10 Forgotten Ric Flair World Title Reigns
4. NWA Confusion (1991)
As if things weren’t confusing enough, here’s where things get really tricky.
To recap, Naitch took possession of the NWA Championship while simultaneously taking the title of WCW Heavyweight Champion when he won the belt from Sting in January of ‘91. Flair’s win over 'The Stinger' was cited as the first official WCW Title reign and the lineage of the WCW Championship began.
However, Naitch would go on to lose the NWA Heavyweight Championship to Tatsumi Fujinami on 21 March 1991 under confusing 'Dusty Finish' circumstances in Tokyo, muddying the waters of the dual championship reigns. As such, Flair would leave Japan no longer the NWA Champion yet still be recognised as WCW Champion, marking the first time the two titles had been openly distinguished as separate title entities.
Naitch would regain his NWA Heavyweight Championship by defeating Fujinami at SuperBrawl I on 19 May 1991. What’s noticeably bizarre about this part of the title history is that WWE currently recognises Fujinami’s championship victory yet discounts Flair’s reclamation of the same title. Nevertheless, Flair was once again a dual champion and all was momentarily right with the world atop Space Mountain.
Unfortunately for Flair, he would soon find himself stripped of the WCW Championship on 1 July 1991, following his infamous disagreement with Jim Herd; culminating in Herd firing the reigning champ and gifting the WWF both the 'Nature Boy' and the WCW belt itself in the process. Meanwhile, Flair was still considered the World’s Heavyweight Champion by the NWA despite being stripped of the WCW Championship by Herd on his way out the door. Still with us?
Flair would continue on as NWA Champ post-departure from WCW. However, his subsequent dealings with the WWF would throw yet another spanner in the works, leading the NWA’s top brass to eventually take a similar course of action. With a strict policy in place that prevented their champion from joining the non-NWA affiliated World Wrestling Federation, Flair’s imminent arrival in New York would see him also stripped of his beloved NWA Title on 8 September 1991, when he officially joined Vinnie Mac and co. in Titan Towers.
On a side note, the NWA’s dethroning of Flair marked the first time the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship was officially declared vacant in its 43 year history. The NWA Title would remain unclaimed for an astonishing 11 months, until a tournament was held to crown a new champ in the summer of 1992. Masahiro Chono would eventually defeat 'Ravishing' Rick Rude in the final of the G1 Climax to claim the revived NWA Championship in August.