The first Champion was
Mark Sloan, who defeated Paul Glory in a tournament final on 11 July 1999. Due to being stolen a new belt had to be created. When the FWA was forced to retire in its interpromotional war with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, the XWA carried the lineage of the championship simply renaming it the British Heavyweight Championship and using the same physical belt. However, in April 2009, XWA founder Greg Lambert announced the creation of a new British Heavyweight Championship that did not bear the FWA initials and gave the original belt back to
Alex Shane in time for the resurrection of the FWA. On 17 February 2018 Rhia O’Reilly became the first woman to hold the title, defeating
Cara Noir in an inter-promotional show with Pro Wrestling: EVE. ==Reigns==