Which will be remembered as more prestigious, the WCW WHC, or the WHC in WWE?

[Creepy Old Man]

Their lifespans were similar, with the WCW title existing for a month shy of 11 years, and WWE's incarnation of the World title being around for 11 years and three months.

The former was lifted by legends such as Flair, Sting, Hogan, Savage and Rock, while the latter was held by icons like Undertaker, Michaels, Triple H, Cena and Punk. Industry titans Goldberg, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Booker T and Big Show held both (as did that Benoit guy).

Both championships headlined major pay-per-views. Both were the most coveted title in the industry for a time. Both declined in importance in their final years.

I know there's nostalgia for the WCW title, which adds instant cred points, but I challenge you to ignore that and think long term. Which, in your eyes, will be remembered as the most prestigious, say 30 years from now?

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I still think the prestigiousness of a title hasn't wholly existed like it did for the old NWA title. I think even when the NWA title was used in the late 80s/very early 90s (when it was used in WCW) it still had that feeling of been the more prestigious championship. Not that there is no prestige to the WWE title of the 80s or 90s I just felt there were times it felt more like a prop.

But if you're talking solely as title's have been presented in the WWE then the WWE title that existed up until 2002 (I think) then it's easily that one. WWE didn't know how to use the WCW title and when they created the Undisputed title it felt hollow to me.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The World Heavyweight Championship. WCW's title was vacated, abandoned, and literally rebooted, sometimes for no reason whatsoever. The World Heavyweight Championship was held by bigger stars and defended in better matches.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

Just to clarify: I'm talking about the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, versus the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE from 2002 to 2013. You know, the one that was merged with the WWE Championship at TLC last year.

 

[No Count Pup]

It's difficult to pick which one is more prestigious. But I'll give it a go. The WCW Championship was the top title of WCW. The WHC was usually not the top title in WWE. It was merely the top title of a brand. That's one point for the WCW Title.

The WCW Title was held by David Arquette and Vince Russo. That caused permanent damage to the legacy of the WCW Title. WWE may have placed the WHC on a few midcarders, but never on the likes of the aforementioned. Point for the WWE WHC.

The WCW Title was a featured title during the vaunted Monday Night Wars. It got far more exposure than the lower rated post-Attitude era of the WWE WHC. Point WCW Title.

The WWE WHC main evented WrestleManias and Madison Square Garden. That gives it instant cred as a significant world title. The WCW Title headlined some important shows, but the World Heavyweight Championship has been hoisted in record breaking stadium supercards after record breaking stadium supercards. Point for the WWE WHC.

Overall it's close. I still believe the reigns of Arquette and Russo ruined the legacy of the WCW Title beyond repair. I think that's partially why WWE was schizophrenic about whether the WCW Title was part of the WWE WHC lineage or not. The WCW Title was held by legends, but also by joke champions. That's the baggage it will always carry. So I think the WWE WHC will be remembered as more prestigious in time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

A Championship belt whether it be a world, midcard, undercard, tag team, or restricted by gender, is only as good as the champions who have held it and how it was booked. Let's take a look at the wrestlers who have held WWE's World Heavyweight Championship and then at the wrestlers who have held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship:


World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
Alberto Del Rio
Batista
Big Show
Chris Benoit
Chris Jericho
Christian
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan
Dolph Ziggler
Edge
Goldberg
The Great Khali
Jack Swagger
Jeff Hardy
John Cena
Kane
King Booker
Kurt Angle
Mark Henry
Randy Orton
Rey Mysterio
Shawn Michaels
Sheamus
Triple H
The Undertaker



WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Big Van Vader
Booker T
Bret Hart
Chris Benoit
Chris Jericho
David Arquette
Diamond Dallas Page
The Giant
Goldberg
Hulk Hogan
Jeff Jarrett
Kevin Nash
Kurt Angle
Lex Luger
Randy Savage
Ric Flair
The Rock
Ron Simmons
Scott Steiner
Sid Vicious
Sting
Vince Russo



Both will be remembered as prestigious and looked back on fondly for many years to come.... but my vote goes to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. It will end up being remembered as being more prestigious than WWE's World Heavyweight Championship. For the entire existence of WWE's World Heavyweight Championship there were two World Championships in WWE: The WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. That's 11 years of competing with another belt at being the top prize of the federation. For at least two of those years there was a clear distinction of which belt was the top prize in the WWE, and it was not the World Heavyweight Championship. A lot of the World Heavyweight Championship reigns from 2002 to 2013 likely would have never happened had there only been one World Championship in the WWE. The WCW Championship, on the other hand, was the top prize in WCW. Disregarding idiotic decisions such as Russo or Arquette ever holding it.... It was the top belt of WWE's biggest rival ever. That's saying a lot. So while both will be remembered as prestigious titles, I predict the WCW World Heavyweight Championship will be remembered as being slightly more prestigious than WWE's World Heavyweight Championship.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For the most part, I'd say that the WCW World Heavyweight Championship will be thought of as more prestigious due, in part, to nostalgia. The World Heavyweight Championship, for much of its existence, was booked to be on a similar level to the WWE Championship, on the same level at some times, up until the last 3 years or so of its existence.

Another reason I go with the WCW WHC is because, once WWE adopted the World Heavyweight Championship, there was and continues to be some degree of animosity towards them. WCW was forced out of business and WWE was now beyond a shadow of a doubt THE big bull of the woods, as Dusty Rhodes would say. To this day, there are some fans still upset that WCW lost the Monday Night War.

As for which I'd personally consider more prestigious, all in all, I'm actually leaning more towards the WHC. Both the WCW WHC and the WHC had their flaws due to piss poor booking at times. In terms of prestige, the chief years of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship were from 1991 through late 1998. In my mind, Bill Goldberg was the last meaningful WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Eight days after Kevin Nash won the title at Starrcade '98 and ended Goldberg's streak came the infamous "Fingerpoke of Doom." and the title started going downhill from then on. Even though it was still almost a year before Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara would sign with WCW, the Fingerpoke of Doom was the beginning of the end of the title's real prominence.

As for the World Heavyweight Championship, it's peak years, in my eyes, were from 2002 to 2010. After The Undertaker's 3rd & final run ended in February 2010, the title began to take on the feel of being a mid-card title. A lot of people would begin thinking of it as the new unofficial upper mid-card title as it was still far more prominent than the Intercontinental Championship and was no longer being booked anywhere close to the same level of prestige as the WWE Championship. What gives it the edge, for me at least, was that it didn't change hands through stuff like the Fingerpoke of Doom, it wasn't won by D list actors like David Arquette and authority figures who weren't wrestlers didn't win it only to throw it down a week later saying they weren't wrestlers like Vince Russo did.

The final years of both titles, as a whole, weren't the stuff that dreams were made of but the garbage that went on in WCW for the last few years of its existence have always struck me as being far worse than anything WWE ever did with the World Heavyweight Championship.

 

[MCMG]

Goldberg losing onwards the WCW title is a fucking mess. Some the decisions and occurrences are pretty shameful and it is very difficult to suggest that belt could be prestigious. However, Hogan, Flair, Sting and even Goldberg should, in theory, end any argument.

The WWE version was often treated as the second title. A lot of champs were given it as their first big chance rather than getting the big one. A lot of it can be explained but the WWE were clearly more cautious with the WWE Championship. The WWE, however, still gave us some pretty great feuds for this belt. The stuff with Taker/Batista and Taker/Edge is phenomenal.

Ultimately: did Vince Russo (and co.) do enough to ruin the great work of Flair, Goldberg, Sting and the NWO. I'd say no (but I'm not convinced) so I'll say the WCW version just edges it.

 

[The Boss]

Seeing as how they are the same championship - yes, despite wwe.com, all other forms of WWE media (TV, DVDs, WWE magazine etc) claim that the titles are in fact one and the same - this question is kind of irrelevant. A better question is, did the title lose prestige while in WWE. For that I will have to say yes. At first WWE did a good job keeping the prestige of both titles high. However as the brand split began to fall apart and both titles were regularly featured on the same shows it became clear that the WCWWorld title began to take a major secondary position. Ending the brand split was severelydamaging to the title.

 

[The Boss]

Seeing as how they are the same championship - yes, despite wwe.com, all other forms of WWE media (TV, DVDs, WWE magazine etc) claim that the titles are in fact one and the same - this question is kind of irrelevant. A better question is, did the title lose prestige while in WWE. For that I will have to say yes. At first WWE did a good job keeping the prestige of both titles high. However as the brand split began to fall apart and both titles were regularly featured on the same shows it became clear that the WCW World title began to take a major secondary position. Ending the brand split was severely damaging to the title.


Even worse however is when a lot of nobodies were given the title as a way to try to give them instant credibility, but instead all it did was hurt the credibility of not only this title but all World titles. After all, if everyone is champion then no one is champion. And the fact that so many were winning it via MITB made it even worse. As Ric Flair used to say, "To be the man you have to beat the man." Unfortunately in WWE it became "To be the man all you have to do is hand over a have a briefcase and you get to become a cheap ass paper champion without ever even wrestling the man... let alone beating him."