10 Bizarre WCW Stats, Facts And Coincidences That Really Happened

7. There Were More World Title Changes In 1999-2001 Than The Whole Of 1991-1998

The Big Gold Belt was once the most prestigious title in all of pro wrestling, with it being the focal point in historic moments in WCW. Ric Flair, regarded as ‘The Greatest Wrestler Of All Time’ to many fans and critics and fellow wrestlers, was crowned the first WCW World Champion. Ron Simmons led the charge in being the first African-American to win a world title with it. Hollywood Hogan spray painted ‘nWo’ over the belt that proved to be so iconic and popular replicas of it still sell very well on WWE Shop today.

But its long-standing prestige was thoroughly watered-down near the turn of the century. Including vacancies, the World Heavyweight Championship changed hands 39 times in WCW’s final two years of being in business (from the start of 1999 onwards) compared to the 30 times it swapped hands in its first 8 years (from 1991-1998). This was due in part to the abundance of ego and lack of creative vision in the company and hiring Vince Russo to be their head booker, hence the constant twists and turns in storylines and mistakenly thinking the shock factor of the WCW World title changing so many times would equal ratings and PPV buys.

When WCW was circling the drain in 2000 the belt was subjected to some truly terrible moments in a rapid period of time, like the Fingerpoke of Doom and the Bash at the Beach (2000) incident along with the likes of David Arquette and even Vince Russo winning it. It became a joke, with Chris Benoit going so far as to discard it one day after he won it as he was heading out of the door for the WWF.