Harley Race

Bio
During the 1970s and early '80s, Race was the NWA's most dominant champion, representing the sport's oldest World Title with pride and defending it with his raw-boned and rugged mat style. His impact was so great that WWE, despite having its own World Champion, chose to recognize Race's title status as well. The tough guy was the first NWA World Champion to engage in title unification matchups against WWE Champions like "Superstar" Billy Graham and Bob Backlund. Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race set a record that stood until Ric Flair broke it in 1991. To this day, only a handful of individuals can claim to have won more World Championships than Harley Race. He earned those titles at the expense of such greats as Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Flair.

Harley continued to wrestle until the spring of 1991, most notably with World Wrestling Council (WWC) in Puerto Rico, the NWA, and the AWA. Race defeated former NWA World Champion Tommy Rich at the Great American Bash in July 1990. He also received several US Title shots against then champion Lex Luger during his brief stint. Race then received one last shot at a recognized World Title when he faced Larry Zbyszko at the final AWA television taping in August 1990. The match ended in a double countout. After retiring from active competition, Race joined the NWA (WCW) in July 1991 as an adviser/manager to Lex Luger.

Harley Race held the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship a remarkable 8 times. Race is widely considered by many wrestlers, fans, and scholars alike to be the greatest professional wrestler of all time. His career spans three decades where he competed and won major championships in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, All Japan Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation now (WWE). Harley Race was the first NWA United States Champion, he was a WWE King of the Ring winner in 1986, and he has been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, WCW Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame and the NWA Hall of Fame. Harley Race is a once in a lifetime talent and has served as an inspiration to many professional wrestlers and sports entertainers.