NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Championship, 1990s

• National Wrestling Alliance (1948-1991; 1992-today)
• World Championship Wrestling (1991-2001)

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No.	Champion	Date won	Location	Reign	Event	Note
41	Sting	90/07/07	Baltimore, MD	188 d	'90
WCW1/NWA42	Ric Flair [NWA9]	91/01/11	East Rutherford, NJ	NWA: 69 d WCW: 171 d
NWA 43*	Tatsumi Fujinami	91/03/21	Tokyo, JAPAN	59 d	WCW/New Japan Supershow
NWA 44*	Ric Flair [NWA10]	91/05/19	St. Petersburg, FL	112 d	SuperBrawl	9
*These two changes not recognized in WCW. Both WCW and NWA Titles Vacant/WCW title followed from this point on. NWA Title revived in 1992
WCW2	Lex Luger	91/07/14	Baltimore, MD	230 d	The Great American Bash '91	10
3	Sting	92/02/29	Milwaukee, WI	134 d	SuperBrawl II
4	Big Van Vader	92/07/12	Albany, GA	21 d	The Great American Bash '92
5	Ron Simmons	92/08/02	Baltimore, MD	150 d
6	Big Van Vader [2]	92/12/30	Baltimore, MD	71 d
7	Sting [2]	93/03/11	London, ENGLAND	6 d
8	Big Van Vader/Vader [3]	93/03/17	Dublin, IRELAND	285 d
9	Ric Flair [2]	93/12/27	Charlotte, NC	111 d	Starrcade '93	11
	VACANT	94/04/17
10	Ric Flair [3]	94/04/24	Atlanta, GA	84 d		12
11	Hulk Hogan	94/07/17	Orlando, FL	469 d	Bash at the Beach '94
12	The Giant (Paul Wight)	95/10/29	Detroit, MI	8 d	Halloween Havoc '95	13
	VACANT	95/11/06
13	Randy Savage	95/11/26	Norfolk, VA	31 d	World War 3 '95	14
14	Ric Flair [4]	95/12/27	Nashville, TN	26 d	Starrcade '95
15	Randy Savage [2]	96/01/22	Las Vegas, NV	20 d
16	Ric Flair [5]	96/02/11	St. Petersburg, FL	71 d	SuperBrawl VI
17	The Giant [2]	96/04/22	Albany, GA	110 d
18	Hulk Hogan [2]	96/08/10	Sturgis, SD	359 d	Hogg Wild '96
19	Lex Luger [2]	97/08/04	Auburn Hills, MI	5 d
20	Hulk Hogan [3]	97/08/09	Sturgis, SD	141 d	Road Wild '97
21	Sting [3]	97/12/28	Washington, DC	11 d	Starrcade '97	15
	VACANT	98/01/08	Daytona Beach, FL
22	Sting [4]	98/02/22	San Francisco, CA	56 d	SuperBrawl VIII	16
23	Randy Savage [3]	98/04/19	Denver, CO	1 d	Spring Stampede '98
24	Hulk Hogan [4]	98/04/20	Colorado Springs, CO	77 d
25	Bill Goldberg	98/07/06	Atlanta, GA	174 d	Monday Nitro
26	Kevin Nash	98/12/27	Washington, DC	8 d	Starrcade '98
27	Hulk Hogan [5]	99/01/04	Atlanta, GA	69 d	Monday Nitro
28	Ric Flair [6]	99/03/14	Louisville, KY	28 d	Uncensored '99
29	Diamond Dallas Page	99/04/11	Tacoma, WA	15 d	Spring Stampede '99	17
30	Sting [5]	99/04/26	Fargo, ND	0 d
31	Diamond Dallas Page [2]	99/04/26	Fargo, ND	13 d		18
32	Kevin Nash [2]	99/05/09	St. Louis, MO	63 d	Slamboree '99
33	Randy Savage [4]	99/07/11	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	1 d	Bash at the Bash '99	19
31	Hulk Hogan [6]	99/07/12	Jacksonville, FL	62 d
32	Sting [6]	99/09/12	Winston-Salem, NC	43 d	Fall Brawl '99	20
	VACANT	99/10/25
33	Bret Hart	99/11/21	Toronto, ON	29 d	Mayhem '99	21
	VACANT	99/12/20
34	Bret Hart [2]	99/12/20	Baltimore, MD	27 d		22

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Notes:

WCW/NWA distinction: At this point in history, WCW was trying to establish itself as seperate from the NWA, although the "WCW World Title" defended by Flair was still technically the NWA World Title. When defending against IWGP's Tatsumi Fujinami, the following events occured (courtesy of "1991, The Year in Wrestling"):

Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami fought a brutally stiff, 20+ minute contest that saw the advantage switch sides on numerous occasions. At the twenty minute mark, things turned strange though... Each federation had one of their own referees at ringside, with the primary referee being from New Japan and the secondary referee being from WCW (Bill Alphonso). At the 21:00 minute mark, the U.S. referee was bumped as Fujinami rushed Ric Flair. Flair ducked, inadvertently knocking Fujinami over the top rope. The outside referee DQ'd Flair for throwing Fujinami over the top rope, BUT the match continued. One minute later, Tatsumi cradled Ric Flair for a three-count. This is where things got complicated. While Ric Flair and WCW only used one belt, the WCW belt was still in actuality two separate titles (WCW and NWA). WCW rules dictate a DQ if an opponent is thrown over the top rope, but National Wrestling Alliance rules do not. Therefore, Fujinami had won the NWA title when he pinned Flair, but had not won the WCW title (due to the DQ).

Hence, from now on, the WCW and NWA World titles were two distinct entities, even after Flair regained the NWA title on 91/05/19 while still WCW Champion.

9. Fired from WCW and stripped of WCW Title on July 1, 1991. Stripped of NWA Title on 91/09/08 when Flair signs with WWF, where he claims the "Real World Heavyweight Title"; NWA World Heavyweight Title is vacant for the first time in its history; Flair wins WWF World Heavyweight Title on 92/01/19 in Albany, NY; some reports say Lex Luger, who has won the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Title by defeating Barry Windham on 91/07/14 in Baltimore, MD, is briefly given recognition as NWA World champion by the NWA board, controlled by WCW Vice President Jim Herd; Luger is not recognized by NWA as a former champion.

10. Defeats Barry Windham.

11. Title held-up after a match against Ricky Steamboat on 94/04/17 in Rosemont, IL ends as a double pin.

12. Defeats Steamboat in rematch; unifies "WCW International" World title, defeating Sting on 94/06/23 in Charleston, SC.

13. Wins via DQ; Jimmy Hart, Hogan's manager, signed the contract so that the title change hands via DQ; stripped on 95/11/06 when WCW claims decision was dubious.

14. Wins a 60-man, 3-ring battle royal, eliminating One Man Gang; Hulk Hogan was not thrown over the top rope, but referee Randy Anderson, believing Hogan was in fact eliminated, awarded the match to Savage after Gang was eliminated.

15. Declared vacant on 98/01/08 in Daytona Beach, FL by J.J. Dillon, the chairman of WCW Executive Committee, because of the controversial endings at the 97/12/28 card in Washington, DC and the 97/12/29 card in Baltimore, MD.

16. Defeats Hulk Hogan.

17. Defeats Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Sting in a Four Corners match in which whoever gets the pin from anybody wins the title.

18. Defeats Sting, Kevin Nash, and Bill Goldberg in a Four Way match.

19. Teams with Sid Vicious in a tag team match and pins Nash, who teams with Sting.

20. Declared vacant on 99/10/25. Goldberg had been announced as new champion after beating Sting is what was billed as a non-title match and Sting attacked WCW referee Charles Robinson the previous night.

21. Defeats Chris Benoit in 32-man tournament final; vacates on 99/12/20 after title defense against Bill Goldberg on 99/12/19 in Washington, DC ends in a controversy.

22. Defeats Bill Goldberg; stripped on 2000/01/16 due to injury.

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