WCW International World Heavyweight Championship

Disambiguation: Not to be confused with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation . It existed within WCW between 1991 and 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling...

.

The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) International World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

(WCW). "WCW International" referred to a fictional international subsidiary of World Championship Wrestling. The title replaced the use of the National Wrestling Alliance

National Wrestling Alliance

The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

(NWA) World Heavyweight Championship

NWA World Heavyweight Championship

The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...

within WCW following the promotion's secession from the NWA in 1993. It was one of two world titles in WCW, complementing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

The World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation . It existed within WCW between 1991 and 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling...

until 1994 when it was ultimately unified

Championship unification

Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.-History:In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a given promotion, or to add legitimacy and prestige to a...

with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. It is one of a number of world titles represented by the historic Big Gold Belt

Big Gold Belt

The Big Gold Belt is a historic professional wrestling championship belt that has represented multiple world championships throughout its history. It was originally designed in 1985 by silversmith Charles Crumrine and commissioned by Jim Crockett Promotions for NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric...

. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches

Professional wrestling match types

Many types of matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, can be found in the form of performing art that is professional wrestling....

Turner buys WCW

In 1988, media mogul Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

purchased Jim Crockett Promotions

Jim Crockett Promotions

Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...

from NWA

National Wrestling Alliance

The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

member Jim Crockett. Crockett had been promoting shows under the title of Georgia Championship Wrestling

Georgia Championship Wrestling

Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...

(and later World Championship Wrestling) that aired on Turner's TBS superstation

Superstation

Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...

. In light of financial woes within the company, Turner purchased it in order to retain one of the highest rated shows on his network.

Ric Flair

Ric Flair

Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

was declared the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion on January 11, 1991 after defeating Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

NWA World Heavyweight Championship

. Though WCW was (at that point) still a member of the NWA and the belt awarded to Flair was that of the recognized NWA World Champion, WCW considered it "their" world title as well, and the organization claimed the lineage of the NWA Championship. WCW and the NWA were two different organizations, even though they recognized the same World Champion.

Ric Flair controversy

In July 1991, Ric Flair was fired from WCW after several creative disputes with Executive Vice President Jim Herd

Jim Herd

Jim Herd is a former professional wrestling executive. Herd was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling from 1988 to 1992, following Turner Broadcasting's acquisition of the NWA-affiliated Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. His tenure however received much criticism from...

. Although Flair was stripped of the WCW title, he took the physical belt with him when he jumped to the rival World Wrestling Federation

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

, since WCW had not returned his $25,000 deposit on the title belt. It was customary for the man designated to be NWA World Champion to put a $25,000 deposit on the title belt, which would be paid (plus interest) back when he lost the championship. Flair appeared with the belt on WWF television and declared himself "The Real World Heavyweight Champion". Flair was still recognized for a short time after his departure from WCW as the NWA World Champion, despite WCW's stripping him of recognition of their heavyweight championship, setting up a split between the titles.

WCW created a new title belt to represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Lex Luger

Lex Luger

Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl , better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy...

in July. Although Luger was the WCW World Champion, the NWA continued to recognize Flair as its champion until September, when he was stripped of it for signing with the WWF. Flair never returned the belt because his deposit was never paid back. On the Ric Flair DVD he said he gave the original title belt to Triple H as a gift. However, Ric Flair also has said in a shoot interview with Highspots that Hulk Hogan has the original belt.

In 1992, the NWA authorized New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...

to use its annual G-1 Climax heavyweight tournament to decide the new NWA champion. Masahiro Chono

Masahiro Chono

, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He primarily wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling , but has also made appearances for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling, as a member of the New World Order. Chono was also known as Mister Black Jack when he first started as a villain. He is a...

won the tournament and the belt, which in turn was defended on television for a year (although less so for Chono and his successor Great Muta

Keiji Mutoh

is a Japanese professional wrestler who first gained international fame in the National Wrestling Alliance. He is mostly known for his work as The Great Muta in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s, but he has also competed in United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Taiwan...

, who defended the title rarely, as Japanese titles often are).

WCW secedes from the NWA

In August 1993, after "Ravishing" Rick Rude's planned win of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair was revealed by the results of WCW's "television tapings

WCW Disney tapings

The WCW Disney tapings were a series of television tapings of professional wrestling matches conducted by World Championship Wrestling at the Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.-History:...

" the NWA objected to this break of kayfabe

Kayfabe

In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...

and WCW's refusal to allow the NWA World champion to defend the title in other NWA member promotions. WCW elected to leave the NWA in September. Since WCW owned the physical "Big Gold Belt

Big Gold Belt

" that had represented the NWA title since 1986, WCW allowed Rude to retain the physical belt. The belt was defended for a short period of time as "The Big Gold Belt", and then named the "WCW International World Heavyweight Championship". In order to better serve its purpose, WCW created a fictitious subsidiary known as "WCW International" that represented World Championship Wrestling in its overseas affairs. As per the explanation, WCW International was run by the separate WCW International Board of Directors.

This new championship, along with the "proper" WCW World Title, were both regarded as top belts and were defended as such. No mention was made of the belt's previous tie to the NWA.

Rude lost the WCW International title to Hiroshi Hase in a match by New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

in early 1994, but won the belt back the following week. Hase's short reign was thus more reminiscent of Giant Baba

Shohei Baba

was a professional wrestler and co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling. He was also known as Giant Baba. Baba, along with Antonio Inoki, became one of the most famous Japanese wrestlers of his era, with a popularity in Japan comparable to Hulk Hogan's in the United States of America...

's NWA title reigns in the 1970s than the reigns of Chono and Muta in 1992-93.

Unification

Sting eventually won the WCW International Title from Rick Rude, only to lose it back to Rude. Rude was stripped of the title for cheating during the match and WCW officials were going to award it to Sting. Sting refused and said he wanted to win the belt in the ring against Big Van Vader, whom Rick Rude was originally slated to defend the Championship against at that same event before being struck with an injury. Sting defeated Vader at Slamboree 1994 to win the then vacant title. At that point Ric Flair had possession of the "regular" WCW World Title and it was decided that the two titles would be unified. Sting and Flair then faced off at Clash of the Champions XXVII with Flair winning the match and unifying the two championships, with the Big Gold Belt being used as the new "unified" championship.

Turner buys WCW

Ric Flair controversy

WCW secedes from the NWA

Unification

See also