WCW World Heavyweight Championship
With the WCW World Heavyweight Championship now vacant, Barry Windham was declared the No. 2 contender and was set to face Luger in the cage match at The Great American Bash. During the match, Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came to ringside. While Hughes kept Windham's attention, Race told Luger that "now is the time" to perform a piledriver on the distracted Windham. Luger did so and won the match, thereby winning his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship. As Flair still had the original championship belt and the new belt was not ready in time, Luger initially wore the NWA Western States Heritage Championship, which had been altered to resemble the world title.