World Championship Wrestling is long dead, but the legacy of the company lives on. The Monday Night Wars changed wrestling forever and WCW was the one to instigating them, creating a legacy that is talked about to this day. The biggest names in professional wrestling worked there in the 1990s, and the list of men to hold the WCW World Heavyweight Championship is chock full of Hall of Fame talent. It can also be said that the belt itself is the most iconic strap in professional wrestling history. Known colloquially the 'Big Gold Belt', it was designed in 1985 and used by the NWA before becoming the major title in WCW from 1991 onwards. It was the first belt to include a plate on which the champion's name was etched, and I would argue that no title in history has screamed 'WORLD CHAMPION' quite as much. Ric Flair was crowned the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion in 1991, and a total of 22 different men would hold it until it ceased to exist in 2001, when Chris Jericho became the first Undisputed Champion. The list of men who held the strap isn't all gold though, with David Arquette and Vince Russo getting runs (along with a total of four reigns for 'Mr. Mediocrity' Jeff Jarrett). A checkered history, maybe, but who had the longest single reigns? Here are the 10 men with the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reigns.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
