WWE: The History of the World Heavyweight Championship

This is the match listings for the upcoming WWE "History of the World Heavyweight Championship" DVD:

Disc 1: Documentary & NWA Matches

Chapters:
*Origins of Wrestling
*"An American Hero" Frank Gotch
*Ed "Strangler" Lewis
*National Wrestling Alliance
*Lou Thesz
*Buddy Rogers
*New Breed of Champions
*1970s World Champions
*A Flair for the Gold
*Crockett's World Champion
*NWA to WCW
*WCW Withdraws From NWA
*Revolving WCW Champions
*The Undisputed Championship*World Championship Returns
*Legacy Lives

Matches
*Chicago 1961 - 2 out of 3 Falls: Pat O'Connor vs. Buddy Rogers
*Florida 2/11/69 - Gene Kiniski vs. Dory Funk Jr.
*Florida 12/10/75 - Jack Brisco vs. Terry Funk
*Florida 8/21/79 - Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes
*AWA SuperClash - Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA
*Great American Bash '90 - Ric Flair vs. Sting

Disc 2 - WCW

*Clash of Champions XIV - Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner
*Great American Bash '91 - Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham
*Baltimore 8/2/92 - Vader vs. Ron Simmons
*WCW SaturdayNight 10/16/93 - Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat
*Halloween Havoc '94 - Career vs. Career Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
*SuperBrawl VIII - Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
*Nitro 7/6/98 - Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg
*Bash at the Beach '00 - Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T
*No Mercy '01 - The Rock vs. Chris Jericho

Disc 3 - WWE
*Unforgiven '02 - Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam
*Taboo Tuesday '04 - Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels
*No Way Out '06 - Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker
*SmackDown 4/7/06 - Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton
*Armageddon '07 - Batista vs. Undertaker vs. Edge
*Survivor Series '08 - John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
*Extreme Rules '09 - Ladder Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge

You can call it the NWA Championship, the WCW Championship, and depending on what show it's on...you can call it the RAW/SmackDown Championship but either way, this belt was always the World Heavyweight Championship. This presentation is different than any other "History Of..." DVD set regarding a championship in that you get a documentry highlighting the history of the championship complete with rare archival footage & facts along with three disc of matches highlighting the championships history through it's top three promotions in NWA, WCW, and WWE. Throughout the documentry, you'll hear from current WWE talent/employees such as John Cena, Batista, Edge, C.M. Punk, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Triple H, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, and Jim Ross. The special treat is that you'll also hear from people that you normally don't hear from (including some archival interviews) like the former NWA President Bob Sigel, Bill Watts, Mae Young, Larry Hennig, Jim Crockett, Lou Thesz, Jack Brisco, Mike Chapman who is the head of the International Wrestling Institute & Museum, Verne Gagne, Fabulous Moolah, Bobby Heenan, Gene Kiniski, Cheif Jay Strongbow, Dory & Terry Funk, Mike Graham, Goldberg, Jim Cornette, Eric Bischoff, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Ron Simmons, and of course Ric Flair.

The documentry starts off talking about how far back wrestling goes to the point where it's mentioned in the Bible to former U.S. President Abe Lincoln was once a wrestler to the first World Champion in Frank Hackenschmidt. "The American Hero" Frank Gotch was talked about next including stories about how he would wrestle for over 2 hours & was the man who inspired wrestling to be taught in high schools & YMCA's. The championship reign of Ed "The Strangler" Lewis was highlighted by stories of how he was a celebrity in the 1920's and even once wrestled a match that went over 5 hours long (yes, 5 hours...300+ minutes!) that resulted in referees passing out, no audience by the time the match was over, him in the hospitial for two days, and how that started to change the perspective of wrestling at that time into what we would know today as "sports entertainment". The story behind the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance was discussed before going into the great Lou Thesz' record long NWA Championship reign, how he carried himself as a champion, and just how much of a celebrity he was. Buddy Rogers, the original "Nature Boy", and how he set a record for his title victory & what he brought to wrestling that changed the image of what a World Champion was is talked about before discussing the next series of champions & stories about their championship reigns like Gene Kiniski with a funny story of how he lost the championship, the tough Harley Race, Jack Brisco becoming the first Native American NWA Champion & the heavy toll being the champion took on him, and the only brothers to hold the championship in Dory Jr. & Terry Funk. How Starrcade '83 marked a new era in the history of the NWA with Ric Flair becoming champion was discussed next talking about how Flair was in high demand everywhere & his feuds with Dusty Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat before going into the story behind how Jim Crockett Promotions going bankrupt led to Ric Flair showing up on WWE TV with the championship. From there, the talk goes into the various champions during WCW's history such as Ron Simmons being the first African American champion, the big & agile Vader (listen to Jericho's comments about Vader), and WCW's posterboy in Sting. How the Monday Night War with WWE caused the WCW Championship to have more requent changes with some being more dubious than others (Vince Russo, David Arquette, Sid Vicious, Jeff Jarrett) before discussing various WCW Champions during that time like Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Giant winning the title in his first match, how Diamond Dallas Page felt like he was winning the Oscar, Goldberg, and Booker T closing out the company as champion. The story behind the WCW Championship coming to WWE and later being unified into the Undisputed WWE Championship is discussed before closing out the documentry talking about Eric Bischoff bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back and highlighting the various champions in the WWE era such as Randy Orton being the youngest champion, Mysterio being the smallest, C.M. Punk, Edge, Batista, Undertaker, and John Cena.

Matches Include:
NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Magnum T.A. - This was a very competitive match that went back & forth between both men with Magnum overpowering & outwrestilng Flair early before Flair regained the advantage & heavily worked over his arm. Flair ended up bleeding at one point before just squeeking past Magnum.
AWA SuperClash '85

NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Sting - This was the big return of Sting after his leg injury early in the year looking for revenge against the man who kicked him out of the Horsemen & had him get injured later that night. To insure a fair fight, Sting's group of friends called "Dudes With Attitudes" surrounded the ring to ensure the Horsemen wouldn't interfere while Ole Anderson was handcuffed on the rampway to El Gigante. Sting took the fight right to Flair & dominated him in the early going showing no signs of ringrust. Eventhough Flair heavily targeted his knee, Sting kept coming back & fighting off Flair's attack before Sting won his first ever World Championship.
NWA Great American Bash '91
(Bonus match on "WWE Great American Bash '06")

NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner - Over seven years before he became a full time singles wrestler under the name "Big Poppa Pump", Scott Steiner got a one on one match here against the Nature Boy & seriously didn't look out of place one time eventhough he was a full time tag team wrestler with Rick, who was at ringside, at this time. Steiner kept using his superior power against Flair and went the distance here against the champion in this heavily impressive performance.
"WCW Clash Of The Champions" Jan. '91

WCW Championship Match: Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham - This was one of the most famous matches in the history of the World Heavyweight Championship...for all the wrong reasons. This match was to determine the new WCW Champion after Ric Flair left the company a short time earlier and the crowd didn't approve of this as they kept chanting throughout this match "We Want Flair!" There was tons of stalling between both men during the first half of the match and never left first gear until the end with Luger doing unfamilar moves like the DDT & a sleeper while both men tried to come off the top rope at one point. In the end, Luger left with not only the World Championship but also a new unexpected manager & bodyguard.
WCW Great American Bash '91

WCW Champion Vader vs. Ron Simmons - The story behind this match was that this was originally suppost to be Sting's rematch against Vader from the "Great American Bash" but after Sting was attacked by Jake Roberts earlier in the evening, Ron Simmons got the title shot. Simmons in this match was defined perfectly by Jim Ross, "going off power & determination." He went power for power against Vader resulting in the first ever african-american World Heavyweight Champion.
Aug. '92

Human Cage Match: WCW Champion Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat - Eventhough this match was given a fancy name, it's really just a lumberjack match. Steamboat & Vader's different styles clashed her as Vader used his power & weight while Steamboat heavily relied on his martial arts chops & kicks along with various splashes onto Vader's ribs. This was a really average match that wasn't bad but nothing I would honestly concider DVD worthy when showcasing the history of this championship.
"WCW Saturday Night" Oct. '93

Steel Cage Match: WCW Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - This was the third match in their series as Hogan won at Bash At The Beach while Flair won the rematch at "Clash Of The Champions" by countout so to ensure this was the final match, this was also a career ending match for the loser. Mr. T was the referee while celebrities like Muhammed Ali & Tommy "Hitman" Herns were at ringside along with Sting. Flair worked over Hogan's bad leg while Hogan came off very aggressive to the point where T had to keep acknowledging Hogan to back off which kept causing conflict between those two men. This got real wild in the end with Sherri, Sting, Jimmy Hart, a masked man, and handcuffs all got involved in the match before Hogan overcame the odds to retain the championship. As a side note, the part where the masked man was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake is not shown here.
WCW Halloween Havoc '94

WCW Championship Match: Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan - After the controversal ending of the more famous Starrcade match between these two and the rematch they had the next night on Nitro, this was the match to determine the vacant WCW Champion with the rules heavily relaxed as this was set to be one fall to a finish. This was a very aggressive fight as Hogan was cheating (including using his weightbelt as a weapon) & kept bad mouthing Sting before Sting came back & got his reciepts with the weightbelt. As expected, the nWo members did make an appearence but it was one specific member who would be the difference maker in this match helping WCW gain their championship back & had their own spray painted celebration.
WCW SuperBrawl VII

WCW Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg - This was more about putting Goldberg over as WCW's "superhero" & top star more than anything else as Hogan threw everything he could at Goldberg by either wrestling him & resorting to cheating only for Goldberg to not be effected by it & keep coming back dominating his way to the WCW Championship. With cameos from Dallas Page, Karl Malone, and Curt Hennig...this wasn't much as far as a "match" goes but this was all about making Goldberg the top superstar in WCW.
"WCW Nitro" July '98
(Monday Night War)

WCW Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T - This was similar to the Luger/Windham match in that this match was infamous for all the wrong reasons. It was originally scheduled to be Hollywood Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett but Jarrett layed down at Vince Russo's request so Hogan could win the WCW Championship before Russo came back out later to fire Hogan, claim Jarrett to still be the World Champion, and awarded the title shot to Booker T...who already had a match (and lost) against Kanyon earlier that night too. This was your sterotypical Jarrett match in that it had a brawl through the crowd & ringside area including Booker taking a piledriver on the announce table that didn't give one bit. From there, it was back & forth between both men before Jarrett's efforts with the "acoustic equalizer" didn't work out for Booker T to become the new WCW Champion.
WCW Bash At The Beach '00

WCW Champion The Rock vs. Chris Jericho - This match happened during the period when WWE had brought WCW and the WCW Championship was defended on WWE television. The big story behind this one was the fact that Chris Jericho had never won "the big one" as every single time he had a chance at a World Championship, something went wrong & he didn't win it. Both Rock & Jericho were fan favorites at this time so the crowd was heavily split between both men. This was a very physical matchup as it never once got boring or slow between both men as it started out as a wrestling match but got more personal as the match went on with both men countering each other's signature moves along with The Rock delivering a Rock Bottom through a table while Jericho was stealing moves like the Rock Bottom & People's Elbow. Stephanie McMahon made an appearence & accidently assisted Jericho to use whatever "stroke" he had left to finally become a World Champion.
No Mercy '01

World Champion Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam - This was the first PPV title defense of the World Championship after Triple H was awarded the new championship on RAW. A good match between the two as RVD continued to mock HHH to everyone's delight but the ending came when Ric Flair (who HHH insulted before the match for losing earlier) hit RVD with the sledgehammer starting Flair & HHH's on-screen partnership.
Unforgiven '02

World Champion Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - You can look at any encounter they've had in the past & just know that whenever you get these two in the ring against each other, you will get a high quality match. However, this is one match they've had that stood out from the rest as the circumstance were completely different than any other match they've had as Shawn Michaels came into this match with a knee injury he suffered on RAW the night before so Shawn wrestled a heavy defensive style here as he was heavily limping from the moment he walked out during his entrance. Shawn kept staying in the corner and using the ropes to help him get around whenever he wasn't limping on hopping on one leg while Triple H heavily targeted that knee and worked on it with moves like the figure four. Shawn was still able to connect with his top rope elbow drop & sweet chin music but with the appearences of fellow Evolution member Batista along with Edge, the odds were just too much for HBK.
Taboo Tuesday '04

World Champion Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker - This match was worth the money alone. With the exception of their Fully Loaded 2000 match, these two have NEVER had a bad match and always tore the house down. This is a step below their SmackDown match (on Undertaker's DVD) but still great. Mat wrestling & their typical spots...it's just something great to watch and the ending is something that just came out of nowhere.
No Way Out '06

World Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton - Unfortually due to having the label of being the "smallest" World Champion of all time, Mysterio was booked as an underdog losing to bigger competitors a majority of his title reign...in fact, you can count the number of matches he won on one hand. However this is a lost gem in his championship reign as this match happened the week after he won the title at WrestleMania. Unlike how his WrestleMania triple threat match was real short, this went twice as long & was much more competitive between the two men and any other match they've had before this as Rey was out for revenge for the disrespect Orton showed the late Eddie Guerrero. I wouldn't call his a lost classic in the career of Mysterio but this was definately the best match in his reign as World Champion.
"SmackDown" Apr. '06

World Champion Batista vs. Undertaker vs. Edge - Edge played up his "ultimate opportunitst" label as he was avoiding Taker at the start, running away when Taker & Batista were fighting over who gets their hands on Edge, and trying to steal the pin after Taker legdropped Batista on the apron. The match never got slow & as just nonstop action the entire time with the ending involving Edge "having the strength of 3 men" was something. Edge stole another World Championship in the end.
Armageddon '07

World Champion Chris Jericho vs. John Cena - After what I thought was a real good series of matches between each other in 2005 (Vengance with Christian, SummerSlam, and their final match on RAW), this one was another disappointment as Cena had some ring rust here that showed here while Jericho targeted his previous injury & focused on the neck. The match wasn't bad but they would put on a better performance at Armageddon the next month but it didn't live up to the expectations based off their series years earlier.
Survivor Series '09

Ladder Match: World Champion Edge vs. Jeff Hardy - I'll give credit in that they've tried to do what Jericho/Michaels did at No Mercy in delivering a different type of ladder match than the usual "non-stop spotfest" that we're used to seeing. They tried to find new ways to use the ladder in this match along with revisiting old "highlight reel" spots from all their previous ladder matches. Again, it was a good match but it wasn't the blowaway classic everyone was expecting...but to be fair, they've set the bar so high for the past decade in regards to ladder matches that they just couldn't top it in this case. This was one of those matches where if you judge it on it's own instead of comparing it to all of their past ladder matches (I counted at least six) then it's a good match. But the major story at the end of the night was the aftermath that resulted in a new World Champion...AGAIN!
Extreme Rules '09

Other matches include Pat O'Connor vs. Buddy Rogers from 1961 in a 2 out of 3 falls match, (I think the oldest match WWE ever released on DVD to the point where it's completely in black & white) and matches from the "NWA Championship Wrestling from Flordia" promotion featuring Dory Funk Jr.'s NWA Title win against Gene Kiniski, Terry Funk's gaining the title from Jack Brisco, and Dusty Rhodes title victory over Harley Race. It should be noted that the CWF footage was edited back then to just show highlights/final moments of matches & not the complete match so that's not WWE's fault that you don't get the match in full.

In all, this documentry is one of the best WWE has ever done as they focused heavily & dedicated most of the time on here to the past history of the championship in the NWA/WCW than WWE with the gem of the historic photos, archival footage, and hearing from various names of the past that we don't normally hear from and eventhough they rewrote some history to simplify the history of the championship (no mention of the period when the title was the NWA Championship & WCW International Championship from '92-'94), it was probably for the better. While The match selection isn't 100% perfect (only 3 complete matches highlight the NWA period, Steamboat/Vader could have been replaced by another WCW match, I would have picked the Cena/Jericho from Armageddon than S. Series), a majority of the matches were quality in either being historic or in quality so this is definately a set worth going out of your say to see. I highly recommend.

Good service. So many good wrestlers have held this title.From Terry Funk to Ric Flair to Ricky Steamboat. What a history!

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