended it against Elec Man on Wednesday Night: American Dream. The original version, with a brown strap, lasted until 1996, when Terra ripped it apart in reaction to reigning champiopn Snake Man's attempts at playing mind games with him. The plates were then placed onto a black strap, this version of the belt lasting until Terra won the FWE Championship at the 1997 edition of World at War; in January 1998, after some lobbying, he was awarded the third version of the FWE Championship by J.R Ewing.
This version of the belt, synonymous with the Monday Night Wars and the Dark Storm Era of FWE, would be memorably won by Bruce Cochrane, the first ever wrestler of African origins to hold a world title in FWE. In spite of its' important role in the Monday Night Wars, the belt would ultimately last until the FWE roster was split between the two brands of Cyclone and LevelUp! in the August of 2002, when Terra subsequently lost the belt to Lt. Surge.
The fourth version of the belt, introduced by Surge as a slight towards Terra (the wrestler standing above the globe was, by Surge's own words, "meant to represent every FWE Champion, present and future, standing over [Terra], [Terra's] legacy, and everything he stood for") became synonymous with Cyclone's new cycle. This version lasted eleven years, the longest alongside the original incarnation, until it was destroyed by the Church of Dies Vindictae.
Whilst a new belt was commisioned, and to celebrate FWE's upcoming thirtieth anniversary, Silvio Valant re-introduced the original version of the belt as a stand-in, modifying the central plate to have FWE's new logo engraved on it alongside the word "CHAMPION" in English. After the Church of Dies Vindictae was dissolved, Gear Valant returned to introduce the fifth, and current incarnation of the belt to celebrate the federation's thirtieth year of activity; the new belt incorporates elements of the original version and remixes them in a modern incarnation, with its' most notable element being the tricolor border colored like the flag of Italy, a nod of to FWE's origins
Ever since its' conception, the belt has always been at the center of the most important matches and stories in Fiction Wrestling Entertainment's history, rarely taking a back seat to other belts, such as the World Tag Team Championship in the main event of Summer Madness 1991, or to matches with higher stakesm such as Team FWE taking on Team BWA at At The Feet of Olympus 1994 or Team Cyclone facing the Church of Dies Vindictae at Springtime for Italy 2014. It first became a world championship effectively starting November 1986, when it was first defended outside of Italy and in Switzerland. As of 2017, it is the fiction wrestling world championship to have been defended in the most countries, at 62, as well as the only fiction wrestling world championship to ever be defended on the soil of the Soviet Union.
Current Champion[]
The current champion is "The Angry Video Game Nerd" James Rolfe, who won the belt during the March 27th, 2017 episode of Wednesday Night Blitzkrieg.
Reigns[]
Note: Will be updated as more of the FWE Archives are released.
No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Successful Defenses | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mr. Dream | 1 | December 8th, 1984 | 372 | Rome, Italy | 3 | Live From Rome: World At War | Won a 32-wrestlers tournament, defeating Rocco Parondi in the finals, to become the first-ever FWE Champion. |
2 | Lupin The Third | 1 | December 15th, 1985 | 328 | Rome, Italy | 4 | Live From Rome: World At War | Originally defeated Mr. Dream at World at War: the belt was temporarily vacated until Live From Salerno: Grand Carnival in March 1986, where Lupin won it back by defeating Mr. Dream. FWE, as a result, recognizes Lupin's reign as beginning in December, and considers the match at Grand Carnival as a title defense. |
3 | Bud Spencer | 1 | November 7th, 1986 | 255 | Lugano, Switzerland | 1 | Alpine Clash | |
4 | Diabolik | 1 | July 19th, 1987 | 155 | Bari, Italy | 3 | Live From Bari: Summer Madness | |
5 | Ugo Fantozzi | 1 | December 20th, 1987 | 162 | Rome, Italy | 4 | Live From Rome: World At War | Won the 1987 Showdown at Sundown to earn the championship match. |
6 | Andrea Sperelli | 1 | May 29th, 1988 | 50 | Parma, Italy | 0 | Live from Parma: High Noon | Won the belt in the first and only Rotation Match in history, also featuring Jùnior. |
7 | Ugo Fantozzi | 2 | July 17th, 1988 | 5 | Palermo, Italy | 0 | Live from Palermo: Summer Madness | |
8 | Massimo Zanardi | 1 | July 22nd, 1988 | 150 | Trapani, Italy | 2 | FWE: Wrestling In Italy | Controversially took the injured Sperelli's place in the rematch against Fantozzi to win the belt in a ploy that had been set up by him. |
9 | Captain Harlock | 1 | December 18th, 1988 | 85 | Milan, Italy | 0 | Live from Milan: World At War | Won the 1988 Showdown at Sundown to earn the championship match. |
10 | Massimo Zanardi | 2 | March 12th, 1989 | 71 | Venice, Italy | 0 | Live From Venice: Grand Carnival | |
11 | Captain Harlock | 2 | May 21st, 1989 | 211 | Reggio Calabria, Italy | 2 | Live From Reggio Calabria: High Noon | |
12 | Rocco Parondi |
1 |
December 17th, 1989 | 407 | Rome, Italy | 6 | World At War | Won the 1989 Showdown at Sundown to earn the championship match |
13 | Death Adder | 1 | January 27th, 1991 | 145 | Frosinone, Italy | 4 | Live From Frosinone: Next Chapter | |
14 | Cyrano de Bergerac | 1 | June 20th, 1991 | 8 | Avellino, Italy | 0 | FWE: Wrestling In Italy | |
15 | Mr. Dream | 2 | June 28th, 1991 | 110 | Foggia, Italy | 3 | FWE: Wrestling In Italy | |
16 | Captain Harlock | 3 | October 15th, 1991 | 69 | Arezzo, Italy | 1 | FWE: Wrestling In Italy | |
17 | Snake Man | 1 | December 22nd, 1991 | 274 | Rome, Italy | 11 | World At War | Won the 1991 Showdown at Sundown to earn the championship match |
18 | Elec Man | 1 | September 20th, 1992 | 253 | Udine, Italy | 8 | Live From Udine: Weather Report | Won the 1992 Showdown at Sundown to earn the championship match |
19 | Black Blot | 1 | May 30th, 1993 | 204 | Miami, Florida | 5 | Live From Miami: High Noon | Controversially won the belt in a 30-Minute Iron Man Match against Elec Man where the two went to a 3-3 draw; the referee awarded the win and the belt to Blot as he was the last one to score a point |
20 | Ranxerox | 1 | December 19th, 1993 | 67 | Milan, Italy | 1 | World At War | Controversially challenged Black Blot to a title match after he had successfully defended the belt against 1993 Showdown at Sundown winner Elec Man |
21 | Mola Ram | 1 | February 24th, 1994 | 17 | Parma, Italy | 0 | FWE: Wrestling In Italy | Defeated Ranxerox thanks to Elec Man's interference; Ranx was too injured to demand a rematch within a month |
22 | Indiana Jones | 1 | March 13rd, 1994 | 70 | Salerno, Italy | 2 | Live from Salerno: Grand Carnival | |
23 | Elec Man | 2 | May 22nd, 1994 | 56 | Pescara, Italy | 2 | High Noon | |
24 | Sandokan | 1 | July 17th, 1994 | 153 | Rome, Italy | 5 | Summer Madness | Defeated Elec Man in a Ladder Match |
25 | Elec Man | 3 | December 17th, 1994 | 225 | Miami, Florida | 7 | World at War | |
26 | Snake Man | 2 | July 30th, 1995 | 93 | Augusta, Maine | 3 | Storm Over The Atlantic | |
— | Vacated | — | October 31st, 1995 | — | — | The belt was vacated the day following Snake Man's injury to his knee during a successful defense against Ristar on the Cyclone Halloween Special. | ||
27 | Elec Man | 4 | December 10th, 1995 | TBA | Daly City, California | TBA | World at War | Won a 16-wrestler tournament to face and defeat 1995 Showdown at Sundown winner Jacky Bryant for the vacant belt. |
— | Vacated | — | February 15th, 2017 | — | Miami, Florida | — | Wednesday Night Blitzkrieg | The belt was vacated following FWE's reboot. |
1 | James Rolfe | 1 | 22nd March, 2017 | 99+ | Phoenix, Arizona | 3 | Wednesday Night Blitzkrieg | Won a Triple Threat match which also featured Doug Walker and Tommy Vercetti to win the vacated FWE Championship. |
Combined Reigns[]
Note: Will be updated as more of the FWE Archives are released.
† | Indicates the current champion |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Elec Man | 4 | 534 |
2 | Mr. Dream | 2 | 482 |
3 | Rocco Parondi | 1 | 407 |
4 | Snake Man | 2 | 367 |
5 | Captain Harlock | 3 | 365 |
6 | Lupin The Third | 1 | 328 |
7 | Bud Spencer | 1 | 255 |
8 | Massimo Zanardi | 2 | 221 |
9 | Black Blot | 1 | 204 |
10 | Ugo Fantozzi | 2 | 167 |
11 | Death Adder | 1 | 145 |
12 | Diabolik | 1 | 155 |
13 | Massimo Zanardi | 1 | 150 |
14 | James Rolfe † | 1 | 99+ |
15 | Indiana Jones | 1 | 70 |
16 | Ranxerox | 1 | 67 |
17 | Andrea Sperelli | 1 | 50 |
18 | Mola Ram | 1 | 17 |
19 | Cyrano De Bergerac | 1 | 8 |
Records[]
Record | Record Holder |
---|---|
First champion(s) | Mr. Dream |
Most reigns | TBA |
Longest reign | Rocco Parondi |
Shortest reign | Cyrano de Bergerac |
Oldest champion | Andrea Sperelli |
Youngest champion | TBA |
Heaviest champion | Ranxerox |
Lightest champion | TBA |