WCW World Heavyweight Championship

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WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Tournament information
File:Big Gold Belt.JPGThe WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt design (1991, 1994 – 2001)

The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the top title contested for in World Championship Wrestling. Following the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) acquisition of WCW in 2001, it became one of two world titles in the WWF, complementing the WWF Championship.

The title was unified with the WWF Championship on December 9, 2001, with Chris Jericho being recognized as the final WCW Champion and first "Undisputed Champion." Though the title was decommissioned, its physical belt design, known historically as the World Heavyweight Championship, was restored by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE—formerly WWF) and used for the World Heavyweight Championship title in September 2002, at which time the Undisputed Championship became known as the WWE Championship.

History

Formation

In December 1988, Ted Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions, which had promoted under the name "NWA World Championship Wrestling". While the promotion remained a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the use of the NWA name was gradually reduced on televised programming, in favor of the name "World Championship Wrestling", or "WCW". 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. Because of this, WCW regularly claimed the NWA World Championship lineage for its own championship.

Big Gold Belt

Main article: Big Gold Belt

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 his $25,000 deposit (that was left with the NWA), Flair kept the "Big Gold Belt" that had represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. WCW was forced to create its own title belt (a belt owned by Dusty Rhodes from the then-defunct Florida Championship Wrestling used as the PWF Heavyweight Championship with a gold plate tacked on its faceplate 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 at 1991's Great American Bash. Shortly after the Bash, an original WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt was created.

In late 1991, WCW sued Flair for using the Big Gold Belt on WWF television, but later settled out of court, paying Flair $38,000 for the amount of the NWA deposit, plus interest. Flair returned the Big Gold Belt to WCW. The Big Gold Belt was used for the revived NWA World Heavyweight Championship, a co-promotional gimmick between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

In September 1993, WCW left the NWA 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 was still champion. After leaving the NWA, WCW kept the Big Gold Belt, and it was re-named the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.

Unification

Diamond Dallas Page as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion

At Starrcade '93, 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 the WCW International Heavyweight belt replaced the old WCW World Heavyweight Championship while the International Heavyweight Championship itself was dropped. When Hulk Hogan entered WCW and won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (now represented by the "Big Gold Belt") from Flair, Hogan helped WCW become the top wrestling company in the United States. By 2001, however, WCW suffered a succession of failures.

During Hogan's 1996–1997 run as champion, the title was spray painted with the NWO initials and referred to by New World Order members as the "nWo" World Heavyweight Championship. When Hogan regained the title in 1999 in the Fingerpoke of Doom incident, the belt was sprayed with nWo again, only this time with red letters to show the unification of nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac.

Acquisition by the WWF

In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled. During the "Invasion", only four WCW titles remained active, including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was referred to simply as the "WCW Championship".

After the "Invasion" concluded at Survivor Series in 2001, the title was unbranded as the "World Championship". The title was then unified with the WWF Championship at Vengeance where Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin to win the unbranded World Championship and the WWF Championship respectively. As a result, Chris Jericho was recognized as the last WCW World Champion, and he became the first Undisputed Champion in the World Wrestling Federation.

References

^ http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwchampionship/
^ WCW World Champion - Chris Jericho at WWE.com
http://www.wrestleview.com/news/1031022615.shtml
"WWWF/WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved 2007-03-18.

External links

World Championship Wrestling

History

Talent

Championships

World	World Heavyweight (reigns) (1991–2001) International World Heavyweight (reigns) (1993–1994) NWA World Heavyweight (reigns) (1988–1993)
Secondary	United States Heavyweight (reigns) (1991–2001) World Television (reigns) (1991–2000) NWA Western States Heritage (reigns) (1988–1989)
Tag Team	World Tag Team (reigns) (1991–2001) World Six-Man Tag Team (reigns) (1991) United States Tag Team (reigns) (1991–1992) Cruiserweight Tag Team (reigns) (2001) NWA World Tag Team (reigns) (1992–1993) NWA World Six-Man Tag Team (reigns) (1988–1989)
Divisional	Light Heavyweight (reigns) (1991–1992) Cruiserweight (reigns) (1996–2001) Hardcore (reigns) (1999–2001) Women's (reigns) (1996–1998) Women's Cruiserweight (reigns) (1997–1998)
Other accomplishments	Triple Crown WarGames World War 3 Tournaments

Programming

Pro (1958–1998)
Saturday Night (1971–2000)
Best of World Championship Wrestling (1973–1987)
WorldWide (1975–2001)
Closed-circuit and pay-per-view events (1983–2001)
Clash of the Champions (1988–1997)
Main Event (1988–1998)
Power Hour (1989–1994)
All Nighter (1994–1995)
Prime (1995–1996)
Monday Nitro (1995–2001)
Thunder (1998–2001)

Video games

Developmental territories

WWF revival

Miscellaneous

Championships and accomplishments in WWE

Championships

Current

Raw	World Heavyweight Women's World reigns Intercontinental reigns Women's Intercontinental World Tag Team reigns
SmackDown	Undisputed WWE – reigns Universal WWE Women's reigns United States reigns Women's United States WWE Tag Team reigns
NXT	NXT reigns Women's reigns North American reigns Women's North American Heritage Cup Tag Team reigns
Speed	Speed Women's Speed
Shared	WWE Women's Tag Team reigns

Former

World	WCW (reigns) (2001) ECW (reigns) (2006–2010) World Heavyweight (original version) (reigns) (2002–2013)
Women's	WWE Women's (original version) (reigns) (1956–1990, 1993–1995, 1998–2010) Divas (reigns) (2008–2016) NXT UK Women's (2018–2022)
Secondary	NWA United States Television (1957–1962) United States Heavyweight (1960–1976) North American Heavyweight (1979–1981) International Heavyweight (1959–1963, 1982–1985) Canadian (1985–1986) European (reigns) (1997–2002) NXT United Kingdom (2017–2022)
Tag team	NWA World Tag Team (Northeast version) (1957–1961) United States Tag Team (1958–1967) International Tag Team (1969–1971, 1985) WWF Women's Tag Team (1983–1989) Intercontinental Tag Team (1991) World Tag Team (original version) (reigns) (1971–2010) WCW Tag Team (reigns) (2001) NXT UK Tag Team (2019–2022) NXT Women's Tag Team (2021–2023)
Weight class-specific	Junior Heavyweight (1965–1972, 1978–1985) Light Heavyweight (reigns) (1981–2002) Cruiserweight (reigns) (2001–2007) NXT Cruiserweight (reigns) (2016–2022)
Other	Martial Arts (1978–1989) Hardcore (reigns) (1998–2002) Million Dollar (1989–1991, 1995–1996, 2010, 2021) 24/7 (reigns) (2019–2022)

Accomplishments

Categories:

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