WWE: Ranking Ric Flair's 16 World Title Runs - From Worst To Best

1. NWA World Championship (3rd NWA, 3rd Overall) May 24, 1984 - July 26, 1986

This was undoubtedly Ric Flair at his absolute best. Claiming the championship from Kerry Von Erich in Yokosuka, Japan, just 18 days after losing the championship to him at Texas Stadium, Flair would hold the championship for the next 793 days, The Nature Boy's longest reign, defending it against any and all competition from the NWA and around the globe including Von Erich, Race, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., Barry Windham, Lex Luger, Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba and also wrestling to time limit draws with reigning AWA World Champion Rick Martel during this time, once again in matches not seen by many outside of Asia, before losing the championship to Dusty Rhodes to close out the 1986 Great American Bash tour. While Flair's first two runs with the championship were pocked with controversial losses and archaic rules that kept the belt securely around his waist, this had no such controversy beyond the typical interference on Flair's behalf or time limit draws, no losses to international competition that wasn't recognized by the NWA board, none of that. Just Ric Flair at his absolute best. Flair had established himself as perhaps the biggest name that wasn't Hogan in all of wrestling during this epoch as titlist and set the standard for the cocky, brash, arrogant athlete of today seen only previously by luminaries Gorgeous George, Superstar Billy Graham and boxing heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Perhaps the greatest contribution to wrestling during this interval though was when Flair combined efforts with Tully Blanchard, and Arn and Ole Anderson along with the managerial expertise of James J. Dillon in 1985. By 1986 the group had become known as The Four Horsemen and they would run roughshod over NWA, Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW over the next 15 years. In the stable's infancy the four waged gang warfare on common enemies Dusty Rhodes (breaking Rhodes' ankle in on of the best vignettes in wrestling lore), Magnum T.A., The Road Warrior and The Rock 'n' Roll Express amongst others amassing nearly every major championship available in the NWA during the era. Flair also showed himself to have a gilded tongue, almost every Saturday night Flair's trademark long blond hair, bombastic personality, suits and aviator sunglasses were on television screens across the nation offering attractive ladies rides on Space Mountain in one sentence, promising beatdowns in the next and wrap it all up with bragging about ending the night in a prestigious nightclub or the Las Vegas Strip. This was Flair at his absolute apex, representing the NWA against Hulk Hogan and the Rock 'n' Wrestling era of the WWE, while the battle between the two would be largely dormant save for the occasional bullying by McMahon, it would continue in some way shape or form for the next 17 years and save for a 19-month period in the early 1990s Flair was at the forefront of that battle and would lead the company along with Sting for the company's entirety. There is no thinking of NWA, the championship or WCW without thinking of Flair and this reign is the biggest reason why. Throughout Flair's remarkable career, one that after a 1975 plane crash could have easily never happened, Ric Flair was able to reach the pinnacle of wrestling in both of North America's top wrestling companies headlining both companies' top pay-per-view events a combined 10 times and amassing more recognized World Championships than any other in wrestling history. Ric Flair is the Babe Ruth of professional wrestling, plain and simple. With his career now in its fifth decade these reigns are even more important now as a reminder of Flair's greatness and his well deserved standing as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.