10 Forgotten Ric Flair World Title Reigns

7. To The Victor Goes The Spoils (1983)

Barely a fortnight after regaining the belt from Carlos Colon, Flair would court controversy yet again when he went into battle with another big fish in the WWC pond as he took on Colon’s business partner and fellow WWC promoter, Victor Jovica, this time in the Caribbean heat of Couva, Trinidad.

In a similar turn of events to the Colon incident, details of the bout are sketchy at best with no film footage in existence - at least not in accessible circulation (who’s to know what tapes lie in the darkest corners of the WWC vaults). Nevertheless, first hand accounts from wrestling fans, historians, and even Naitch himself would have you believe that history would repeat itself once more, as another routine defence would spiral out of control leading to yet another unplanned title switch.

In the dying seconds of the match, Jovica had Flair’s shoulders pinned to the mat - albeit under dubious circumstances. Shady finishes aside, when the dust settled on the tropical battlefield, it was the Croatian’s arm that would be raised in victory and Jovica was supposedly even announced as new World Heavyweight Champion at the conclusion of the match, leaving the ring with belt in hand.

Despite emerging from the bout as newly crowned champ, Jovica was stripped of the title three days later in the fallout on account of Jovica’s feet being on the rope during the deciding pinfall. Conflicting reports have since suggested that it actually may have been Flair’s foot that was on the ropes during the pinfall; however, the result remained the same. The title was awarded back to Flair and Jovica’s crowning achievement in the eyes of the wrestling world was stricken from the record books.

Jovica’s reign is not currently recognized by the NWA as a result and Flair’s first reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion remained “officially” uninterrupted.