WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Difference between revisions
Saynotogop (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 73: | Line 73: | ||
*[[Kurt Angle]], [[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]], [[Booker Huffman|Booker T]], and [[Chris Benoit]] are the only professional wrestlers to have won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship (in WWE), though for Benoit, he forfeited the title upon leaving WCW. |
*[[Kurt Angle]], [[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]], [[Booker Huffman|Booker T]], and [[Chris Benoit]] are the only professional wrestlers to have won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship (in WWE), though for Benoit, he forfeited the title upon leaving WCW. |
||
*Hogan had stated on radio (98Rock in Tampa) that he did not give the WCW World title belt back to WCW before leaving and to this day, he still has the belt hanging on a wall at home. |
*Hogan had stated on radio (98Rock in Tampa) that he did not give the WCW World title belt back to WCW before leaving and to this day, he still has the belt hanging on a wall at home. |
||
*At [[Survivor Series]] [[2001]], [[The Rock]], who was a WWE member, held the WCW championship, while [["Stone Cold" Steve Austin]], who was an Alliance member, had the [[WWE championship]]. |
|||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
Revision as of 16:42, 8 October 2006
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was the primary championship in the World Championship Wrestling professional wrestling organization. It was created in January 1991, and a variation of the physical belt continues to be used in WWE as the World Heavyweight Championship. It has been held by many successful professional wrestlers, including Ric Flair, Sting, Hulk Hogan, Booker T, Chris Benoit, Bret Hart, and Goldberg.
History
Origin
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.
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 (rumored to have been the long-retired NWA Western States Heritage 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 WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the 1991 WCW 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.
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 International Title belt replaced the old World Heavyweight belt while the International Championship itself was dropped. Hulk Hogan entered WCW and won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (now represented by the "Big Gold Belt") from Flair. Holding the title off and on until 2000, Hogan helped WCW become the top wrestling company in the United States. However, by 2001, it had suffered a succession of failures.
WWF/WWE
See also: WWE Undisputed Championship
In March 2001, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. purchased the assets of WCW from AOL-Time Warner for $7,000,000. Initially, Vince McMahon claimed that he wanted to revive the company in his own image, and a two-hour timeslot for WCW programming was proposed to TNN. Instead (due to contract obligations), McMahon orchestrated the infamous "Invasion" storyline of 2001, in which both WCW and ECW were ultimately dismantled. McMahon then decided to unify the WCW and WWF World Titles. The WCW Championship was then renamed the "World Championship" after the WWF storyline which eliminated WCW as an active entity.
Chris Jericho unified the titles by pinning The Rock (World Champion) and Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWF Champion) at the WWF Vengeance 2001 Pay-Per-View. The belts stayed unified as the WWE Undisputed Championship until won by Brock Lesnar. When Lesnar decided to wrestle only for the SmackDown! brand, RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H, represented by the old "Big Gold Belt". It should be noted that, despite appearances, it is now a different title belt, with a different lineage, as the current design features a subtle WWE trademark logo above the words "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.").
Currently, only five former WCW Champions are currently under contract with a WWE brand as wrestlers: Ric Flair & Hulk Hogan (special appearances only) on RAW, Booker T (now known as King Booker) & Chris Benoit on SmackDown!, and The Giant (now called The Big Show) on ECW.
Statistics
| Record: | Record holder: | Record number: | Notes: |
| Most reigns | Ric Flair | Eight | Flair initially held this record after becoming the inaugural WCW Champion, but lost it to Big Van Vader during Flair's WWF stint. He regained the record from Vader on December 27, 1995, after defeating Randy Savage for his 4th title win. He held or tied the record for the rest of WCW's existence, with his 8th and final reign starting and ending on May 29, 2000. |
| Longest reign | Hulk Hogan | 469 days | Hogan beat Ric Flair for the title in his WCW debut on July 17, 1994. He lost the title to The Giant in controversial fashion on October 29, 1995. |
| Shortest reign | Sting, Kevin Nash, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho | >1 day | Sting won and lost the title on April 26, 1999. Nash gave himself the title (as then-WCW Commissioner) and lost it on January 25, 2000. Ric Flair was given the title and then lost it on May 15, 2000. Jericho won the title on December 9, 2001, and merged it with the WWF Championship that same day. |
| Oldest champion | Ric Flair | 51 years | Flair was given the title by Kevin Nash on May 29, 2000. He would lose the title to Jeff Jarrett that same day. |
| Youngest, tallest, and heaviest champion | The Giant | 23 years; 7 ft. 0 in.; 507 lbs | The Giant beat Hulk Hogan by DQ in a match where Hogan could lose the title by DQ on October 29, 1995. He was stripped of the title on November 6 of that year due to the controversial finish of that match. On April 22, 1996, he regained the title by beating Ric Flair, but lost it to Hogan on August 10 of that year. |
| Lightest champion | David Arquette | 150 lbs [1] | Arquette, an actor and not a trained wrestler, won the title from his teammate Diamond Dallas Page by pinning Eric Bischoff on April 25, 2000 in a tag match with the WCW Championship on the line (Bischoff's partner was Jeff Jarrett). He lost the title to Jarrett on May 7, 2000. |
Facts
- The Big Show is the only wrestler to have held the WCW, WWE, and ECW World Heavyweight Championships.
- Six wrestlers have won both the WCW World Heavyweight Championship while in WCW, and the WWE Championship: Hulk Hogan, The Giant (as The Big Show in WWE), Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash (as Diesel in the WWF), and Sid Vicious (as Sycho Sid in WWF). Kurt Angle, The Rock, and Chris Jericho won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship between WCW's purchase by the WWF and the unification of the WCW and WWF Championships in late 2001.
- Kurt Angle, Goldberg, Booker T, and Chris Benoit are the only professional wrestlers to have won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship (in WWE), though for Benoit, he forfeited the title upon leaving WCW.
- Hogan had stated on radio (98Rock in Tampa) that he did not give the WCW World title belt back to WCW before leaving and to this day, he still has the belt hanging on a wall at home.
- At Survivor Series 2001, The Rock, who was a WWE member, held the WCW championship, while "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who was an Alliance member, had the WWE championship.
See also
- World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
- List of WCW World Heavyweight Champions
- List of WCW World Heavyweight Championship reigns by length
- List of top World Heavyweight Champions by combined length
- List of WCW World Heavyweight Champions by age
- NWA World Heavyweight Championship
- List of Number of World Title Reigns