WCW International World Heavyweight Championship / Title history History . Turner buys WCW . In 1988 , media mogul Ted Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions from NWA member Jim Crockett . Crockett had been promoting shows under the title of Georgia Championship Wrestling ( and later World Championship Wrestling ) that aired on Turner ' s TBS superstation . In light of financial woes within the company , Turner purchased it in order to retain one of the highest rated shows on his network . Ric Flair was declared the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion on January 11 , 1991 after defeating Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Though WCW was still a member of the NWA and the belt awarded to Flair was that of the recognized NWA World Champion , WCW considered it " their " world title as well , and the organization claimed the lineage of the NWA Championship . It is important to remember that WCW and NWA were essentially two different organizations on paper ( even though they recognized the same World Champion ) . Ric Flair controversy . In July 1991 , Ric Flair was fired from WCW after several creative disputes with Executive Vice President Jim Herd . Although Flair was stripped of the WCW title , he took the physical belt with him when he jumped to the rival World Wrestling Federation , since WCW had not returned his $ 25 , 000 deposit on the title belt . It was customary for the man designated to be NWA World Champion to put a $ 25 , 000 deposit on the title belt , which would be paid back when he lost the championship . Flair appeared with the belt on WWF television and declared himself " The Real World Heavyweight Champion " . Flair was still recognized for a short time after his departure from WCW as the NWA World Champion , despite WCW ' s stripping him of recognition of their heavyweight championship , setting up a split between the titles . Titles are split . WCW created a new title belt to represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , which was won by Lex Luger in July . Although Luger was the WCW World Champion , the NWA continued to recognize Flair as its champion until September , when he was stripped of it for signing with the WWF . Flair returned the belt when his deposit was paid back . In 1992 , the NWA authorized New Japan Pro Wrestling to use its annual G - 1 Climax heavyweight tournament to decide the new NWA champion . Masahiro Chono won the tournament and the belt , which in turn was defended on television for a year ( although less so for Chono and his successor Great Muta , who defended the title rarely , as Japanese titles often are ) . WCW leaves the NWA . In August 1993 , after " Ravishing " Rick Rude ' s planned win of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair was revealed by the results of WCW ' s " Disney Tapings " , the NWA objected to this break of kayfabe and WCW ' s refusal to allow the NWA World champion to defend the title in other NWA member promotions . WCW elected to leave the NWA in September . Since WCW owned the " Big Gold Belt " that had represented the NWA title for so long , WCW allowed Rude to retain the physical belt . The belt was defended for a short period of time as " The Big Gold Belt " , and then named the " WCW International World Heavyweight Championship " . In order to create a sense of legitimacy for the Big Gold Belt , WCW invented " WCW International " , a fictitious subsidiary that supposedly represented World Championship Wrestling in its overseas affairs . As per the explanation , WCW International was run by a separate board of directors ( named the WCW International Board of Directors ) who guaranteed the legitimacy of the championship . This new championship , along with the " proper " WCW World Title , were both regarded as top belts and were defended as such . No mention was made of the belt ' s previous tie to the NWA . Rude lost the WCW International title to Hiroshi Hase in a match by New Japan Pro Wrestling in early 1994 , but won the belt back the following week . Hase ' s short reign was thus more reminiscent of Giant Baba ' s NWA title reigns in the 1970s than the reigns of Chono and Muta in 1992 - 93 . Unification of the titles . Sting eventually won the WCW International Title from Rick Rude , only to lose it back to Rude . Rude was stripped of the title for cheating during the match and WCW officials were going to award it to Sting . Sting refused and said he wanted to win the belt in the ring against Vader , whom Rick Rude was originally slated to defend the Championship against at that same event before being struck with an injury . He defeated Big Van Vader at Slamboree to win the then vacant title . Ric Flair had possession of the " regular " WCW World Title and it was decided that the two titles would be unified . Sting and Flair then faced off at Clash of the Champions XXVII with Flair winning the match and unifying the two championships , with the WCW International Belt being used as the new " unified " belt .