List of WCW World Television Champions
The WCW World Television Championship was a professional wrestling world television championship owned by the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion. The title was introduced on February 27, 1974 when WCW was named Georgia Championship Wrestling, a subsidiary of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) governing body and also a part of Jim Crockett Promotions. The promotion was renamed WCW in the early 1980s. In March 2001, WCW was sold by AOL Time Warner to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) promotion, now World Wrestling Entertainment. As such all assets, including the rights to the WCW World Television Championship, which had been deactivated on April 10, 2000, were now WWF property.[1] Before it was known as the WCW World Television Championship (starting in 1991 and continuing until the title's deactivation), it was known as the "NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship" (from the 1974 to 1977), the "NWA Television Championship" (from 1977 to 1985), and the "NWA World Television Championship" (from 1985 to 1991).
Being a professional wrestling championship, it was not won legitimately; it was instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. All title changes occurred at NWA- or WCW-promoted events. The inaugural champion was Danny Miller, who defeated Ole Anderson on February 27, 1974, in the finals of a tournament. Booker T holds the record for most reigns, with six. Rick Steamboat's second reign ended due to vacancy for unknown reasons. The day on which the reign ended is also unknown, although it is known that the reign began on June 10, 1978, and came to a close sometime in 1980. As such, if the reign ended on January 1, 1980, or any later time during 1980, then Steamboat's second reign is the longest in the title's history, at over 570 days.[N 1] Five different reigns are tied for the record for shortest reign in the title's history, at one day. Hacksaw Jim Duggan was the last champion in his only reign. At the time, then-champion Scott Hall did not want to be champion, and after unsuccessfully trying to give the title to Kevin Nash, he abandoned the title by throwing the championship belt into a trashcan on the November 29, 1999, episode of one of WCW's television programs, Nitro.[2] Duggan later found the championship belt in a dumpster on the February 16, 2000, episode of another of WCW's television programs, WCW Saturday Night and named himself champion.[3] The championship was later retired on the April 10, 2000, episode of Nitro, after a storyline reboot by WCW authority figures Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. Overall, there were 107 reigns shared among 55 wrestlers, with 11 vacancies.
Title history
# | Order in reign history |
Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won |
— |
Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
N/A |
The information is not available or is unknown |
Names
Name | Duration |
---|---|
NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship | 1974–1977 |
NWA Television Championship | 1977–1985 |
NWA World Television Championship | 1985–1991 |
WCW World Television Championship | 1991–2000 |
Reigns
List of combined reigns
¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. |
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 The exact date in 1980 on which Rick Steamboat vacated the championship during his second reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 570 and 661 days.
- 1 2 The exact day in October 1980 Masked Superstar vacated the title during his only reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 213 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Sweet Ebony Diamond lost the title during his first reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 31 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Greg Valentine won the title during his third reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 31 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Sweet Ebony Diamond lost the title during his second reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 99 days. Since this day is unknown, the day on which Greg Valentine won the title is also unclear.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Greg Valentine won the title during his fourth reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 99 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Jimmy Valiant lost the title during his first reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 155 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Ivan Koloff won the title during his fourth reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 155 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Jimmy Valiant lost the title during his second reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 133 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Ivan Koloff won the title during his fifth reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 133 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Jimmy Valiant lost the title during his third reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 41 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Jos LeDuc won and vacated the title during his first reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 0 and 41 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Charlie Brown (Jimmy Valiant) lost the title during his fourth reign in January 1984 is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 38 and 68 days.
- 1 2 The exact date on which Scott Steiner was stripped of the title during his first reign is unknown, which means that his reign lasted between 33 and 63 days.
- ↑ Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the exact number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.
References
- General
- Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 19–20. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(Carolinas) Charlotte: NWA Mid-Atlantic TV Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 115–116. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- Benaka, Matt; Dean, Joe. "NWA World Television Title History". Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
- Specific
- ↑ Callis, Don (2001-03-25). "Deal leaves wrestlers out in cold". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- 1 2 3 Elliott, Brian (2009-04-30). "Scott Hall". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
Two weeks later, he won the Television title from Rick Steiner, when Steiner was unable to defend the title due to injury. In a baffling decision, Hall claimed he had no interest in the TV title, and when he unsuccessfully tried to give it to Kevin Nash, he threw it in the trash instead.
- 1 2 "Nitro: The Ultimate Fight". Wayback Machine. WCW.com. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
The WCW TV Title has resurfaced after Jim Duggan found the belt in the trash on a recent episode of WCW Saturday Night.
- ↑ Miller, John; Kamchen, Richard (2004-11-18). "Ric Flair". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- ↑ Miller, John; Kamchen, Richard (2008-05-19). "Wrestler Results Archive: Ric Flair". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
- 1 2 Nevada, Vance; Farmer, Matt; Taylor, Becky; Witmer, Ron; Zordani, Jim (2008-04-29). "Wrestler Results Archive: Rocky Johnson". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Milner, John; Urena, Steve (2004-11-04). "Sting". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
Although Sting would come up short in his quest to win the NWA World Tagteam titles with Rhodes, he would defeat Mike Rotunda for the NWA Television Championship in March 1989.
- ↑ Milner, John; Kamchen, Richard (2004-10-13). ""Stone Cold" Steve Austin". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- ↑ Milner, John (2005-05-16). "William Regal". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
At Fall Brawl '93, however, he was pushed up the card, defeating Ricky Steamboat for the WCW Television Championship....Regal recovered and regained the title at the Clash of the Champions XXVII in June. Regal would hold that championship until September 18, 1994, when Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero) defeated him......By the summer of 1996, Regal had set his sights on regaining the WCW Television title, defeating Lex Luger for the belt on August 20, 1996. Prince Iaukea would upset Regal for the title in February 1997, leading to a short program between the two. Regal would regain the title, but not from Iaukea but from Ultimo Dragon at Slamboree '97 in May.....Regal's fourth and final reign as WCW Television Champion would end with Ultimo Dragon regaining the title on July 22, 1997.
- 1 2 3 Miller, John; McNamara, Andy; Oliver, Greg; Powell, John (2005-06-02). "Booker T". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- 1 2 3 Miller, John (2005-05-22). "Chris Benoit". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- 1 2 Miller, John; Kamchen, Richard (2006-03-17). "Finlay". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- ↑ Milner, John; Kamchen, Richard (2005-03-22). "Chris Jericho". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
Jericho would feud with Dean Malenko, Booker T (over the WCW Television title, a belt Jericho won from Booker's brother, Stevie Ray) and Bill Goldberg. Or rather, Jericho tried to feud with Goldberg, cutting several promos but the match never actually took place.
- ↑ Milner, John; Molinaro, John (2005-10-21). "Konnan". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
Konnan would join forces with the NWO and eventually defeat Jericho< for the WCW Television Championship on November 30, 1998.
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