| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. |
| | National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) |
| 1 | Orville Brown | July 14, 1948 | N/A | Waterloo, IA | 1 | 501 | 501 | On July 14, 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was founded in Waterloo, Iowa and Brown was recognized as the first official NWA World Heavyweight Champion. At the time of the founding of the NWA, Brown already held the Midwest Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship and the Iowa version of the NWA World Heavyweight Champions | |
| 2 | Lou Thesz | November 27, 1949 | N/A | N/A | 1 | 1,941 | 2,300 | Awarded when Orville Brown suffered career-ending injuries in an automobile accident on November 1, 1949. Thesz had earlier won the National Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship on July 20, 1948 from Wild Bill Longson. Thesz became the undisputed champion of all of wrestling by winning the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium's World He | |
| † | Leo Nomellini | March 22, 1955 | House show | San Francisco, CA | 1 | 115 | — | Nomellini defeated Lou Thesz by countout in the second fall and disqualification in the third fall. The California Athletic Commission recognized the title change by disqualification, but both wrestlers continued to claim the title. | |
| † | Lou Thesz | July 15, 1955 | House show | St. Louis, MO | | 244 | — | Thesz defeated Leo Nomellini in a rematch. | |
| 3 | Whipper Billy Watson | March 15, 1956 | House show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 239 | 239 | Watson won the match and the championship by count out. | |
| 4 | Lou Thesz | November 9, 1956 | House show | St. Louis, MO | 2 | 217 | 370 | Thesz won the match and the championship by count out. | |
| † | Édouard Carpentier | June 14, 1957 | House show | Chicago, IL | 1 | 40 | — | Carpentier was awarded the title when Lou Thesz could not continue the match due to a back injury. In some territories, Thesz continued to be recognized as NWA World Heavyweight Champion, while in others Carpentier was billed as the champion. | |
| † | Lou Thesz | July 24, 1957 | House show | Montreal, Quebec | | 113 | — | Thesz won a rematch against Édouard Carpentier by disqualification. The NWA initially continued to recognize Carpentier as the champion, but voided any recognition of Carpentier as champion when he withdrew the claim for the title when Eddie Quinn, Carpentier's promoter in Montreal, quit the NWA in August 1958. Some territories such as Boston's Atl | |
| 5 | Dick Hutton | November 14, 1957 | House show | Toronto, ON | 1 | 421 | 421 | | |
| 6 | Pat O'Connor | January 9, 1959 | House show | St. Louis, MO | 1 | 440 | 903 | | |
| † | Gene LeBell | March 24, 1960 | House show | Amarillo, TX | 1 | <1 | — | After LeBell defeated Pat O'Connor, he struck a Texas wrestling commissioner with the championship belt and the decision was reversed. | |
| † | Pat O'Connor | March 24, 1960 | House show | Amarillo, TX | 2 | 463 | — | The title was returned to O'Connor due to the nature of the championship match. | |
| 7 | Buddy Rogers | June 30, 1961 | House show | Chicago, IL | 1 | 145 | 573 | | |
| † | Bruno Sammartino | August 2, 1962 | House show | Toronto, ON | 1 | <1 | — | On August 2, 1962, Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in Toronto, but refused to accept the title because Rogers had wrestled with an injury. | |
| † | Buddy Rogers | August 2, 1962 | House show | Toronto, ON | 2 | 16 | — | The title was returned to Rogers after Sammartino refused the title due to Rogers' injury. | |
| † | Bobo Brazil | August 18, 1962 | House show | Newark, NJ | 1 | 73 | — | Brazil refused the title because of a groin injury that Buddy Rogers had claimed to have. However, on September 6, 1962, Brazil was declared champion because a doctor had determined that Rogers had not suffered an injury. This title change is not currently recognized by the NWA. | |
| † | Buddy Rogers | October 30, 1962 | House show | Toledo, OH | 3 | 86 | — | | |
| † | Killer Kowalski | November 21, 1962 | House show | Montreal, Quebec | 1 | 61 | — | Kowalski defeated Buddy Rogers on November 21 in Montreal after Rogers broke his ankle in the first fall. He was only recognized as champion in some states such as Texas until January 21, 1963 when he lost a rematch to Rogers in New York City. Kowalski disputed that Rogers had won the title during the rematch, arguing that the match had not been fo | |
| † | Buddy Rogers | January 21, 1963 | House show | New York City, NY | 4 | 3 | — | | |
| 8 | Lou Thesz | January 24, 1963 | House show | Toronto, ON | 3 | 1,079 | 1,079 | | |
| † | Buddy Rogers | January 24, 1963 | N/A | N/A | 5 | 77 | — | Promoters in the Northeastern United States refused to recognize Buddy Rogers' one-fall loss to Thesz, thus breaking away from the NWA to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Rogers continued to defend the championship in the WWWF until he was declared the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion on April 11. | |
| 9 | Gene Kiniski | January 7, 1966 | House show | St. Louis, MO | 1 | 1,131 | 1,131 | | |
| 10 | Dory Funk Jr. | February 11, 1969 | House show | Tampa, FL | 1 | 1,563 | 1,563 | | |
| 11 | Harley Race | May 24, 1973 | House show | Kansas City, KS | 1 | 57 | 57 | | |
| 12 | Jack Brisco | July 20, 1973 | House show | Houston, TX | 1 | 500 | 500 | | |
| 13 | Giant Baba | December 2, 1974 | House show | Kagoshima, Japan | 1 | 7 | 7 | This was a two-out-of-three-falls match. | |
| 14 | Jack Brisco | December 9, 1974 | House show | Toyohashi, Japan | 2 | 366 | 366 | | |
| 15 | Terry Funk | December 10, 1975 | House show | Miami Beach, FL | 1 | 424 | 424 | | |
| 16 | Harley Race | February 6, 1977 | House show | Toronto, ON | 2 | 926 | 926 | | |
| 17 | Dusty Rhodes | August 21, 1979 | House show | Tampa, FL | 1 | 5 | 5 | | |
| 18 | Harley Race | August 26, 1979 | House show | Orlando, FL | 3 | 66 | 66 | | |
| 19 | Giant Baba | October 31, 1979 | House show | Nagoya, Japan | 2 | 7 | 7 | | |
| 20 | Harley Race | November 7, 1979 | House show | Amagasaki, Japan | 4 | 302 | 302 | | |
| 21 | Giant Baba | September 4, 1980 | House show | Saga, Japan | 3 | 5 | 5 | | |
| 22 | Harley Race | September 9, 1980 | House show | Ōtsu, Japan | 5 | 230 | 230 | | |
| 23 | Tommy Rich | April 27, 1981 | House show | Augusta, GA | 1 | 4 | 4 | | |
| 24 | Harley Race | May 1, 1981 | House show | Gainesville, GA | 6 | 51 | 51 | | |
| 25 | Dusty Rhodes | June 21, 1981 | House show | Atlanta, GA | 2 | 88 | 88 | | |
| 26 | Ric Flair | September 17, 1981 | House show | Kansas City, KS | 1 | 145 | 631 | Lou Thesz was the special referee. | |
| † | Jack Veneno | September 7, 1982 | House show | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | 1 | <1 | — | Veneno defeated Ric Flair in Santo Domingo. As Veneno refused to defend the title outside his native country, the title was returned to Flair on the same day. | |
| † | Ric Flair | September 7, 1982 | House show | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | | 121 | — | | |
| † | Carlos Colón | January 6, 1983 | House show | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 1 | 4 | — | Colon's WWC World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line. This title change is not recognized by the NWA. | |
| † | Ric Flair | January 10, 1983 | House show | Miami, FL | | 29 | — | This was a fictional match; this title change is not recognized by the NWA. | |
| 27 | Harley Race | June 10, 1983 | House show | St. Louis, MO | 7 | 167 | 167 | | |
| 28 | Ric Flair | November 24, 1983 | Starrcade | Greensboro, NC | 2 | 117 | 164 | This was a steel cage match. Gene Kiniski was the special referee. | |
| † | Harley Race | March 20, 1984 | House show | Wellington, New Zealand | 8 | 3 | — | This title change was not authorized by the NWA. This title change was recognized by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 until 2001, and has been occasionally recognized by the NWA since 2015. | |
| † | Ric Flair | March 23, 1984 | House show | Kallang, Singapore | | 44 | — | This title change was not authorized by the NWA. | |
