Ric Flair, NOT a 16 Time World Champion..

[TheTemp]

So I was watching the Final edition of Nitro from March 26th 2001 the other day, and I noticed in Flair's promo at the top of the show, he said he was only a FOURTEEN time World Champion. Yet, when he went to the WWE, they referred to him as a SIXTEEN time World Champion. Which still to this day stands as people refer to him as the 16-Time World Heavyweight Champion. Which had me confused. When did Flair win 2 Extra World Titles during his reign in WWF/E after 2001? Never. This 16-Time Champion is in fact, false...because 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair is a TWENTY time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in the business we all love.

That's right. 20. Yet nobody seems to mention this any time he appears. If you want to count the Missouri World Title he won, it be 21. But we won't, because nobody's ever heard of such a Title. But here are all of Flair's World Title victories..

1 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Dusty Rhodes (September 17, 1981)
2 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Harley Race (November 24, 1983)
3 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Harely Race (March 24, 1984)
4 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Kerry von Erich (May 24, 1984 in Japan)
5 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Dusty Rhodes (August 7, 1986)
6 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Ron Garvin (November 26, 1987)
7 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Ricky Steamboat (May 7, 1989)
8 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Sting (January 11, 1991)
9 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Tatsumi Fujinami (May 19, 1991)
10 - WWF Heavyweight title by winning the Royal Rumble (January 19, 1992)
11 - WWF Heavyweight title defeating Randy Savage (September 1, 1992)
12 - NWA World Heavyweight title defeating Barry Windham (July 18, 1993)
13 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Vader (December 27, 1993)
14 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Ricky Steamboat (March 24, 1994)
15 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Sting (June 23, 1994)
16 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Randy Savage (December 25, 1995)
17 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Randy Savage (February 11, 1996)
18 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Hulk Hogan (March 14, 1999)
19 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Jeff Jarrett (May 15, 2000)
20 - WCW World Heavyweight title defeating Kevin Nash (May 29, 2000)

So this begs me to ask the question. Why is he never referred to as the 20-Time World Heavyweight Champion?

 

[Caitiff]

Why was Flair referred to as a "14 Time Champion" in WCW? Simple. WCW never acknowledged Flair's reigns in the WWF. When WWE bought WCW, and Flair came in, WWE added those two reigns to the 14 that people heard in WCW.

Flair's title losses against Harley Race in 1984, and Tatsumi Fujinami in 1991 are, for all intents and purposes, stricken from the record books by the NWA. So, they don't count. That also means that regaining the title doesn't count, since he never officially lost it, in the first place. So, that takes the number down to 18, right there.

The title was vacated after a double pin in a match between Flair and Ricky Steamboat at Spring Stampede, in 1994. WWE doesn't recognize that the title was vacated, which means that Flair's victory over Steamboat, which aired on May 14, not March 24, as you stated, is a title defense, and not a title victory. That takes a third reign off of the books.

Flair's win over Sting, on June 23, 1994, was to unify the WCW World, and the WCW International championships, and isn't considered a seperate reign by, well, anyone, really. So, there's the fourth off of that list.

Twenty minus Four is Sixteen.