What Was The Longest Reign?
Mia Smith Dating back to the days of Jim Crockett Promotions when WCW was a part of the NWA, and also going forwards into WWE when the company was purchased in 2001, there are many WCW Championships that have long-lasting lineages that survive even up to present day, which will be considered when looking at the longest reigns of every belt in WCW.
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For the rest of the titles though, they existed solely within WCW and managed to create strong lineages with great champions (well, nearly all of them). There have been a range of different wrestlers who have had long-standing reigns - both good and bad - over the course of WCW history.
10 Cruiserweight Championship: Gregory Helms, 386 Days
The lineage of the Cruiserweight Championship is one which is a little unclear, though presently it is recognised as continuing on from the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, and going forth into WWE too.
This title transitioned from WCW to WWE when the company was purchased. It wasn’t until 2006 though when the longest title reign would begin. Gregory Helms, who formerly also held the gold in WCW, embarked on a year-plus reign with the title. His reign didn’t set the world on fire, with infrequent defenses in the latter half of his run.
9 Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship: Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo, 8 Days
During WCW’s dying days, they decided to introduce a brand new set of titles - the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships. Kid Romeo and Elix Skipper emerged victorious in a tournament to win the gold.
They held them for just 8 days before dropping the belts to the Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman). Perhaps in WCW’s boom, these belts would have been a nice addition to the cruiserweight division, but at the time they had no chance of success.
8 Women’s Cruiserweight Championship: Sugar Sato, 195 Days
To complete the trilogy of WCW’s Cruiserweight Championships is the Women’s Cruiserweight Title, which was introduced in 1997 and lasted for around a year. However, this belt hardly ever appeared on WCW programming, and was instead defended in other promotions.
It had three champions, the last of which was Sugar Sato who held it for 195 days, defending it just once. WCW made next to no reference to the existence of the belt after it was introduced, but it was still technically a WCW championship.
7 Hardcore Championship: Norman Smiley, 51 Days
Following the success of WWE’s Hardcore Championship, WCW brought their own into existence with Falls Count Anywhere rules, though it was far below the quality of WWE’s 24/7 mayhem of their belt.
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Norman Smiley was the longest reigning champion at 51 days, which wasn’t too long compared to most titles. He was the very first champion, but after losing the gold no-one managed to surpass even 40 days as champion (aside from Smiley when he won the belt back).
6 Women’s Championship: Akira Hokuto, 168 Days
Women’s wrestling was hardly ever a focus in WCW, with just a few failed attempts to create a division before giving up. In 1996, WCW introduced their own Women’s Championship, though it only lasted for a year.
Akira Hokuto won a tournament to win the belt, holding it for 168 days which would be the longest reign out of the two champions who had a chance at being the titleholder. Unlike the cruiserweight title, this actually managed to make it onto WCW TV and PPV a few times.
5 World Six-Man Tag Team Championships: Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton, & Tommy Rich, 106 Days
WCW didn’t host these titles for too long, ending the lineage of the former NWA belts in 1991.
It was the first reign of Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton, and Tommy Rich which was the longest in its history, at just 106 days, which wasn’t all that impressive or notable.
4 United States Championship: Lex Luger, 523 Days
The United States Championship is one of the oldest belts in professional wrestling history, with it still existing to this day. The title’s legacy has stretched from the NWA to WCW to WWE, with a whole sea of legends holding it over that time.
The longest reign came all the way back in 1989 when Lex Luger won the gold. He held it for a stunning 523 days until he lost it to Stan Hansen at Halloween Havoc 1990. Despite many championship reigns since, no one has come close to Luger.
3 World Television Championship: Tully Blanchard, 353 Days
The WCW World Television Championship is another that was long-standing and existed before WCW even came into existence, with it carrying on the legacy of the Mid-Atlantic Championship and the NWA Television Title.
Tully Blanchard had the longest reign out of everyone with this prize, holding it for nearly a year at 535 days. This was all the way back in 1984. He would lose it to Dusty Rhodes back when it was still under the banner of “NWA Television Championship”.
2 World Tag Team Championships: Doom, 282 Days
Compared to WCW’s other main championships, the World Tag Team Titles didn’t have a hugely impressive long reign, with Doom’s record breaking reign of 282 days being the longest, even though the lineage of these titles stretched back to 1975.
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The Doom duo of Butch Reed and Ron Simmons would lose their prizes to the Fabulous Freebirds at the 1991 WrestleWar event.
1 World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan, 469 Days
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship or “Big Gold Belt” as many refer to it, is one of the most prestigious, historic, and beloved belts in professional wrestling history. Much like the United States Championship, it was used in the NWA, WCW, and in WWE, featuring a list of all-time greats who have had the belt around their waists.
It was in WCW though where the longest ever reign took place , and it came in 1994 when Hulk Hogan won it, and proceeded to carry it for 469 days.
