WCW created its own world title in 1991. Nature Boy Ric Flair, who held the NWA World Championship at the time, was named the first-ever WCW World Champion. The company eventually broke completely away from the NWA in 1993, becoming one of the most successful wrestling promotions ever, rivalling WWE for several years.
By the time WCW went out of business in 2001, there had been 22 different wrestlers to hold the WCW World Championship, with all but seven having multiple title reigns. However, only a select few stand at the top as the best champions in the company's history, and they worked some great matches too.
10 Ric Flair
The first man to hold the WCW World Championship was the 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair. Before WCW created its own world title, Flair had already held the NWA World Championship 10 times. In WCW, Flair added seven more world title reigns to his record for a total of 501 days.
He was the first champion and one of the last 10, winning his final WCW World Championship on May 29, 2000. While his best days were in the NWA, he remained one of the true faces of WCW.
9 Best Match: Vs. Ricky Steamboat (Spring Stampede 1994)
Ric Flair had several brilliant matches with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. The best of the matches came when WCW was still working with the NWA World Championship, including their fantastic trilogy when Steamboat won his first world title.
However, the two men also battled for the WCW World Championship in 1994 at Spring Stampede. The match lasted 32 minutes and ended in a double pin, matching up well to their prior classics. This bout was undoubtedly one of the best bouts of both men's careers.
8 Hollywood Hulk Hogan
Once Hulk Hogan arrived in WCW, he took his place as the top star in the company, capturing the role from Ric Flair, and soon the entire company revolved around the former WWE Champion.
When the nWo arrived, and Hulk Hogan turned heel to become Hollywood Hogan, he became the best heel in the sport. Hogan ended up holding the WCW World Championship six times for a record 1,177 days. He was arguably the biggest and most consistent draw in the company.
7 Best Match: Vs. Ric Flair (Bash At The Beach 1994)
While Hollywood Hogan had the most memorable matches, they mostly consisted of him needing the nWo help to win and cheating to keep his title. That meant there were only a select few truly great matches at that point in his career.
That is why the best WCW World Championship reign for Hulk Hogan came as a babyface when he finally stepped into the ring with Nature Boy Ric Flair for their dream match. Flair came in as champion, and Hogan beat him in 21 minutes to win his first WCW world title.
6 Goldberg
Goldberg is a unique wrestler. He shockingly only held the WCW World Championship one time. Despite only one championship reign with the big gold belt, Goldberg held it for 174 total days, the most of any single titleholder in WCW history.
He was also one of the best homegrown WCW stars in history and remained one of the most recognizable faces from WCW and the Monday Night Wars. Goldberg went on to win world titles in WWE after WCW shut down.
5 Best Match: Vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Halloween Havoc 1998)
It is no surprise that the best Bill Goldberg WCW World Championship match came against Diamond Dallas Page. The most popular was easily the win over Hollywood Hogan when Goldberg took the title on Monday Nitro.
The most infamous was when Kevin Nash took the title from him with a cattle prod. However, Goldberg had almost no good matches in his run, squashing even the best of talent. His match against DDP at Halloween Havoc 1998 was his best, with Page convincing Goldberg to sell more, and it resulted in the best match of Goldberg's career.
4 Sting
While Ric Flair was the man when WCW started, Sting ended up as the company's true face. Flair came and went throughout WCW's run, but Sting was the constant. He was the energetic and exciting blonde-haired surfer Sting, and then changed when he went into the rafters and developed the Crow persona.
Sting won his first world title from Ric Flair with the NWA belt. He then went on to win six WCW World Championships for 250 total days. Sting won world titles from three of the other four names on this list.
3 Best Match: Vs. Big Van Vader (Great American Bash 1992)
The best Sting WCW World Championship match of all time was against the man named Big Van Vader. This was a match that Sting lost, but was considered one of the best WCW Championship matches ever, and it is the match that really made Vader a star.
Sting came in as the world champion, and Vader beat him in 17 minutes when Sting missed the Stinger Splash, and Vader took advantage of it. The two had an even better match at Starrcade, but neither man was champion in that match.
2 Big Van Vader
Big Van Vader was an early WCW World Champion, long before the arrival of the nWo. Vader ended up with three world title reigns for 377 total days, the third most in WCW world title history.
Vader won two of his world titles from Sting and the third from Ron Simmons, and he proved to be the best big man in wrestling at the time. Sadly, when Vader left for WWE, his career spiraled, but in WCW, he was the man.
1 Best Match: Vs. Ric Flair (Starrcade 1993)
The best Big Van Vader match as WCW World Champion came at Starrcade 1993 when he faced Ric Flair. This should come as no surprise. Over his career, Flair proved he could have great matches against anyone, from big men like Vader and little guys like Ricky Steamboat, to brawlers like Terry Funk and babyfaces like Sting.
If Flair lost here, he had to retire. The match went 21 minutes, both men looked like a million bucks, and Flair walked out as the champion.