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The "Big Gold Belt"

The Big Gold Belt is a nickname given to a famous professional wrestling title belt. It was originally designed on order by Jim Crockett Promotions to give to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. The belt has three gold plates and was the first title to have a name plate into which the current holder's name was etched. The original belt simply stated World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion without indicating any promotion. It has represented and can refer to one or more of the following championships:

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1986 – 1993)
  • From March 21 until May 19, 1991, Tatsumi Fujinami was recognized as NWA Champion following a disputed victory over Ric Flair but Flair retained the belt as WCW Champion.
  • For a short period in the fall of 1991, after he was fired from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Flair wore the belt as the "Real World Champion" in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) both before and after being stripped of the title by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The belt was "by default" the property of Flair as he had a US$25,000 deposit on it when he took the belt with him after being fired from WCW by Jim Herd who refused to pay the deposit back. WCW ultimately bought the belt from Flair.
  • After stripping Flair of the title in September 1991, the title remained vacant until August 1992.
  • The belt represented the NWA Champion again when Flair returned the belt but the belt was now owned by WCW.

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1991)
  • In January 1991, the NWA belt was extended to represent both the NWA title and this newly created title aside from the two months in which Fujinami was recognized as NWA Champion while Flair was WCW Champion. During this period the belt only represented the WCW title.
  • The belt represented the WCW Champion from the title's formation until Flair was fired in July 1991, when a new belt was created and a new champion was crowned.

• WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (1993 – 1994)
  • In September 1993, when WCW left the NWA, the NWA title was rechristened the WCW International World Title.

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1994 – 2001)
  • The belt again became the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1994 in a unification match between WCW International World Title holder Sting and WCW World Champion Flair with Flair emerging victorious. The WCW Championship belt and the WCW International World Championship title were dropped.
  • After the WWF purchased WCW in 2001 the WCW World Heavyweight Championship continued to serve as WCW's main championship during the "Invasion" storyline. After the storyline ended in November the belt was unbranded and was referred to without the WCW name until it was unified with the WWF Championship. Its official lineage subsequently ended with Chris Jericho being the final WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

• WWF/WWE Undisputed Championship (2001 – 2002)
  • Following the unification of the WWF and WCW world titles, the world championship title belts of both promotions were used to represent this title until a new single belt was introduced in April 2002.

• World Heavyweight Championship (WWE) (2002 – Present)
  • The Big Gold Belt, which bore the name of no promotion, was originally used when this title was introduced in September 2002, but was replaced in March 2003 with a new, similar belt that incorporates the WWE logo at the top of the center plate. The championship is currently held by The Undertaker and defended on SmackDown!.

• A replica of this belt with silver plating instead of gold was used in the movie Ready to Rumble and was later used during and after the WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign of actor David Arquette.
• The whereabouts of the original Big Gold Belt is an open case of dispute, as some say that it is in the possession of original holder Ric Flair, while some others say it is in the possession of Hulk Hogan, with Hogan himself claiming, on a Tampa radio station, that he still has it on his wall in his home and that the belt "given" to him at Bash at the Beach 2000 was the original belt.