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World Heavyweight Championship (professional wrestling championship belt)

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File:Big Gold Belt.JPG
The original unbranded version of the World Heavyweight Championship.

The World Heavyweight Championship (often referred to as the Big Gold Belt) is a historic professional wrestling championship belt which has represented a number of significant world heavyweight championships. It was originally designed in 1985 on order by Jim Crockett Promotions to give to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. The belt has three gold plates and was the first to feature a name plate onto which the champion's name was etched. The original belt simply stated "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" without indicating any designated promotion. For copyright purposes, World Wrestling Entertainment added its own logo to the belt in March 2003. The promotion also began featuring nameplates on the rest of its championships shortly after adopting the belt.

The World Heavyweight Championship has represented and can refer to one or more of the following championships:

  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1985 – 1993) WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1991)
    • In 1985, the World Heavyweight Championship was made to replace the Dome Globe belt that had been used since 1973. According to Ric Flair on WWE Confidential, it was made by a silversmith in Reno, NV.
    • In January 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) wanted to recognize Ric Flair as their world champion in conjunction with the NWA's recognition. Therefore, the belt represented both companies' recognition of a world champion.
    • From March 21 to May 19, 1991, Tatsumi Fujinami was recognized as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion following a disputed victory over Ric Flair. However, WCW refused to recognize Fujinami's victory, which resulted in Flair keeping the belt and remaining the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
    • In July 1991 Flair and WCW parted ways while Flair was still champion. The belt was property of Flair as he had originally placed a $25,000 deposit on it that was required of anyone holding the belt. Flair kept the belt after parting ways with WCW due to WCW Vice President Jim Herd refusing to pay the deposit with additional interest back. WCW stripped Flair of their recognition of world champion and introduced a new belt to represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
    • Flair soon signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and wore the World Heavyweight Championship there. Flair stated on the 2008 released Nature Boy Ric Flair: The Definitive Collection DVD that the $25,000 he initially deposited with additional interest totalling $38,000 was never paid back to him, and as a result, Flair kept the World Heavyweight Championship. He also stated that he later gave the belt to Triple H as a gift. WCW ultimately introduced a new World Heavyweight Championship to be used to represent the NWA World Heavyweight Championship due to an agreement between the NWA and WCW.
File:Big-gold-belt-WWE.jpg
The current version of the World Heavyweight Championship, used since March 2003
  • WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (1993 – 1994)
    • In September 1993, when WCW and the NWA parted ways, the World Heavyweight Championship was used to represent the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship, the supposed world championship of a fictitious subsidiary of World Championship Wrestling called WCW International.
  • WWF Undisputed Championship (2001 – 2002)
    • Following the unification of the WCW and WWF Championships, the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWF Championship belt were collectively used to represent the Undisputed Championship until a single new belt was introduced to represent the title in April 2002.
  • World Heavyweight Championship (WWE) (2002–present)
    • The World Heavyweight Championship returned to represent the newly created World Heavyweight Championship title in September 2002 and continued to be used until March 2003 when a similar new belt began to be used to represent the title. Originally introduced on the Raw brand, the World Heavyweight Championship moved to the SmackDown brand in 2005, and has since moved between both brands on multiple occasions. As of now, It is currently held by The Undertaker.

References

  1. History of the World Heavyweight Championship, WWE Home Video (2009)
  2. Nature Boy Ric Flair: The Definitive Collection, WWE Home Video (2008)

See also

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