WCW World Heavyweight Championship


 * In November 1988, Turner Broadcasting 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 removed on televised programming, in favor of the name "World Championship Wrestling", or "WCW".

Ted Turner signs papers officially finalizing the deal to make him the new owner of Jim Crockett Promotions, the top NWA affiliate in the country.

JCP’s efforts to keep pace with the exploding popularity of the WWF turned out to be an expensive—and ultimately fruitless—affair. While there was no single cause for what led to the Crockett ultimately signing over the company to Turner, it was, for lack of a better term, death via a thousand paper cuts.

Arguably, the first domino to fall was the near-fatal car accident Magnum T.A. just 2 months before he was set to win the NWA world title from Ric Flair in 1986.

The next year, the promotion moved Starrcade and Bunkhouse Stampede away from their strongest market in the Carolinas to Chicago and New York respectively, alienating fans (true story: tickets for Bunkhouse Stampede had different start times printed on them). Also hurting JCP was the WWF’s ultimatum to cable providers to broadcast their Thanksgiving PPV, Survivor Series, or JCP’s Starrcade (complicating this decision, any cable outlet choosing Starrcade would not be able to carry Wrestlemania IV the following April). With the success of Wrestlemania III still fresh in the minds of many cable companies, the vast majority went with Survivor Series.

Complicating matters, JCP spent money like there was no tomorrow, using it on luxuries such as limousines and private jets and not investing that money back into the promotion (such as marketing and paying talent fair market value). Because the WWF was luring away some of JCP’s roster, Crockett had to overpay to keep their top talent around. The acquisition of Bill Watts’ Universal Wrestling Federation not only meant they inherited their talent (some of whom JCP buried, alienating UWF fans), they inherited their bills.

They further alienated fans with the “Dusty finish”, named for booker Dusty Rhodes (though he didn’t invent this type of finish), where a babyface would win a match, only to have it overturned on a technicality (such as an over-the-top-rope disqualification). Fans had seen it used so often, they were trained to expect it, so some fans simply stopped going to shows.

With bankruptcy looming, Crockett sold 65% interest in JCP to Turner for $9 million. The Crockett family retained a minority stake. The company would be rebranded after its flagship Saturday night show, World Championship Wrestling, and would remain affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance until September 1993.


 * 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 Flair's $25,000 deposit, Flair kept the "Big Gold Belt" that had represented the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. A new belt was ordered and was awarded to Lex Luger after he defeated Barry Windham in a cage match for the vacant championship.


 * In 1992, 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 1994, WCW left the NWA for good 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. After leaving the NWA, WCW kept the Big Gold Belt, and used it as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt once again.


 * During Hollywood Hogan's runs as champion in 1996–1997 and again in 1998–1999 (i.e. from his 2nd to his 5th reign as champion), as part of the New World Order (nWo) storyline, the title was renamed nWo World Heavyweight Championship and he received a custom nWo belt. Similarly, red paint was used for the nWo Wolfpack.

WWE introduced the Big Gold Belt for the World Heavyweight Championship, this was seen (especially by WWE) as a continuation of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship history and lineage.