10 Things You Didn't Know About The NWA World Heavyweight Championship

3. Dusty & Cody Rhodes Are The First Father And Son Combination To Hold The Title

Cody Ron Killings
WWE.com

Though the title has more history than almost any in the industry, Cody really did set a brand spanking new record with the strap upon upending Nick Aldis at ALL IN.

Cody and Big Daddy Dusty became legitimately the first ever father-and-son pairing to claim the prize. Numerous second generation opportunities have presented themselves (and its likely even more will should Cody salvage its relevance for future generations of performers) but somehow, famous fathers and shambolic sons such as Fritz Von Erich and David Flair respectively never did reps with the ‘10 Pounds Of Gold’.

It's one of the great inter-generational wrestling stories, and it's even more impressive that it happened over 20 years after it seemed destined to. Dustin Rhodes was an (over)pushed commodity underneath his father in early-1991 WCW, but when Ric Flair departed for WWE, he inadvertently took away the future Goldust's opportunity for some nepotistic glory. Rhodes' troubled tenures in TNA throughout the mid-2000s never saw him positioned as a realistic threat to the prize, whilst Cody's own job security within WWE made the events of the last few years little more than an internet forum pipe dream.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett