LPW Western States Heritage Championship

The Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW) Western States Heritage Championship (often abbreviated as WSHC) is a professional e-wrestling championship. Currently, it is the second highest ranked championship on the Inferno brand of Lords of Pain Wrestling.

Over the years, the title has gained a reputation for its various name changes from its respective title holders. Recently however, a contract was put in place that the title could never be renamed again.

History
Created in the spring of 2003, the PWA Western States Heritage Championship was originally the second highest ranked championship in the Psychotic Wrestling Alliance (PWA). Lex Luthar was the first Western States Heritage Champion when he defeated Villiano 187.

During the first PWA Draft, the Western States Heritage Championship moved to Pyromania when title-holder Jade was drafted to the brand.

At the ReignFall pay-per-view, Austin defeated Baseballz to become the new Western State Heritage Champion. Because of his confederate roots, Austin did not want to hold a title that represented the West Coast. Austin proudly changed the title's name to the PWA Southern States Heritage Championship in order to represent his geographic area. He would also customize the title by placing a confederate flag in the center of the belt. Austin would be first of many to rename the championship.

In the opening contest of Altered Reality II, Takeover defeated Austin to win the title. Being raised in California, Takeover renamed the title to the original Western States Heritage Championship. It was during this time that the title gained a reputation by the company as the top "worker's" championship in the promotion.

At Pyromania 7.3, Bloodrose defeated Takeover to win the title. Bloodrose renamed the title to the Transylvanian Heritage Championship to honor his vampiric origins. However, many within the PWA did not officially recognize the name change and continued to call the title by its original name.

cYnical defeated Bloodrose for the title at One Way Ticket. Billed as the PWA Western States Heritage Champion, cYnical defeated The Rabbi (Schizo's PWA United States Champion) in a Passover Match at Altered Reality III to determine the superior mid-card champion. Because of this victory, many saw the Western States Heritage title as the top mid-card championship in the promotion.

In the second PWA Draft at Homecoming, cYnical was drafted by Pyromania, but immediately traded to the Schizo brand. Infuriated by the unwanted trade, cYnical rechristened the title as the Cleansed Championship to symbolize his goal of cleansing the PWA of its current management, a goal that ultimately was accomplished, albeit backstage. Months later, the title officially was recognized as the LPW Cleansed Championship after the change in management, which resulted in the promotion being renamed to Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW), while Schizo was renamed Insanity and Pyromania to Inferno.

On July 4, 2007, White Falcon defeated cYnical to win the title. Rather than continue to change the name of the title, he kept the name to symbolize his goal of cleansing LPW of its sin. Falcon would go onto to successfully defend the championship for an unprecendented record of 16 months. In addition, Falcon defeated The Rik (Inferno's LPW Transatlantic Champion) at Altered Reality IV to further cement the title as LPW's top midcard championship.

On November 12, 2008, Eddie B. ended Falcon's reign as champion during the Inferno 13.1 telecast. The next broadcast, Eddie announced that he had renamed the title once again, this time to its original name, LPW Western States Heritage Championship. Eddie would further add that he had put in a contracted restriction that the name would remain forever.

Current champion
The current champion is Jude Maxwell who defeated defending champion Eddie B. on December 5, 2009 at Inferno 15.3: Night of Champions, thus making him a double champion since he also held the LPW Television Championship. After the match, LPW CEO and Inferno General Manager D. Hammond Samuels stripped Maxwell of both titles. LPW Ambassador Son of Repoman reversed Samuels decision regarding the Western States Heritage Championship, thus reinstating Maxwell as the Western States Heritage Champion.