Few wrestling championships have as complicated a legacy as The Big Gold Belt. In 1985, Jim Crockett gifted NWA World Champion Ric Flair with a lavish gold-encrusted belt that would be used as the NWA World title. When Flair left WCW in 1991, he took the belt with him in a messy legal affair. It would still be used as the NWA title until WCW broke off from the NWA. The belt was then renamed the “WCW International championship” until Flair “unified” it with Sting and the Gold Belt was once more used as the WCW title until the company’s end.

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In 2002, WWE revived the Big Gold Belt to become the World Heavyweight Championship until 2013. In this time period, the belt was held by some of the biggest stars in both WCW and WWE. However, a few holders may have been forgotten today, mostly for short reigns or the period the NWA used the belt. These are ten wrestlers fans forgot held that lavish Big Gold Belt yet still part of wrestling history.

10 Lex Luger

Lex Luger finally earned the WCW World title in 1991, but only after Ric Flair had been fired from the company. More importantly, Luger was the first to have the redesigned title belt as Flair took the Big Gold one with him in a complex situation.

In 1997, Luger challenged Hollywood Hogan for the World title and won by submission. His reign was less than a week before Hogan regained it at Road Wild, so this title swap was just to boost ratings. So while Luger had a longer reign with a different belt, he can still claim at least a few days with the Big Gold one.

9 The Great Muta

Back in 1989, the Great Muta was doing stuff fans in the United States had never seen before. Still an icon for his amazing work, Muta’s tenure in WCW didn’t last long, but he continued to build up his legend in Japan.

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That included a run as IWGP champion and in 1993, he defeated Masa Chono in a title vs title match to become NWA World champion. He only held the belt 48 days before losing it to Barry Windham but being a double champion helped solidify Muta’s legacy as one of the greats of the game.

8 Dusty Rhodes

For a guy who was so popular and a head booker, the fact Dusty Rhodes only held the NWA World title three times is surprising. He challenged Ric Flair more times than can be counted, with some memorable wars between them.

In July of 1986, as part of the Great American Bash, Dusty beat Flair in a cage match for the NWA World title. That big belt only fit Dusty’s ample waist for a few weeks before he lost it back to Flair, yet the American Dream can still boast being one of its titleholders.

7 The Great Khali

This is more a reign most fans would prefer not to remember. While the Great Khali was an impressive-looking monster, he was also a terrible worker with some awful matches. Yet WWE still let him win a battle royale in 2007 to become the World Heavyweight champion.

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His 61-day reign was packed with terrible matches and fans wondering why WWE couldn’t pick someone else. It finally ended with Batista beating him and ending one of the worst attempts at a “monster heel champion” in WWE history.

6 Jack Swagger

Jake Hager is doing a good job in AEW today, which is much better than his tenure as Jack Swagger in WWE. Swagger was a decent worker but elevated too far as he just wasn’t main event material. WWE still tried with him winning Money in the Bank and then cashing it in to beat Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight title.

His 82-day reign hardly set the world on fire and exposed how Swagger wasn’t ready for the big time. He lost in a four-way match with Rey Mysterio coming out as champion. Hager is better today yet showed again how pushing someone too fast and too soon can backfire.

5 Rick Rude

One of the greatest heels of all time, Rick Rude often shows up on lists of the best workers to never be World champion. Yet Rude did get his shot with that Big Gold Belt.

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In fact, he counts as the first “WCW International Champion” after beating Flair for the belt in 1994. Rude held it a few times, losing to Hiroshi Hase in Japan but getting it back a week later and then a feud with Sting. Sadly, in the same match he won the belt a third time, Rude suffered his career-ending back injury to vacate the belt. Still, it was a good capper to the Ravishing One’s career.

4 Barry Windham

In 1987, Barry Windham and Ric Flair had a fantastic feud for the NWA World title, with many thinking Windham deserved the belt. That didn’t happen, but Windham did end up with the gold in the end.

In 1993, he won the belt when the NWA and WCW were about to have their big break-up. Windham had a good 147-day reign before losing the belt to Flair, which was the last of the Big Gold Belt as the NWA championship before it merged with WCW. It wasn’t a long reign, but Windham proved he was good at holding that title.

3 Shawn Michaels

Few comebacks in wrestling history have been as amazing as “The Heartbreak Kid.” Most everyone expected Shawn Michaels to never wrestle again after a terrible back injury in 1998. Four years later, HBK roared back to life challenging Triple H.

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He ended up victorious in the first-ever Elimination Chamber match to win the World Heavyweight title. He only held the belt a month before losing it back to Triple H and notable how it was the last major singles title for Michaels. Yet his victory did cap off an amazing return.

2 Ronnie Garvin

In the late 1980s, the NWA World Championship was a huge deal and winning it should have been great for a wrestler. Ronnie Garvin managed to beat Ric Flair in a cage match for the title in September of 1987.

However, Garvin was undermined by Crockett deciding to have him be on “sabbatical” before his Starrcade rematch with Flair. This gave Garvin no standing as Flair easily won the belt back and Garvin’s career slumped badly. Garvin thus stands as one of the biggest “lame duck” champions in wrestling history.

1 The Rock

With all his other accolades over the years, it can be easy to forget that The Rock was also in the elite club to hold both the WWE and WCW titles. After making a huge return in 2001, The Rock was set against Booker T in a fun feud playing on how WCW tried to make Booker a copy of The Rock (which inspired the now classic “who in the blue hell are you” line).

The Rock beat Booker for the belt at SummerSlam, holding it until losing to Chris Jericho at No Mercy. Rock got the title back on RAW before losing to Jericho who then unified it with the WWE title. So “The Great One” can also boast a run with the Big Gold Belt.