Every WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Ranked By WWE Success

Contested for between January 1991 and December 2001, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a wrestling title equal parts gorgeous and grotesque. Represented by the beautiful Big Gold Belt, WCW’s top prize was held by a who’s who of wrestling legends, behind-the-scenes staff, and one actor, withstanding a horde of the squared circle’s most questionable creative decisions.

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WCW often faltered with the Big Gold Belt’s booking, and many World Champions suffered bad reigns because of it.

All but two of its holders found success in WWE either before or after ascending to the top of the WCW mountain, many lifting, too, the WWE Championship – but who had better luck where the big boys played, and who achieved more in the sports entertainment emperium?

19

David Arquette

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

That David Arquette isn’t the definitive worst WCW World Heavyweight Champion is exponentially telling of the dire state the company was in, in 2000. Arquette lifted the title from Diamond Dallas Page while teaming with him against Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett, mercifully reigning as champion for around two weeks:

that’s longer than some reigns from Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, and Sting!

Arquette, thankfully, never continued his wrestling aspirations in WWE.

18

Vince Russo

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

If David Arquette isn’t WCW’s worst World Champion, then Vince Russo is. Russo, the company’s Head Writer, booked himself to win the Big Gold Belt from Booker T – only to vacate it a week later! Booker, who regained the vacant strap, discussed Vince Russo’s self-booked run as a wrestler on his Hall of Fame podcast:

While he never appeared on-screen for WWE,

Russo worked successfully as WWE’s Head Writer during a portion of the Attitude Era
, contributing heavily to stories such as ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon, and the Three Faces of Foley.

17

Big Van Vader

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 3

With three reigns and a combined 377 days as champion, Big Van Vader was the original dictator of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. A bruising, rugged powerhouse who packed as much force into a worked punch as he did a Powerbomb, ‘The Mastodon’ was quintessential to the title’s early history.

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Plans were set in motion for Vader to become WWE Champion in 1996, but due to some controversial backstage politics, those plans were cancelled.

That same success didn’t follow him to WWE, though, as reported backstage issues with favored talent, like Shawn Michaels, prohibited the semi-masked man from reaching his potential under the McMahon banner. He did, however, wrestle a handful of must-watch Attitude Era classics, including a potent war vs. Ken Shamrock from the fifteenth In Your House.

16

Sting

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 6

Sting arrived too late in WWE: that is the sole reason for his lack of championships.

‘The Icon’ didn’t debut until 2014’s Survivor Series
, thirteen years after WCW folded, and wrestled a mere four televised matches.

In World Championship Wrestling, though, the baseball bat-wielding ‘Stinger’ was a six-time World Champion, the longest of those reigns being his first, in 1992, at 134 days. He was also part of two controversies surrounding the title following Starrcade 1997 and Halloween Havoc 1999, respectively.

15

Lex Luger

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 2

Six years separated Lex Luger’s two reigns at the WCW mountaintop, as ‘The Total Package’ enjoyed success in two distinct eras of the company. His second reign, coming during the Monday Night Wars, was the infamous time he dethroned Hollywood Hogan in a delirious Nitro match, only to be toppled by ‘The Hulkster’ five days later.

Luger failed to become WWE’s Ace between his two WCW stints, despite the company grooming him to be the next Hulk Hogan. He did, however, manage a Royal Rumble victory, albeit shared with Bret Hart.

14

Ron Simmons

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

Modernistic professional wrestling is still shy of black World Champions
, with Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, and Swerve Strickland being the only notable examples. This has, depressingly, long been the trend, as Ron Simmons was the solitary African American holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, with his 1992 defeat of Big Van Vader remaining a standout highlight of the company’s perilous history.

Simmons, in WWE, was cast as a tag team guy, being part of both The Nation of Domination and The APA, being a two-time World Tag Team Champion as part of the latter.

13

Scott Steiner

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

WCW is where Scott Steiner graduated from the midcard to become a legitimate main event star, cemented when he won the World Heavyweight Championship from Booker T at 2000’s Mayhem pay-per-view. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ exemplified the charisma required to carry a company as its face, while also growing exponentially between the ropes.

In returning to WWE, Steiner regressed significantly,

a dull Triple H feud doing him no favors
before he became a lower midcard act for the remainder of his run. Pre-WCW, though, Scott and his brother Rick were twice WWE’s World Tag Team Champions.

12

Sid Vicious

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 2

The late Sid Vicious’ WCW career is best remembered for his freak leg break at Sin 2001
, as an attempted middle-rope Big Boot saw Sid’s ankle snap faster than Randy Savage tucking in to a Slim Jim. Vicious was a two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, his second reign ending when Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff hilariously ‘rebooted’ the company.

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As Sycho Sid in WWE, the seven-footer found similar success, as a two-month WWE Championship reign certified the Arkansas native as a headline act. His second reign confirmed this, as he dropped the title to The Undertaker in WrestleMania 13’s show-closer.

11

Diamond Dallas Page

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 3

A three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Diamond Dallas Page can often be conveyed as a pillar of the company, given that he was also a one-time World Television Champion, a two-time United States Heavyweight Champion, and a four-time World Tag Team Champion: indeed, DDP was WCW.

Page was a failure in WWE, despite winning a championship match – for the European Title – at a WrestleMania. His introduction as The Undertaker’s wife’s stalker was career suicide, particularly as he lost every major match in the rivalry, and then, a year later, he was forced into medical retirement after a botched Superplex against Hardcore Holly.

10

Goldberg

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

Goldberg only needed one reign with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to certify himself as the company’s best homegrown talent. ‘Da Man’ toppled Hollywood Hogan in a euphoric moment at the Georgia Dome, holding the World and United States Heavyweight Championships simultaneously. Dropping the title – and his undefeated streak – to Kevin Nash can be earmarked as the beginning of the end for WCW, though.

Goldberg was a force in WWE, too, holding three World Championships, but his career in the company was held back by his inability to put over the newer generation: only Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns appeared to benefit from facing the aging Oklahoman.

9

Randy Savage

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 4

Randy Savage, much like Sting, was crowned as WCW World Heavyweight Champion in two distinct eras, first holding the title in a pre-nWo 1995 after winning the inaugural World War 3 match. His final reign, though, didn’t come until 1999, when WCW was all but confirmed dead.

‘The Macho Man’, of course, was a heralded act of WWE’s Golden Era, emotionally capturing the vacant WWE Championship at the end of a tiresome WrestleMania 4 tournament. It was unequivocally one of the earliest ‘Mania moments, ruined only by Hulk Hogan’s inability to share the spotlight 365 days later.

8

Kevin Nash

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 3

Kevin Nash had three reigns as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but you only recall one of them: his first. Bookended by controversially stunning Goldberg out of the title at 1998’s Starrcade and

being poked by nWo pal Hollywood Hogan on Nitro’s infamous January 4, 1999 broadcast
, ‘Big Daddy Cool’s’ maiden voyage as WCW World Champion helped kill WWE’s competition.

Nash, a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, was successful in the company before turning his head to WCW, tyrannically holding the WWE Championship for one year, though this reign is oft-considered the worst in company history.

7

Ric Flair

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 8

The face of the Big Gold Belt, Ric Flair was a record eight-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion. He was the first, too, besting Sting for the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship in 1991, with WWE recognizing this reign of ‘The Nature Boy’ as being under the NWA banner as well as the inaugural WCW Championship reign.

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Ric was mighty successful in WWE between runs in WCW as well, as he won the heralded

1992 Royal Rumble
for the vacant WWE Championship. There, ‘Naitch’ set a precedent for what has become a Rumble staple, being the first competitor in history to last more than one hour between bells.

6

Hulk Hogan

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 6

Hulk Hogan held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for 52.99% of his time in the Ted Turner-helmed organization, and when he didn’t hold the strap, he was around it like ants to crumbs. Controversy surrounded much of his time involved with the title, too, as moments such as the Sting debacle from Starrcade 1997 and the Bash at the Beach 2000 incident marred Hogan’s success.

Similarly, in WWE, Hogan was within the vicinity of the WWE Championship for much of his first era-defining stint in the company, amassing a combined 2,185 days across six reigns – the second-longest total days as champion in history, behind only Bruno Sammartino at 4,040 days.

5

Jeff Jarrett

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 4

Stunningly, Jeff Jarrett’s four runs as WCW World Heavyweight Championship were spread across only five months, as with the company suffering terribly against a scintillating WWE in 2000, WCW executives chose car crash TV with quick, unnecessary title swaps over long, story-driven reigns: case in point, ‘The King of the Mountain’.

‘Double J’ was a successful midcarder in WWE before this, though he departed on bad terms, having reportedly held Vince McMahon up for $200,000 to drop the Intercontinental Championship to Chyna on his way out.

4

Bret Hart

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 2

Bret Hart’s time as WCW World Heavyweight Champion was unique in that he never dethroned anyone for the prize, and he was never dethroned himself. Indeed, ‘The Hitman’s’ two reigns stemmed from him winning the vacant title, and both times, he was forced to relinquish the title, the second of which was caused by an

infamously errant Goldberg kick that forced Hart into retirement
.

Before the Montreal Screwjob imploded Bret’s relationship with WWE, he was a bonafide Superstar, being a five-time WWE Champion. Championships aside, Hart was a workhorse,

producing electric matches against myriad WWE Superstars
, from Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Mr Perfect.

3

Chris Benoit

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 1

Chris Benoit holds the record for the least combined days as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, holding WCW’s top prize for just one day. Though storylines dictated that Benoit was stripped of the title due to Sid Vicious’ foot being underneath the ropes during the winning submission, the reality was that he, alongside Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn, had departed for WWE amid contract disputes.

It was in WWE that Benoit flourished as a headliner, winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H in a fierce WrestleMania 20 main event.

2

Booker T

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 5

Had it not been for Hulk Hogan closing the door on his WCW career, Booker T may never have captured the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The wrestler-turned-commentator has admitted as much previously, explaining the situation on his Hall of Fame podcast:

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Booker captured five total WCW World Championships, one of which occurred in WWE, and followed it with a sixth on SmackDown after becoming King Booker in 2006.

1

The Giant

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Reigns: 2

It was Kevin Nash who coined the phrase, ‘Where the big boys play’, when referring to WCW, and in the case of The Giant, it couldn’t have been a more apt descriptor. The real-life Paul Wight, at his heaviest, weighed 500 pounds, which coupled well with his staggering seven feet in height. Understandably, he won the big one in WCW, doing so twice.

In WWE as The Big Show, the success continued, as Vince McMahon’s petulance with larger-than-life individuals allowed ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ to capture a combined eighteen titles, five of which were World Championships.