10 Greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champions

While it may be a small scale throwback to the studio days of wrestling now, the NWA was once the arguable pinnacle of American professional wrestling. The champion would tour the country and, in many cases, the world, plying their craft and selling the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as more important than life itself.

As one of the big three in the US with the AWA and WWWF, NWA controlled much of the southern states where its workers would typically focus on hard-grafting, old school brawling and mat work between the ropes. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and the NWA's prestige and prominence crumbled horribly under the weight of Vince McMahon's national expansion in the '80s.

By the early '90s, NWA's premier gold was thrown to the curb by ECW ace Shane Douglas and has never quite recovered. Even now, in 2022, the NWA top prize is a shell of its old self, held by none other than WWE superfan/indie menace Matt Cardona.

Despite its odd placement in the current wrestling climate, the NWA title is an essential piece of wrestling history boasting some of the finest champions the industry has ever seen.

What matters more? Telling a story in the ring or on the mic?

For Dick Hutton, the ring came naturally and the mic just didn’t really come at all. A pioneer of technical and submission-based wrestling, the supremely mobile and athletic Hutton was a trailblazer between the ropes. His mastery of pacing, selling and maddening attention to detail made his matches pitch perfect in their day. Even Lou Thesz, a man who was to the NWA what Elvis was to rock and roll, freely admitted to considering Hutton the finest wrestler the world had to offer.

Thesz believed in Hutton enough that he put him over strong for the NWA’s number one prize in 1957. Hutton, a WWII veteran and all-round tough guy, was essentially unbeatable in competitive meets, even wrestling fans with a huge (at the time) $1,000 sum up for grabs. For Thesz, this was everything a top tier main eventer needed to be: a legit shooter.

Despite his amazing work rate and technique, Hutton was only a middling draw on top. The burly Texan was a wrestler’s wrestler, a master of snug, realistic grappling, psychology and sadistic submission work. For fans, it appeared some of his in-ring magic was going over their kayfabe-blinded heads.

Lacking the charisma to completely conquer the main event, Hutton as champion was never revisited after he dropped it in 1959. His impact on the stars to come proved immeasurable though with many desperately emulating his slow burn, grand finale match pacing in the years after.