| # | Wrestler | Date | Place | Special Note |
| 1 | Pat O'Connor | January 9, 1959 | St Louis, Montana | 1 |
| 2 | Verne Gagne | August 16, 1960 | 2 | |
| 3 | Gene Kiniski | July 11, 1961 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 4 | Verne Gagne (2) | August 8, 1961 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 5 | Mister M (Bill Miller) | January 9, 1962 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 6 | Verne Gagne (3) | August 21, 1962 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 7 | Crusher Lisowski | July 9, 1963 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 3 |
| 8 | Verne Gagne (4) | July 20, 1963 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 4 |
| 9 | Fritz Von Erich | July 27, 1963 | Omaha, Nebraska | 5 |
| 10 | Verne Gagne (5) | August 8, 1963 | Amarillo, Texas | 6 |
| 11 | Crusher Lisowski (2) | November 28, 1963 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | |
| 12 | Verne Gagne (6) | December 14, 1963 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 13 | Maurice Vachon | May 2, 1964 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 14 | Verne Gagne (7) | May 15, 1964 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 15 | Maurice Vachon (2) | October 20, 1964 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 16 | Mighty Igor Vodic | May 15, 1965 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 17 | Maurice Vachon (3) | May 22, 1965 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 18 | Crusher Lisowski (3) | August 21, 1965 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | |
| 19 | Maurice Vachon (4) | November 12, 1965 | Denver, Colorado | |
| 20 | Dick The Bruiser | November 12, 1966 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 21 | Maurice Vachon (5) | November 19, 1966 | Omaha, Nebraska | |
| 22 | Verne Gagne (8) | February 26, 1967 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | |
| 23 | Dr. X (Dick Beyer) | August 17, 1968 | Bloomington, Minnesota | |
| 24 | Verne Gange (9) | August 31, 1968 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 25 | Nick Bockwinkle | November 8, 1975 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 7 |
| 26 | Verne Gagne (10) | July 18, 1980 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 27 | Nick Bockwinkle (2) | May 19, 1981 | 8 | |
| 28 | Hulk Hogan | April 18, 1982 | St Paul Minnesota | 9 |
| 29 | Otto Wanz | August 29, 1982 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 10 |
| 30 | Nick Bockwinkle (3) | October 9, 1982 | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 31 | Hulk Hogan(2) | April 24, 1983 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 11 |
| 32 | Jumbo Tsuruta | February 22, 1984 | Tokyo, Japan | 12 |
| 33 | Rick Martel | May 13, 1984 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 13 |
| 34 | Stan Hansen | December 29, 1985 | East Rutherford, New Jersey | |
| 35 | Nick Bockwinkle (4) | June 28, 1986 | Denver, Colorado | 14 |
| 36 | Curt Hennig | May 2, 1987 | San Francisco, California | |
| 37 | Jerry Lawler | May 9, 1988 | Memphis, Tennessee | 15 |
| 38 | Larry Zbyszko | February 7, 1989 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 16 |
| 39 | Masa Saito | February 10, 1990 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| 40 | Larry Zbyszko (2) | April 8, 1990 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | 17 |
| 41 | Jonnie Stewart | June 6, 1996 | 18 | |
| 42 | King Kong Bundy | March 31, 1999 | Osh Kosh, Wisconsin | 19 |
| 43 | The Patriot (Danny Dominion) | July 29, 2000 | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | 20 |
| 44 | Ricky Enrique | July 29, 2000 | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | |
| 45 | Eric Priest | June 3, 2001 | Hillside, Illinois | |
| 46 | Evan Karagias | March 22, 2002 | Casa Grande, Arizona | |
| 47 | Danny Dominion(2) | May 2, 2002 | Cottonwood, Arizona | |
| 48 | Evan Karagias(2) | May 4, 2002 | Lemoore, California | |
| 49 | Horshu | October 12, 2002 | Mercedes, Texas | 21 |
| 50 | Evan Karagias(3) | July 6, 2003 | LeMoore, California | 22 |
| 51 | Takao Omori | January 23, 2005 | Tokyo, Japan | 23 |
| 52 | Steve Corino | June 12, 2005 | Bay City, Michigan | |
| 53 | Shinjiro Otani | January 22, 2006 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| 54 | Takao Omori(2) | April 1, 2006 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| 55 | Ric Converse | June 14, 2006 | Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| 56 | Steve Corino(2) | January 7, 2007 | Pottstown, Pennsylvania | 24 |
| 57 | Takao Omori(3) | March 31, 2007 | Kanagawa, Japan |
Notes:
1. Recognized as the first AWA World Heavyweight champion in May 1960, but given 90 days to defend the title against Verne Gagne or be stripped.
2. Awarded after Pat O'Connor fails to defend the title against Verne Gagne
3. Crusher Lisowski won the Omaha version of the Heavyweight title from Fritz Von Erich on February 15, 1963 in Omaha.
4. Verne Gange won both the Omaha version & the AWA Heavyweight title.
5. Frtiz Von Erich won both the Omaha version & the AWA Heavyweight title.
6. Verne Gagne won the AWA Heavyweight title & then defeated Fritz Von Erich on September 7, 1963 in Oamaha to unify both belts.
7. Nick Bockwinkle wrestled to a Double Count Out against WWF Heavyweight Champion, Bob Backlund, on March 25, 1979 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
8. Nick Bockwinkle was awarded the title when Verne Gagne retires.
9. April 12, 1982 Hulk Hogan beat Nick Bockwinkle for the title but Bockwinkle's manager, Bobby Heenan said Hogan used a foregin object. April 24, 1982 on AWA television, President Stanley Blackburn stripped the new champion of the title and returned it to Bockwinkle, sighting the object used by both Heenan and Hogan so Hogan did not win the title, but in March 2005 the AWA Board of Directors declared Hogan as the true winner of that match.
10. Beats Nick Bockwinkle for the title since Hogan's title win was not recognized until March 2005.
11. Hogan received a rematch with Bockwinkle. Hogan again defeated Bockwinkle to regain the AWA Title. The title was presented to the new champion, Hulk Hogan, but this reign lasted only a few moments however as President Blackburn again got involved, coming to the ring, stripping Hogan of the belt and returning it to Bockwinkle. This title win was not recognized unitl March 2005.
12. Beat Bockwinkle for the title since Hogan's title win was not recongized until March 2005.
13. Rick Martel wrestled to a Double Count Out against NWA(National Wrestling Alliance) Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair, on October 2, 1985 in Tokyo, Japan.
14. The title was awarded to Nick Bockwinkle when Hansen leaves the promotion after not appearing in a match on June 28, 1986 in Denver, Colorado but Hansen took the belt and defended it on AJPW(All Japan Pro Wrestling) cards in July 1986.
15. Jerry Lawler unified the WCWA(World Class Wrestling Association) Heavyweight Title by defeating Kerry Von Erich on December 13, 1988 in Chicago, Illinois to become the first Unified Heavyweight Champion, but was stripped of the AWA Heavyweight title on January 20, 1989 after the CWA split with the AWA.
16. Larry Zbyszko wins a Battle Royal after eliminating Tom Zenk for the belt.
17. Larry Zbyszko was stripped of the AWA Heavyweight belt on December 12, 1990 when Zbyszko left the inactive AWA for WCW(World Championship Wrestling). The AWA closed in 1991.
18. The promotion reopens in 1996, Jonnie Stewart defeated Larry Gligorovich to win the vacant title.
19. King Kong Bundy is stripped of the title by AWA owner Dale Gagne.
20. The Patriot(Danny Dominion) defeats Gagne in an impromptu match to win the vacant title.
21. Horshu vacates title after signing developmental deal with the WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment).
22. Karagias wins vacant title by beating Eric Priest. Karagias is stripped of title in November of 2004 when he leaves the ring to persue an acting career.
23. Takao Omori defeated Steve Corino in the finals of a Multi Week Tournament at Korakuen Hall to capture the vacant AWA title.
24. TNT defeated Corino on March 23, 2007 in Cardiff, Australia, but the title is returned to Corino when the AWA board claims that "international paperwork for this title match can not be located, and therefore the title change can not be validated."
