10 Greatest WCW Champions Ever

10. Ricky Steamboat

Until last year, Ricky Steamboat's 1989 World Heavyweight Title trilogy with Ric Flair was considered the greatest in the history of the industry. Only Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada's instantly iconic series has even came close to it.

Harnessing their consummate babyface/heel dynamic, 'The Nature Boy' and 'The Dragon's opposites attracted like few other pairings; The working class hero and the obnoxious braggart. The technical master and the shortcut maestro. The family man and the 'the styling, profiling, limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, WOOOO wheeling dealing son-of-a-gun'.

Steamboat's grace made him a perfect pitch for a title switch as World Championship Wrestling tried to forge an identity away from the era of the National Wrestling Alliance so heavily defined by Flair. Always destined to drop the title back to 'Slick Ric' at the conclusion of the series, Steamboat's selfless and evocative selling ultimately drew sympathy for his foe as they arrived at their final battle at May's WrestleWar, triggering a Flair babyface turn for his next feud with Terry Funk. Few could have handled the delicate nuances of the booking quite so well.