WCW World Heavyweight Championship

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Lore & Background

The championship's legacy is deeply intertwined with the rise and fall of WCW itself. On January 11, 1991, Ric Flair defeated Sting to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and was recognized as 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 belt. On July 1, 1991, creative disagreements and a contractual dispute between Ric Flair and WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd led to Flair's WCW contract being terminated, the WCW World title being vacated, and Flair subsequently signing with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation. When Herd refused to return Flair's $25,000 deposit, Flair kept the 'Big Gold Belt' that had represented the NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Championship and wore it on WWF television. A new WCW World Heavyweight title 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 Professional Wrestling Federation in 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. 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. After leaving the NWA, WCW kept the Big Gold Belt, and it was renamed the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. 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, 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. During Vince Russo's run as the head writer, which lasted from October 3, 1999 until October 2000, the turnover rate of the title increased dramatically. In 2000, the championship changed hands 25 times and was vacated six times. In comparison, in 1998 the title changed hands only five times and was vacated once. No reign lasted longer than 76 days; five reigns lasted for 24 hours or less, and further six reigns lasted no more than eight days. A total of 11 people held the title at some point in 2000. Among them were actor David Arquette and Russo himself; neither was an actual wrestler at time. Following Russo's departure, Scott Steiner won the belt at Mayhem and remained champion until the final episode of Monday Nitro when he dropped it to Booker T in a winner-takes-all match. In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) purchased the assets of WCW. 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'. After the 'Invasion' concluded at Survivor Series in 2001, the title was rebranded as the 'World Championship', making The Rock the last person to hold the title while it was named as the WCW 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. As a result, Jericho was the last holder of the championship title, 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.

In Their Own Story

The arena lights dimmed as the crowd roared, sensing the tension in the air. The champion stood atop the turnbuckle, the heavy gold plate of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship gleaming under the spotlights. Across the ring, the challenger paced, eyes locked on the prize that had defined careers and broken hearts for a decade. In this moment, history hung in the balance, waiting for the bell to signal the final chapter of an epic rivalry.

Reader's Guide

The inaugural champion was Ric Flair, and there were 63 different champions overall. The longest reigning champion was Hulk Hogan during his first reign 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. Ric Flair has the shortest title reign, having won it and lost it on the same night on May 29, 2000. The Giant was the 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, though only six have been recognized by 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; thus becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion. Jericho would lose the undisputed title to Triple H at WrestleMania X8 and the Big Gold Belt continued to appear until the April 1, 2002 episode of Raw when the big gold belt and the 'Big Eagle'/'Attitude Era' WWF championship belt used from 1998 to 2002 was replaced by the 'Undisputed Championship Belt'.

Did You Know?

• Ric Flair was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, with Chris Jericho being the last.
• The title was the second to be represented by the historic Big Gold Belt, first introduced in 1986.
• In 2000, the championship changed hands 25 times and was vacated six times; no reign lasted longer than 76 days.
• Actor David Arquette and head writer Vince Russo both held the title in 2000, despite neither being an actual wrestler at the time.
• The Big Gold Belt continued to appear on WWF television until the April 1, 2002 episode of Raw, when it was replaced by the Undisputed Championship Belt.