10 Most Prestigious Wrestling Championship Belts Ever
7. The Original NWA World Heavyweight Championship (NWA)
Date established: 5 January, 1948 # Of Reigns: 90 Wrestler with Most Reigns: Ric Flair (10, but only 9 recognized by NWA) Longest Reign: Lou Thesz (1,941 Days) Shortest Reign: Shane Douglas (he immediately threw the belt down, and claimed the ECW World Championship instead) A controversial entry to be sure, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was once THE belt. No matter how many promotions branched away from the NWA and created their own titles, for a long time this still the original World Championship that everyone recognized as the true World Championship. Many of the early greats who pioneered professional wrestling in the United States competed for this belt, and while many territories had their own regional equivalent of this belt, the true World Champion, who would tour the territories and defend it whenever and wherever possible, was widely respected as the best of the best. Among the most impressive NWA World Champions include Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Dory Funk, and of course, the legendary Ric Flair. When these wrestlers World Championship reigns are mentioned, theyre almost always referencing their NWA World Championship reigns. Its rare for a company like WWE to reference any World Champion other than their own, so that alone speaks to the historic value and prestige of this belt. However, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the NWA and its World Championship had fallen in terms of prestige. Many companies broke away from the NWA, including WWWF, WCW, and later TNA. Each time, the departing promotion had the World Title, which led to its devaluing, as those defecting champions would almost always be crowned with a new company-specific World Championship, and would thus discard the NWA title. These days, the NWA World title is all but forgotten. The current champion is Hiroyoshi Tenzan, a New Japan mainstay, and the NWA title is very much an indies title. When looking at this belts history, most people look to its glory years when those heavyweights (pun intended) carried the belt, and presented it as though it were the one and only real World Championship.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
