LPW World Heavyweight Championship

The LPW World Heavyweight Championship is a professional e-wrestling world heavyweight championship in Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW). It is the highest ranked championship of the Insanity brand and one of two world titles in LPW, complementing the LPW International Heavyweight Championship of the Pyromania brand. It was established in 2003.

Golden Age
The LPW World Heavyweight Championship was originally called the PWA World Heavyweight Championship when LPW was named the Psychotic Wrestling Alliance (PWA). Created in the spring of 2003, the title was the top championship in the organization.

The inaugural World Heavyweight Champion was Marty, who won the title at Annihilation, the promotion's first pay-per-view. Marty won the title in a tournament final over Phantom Lord in a Steel Cage match.

During this Golden Age of the PWA, a bitter feud between Marty and Snapple threatened to tear apart the upstart e-federation. Culminating in a brutal Texas Death match, Snapple was not only able to defeat Marty for the title, but ended Marty's career in the process. Snapple's reign would not last long however, as PWA owner Villiano 187 had waited long enough for a singles title shot. Despite being labeled as an underdog, the first PWA match held under Disco Inferno Rules saw Villiano 187 capture his first World Heavyweight Championship. Under Villiano's reign, the PWA grew exponentially in popularity as SoL successfully defended the title a number of times.

Season 2
In 2004, PWA management decided to split the rosters into separate brands, respectively named Schizophrenia (now Insanity) and Pyromania, with the first PWA Draft dividing the roster. Although unconfirmed as to who held the World Heavyweight Championship, the title stayed on the flagship brand, thus forcing the newly-created Pyromania brand to create their own world title, the PWA International Heavyweight Championship.

At the Resolutions pay-per-view, a cocky rich kid named SoL decided to take a bold step and challenged Villiano 187 for the World Heavyweight Championship. Believing he was truly better, the "New Breed" backed up his words, defeating the PWA founder for the title. SoL would go on to have a record-breaking run, with successful title defenses against Valleyboy, Stanman, and even defeating The D in a title-versus-career match. His dominance attracted the return of D. Hammond Samuels, as well as Phantom Lord. The trio created a power stable, named The Illuminati, which helped to serve SoL's purpose of holding the top title. SoL would continue his dominance at the cross-brand pay-per-view, Altered Reality II. In the lead up to the cross-brand Pay-Per-View, the PWA Board announced the creation of the Martinez Cup, which was to be contested at every Altered Reality between the World and International Heavyweight Champions. With SoL the reigning World Heavyweight Champion, he would face-off against the reigning International Heavyweight Champion, none other than his former Westside Connection tag team partner, Stone. In an epic encounter, SoL would get the best of Stone, taking home the inaugural Martinez Cup. After the match, the Illuminati took advantage of PWA owner Villiano 187's presentation of the Cup to SoL, when the stable forced the owner to sign the company over to them.

Season 3
While the Illuminati ran roughshod over Schizophrenia, SoL was challenged by X|2TX to put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line in the main event of At All Costs (2005). It would be here that 2TX would end the dominant and record-breaking reign of SoL, pinning him to take the title home. The title wouldn't be his for long though, as SoL challenged for a rematch at the very next pay-per-view, Annihilation (2005). This time, under Ladder match stipulations, SoL would not only defeat 2TX, but injure him in the process.

Despite winning the PWA U.S. Tag Team Championship on two occassions, with SoL back on top with the title, the relationship between SoL and D. Hammond Samuels began to sour and forced the Illuminati to fall apart. Samuels challenged SoL to put his World title on the line in a Tijuana Cage match at Revelations (2006). In his signature match type, Samuels brutalized SoL to win the championship.

In his first defense, Samuels would defend against one of the victims of the Illuminati's dominance, and leader of the resistance against them, Pen. In a shocking match refereed by Pyromania's International Heavyweight Champion, Jaro, Samuels would lose the match and his World Heavyweight Championship at Schizos Wild (2006). However in a stunning turn of events, Jaro was fired for his dealings with the upstart Full Metal Wrestling promotion, Samuels was gifted the International Heavyweight Championship, and Pen announced he would retire after Altered Reality III.

At Altered Reality III for the second Martinez Cup, Pen would face Samuels in a repeat performance of Schizos Wild, with Pen picking up the victory once again, and taking home the cup and title before officially retiring.

Season 4
With the PWA World Heavyweight Championship vacated, Stanman was introduced as Schizophrenia's new General Manager and announced that a 12-man World Championship Tournament would be held to crown a new champion.

On April 20, 2007, due to a continuing dispute between management, the PWA forked from Lords of Pain.net, thus the e-federation we know today was renamed Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW) to reflect the site's name. As a result, the world title was officially renamed the LPW World Heavyweight Championship to reflect the new acronym and defended on the renamed Insanity brand.

On the very first Insanity LIVE episode, the tournament final for the vacant LPW World Heavyweight Championship came down to Krimson Mask and Al. After defeating the likes of The Rabbi, X, and SoL during the tournament, Krimson Mask pinned Al to become the new World Heavyweight Champion, having won the top title in less than nine months after his debut. It would mark the first time that the top title was held by a supernatural character.

Possessing the richest prize on Insanity, Krimson Mask and valet Little Red Riding Hood vowed to use the title as a piece of bait to lure whoever had vandalized their fairytale past. Engaging in a storied feud against Bloodrose and fighting off Little Red's falling intimacy for cYnical, Krimson Mask would successfully retain the title at Annihilation (2007) in a Gauntlet match. Seemingly invincible, Stanman announced that Krimson Mask would defend the title against five challengers in the first-ever DeathCube Match at EndGame. Over the course of the cycle, a number of qualifying matches were held, with cYnical, Bloodrose, Eric Scorpio, N'itomniskittel, and Stone all qualifying. In one of the most barbaric matches ever seen, it came down to Krimson Mask hitting The End on cYnical to retain the title.

cYnical would gain one last shot at the "Grimm Reaper", and successfully put an end to Krimson Mask's invincible aura at Dead Man's Hand in a Japanese Death match by answering a ten-count to win the World Heavyweight Championship, ending Krimson Mask's 14-month reign as Insanity's champion. cYnical gained the opportunity to compete for the third annual Martinez Cup at Altered Reality IV against LPW International Heavyweight Champion, Drew Michaels. cYncial had the match won until long-time enemy and Inferno GM Spectre, overturned the decision, saying Drew Michaels had his foot on the rope. The decision ultimately cost cYnical the match, as Drew Michaels would rebound to win the Cup. Due to the controversy, Spectre removed himself from LPW, thus cancelling cYnical's chance at retribution.

Season 5
While cYnical had won the World Title and was free of Spectre, a revengeful Little Red was named as Insanity's new GM. Still bitter about their relationship, Little Red traded Drew Michaels for cYnical during the 2010 LPW Draft to bring him back to Insanity, then forced him to defend against X after he won a childish game of Musical Chairs to become the top contender. At Honor Roll, X would win the match to capture his second title. X would be forced to defend his title at Resurrection against Wevv Mang, but X's verbal manipulation of Eddie B. proved valuable, as he inadvertently enabled X to win by a disqualification victory. The next show, Little Red announced X would defend the title in the DeathCube at the Body Count pay-per-view, with e-wrestlers qualifying for the match by building a Body Count tallied by beating the most number of opponents. With The Rabbi, Wevv Mang, Villiano 187 and Eddie B. all qualifying, it would be Hatchet Ryda who came out of no where to defeat 19 opponents in a Royal Beanstalk match to earn top Body Count honors. Hatchet Ryda outlasted his five opponents in the DeathCube to win the LPW World Heavyweight Championship, last eliminating Eddie B.

Hatchet Ryda's was met by cheers and criticism for his marketability as champion, but no one was more instrumental in their criticism than former Psych Ward best friend, Andy Savana, who had defeated Hatchet for the LPW Hardcore Championship the same night Hatchet would later win the World Heavyweight Championship. Wanting to avenge his loss to Savana, Hatchet defeated his former friend at Epic in a Ladder match.

The next show however, cYnical gained his rematch of the LPW World Heavyweight Championship, and successfully defeated Hatchet to begin his second reign. After defeating and retiring NPD, cYnical was pit against the returning Jaro in a match that went to a no-contest. Hoping to extinguish cYnical's Flame, Little Red made a Fatal 4-Way match at Insane Asylum to determine who would best represent Insanity from its fifth season to fight for the fourth Martinez Cup. cYnical would successfully defeat Jaro, Savana, and X to gain another shot at the Martinez Cup, this time against former Bad Mamma Jammas teammate and reigning International Heavyweight Champion, Styxx. In an epic encounter, cYnical gained the Martinez Cup victory thanks to a three-count from Sheepster.

Season 6
At Homecoming (2010), Sheepster realized his dream of becoming the LPW World Heavyweight Champion by defeating cYnical, thus becoming the first European to hold the title. Despite a successful title defense over Monroe, Sheepster's reign would be short-lived. At Insanity LIVE from Springfield, the "Master of the Dream Realm" Morpheus defeated the Welsh Wondersheep to claim the title for himself.

Reigns

 * Main article: List of LPW World Heavyweight Champions


 * The LPW World Heavyweight Championship was the first world championship introduced into LPW back in spring 2003, which then was called the Psychotic Wrestling Alliance (PWA).
 * The inaugural champion was Marty.
 * Since introduced, there have been 12 champions.
 * SoL, X, and cYnical have tied for the most reigns at two.
 * The longest reigning champion was SoL who transitioned the title from the Golden Age to the modern era, having been on record to hold the title for at least 20 consecutive shows post-Golden Age.
 * Morpheus has now held the title for 23 shows, meaning his reign may have matched or even surpassed SoL's in length.
 * The shortest reigning champion was Pen who officially held the title for 42 days. Pen announced he would retire after Altered Reality III. He would go on to win the Martinez Cup at the event and subsequently retired.
 * The record most title defenses belongs to Morpheus who has had ten successful title defenses thus far against twelve different challengers (cYnical, Seth Omega, The Rabbi, Big B. Brown twice, Andy Savana, Phantom Lord, Jeff Watson, Bobino, and Nigel Vanderbilt, as well as Krimson Mask, Big B. Brown, Azreal, Nigel Vanderbilt, and Ultramarcus in the DeathCube match at LPW Ragnarök 2012).
 * Three out of five LPW World Heavyweight Champions have won the Martinez Cup against the LPW International Heavyweight Champion at Altered Reality. The three winning champions were SoL (II), Pen (III), and cYnical (V).
 * The most represented nationality of champions is the United States of America with four (Snapple, SoL, X, and D. Hammond Samuels). Canada trails with two (Marty and Pen) followed by Wales with one (Sheepster).
 * Surprisingly, five different LPW World Heavyweight Champions have never claimed a nationality. The five Parts Unknown champions include Villiano 187 ("Wherever He Damn Well Pleases"), Krimson Mask ("A Land Far, Far Away") , cYnical ("The Dark Side of Your Subconscious") , Hatchet Ryda (Shangri-La) , and Morpheus (The Dream Realm).

Current champion
The current champion is Morpheus, who defeated Sheepster for the title on March 7, 2011 at LPW Insanity LIVE from Springfield.