WCW International World Heavyweight Championship

From Iwe

Not to be confused with WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
For the NWA International championship now part of the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, see NWA International Heavyweight Championship.

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
The Big Gold Belt represented the WCW World International Heavyweight Championship from 1993–94.
Details
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Brand	WCW International
Date established	July 18, 1993
Date retired	June 23, 1994
Statistics

The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship is a defunct professional wrestling world heavyweight championship that was contested in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1993 and 1994. A popular misconception about the title was that it was a secondary title, due to the word "International" being in the name. In reality, the championship was presented as the highest accolade of "WCW International", a fictitious subsidiary of WCW. The championship was contested at WCW events and at several events in Japan under the aegis of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Represented by the historic Big Gold Belt, the championship originated as the world heavyweight title of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an umbrella organization of wrestling promotions from which WCW withdrew in 1993. At that time, WCW was responsible for deciding which of their wrestlers would hold the NWA championship. When the NWA withdrew WCW's control of the booking of their championship, a fictitious alternative was created to promote the use of the title belt.

Over the title's history, eight title reigns were shared between four wrestlers. Rick Rude's three title reigns comprise the longest total time as champion with 202 cumulative days. Hiroshi Hase is the champion with the shortest reign of eight days; Rude holds the longest individual reign of 178 days. Ric Flair was the first and last titleholder.

Contents 1 Background 2 Overview 3 Reigns 4 Combined reigns 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Background

[edit] Overview

[edit] 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
1	Ric Flair	July 18, 1993	Beach Blast 1993	Biloxi, Mississippi	1	63	Flair defeated Barry Windham for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The NWA withdraws recognition on September 15, 1993, when WCW leaves the NWA. Flair continued to be recognized as "World Heavyweight Champion" by WCW. IWE does not recognize this reign as a separate reign, and it is included as one of Flair's eight NWA title reigns recognized by IWE.
2	Rick Rude	September 19, 1993	Fall Brawl 1993	Houston, Texas	1	178	Rude was recognized as "WCW International" World Heavyweight Champion after withdrawal of WCW from NWA.
3	Hiroshi Hase	March 16, 1994	House show	Tokyo, Japan	1	8
4	Rick Rude	March 24, 1994	House show	Kyoto, Japan	2	24
5	Sting	April 17, 1994	Spring Stampede 1994	Rosemont, Illinois	1	14
—	Rick Rude	May 1, 1994	Wrestling Dontaku 1994	Fukuoka, Japan	3	21	Later, this victory was reversed due to use of the belt as a weapon and Rude's entire reign became unrecognized by WCW. However, Rude had already defended the title on the April 21, 1994 taping of WCW Saturday Night, which was shown via tape delay on May 14. This reign is currently recognized by IWE.
—	Vacated	May 22, 1994	Slamboree 1994	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	—	—	Sting was notified of the reversal at Slamboree, but refused the title, leaving it vacant.
6	Sting	May 22, 1994	Slamboree 1994	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2	32	Sting defeated Big Van Vader for the vacant championship later that same night.
7	Ric Flair	June 23, 1994	Clash of the Champions XXVII	North Charleston, South Carolina	2	<1
—	Unified	June 23, 1994	—	—	—	—	The championship was retired following its unification with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

[edit] Combined reigns

Rank	Wrestler	No. of reigns	Combined days
1	Rude, Rick !Rick Rude	3	202
2	Flair, Ric !Ric Flair	2	63
3	Sting	2	46
4	Hiroshi Hase	1	8

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Template:WCW Championships