Earlier today, PCW Ultra announced that Shane Strickland is relinquishing the promotion’s Light Heavyweight Championship and that they are restructuring the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Championships. With the change, the two titles will now be known as the Ultra Championship and the Ultralight Championship respectively.
PCW Ultra Light Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland defeated Penta El Zero M at the promotion’s Believe event on December 7, 2018, to win the PCW Ultra Heavyweight Championship. With Strickland holding both titles, it was announced today that Strickland would concentrate on the Heavyweight Championship and relinquish the Light Heavyweight Championship. Now that Strickland officially dropped the Light Heavyweight Championship, his reign concluded at 278 days and saw five successful defenses since winning the title from Douglas James on March 16, 2018.
It was also announced that the Heavyweight Championship would now have an openweight classification, allowing wrestlers of any weight class to challenge for it, and be known as the Ultra Championship. Previously, wrestlers needed to weigh at least 200 pounds to challenge for the title.
Shane Strickland will make his first defense of the Ultra Championship at PCW Ultra’s third-anniversary show, A2K19, on January 18, 2019. He will be defending against Matt Sydal. Strickland has previously made a successful title defense against Sydal, when he defeated him to retain the DEFY 8xGP Championship in Seattle, WA on February 2, 2018.
Along with the change to Heavyweight Championship, it was announced that the Light Heavyweight Championship will now be called the Ultralight Championship. That title will still have a weight limit. While the Light Heavyweight Championship previously had a weight limit of 225 pounds, the limit will be 200 pounds for the Ultralight Championship.
There was no announcement of how the vacant Ultralight Championship will be awarded, though it is expected to be announced soon. Jake Atlas is the current number one contender to the title.
The news was first announced by PCW Ultra Director of Communications Dom Vitalli via a video posted on the promotion’s social media channels. It was also announced there would be no changes to the structure of the PCW Ultra Tag Team and Women’s Championships.
