20 Biggest Myths WWE Tells About Its History
2. Ric Flair's 16 World Titles
The Myth: Ric Flair won 16 world championships over the course of his illustrious career.
The Truth: In this case, the official figure is no exaggeration. In fact, it woefully undersells Flair’s achievements. By the Nature Boy’s own reckoning, he's been to the top of the mountain more than 20 times.
Flair has, without dispute, the following reigns under his (big gold) belt: NWA World Heavyweight Championship (9 times), WCW World Heavyweight Championship (8 times), WCW International Heavyweight Championship (2 times) and WWE World Heavyweight Championship (2 times). That count places him at 21 world title reigns.
However, there's even more to the story than that. In January and February of 1983, Flair toured the Caribbean, losing his title to Jack Veneno, Carlos Colon, and Victor Jovica. In each case, Flair won back or was awarded the title by the NWA before returning home.
A year later, Flair traded the title back and forth with Harley Race during a tour of the South Pacific, an exchange recognized by WCW but not by NWA or WWE.
Bottom line: no one is really sure how many titles Flair has won. Even if WWE decided to recognize ALL of these reigns, Ric would just bring up the time the NWA sent him to space to trade the title with Moo-Mar of the Moon Men.