8 Wrestling Champions That Left For The Other Side

2. Ric Flair As NWA/WCW Champion To WWE

Ric Flair is arguably the greatest World Champion in pro wrestling in the past 40 years. He's got more major World Title reigns than anybody and he was the face of the NWA/WCW for a very long time. Things fell apart for him in the spring of 1991 when WCW's President Jim Herd (a guy that was clueless about wrestling) wanted him to take a pay cut. Flair didn't want to do it, so he signed with WWE in August of 1991. The most interesting thing about Flair's signing was that he was the NWA Heavyweight Champion at the time. He had to pay a deposit on the NWA Title like all champions had to do and he wouldn't give them the title back unless they paid him the $25,000 that he put down. He claims that they never paid it to him. When Flair debuted in WWE on September 9, 1991 he was introduced as the "Real World Champion" by WWE's main heel manager/commentator. They had to digitize the title because of legal issues, but everybody really knew what he was holding. It was a huge coup for WWE to get the World Heavyweight Champion from the rival promotion. It was a great fit for Flair at the start. Four months later, Flair was in the Royal Rumble for the vacant WWE World Title and he won it. Flair called it the greatest moment of his life. The Flair situation was unprecedented. It's unlikely that we'll ever see a situation like that ever again.