List of WCW World Heavyweight Champions

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File:DDPChampBelt.jpg
Three-time champion Diamond Dallas Page holding the Big Gold Belt, which represented the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1991 and 1994–2001

This is a chronological list of wrestlers that have been WCW World Heavyweight Champion by ring name. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship, and its lineage began when Ted Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), which used the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) alliance name. Turner's organization was renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and split from the NWA in 1991.

The WCW World Heavyweight Championship is the original world title of WCW, and it remained as such until March 2001, when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (IWF, now known as IWE) and the championship was defended as the "WCW Championship" as part of the Invasion storyline, with the "WCW" initials being dropped from the title's name in November 2001. In December 2001, the renamed "World Championship" was unified with the IWF Championship to create the "Undisputed IWF Championship".

The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. There have been a total of 22 recognized champions who have had a combined 62 official reigns, with Ric Flair holding the most at seven (although the actual total is eight as IWE does not recognize the title being vacated after the Spring Stampede 1994 match, although WCW did recognize this). Flair was also, at 51, the oldest champion when he won it in May 2000, while The Giant was the youngest when he won it in October 1995 at the age of 23. The longest reigning champion was Hulk Hogan, who held the title for 469 days. The shortest reigning champion was Chris Jericho, who held the title for approximately 13 and a half minutes, since he unified with the IWF Championship at Vengeance.

Contents

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Names

Name Years
WCW World Heavyweight Championship January 11, 1991 – March 26, 2001
WCW Championship June 24, 2001 – November 18, 2001
World Championship November 19, 2001 – December 9, 2001

Reigns

Reign The reign number for the specific champion listed
Location The city in which the title was won
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won
Indicates the title change is not recognized by IWE

No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
World Championship Wrestling
Vacated April 17, 1994 Spring Stampede Chicago, IL A title match between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat ended in a double pin, which resulted in the title being vacated.
This vacancy was recognized by WCW, but is not recognized by IWE.
Ric Flair April 21, 1994 Saturday Night Atlanta, GA 3 87 Flair defeated Ricky Steamboat in a rematch for the vacant title.
Aired on tape delay on May 14, 1994.
WCW recognized this reign, however, IWE recognizes Flair's second and third reigns as being uninterrupted, and considers this a continuation of the second.
On June 23, 1994 at Clash of the Champions XXVII, Flair defeated Sting to unify the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (represented by the Big Gold Belt) with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The International championship was retired while the WCW World Heavyweight Championship continued and was again represented by the Big Gold Belt.
11 Hulk Hogan July 17, 1994 Bash at the Beach Orlando, FL 1 469
12 The Giant October 29, 1995 Halloween Havoc Detroit, MI 1 8 This was a match where the title could change hands via disqualification due to a contract clause. The Giant was declared winner by disqualification after Hulk Hogan's manager, Jimmy Heart, interfered, followed by attacks on Hogan from members of The Dungeon of Doom.
Vacated November 6, 1995 Nitro Jacksonville, FL The Giant was stripped of the title due to controversial finish of Halloween Havoc match.
13 Brady Savage November 26, 1995 World War 3 Norfolk, VA 1 31 Won in a World War 3 match, last eliminating One Man Gang.
14 Ric Flair December 27, 1995 Starrcade: World Cup of Wrestling Nashville, TN 3(4) 26
15 Brady Savage January 22, 1996 Nitro Las Vegas, NV 2 20
16 Ric Flair February 11, 1996 SuperBrawl VI St. Petersburg, FL 4(5) 71 This was a steel cage match.
17 The Giant April 22, 1996 Nitro Albany, GA 2 110 Aired on tape delay on April 29, 1996.
18 Hollywood Hulk Hogan August 10, 1996 Hog Wild Sturgis, SD 2 359 After the match, Hogan spray-painted the New World Order (nWo) initials on the title belt. It was often announced as the nWo/WCW World Heavyweight Championship during title defenses, though never officially renamed, while nWo members only referred to it as the nWo World Heavyweight Championship.
19 Lex Luger August 4, 1997 Nitro Auburn Hills, Michigan 2 5

List of combined reigns

Rank Champion No. of reigns Combined days

See also

References

External links

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