In 1948 six professional wrestling promoters in the United States joined together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a governing body for a number of different wrestling promotions, which then became known as the NWA territories. The promoters, (Pinkie George, Al Haft, Tony Stecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown and Sam Muchnick) formed a Board of Directors and decided that they would endorse two wrestling championships that all territories would recognize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next.