WCW World
Heavyweight
Championship
The WCW World Heavyweight
Championship was a professional
wrestling world heavyweight
championship originally used in World
Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later,
the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now
WWE). It was the original world title of the
World Championship Wrestling promotion,
spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight
Championship. It existed in WCW from
1991 to 2001.
Following the acquisition of WCW by the
WWF in March 2001, it became one of two
world titles in the WWF, with its name
being immediately abbreviated to the
WCW Championship and finally, the World
Championship in November. It continued
to complement the then-WWF
Championship until the following month,
when both titles were unified to create the
Undisputed WWF Championship. The
Undisputed title retained the lineage of the
WWF
WCW World
Championship, and Heavyweight
the World Championship
Championship was
retired.
Ric Flair was the
The Big Gold Belt
first holder of the
represented the
WCW World
WCW World
Heavyweight Heavyweight
Championship, with Championship in
Chris Jericho being 1991 and then from
the last.[1] The title 1994 to 2001
was the second of Details
five to be Promotion World
represented by the Champion
historic Big Gold Wrestling
Belt, first introduced (January
in 1986. 1991 – M
23, 2001)
History World
Wrestling
Federatio
Formation
(March 26
In November 1988, 2001 –
Turner Broadcasting Decembe
2001)
purchased Jim
Crockett Date established Jan
Promotions, which 11,
199
had promoted under
the name "NWA Date retired Decemb
2001 (un
World
Championship with the
Wrestling". While the Champio
promotion remained Other name(s)
a member of the WCW World
National Wrestling Heavyweight
Alliance (NWA), the Championship
use of the NWA (January 11, 1991
name was gradually – March 26, 2001)
reduced on WCW
Championship
televised
(June 24, 2001 –
programming, in
November 19,
favor of the name
2001)
"World
World
Championship
Championship
Wrestling", or (November 19,
"WCW". On January
11, 1991, Ric Flair 2001 – December
defeated Sting to 9, 2001)
win the NWA World WCW World
Heavyweight Championship
(as the official
Championship and
name listed on
was recognized as
WWE's website)
the WCW World
Heavyweight
Champion. The new
championship was
not initially
represented by its
own title belt, and
WCW continued to
use the NWA World
Heavyweight
Championship title
Statistics
belt. Because of
First champion(s) Ric
this, WCW regularly
Fla
claimed the NWA
Most reigns Ric Flair
World Heavyweight (8)
Championship
Longest reign Hulk
lineage for its own Hogan
championship. (469
days)
Separate Shortest reign Chris
championship Jerich
(24
minute
The belt design used to
represent the title from
1991 to 1994
On July 1, 1991, a creative disagreement
with WCW Executive Vice President Jim
Herd led to Flair leaving WCW for Vince
McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.
When Herd refused to return Flair's
$25,000 deposit (that was left with the
NWA), Flair kept the "Big Gold Belt" that
had represented the NWA World
Heavyweight Championship. A new belt
was ordered, but was not ready in time for
The Great American Bash on July 14.
WCW was forced to use a belt owned by
Dusty Rhodes from the defunct
Championship Wrestling from Florida with
a gold-colored plate tacked on with the
words "WCW World Heavyweight
Champion", which was awarded to Lex
Luger after he defeated Barry Windham in
a cage match for the vacant
championship. The new belt appeared
shortly after the event.
In 1992, the Big Gold Belt was used for the
revived NWA World Heavyweight
Championship, a co-promotional gimmick
between WCW and New Japan Pro-
Wrestling. Masahiro Chono won the G1
Climax in 1992 defeating Rick Rude in the
finals while also having a broken neck in
the process. Then in 1993 On January 4,
The Great Muta won the NWA World
Heavyweight title defeating Masahiro
Chono, but eventually dropped it to Barry
Windham at SuperBrawl III. Then at the
"WCW Disney tapings", it was revealed that
WCW had been changing titles around
without the NWA agreeing on it, making it
a breach of contract. In September 1993,
WCW left the NWA for good over a dispute
regarding the other NWA members
demanding that NWA world champion be
available for booking, and due to the use
of the NWA World Heavyweight
Championship on syndicated
programming recorded months in
advance. By fall 1993, Rick Rude was
appearing at the "Disney tapings" as the
NWA World Heavyweight Champion,
despite the fact that in regards to the
storyline, Flair, who had returned to WCW
and regained the NWA title, was still
champion. After leaving the NWA, WCW
kept the Big Gold Belt, and it was renamed
the WCW International World Heavyweight
Championship.
Unification
At Starrcade in December 1993, Flair won
the WCW World Heavyweight
Championship, by defeating Vader. WCW
decided to unify the WCW World
Heavyweight Championship (represented
by the new belt) and International
Championship (represented by the "Big
Gold Belt"), by having Flair wrestle Sting in
June 1994. Flair won and unified the WCW
World Heavyweight Championship with the
WCW International World Heavyweight
Championship. The unified championship
retained the lineage of the WCW World
Heavyweight Championship, while the
International Championship was retired.
The belt design used from mid-1991 to
mid-1994 to represent the WCW World
Heavyweight Championship was dropped
in favor of keeping the "Big Gold Belt",
which had originally represented the title
when it was established in January 1991.
During Hollywood Hogan's runs as
champion in 1996–1997 and again in
1998–1999 (ie from his second to his fifth
reign as champion), as part of the New
World Order (nWo) storyline, the title was
spray painted each time with the "nWo"
initials in black and often announced
during Hogan's title defenses as the
nWo/WCW World Heavyweight
Championship, while referred to by nWo
members only as the nWo World
Heavyweight Championship. Similarly, red
paint was used for the nWo Wolfpack.
Acquisition by the WWF
A diagram showing the evolution of various world
heavyweight championships.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF, now WWE) purchased
the assets of World Championship
Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took
place and four of WCW's championships
were defended on WWF programming
including the WCW World Heavyweight
Championship, which became known as
the "WCW Championship". The WWF
carried over the title, along with the United
States Heavyweight Championship,
Cruiserweight Championship, and the
WCW Tag Team Championship.
After the "Invasion" concluded at Survivor
Series in 2001, the title was rebranded as
the "World Championship". The title was
then unified with the WWF Championship
at Vengeance, where Chris Jericho
defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve
Austin to win the World Championship and
the WWF Championship respectively to
become Undisputed WWF Championship.
As a result, Jericho was the last
WCW/World Champion,[2][3] and he
became the first Undisputed WWF
Champion. The Big Gold belt itself would
be used in tandem with the WWF
Championship belt to represent the WWF
Championship until a single belt was
presented to then champion Triple H by
Ric Flair in April 2002.
Reigns
Chris Jericho, seen in 2003, was the
final WCW World Heavyweight
Champion under the WWF umbrella
when he unified with Stone Cold Steve
Austin's WWF Championship at
Vengeance in 2001.
The inaugural champion was Ric Flair, and
there were 63 different champions overall.
The longest reigning champion was Hulk
Hogan who held the title from July 17,
1994, to October 29, 1995, for a total of
469 days. Hogan holds the record for
longest combined reigns at 1,177 days.
The shortest reigning champion was Chris
Jericho in his second reign, who
immediately retired the championship
upon winning it and unifying it with the
WWF Championship. The Giant was
youngest champion, at the age of 23. The
oldest champion was Ric Flair who won at
the age of 51. Flair held the title the most
times with eight championship reigns, the
six had been recognized by the WWE.
There were twelve vacancies throughout
the title's history.
Chris Jericho was the final champion in his
second reign. He defeated Stone Cold
Steve Austin at Vengeance in San Diego,
California on December 9, 2001 to unify
the WWF and World Championships.
See also
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
WCW International World Heavyweight
Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
(WWE, 2002–2013)
World Heavyweight Championship
(WWE, 2023–present)
WWE Championship
List of former championships in WWE
World championships in WWE
Big Gold Belt
Notes
In WCW, Flair was recognized as an eight-
time champion but WWE only recognizes
6, counting his first reign as one of his 8
NWA title reigns and ignoring a title
vacancy that occurred in 1994 and instead
viewing that as one continuous reign.
References
1. WCW World Championship (http://www.ww
e.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwchampionshi
p/) . WWE.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-05.
2. WCW World Champion – Chris Jericho (htt
p://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwc
hampionship/3044541104) at WWE.com
3. WCW World Heavyweight Championship
history, from Wrestling-Titles.com (http://w
ww.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html#
wwf)
External links
WWE.com – WCW World Championship
history (http://www.wwe.com/classics/t
itlehistory/wcwchampionship/)
Wrestling-Titles.com: WCW World
Heavyweight Title History (http://www.w
restling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html)
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