10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Ric Flair

4. He Carried Around The "Real World Title" Upon His WWE Debut

Ric Flair debuted in WWE on September 9, 1991 on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling. He was introduced in grand fashion by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who was a famous heel manager in WWE that was also known as one of the announcers. Heenan teased Flair's debut for weeks. They made it a big deal when Flair showed up. What was interesting was that Heenan held the NWA/WCW World Title in his hands. Flair was the WCW World Champion when he left the company in the summer of 1991. At the time, a champion had to put down a $25,000 deposit. They did that because if something happened to the title then the company would use the money put down to buy a new one. Once the person lost the title to another performer, they got their money back. Since Flair didn't drop the WCW Title to anybody, he took it to WWE when he debuted over there. There were times when WWE digitized (or blurred out) the WCW Title. Flair was within his legal rights to take the title onto WWE TV because he never got his deposit back, but WWE decided to digitize it as a way to add to the story that they brought in a World Champion to the company. Did it upset WWE? Of course. They couldn't do anything about it, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ggDRV5Rj4 As mentioned earlier, Flair ended up winning the vacant WWE Title at Royal Rumble 1992. It was WWE's way of rewarding him for not only being a great talent, but proving his loyalty by bringing the NWA/WCW Title to them. The "Real World Title" ended up being a big deal when Flair first showed up, but once he was established in WWE it went away. In the 2008 DVD about his career, Flair claims that he never got his money from WCW. Triple H said that Flair gave the WCW Title to him, so it's likely in WWE offices somewhere these days.