In November 1988, Turner Broadcasting purchased Jim Crockett Promotions, which had promoted under the name "NWA World Championship Wrestling". While the promotion remained a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, the use of the NWA name was gradually reduced on televised programming, in favor of the name "World Championship Wrestling", or "WCW". On January 11, 1991, Ric Flair defeated Sting to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and was recognized as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The new championship was not initially represented by its own title belt, and WCW continued to use the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title belt. Because of this, WCW regularly claimed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship lineage for its own championship.
Separate championship
On July 1, 1991, a creative disagreement with WCW Executive Vice PresidentJim Herd led to Flair leaving WCW for Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation. When Herd refused to return Flair's $25,000 deposit, Flair kept the "Big Gold Belt" that had represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. A new belt was ordered, but was not ready in time for The Great American Bash on July 14. WCW was forced to use a belt owned by Dusty Rhodes from the defunct Championship Wrestling from Florida with a gold-colored plate tacked on with the words "WCW World Heavyweight Champion", which was awarded to Lex Luger after he defeated Barry Windham in a cage match for the vacant championship. The new belt appeared shortly after the event. In 1992, the Big Gold Belt was used for the revived NWA World Heavyweight Championship, a co-promotional gimmick between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. In September 1993, WCW left the NWA for good over a dispute regarding the other NWA members demanding that NWA world champion be available for booking, and due to the use of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on syndicated programming recorded months in advance. By fall 1993, Rick Rude was appearing at the "Disney Tapings" as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, despite the fact that in regards to the storyline, Flair, who had returned to WCW and regained the NWA title, was still champion. After leaving the NWA, WCW kept the Big Gold Belt, and it was renamed the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.
Unification
At Starrcade in December 1993, Flair won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Vader. WCW decided to unify the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and International Championship, by having Flair wrestle Sting in June 1994. Flair won and unified the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. The unified championship retained the lineage of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, while the International Championship was retired. The belt design used from mid-1991 to mid-1994 to represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was dropped in favor of keeping the "Big Gold Belt", which had originally represented the title when it was established in January 1991. During Hollywood Hogan's runs as champion in 1996–1997 and again in 1998–1999, as part of the New World Order storyline, the title was spray painted each time with the "nWo" initials in black and often announced during Hogan's title defenses as the nWo/WCW World Heavyweight Championship, while referred to by nWo members only as the nWo World Heavyweight Championship. Similarly, red paint was used for the nWo Wolfpack.
Acquisition by the WWF
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased the assets of World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place and four of WCW's championships were defended on WWF programming including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which became known as the "WCW Championship". The WWF carried over the title, along with the United States Heavyweight Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, and the WCW Tag Team Championship. After the "Invasion" concluded at Survivor Series in 2001, the title was rebranded as the "World Championship" effectively making The Rock the last official WCW Champion. The title was then unified with the WWF Championship at Vengeance, where Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the World Championship and the WWF Championship respectively. As a result, Jericho was the last World Champion, and he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion. The title would later be reintroduced by Eric Bischoff as the World Heavyweight Championship, where it remained Monday Night Raw's exclusive title for several years following WWE's brand split.
