Best wcw world champion

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Anyone but David Arquette and Vince Russo

[Guest Kagato Otaku]

Vader. Flair never really did anything with the "WCW" belt.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I agree with Vader, unless you include the NWA Belt.  It would be Flair in that case.

[Guest Dark Lotus]

Wow... glad to see I'm not the only one to jump on the Vader bandwagon.  And for the same reasons.

[Guest Midnight Express83]

my ezboard name proves that I am Flair mark. So I will say him. Flair, Sting, and Vader were great champions but were booked so crappy. But Flair did win it out for me by having a fued for the title with Sting and Steamboat.

[Guest theWCWRaider]

I've always been a Sting mark, so just out of bias I'll say Sting.

 

However, I think his runs with the title were always poorly booked...so if I'm going to make a nonbias pick, it would be Vader.

[Guest Tony149]

Sting was always booked bad with the title. I voted for Flair since I'm a huge Flair & 4 Horsemen mark. But, Vader did a lot of the WCW Title so in a non biased vote...I would vote for Vader.

[Guest Sting Fanatic]

This is a really tricky subject.  In my opinion, you could easily dissect this in three or four ways.

 

WCW's Best Wrestler of the 90's - Definitely, without a doubt, nobody has done more for WCW and been more over with the crowd than Sting.  He was and he will always be known as Mr. WCW.  As a World Heavyweight Champion, Sting never got his chance to shine.  Only two of his World Heavyweight Title reigns were lengthy (one was his NWA World Heavyweight Title from July '90 to January '91; two was his WCW World Heavyweight Title from February '92 to July '92).  Both reigns did have their high points (title defenses against Flair in '90; matches with Vader, Rick Rude, and Cactus Jack in '92), but they did have some lowpoints (Black Scorpion, but thats been beat to death, in '90; being injured throughout April in '92).  I think had Sting been given established reigns and strong feuds during THOSE two reigns, he would have drawed in huge crowds.  Of course, the torn patella tendon really put a nail in his shoes.  He never got to develop the way he should have as a wrestler (I think he was becoming capable of having great matches with about anybody prior to the injury), and it really hurt his heat.

 

Best World Heavyweight Championship reign in WCW - Vader, March '93 to December '93.  Vader was truely the most dominating heel EVER in my opinion from April '92 all the way to early '95.  Specifically this title reign showcased the big man beautifully.  Coming off a BRUTAL Strap Match at Super Brawl III with Sting, Vader did lose his second WHT in March to Sting.  Vader did regain the belt, and go on to keep the belt for 8-9 months.  He held off challenges from Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Cactus Jack, and even Rick Rude.  It finally took  Flair to lift the belt to end this excellent title reign.

 

Best World Heavyweight Champion in WCW - Ric Flair, period.  Flair had three very successful title reigns as WCW World Heavyweight Champion.  The first was from January '91 to July '91.  Although he never had a major challenger to feud with, he did have some great matches with Scott Steiner, Brian Pillman, and Bobby Eaton.  The second title reign I speak of was from December '93 until July '94.  This was possibly one of Flair's best title reigns in his entire career.  He fought Vader off and retained the title, he renewed his feud with Ricky Steamboat (which produced another 3-4 great matches), and he had his best match with Sting post-1990.  It took Hogan's entrance to ruin this reign.  The third reign was in early '96 as he feuded with Randy Savage primarily.

[Guest Tony149]

Yeah, Flair had a great run in Dec. 93-July '94. WCW also had a RED HOT product going. Then Hogan came in. He beat on Flair, Sting got lost, etc.

[Guest SSVideo]

I'm gonna have to go with vader, of course he is much better in Japan but I think his wcw title reign was a good one compared to the list, maybe ric was a good wrestler but as wcw champion?

[Guest SSVideo]

some opinions...  

Bret Hart (sucked in wcw)

Jeff Jarrett  (only won because of russo)

Booker T (only won because of russo, didn't like any of his title wins)

Scott Steiner (bad time to hold a title in wcw but still was good)

[Guest Tony149]

Jarrett would of gotten a run with the WCW Title with or without Russo. Although, Russo being his friend did help. I think J.J. was going to get the title in Jan. or Feb. 2000 (This was when Russo was removed and Benoit decided to leave), but his dad told him don't accept the belt. Jeff ended up getting it in April.

 

Scott Steiner could of been a monstor World Champion. He looks like a killer.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Isn't it interesting that the only guys getting serious conseideration came from the pre-Hulk Hogan era of WCW?

 

Vader...all the way.

[Guest Tony149]

Isn't it interesting that the only guys getting serious conseideration came from the pre-Hulk Hogan era of WCW?

 

There's probably a good reason why. Most smarks love wrestling matches. Flair, Sting & Vader were all able to have great matches. Oddly enough those three men had some great matches with each other. Hogan comes in and brings his buddies with him ie. Beefcake. Hogan gets the title and has horrible matches, hurts/tries to hurt guys careers ie. Vader & Flair, guys start leaving ie. Foley, Austin, HHH, etc.

All three end up becoming stars for Vince.

[Guest Sting Fanatic]

Its not necessarily because of who was Champion after the Hogan Era of '94-'95.  It is more of a matter that we were not given a serious Champion that was used in attempt to draw money.  Once the NWO had started and the money was rolling in and the ratings were high, the mentality changed.

 

WCW didn't book feuds and matches and angles to draw money or make another big star.

 

They just wanted to win the ratings battle for that week.

 

Once they saw that their flash in the pan tactics only worked for a week or so up to the point where they never won the ratings battle again, WCW took the mentality of "Hey, we beat McMahon for 2 years!  Let's celebrate!  We knew he'd have us in the sh*tter again soon enough!"

 

Honestly, does that not make sense to you all?

 

The only wrestler WCW even attempted to build with was Goldberg.  And other than a great match with DDP @ Havoc '98, they never did a damn thing to get him over any more past the initial huge push.

 

The rest of the title reigns were all week to a month ones.  No chance to get over like that.

[Guest J*ingus]

Jingus's exhaustive (as in, "man I'm tired of him doing these damn things) poll analysis:

 

Ric Flair: The Man suffered badly once Hogan came in, but in '91 and '93 quite literally saved the company with his main event runs.  Not as big a draw as he was in the 80's, but still great in the ring & on the mic.  

 

Sting: inconsistent.  Would have an awesome match one night, a real dog the next.  Never had a really good title run, was regularly sabotaged by politics.  Notable for being the only man in history to win a World title from Hogan more than once.  

 

Vader: the epitome of the monster heel champion, and the only one to be booked well pre-HHH.  Great matches, not-so-great promos, but he was the glue that helped hold the company together during some of the dark times.  

 

Hulk Hogan: not bad in small doses, but had a tendency to grab the belt and sit on it for MONTHS while doing absolutely nothing.  Refusing to ever cleanly job the belt didn't help either.  Lazy lazy lazy in the ring 95% of the time.  

 

Goldberg: had exactly 2 good matches during his championship run (Hogan and DDP).  Not bad at first, always got a great crowd reaction, and showed decent rookie potential in-ring, but never got the title back after being derailed by:

 

Kevin Nash: unforgivably bad matches with everyone he faced, not even DDP could pull anything out of him.  Really bad feuds and angles, booked by himself.  Finger poke of doom tarnished the belt.  Worthless.  

 

Bret Hart: didn't even have the belt for two months.  Decent matches, but not up to his old standards.  nWo leader role could've been interesting if it weren't for Stiffberg.  

 

Jeff Jarrett: well, he tried his damndest, and had decent matches with DDP and Booker, but by then WCW was going to hell in a handbasket and Double J didn't have what it took to turn it around.  Winning the title at one point with David Arquette's swerve didn't help.  

 

Booker T: emergency champion used when they just didn't have anyone else.  Not bad in the ring, but not as great as some claim him to be.  Had a couple of decent little feuds, but Turnerland was on life support at that point and everything looked bad.  

 

Scott Steiner: see Booker T.  Built up well as a monster heel, but it was too late.  Possessed mere shadow of his former in-ring ability, but still performed pretty well considering his physical condition.  

 

Unlisted: The Giant (really green, never should've been champion), Benoit (one night only, doesn't really count), Sid (another emergency champion, but was good enough, he didn't sink the ship any further), DDP (underrated, had good matches, but never had the belt for long, usually won & lost it in screwy ways), and Lex Luger (decent matches, Lex didn't used to suck, but booked poorly).  

 

Unmentionable: Arquette (stupidity), Russo (vanity).

[Guest Some Guy]

Gotta go with Vader with Flair at a very close second.

 

As bad as WCW tanked at the end.  Their last few  world champs at least busted their asses and thats why i think rather than nWo Vince should get Steiner, Jarrett, and seriously push Booker and maybe DDP.

[Guest dreamer420]

I have to go with Flair on this one.  When I think of the WCW title I think of Flair, but I would put Vader and Sting in as numbers 2 and 3.

[Guest fouronthefloor77]

I picked Vader,He was such a great dominant heel who could forget about all the brutal matches with Sting,Koloff,Cactus Jack.

And who could forget when he broke Joe Thurmans back.

[Guest Tony149]

Did Vader really break his back? I thought it was an angle. What happen to that jobber?

[Guest fouronthefloor77]

I think Mick Foley talked about it in his book,I think he eventually recovered,They showed it on TV it looked legit they took the bottom ringrope off to get him out of the ring,Foley said Vader was crying afterwards

[Guest Drury37]

What about Ron Simmons?!?!I voted for Sting because he was always my favorite in WCW,but Vader would be tied for second with Ric Flair.

Thanks.