10 Times World Champions Invaded WWE

During the debacle that was Jim Herd’s reign as WCW's Executive Vice-President, the notorious Herd truly believed that Ric Flair was over the hill and overpaid. In reality, Flair was simply just over. Blind to this fact, Herd did everything in his power to push Flair away, despite him being WCW Champion at the time.

Herd ultimately fired Flair, leading 'The Nature Boy' to find a new home in the WWF after years of failed negotiations. Crucially, he did so with the “Big Gold Belt” in his possession and Herd’s subsequent refusal to return Flair’s belt deposit (to the tune of $25k) left Ric with the legal right to keep the strap for the time being.

As a result, the “Real World’s Champion” was born. Flair would wear the belt on WWF TV for the remainder of '91. However, WCW eventually issued WWF with a cease and desist letter that spelled the end of the belt on WWF programming. Flair would continue the “Real World’s Champion” gimmick until he won the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble '92 and became the “Real World’s Champion” for real.

In an interesting side note, this wasn’t the first time Flair had entered the WWF wearing rival company gold. In fact, Flair wrestled WWF Champ Bob Backlund in the Omni back in 1982 while Flair himself was NWA Champion at the time. With both titles at stake, the champs fought to a double count out, allowing both men to walk away with their respective titles.