Big Gold Belt
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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 Champion Ric Flair. 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, Flair wore the belt as the "Real World's Champion" in the WWF both before and after being stripped of the title by the NWA.
- After stripping Flair of the title in September 1991, the title remained vacant until August 1992.
- WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1991)
- WCW split from the NWA and created this title in January 1991. The belt represented the WCW champion from the title's formation until Flair was fired in July 1991.
- The belt represented both the WCW and NWA titles 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.
In 1991, the belt was "by default" the property of Flair, as he had a $25,000 USD deposit on it when he took the belt with him to the World Wrestling Federation after being fired from World Championship Wrestling by Jim Herd who refused to pay the deposit back. Flair, in the WWF, would announce the belt as being "The Real World Title". World Championship Wrestling barred images of the belt from being shown on TV and ultimately bought the belt from Flair for $35,000 USD which covered the $25,000 deposit Flair had on the belt plus interest (To further the "Real World Title" gimmick, Flair wore another WWF belt which was video-distorted for television). In September 1993, when World Championship Wrestling left the NWA for good, the belt was rechristened the WCW International Title, with the belt never being shown in closeup shots to see the real name of the belt. The belt again became the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1994 in a unification match between International Title holder Sting and WCW World Champion Flair with Flair emerging victorious.
- 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 - 2005)
- The original Big Gold Belt, which bore the name of no promotion, was altered in 2002 to have the WWE logo on the top. Due to World Wrestling Entertainments brand extension of RAW and Smackdown, the Big Gold Belt became exclusive property of the RAW brand titled as the World Heavyweight Championship.
The belt was the first title to have a name plate in which the current holder's name was etched into.
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.
