The first NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion was
Ken Fenelon, who was awarded the title in May 1943 by
Paul "Pinkie" George, the promoter of the local National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promotion. For the first few years of its existence, the title was contested largely in
Iowa, where George's NWA promotion was based. 49 days after his initial loss, Mantell defeated Wrestling Pro to claim both versions of the title. In March 1976, Hodge vacated the title after being injured in a car accident, marking the end of his record seventh reign as champion. In 1983, the title had splintered into two different lineages. The NWA recognized champion was
The Cobra, who worked for NJPW. The Cobra held the title from November 3, 1983 until July 28, 1985, when he lost it against
Hiro Saito. However, he regained the title that same day. The Cobra's second reign as champion continued until August 1, 1985, when NJPW separated from the NWA. During the course of The Cobra's reigns,
Les Thornton was recognized as champion by
Georgia Championship Wrestling. The Georgia title was vacated when Thornton joined the NWA's rival the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Following Thornton's move to the WWF,
Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) awarded the title to
Hector Guerrero on July 13, 1984, with JCP claiming that Guerrero had won a tournament for the championship in
Los Angeles, California. Guerrero later lost the championship in a match against
Mike Davis and, at
Starrcade '84, Davis lost the title to
Denny Brown. When NJPW separated from the NWA in August 1985, NWA vice president
Shohei Baba recognized Brown as the official champion. In May 1988, champion
Nelson Royal left JCP while holding the title, after which the championship began being defended in
independent promotions until it was abandoned in December 1989. won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship as part of the eight-man "
J-Crown" tournament. In 1995, the championship was re-established by Japan's Wrestle Yume Factory (WYF) promotion, with
Masayoshi Motegi being the first champion under the WYF banner. In 1996, the
J-Crown tournament was held to unify eight different championship belts from five different organizations, including the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. The inaugural champion was
The Great Sasuke. The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion
Craig Classic vacated the title in protest.
Pro Wrestling Zero1 did not recognize the vacancy and declared Classic as the
real champion. In 2014, NWA re-established its working relationship with NJPW. The champion at that time,
Chase Owens, defended the title on several NJPW events. During the working relationship, Jushin Thunder Liger and
Tiger Mask IV held the title. On May 1, 2017,
Billy Corgan's company, Lightning One, Inc., purchased the NWA, including its name, rights, trademarks, and championships. As a result, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated. Corgan's ownership took effect on October 1, 2017. The title remained vacant until March 2022 when
Homicide won the title on night two of the
2022 Crockett Cup. ==Reigns==