The WCW World Heavyweight Championship is one of the most prestigious and important titles in the entire history of professional wrestling, dating back to the days of the NWA, becoming the top prize in WCW, and then going on to be a world title in WWE too.
10 Worst Comedy Gimmicks In WCW History
WCW tried to be funny and entertaining with these gimmicks, but they ended up flopping.
However, in WCW, things weren’t always positive for the “Big Gold”, and there were in fact more bad reigns than good ones ultimately, with much of that being down to how frequently the belt changed hands. The state of WCW at times throughout the 1990s actually makes it difficult to find the 10 very worst reigns due to how many poor ones there actually were.
10 Hulk Hogan’s First World Title Reign In WCW Was Typically “Hogan-esque”
HulkaMania Ran Wild In WCW
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
July 17, 1994 |
469 |
7 |
Hulk Hogan arrived in WCW with the same “HulkaMania” gimmick he had in WWE, but by this time the gimmick was dated and fans had just about seen enough of the same old Hulkster. Much of this is why this reign was so underwhelming.
Hogan’s friends like The Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) were handed PPV main events, and Hogan overcame monsters like he did in WWE such as Vader. His “dream matches” with Ric Flair under delivered, and so did just about everything with Hogan’s first reign with the gold.
9 Jeff Jarrett’s Short Reign Was Typical Of WCW
Jarrett’s Time With Gold Is A Sour Point In WCW
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
May 22, 2000 |
1 |
0 |
Many of Jeff Jarrett’s reigns with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship were not entirely great, and you could take a pick from any of his short reigns as one of the worst. Perhaps the most disappointing one was when he defeated DDP on the May 22nd episode of Nitro in 2005, only to then lose the title to Kevin Nash on the May 24th episode of Thunder (taped the day after, so he only held it for one).
The title at the time was at the center of a giant game of hot potato, and this was a sour example of that.
8 Big Van Vader’s First Reign Was Wasted As WCW World Heavyweight Champion
Vader Had Better Reigns In The Company
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
July 12, 1992 |
21 |
0 |
Vader’s time in WCW had a lot of memorable matches and moments, and he earned himself a reputation for being one of the best big men in the business. However, his first reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion was terrible.
After defeating Sting at Great American Bash 1992 in a great bout, he did not have one successful televised title defense before he then lost the title to Ron Simmons a month later. A missed opportunity for a dominant monster heel run.
7 Ron Simmons’ Historic Title Reign Was Underwhelming
So Much More Should Have Been Done With This Reign
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
August 2, 1992 |
150 |
6 |
There is a lot to love when it comes to Ron Simmons’ title win, becoming the first recognised African-American winner of a major world title in wrestling. Despite a fairly lengthy reign with several defenses, Simmons’ time with the gold was an afterthought and bland.
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Everyone knows some former WCW World Champions shouldn’t have won the title. But did the worst WCW Champions actually had bad finishers?
He had zero memorable matches, and even though clashes with notable stars were either too short or had nothing about them. Again, this was yet another missed opportunity to do something even more historic.
6 Kevin Nash’s WCW World Title Reign Was A Farce In 1998
This Was One Of WCW’s Most Regrettable Title Reigns
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
December 27, 1998 |
8 |
0 |
Kevin Nash’s WCW World Heavyweight Title win in 1998 came when he controversially ended Goldberg’s undefeated streak in the most dampening and frustrating of ways. To make matters even worse, a week later his loss came in the infamous “Fingerpoke Of Doom” angle.
Nash lay down for Hulk Hogan, who pinned him and won the belt, reuniting the nWo in a move which led to a steep decline for the company.
5 Lex Luger’s World Title Reign Felt Pointless
Luger’s Big Victory Was Tainted By His Reign
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
August 4, 1997 |
5 |
0 |
Lex Luger’s arrival in WCW was a huge turning point for the company, adding unpredictability and a sense of rivalry between WCW and WWE. WCW did what WWE couldn’t, and managed to build Luger up to be a world champion, in a great title win.
Unfortunately for him, one of Nitro’s greatest moments was nullified by Hogan winning the World Heavyweight Championship back just a week later at Road Wild 1997.
4 Randy Savage’s First Reign Was Full Of Non-Finishes In WCW
The Legend Didn’t Have The Best Start In WCW
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
November 26, 1995 |
31 |
3 |
Randy Savage had a point to prove when he arrived in WCW, and the company had the chance to allow him to continue showcasing his worth when he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the very first time.
All three of Savage’s successful title defenses ended in frustrating disqualifications, before he finally lost the gold after just a month to Ric Flair.
3 David Arquette Was An Actor Turned WCW World Champion
One Of The Worst Booking Decisions In WCW History
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
April 25, 2000 |
12 |
1 |
The thinking behind non-wrestler David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was good on paper… oh wait, no it wasn’t, it was not a good idea at all. How it managed to make it out of the writing room is baffling, and it resulted in a travesty of a title reign.
In defense of Arquette, he did as well as he could under the circumstances, but the fact that an actor won the biggest prize in the company was a disaster. At least the ridiculous Triple Cage match was passable.
2 Vince Russo Booked Himself To Win The World Heavyweight Championship
A Reign That Killed The Company
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
September 25, 2000 |
7 |
0 |
Worst than David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Title was Vince Russo, who booked himself to be the “Vince McMahon” of the company by putting the top prize on his shoulder despite being the boss. The difference was that fans were invested in McMahon and the man could actually put a match together – that was not the case with Russo.
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In addition to the bad storylines and booking, WCW also featured a few wrestlers that had some poor names.
Additionally, Russo didn’t even put anyone over when he won the title by accident – he instead relinquished it. This was completely pointless and yet another example of outrageously bad booking.
1 WCW Completely Wasted Sting’s Huge Win Over Hulk Hogan
Sting’s Reign Should Have Been An All-Timer
|
Date Won |
Days Held |
Number Of Successful Televised Defenses |
|---|---|---|
|
December 28, 1997 |
11 |
1 |
The stage was set for one of the best title wins of all time when Sting took on Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 1997. The finish was disastrous, and Sting’s moment was taken. He went on to wrestle to a no contest against Hogan on Nitro before he was stripped of the title anyway.
WCW squandered something magical here. This reign should have been iconic, but instead it is thought of as one of WCW’s worst booking decisions.
