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Top 10 NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champions Of All Time · Gil I Am

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  Speaker 1: We are absolutely diving headfirst into a massive, frankly legendary
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  Speaker 1: piece of professional wrestling history. You see, for more than
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  Speaker 1: seventy five years, the NWA, the National Wrestling Alliance World's
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  Speaker 1: Heavyweight Championship, has pretty much been the gold standard, the
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  Speaker 1: absolute pinnacle of the sport. We're talking about a legacy
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  Speaker 1: built on pure grit, undeniable talent, and true sporting greatness.
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  Speaker 1: So today we're counting down the top ten greatest champions
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  Speaker 1: to ever hold that prestigious title, looking at the exact
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  Speaker 1: legends who essentially built this incredible business from the ground up.
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  Speaker 1: Let's get into it right off the bat. We need
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  Speaker 1: to establish exactly what we mean when we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the famous ten pounds of gold. This wasn't just some
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  Speaker 1: local belt offended in one stationary promotion. Oh No, this
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  Speaker 1: was a globally traveling title. I mean, think about the
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  Speaker 1: sheer grit it took to physically carry this championship across
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  Speaker 1: territories all over the world night after night. Promoters trusted
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  Speaker 1: only the absolute best, most reliable workers to hold it,
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  Speaker 1: simply because whoever wore that belt was literally the face
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  Speaker 1: of the entire wrestling industry. So how do we actually
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  Speaker 1: rank these icons while our source material uses five really
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  Speaker 1: strict criteria. First up their championship legacy, then their drawing power,
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  Speaker 1: basically how many tickets were they actually selling. We also
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  Speaker 1: look at pure technical ability in the ring, their overall
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  Speaker 1: influence on the business, and finally, their lasting historical impact.
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  Speaker 1: These are the ultimate benchmarks for greatness. All right, let's
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  Speaker 1: kick off our countdown At number ten, We've got the Beast,
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  Speaker 1: Dan Severn.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Severn captured the championship in nineteen ninety five, and he
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  Speaker 1: stepped up during a massive rebuilding phase for the NWA.
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  Speaker 1: What he brought to the table was a level of
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  Speaker 1: real world credibility that was almost entirely unheard of at
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  Speaker 1: the time. Being a recognized legend in the early Ultimate
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  Speaker 1: Fighting Championship, his elite amateur background gave the belt instant legitimacy.
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  Speaker 1: He actually held the title for a staggering one thy,
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  Speaker 1: four hundred and seventy nine days. Seriously, that's one of
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  Speaker 1: the longest runs in the championship's entire history. By defending
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  Speaker 1: this title while actively competing in mixed martial arts, Severn
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  Speaker 1: kept the NWA visible imperfectly imbody those gritty old school
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  Speaker 1: wrestling values. Moving right along to number nine, here we
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  Speaker 1: have Gene Kiniski, famously known as Canada's greatest athlete. Kiniski
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  Speaker 1: is a guy who truly cemented the idea that a
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  Speaker 1: title holder should be both deeply feared and incredibly respected
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  Speaker 1: all over the globe. He was this powerful, undeniably rugged
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  Speaker 1: champion who pulled off the massive feet of defeating the
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  Speaker 1: legendary Louthez back in nineteen sixty six. Kiniski just had
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  Speaker 1: this unbelievable, intimidating physical presence about him, and it didn't
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  Speaker 1: matter if he was wrestling in North America or over
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  Speaker 1: in Japan. He drew absolutely massive crowds for over three
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  Speaker 1: solid years, coming in hot at number eight. This spot
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  Speaker 1: belongs to a man widely celebrated by historians as one
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  Speaker 1: of the greatest pure wrestlers to ever step foot inside
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  Speaker 1: the squared circle, Jack Briscoe. He was a former NCAA champion,
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  Speaker 1: and he had this incredible knack for seamlessly blending his
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  Speaker 1: elite amateur background with really smooth, technical professional wrestling. He
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  Speaker 1: won the belt in nineteen seventy three and basically spent
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the decade defending it against the biggest
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  Speaker 1: stars across all the territories. His legendary grueling rivalries against
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  Speaker 1: icons like Harley Race and Terry Funk didn't just entertain
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  Speaker 1: the fans, they actively elevated the prestige of the title
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  Speaker 1: throughout the entire nineteen seventies. Down to number seven. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this entry marks a massive historical shift in how champions
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  Speaker 1: actually presented themselves to the world. It perfectly highlights the
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  Speaker 1: impact of Buddy Rogers. Look, before there was a Rick Flair,
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  Speaker 1: there was the nature boy Buddy Rogers. He was wrestling's
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  Speaker 1: first true television superstar. In fact, pretty much every charismatic
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  Speaker 1: heel you know, the villainous champions that came after him,
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  Speaker 1: borrowed something from Buddy. With his flashy robes, incredibly confident interviews,
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  Speaker 1: and just this wonderfully arrogant attitude. He changed the wrestling
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  Speaker 1: business forever. Honestly, the modern World Champion would look completely
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  Speaker 1: different if it weren't for him. And that brings us
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  Speaker 1: to number six. Terry Funk. He captured the title in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, and man, did he bring peu if
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  Speaker 1: your unadulterated danger in high stakes emotion to every single
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  Speaker 1: title defense. Funk was the absolute master of unpredictability. He
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  Speaker 1: had this unique way of combining crisp, technical wrestling with
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  Speaker 1: totally wild brawling. He possessed an unforgettable aura where the
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  Speaker 1: fans were just constantly guessing what on earth he might
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  Speaker 1: do next. It made his matches feel genuinely dangerous. His
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  Speaker 1: classic feuds with guys like Harley Race, Jack Briscoe, and
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  Speaker 1: Dusty Rhodes solidified him as one of the most respected
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  Speaker 1: performers in the business even decades down the line. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: we are officially breaking into the top five. This spot
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  Speaker 1: belongs to the ultimate champion of consistency and purely scientific wrestling,
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  Speaker 1: Dorry Funk Junior. Now, when you look at the sheer
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  Speaker 1: numbers of the longest title reigns, dorry sits right up
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  Speaker 1: there with the all time grades. We're talking about an
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  Speaker 1: astonishing fifteen hundred and sixty three days. That is over
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  Speaker 1: four solid years. As the world's heavyweight champion. Dorry was
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  Speaker 1: famous for his unmatched endurance, defending the title across dozens
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  Speaker 1: of territories against literally every major challenger out there there.
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  Speaker 1: His incredibly consistent and reliable run really helped stabilize the
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  Speaker 1: entire organization during one of the biggest growth periods in
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  Speaker 1: wrestling history. Moving into the number four spots, here we
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  Speaker 1: find a champion who absolutely did not fit the traditional mold,
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  Speaker 1: but he possessed an unparalleled, almost magnetic connection with the audience.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. He wasn't flashy,
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  Speaker 1: he wasn't sculpted like a bodybuilder, but his legendary promos,
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  Speaker 1: those impassioned, gripping interviews he'd cut on television, he made
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  Speaker 1: audiences believe every single word he said. When Dusty won
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  Speaker 1: the NWA Championship, it genuinely felt like the common man
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  Speaker 1: was finally defeating the wealthy establishment. He inspired audiences on
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  Speaker 1: a deep level and created absolute magic with one of
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  Speaker 1: wrestling's greatest rivalries ever against Rick Flair. Entering the top Forrety,
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  Speaker 1: we have.
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  Speaker 2: The ultimate embodiment of credibility and toughness in the nineteen
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  Speaker 2: seventies and eighties, Harley Race. This man defined physical grit
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  Speaker 2: As an incredible seven time NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. He
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  Speaker 2: didn't need to be flashy at all because his brutal,
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  Speaker 2: highly physical style convinced every single fan in the arena
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  Speaker 2: that they were watching the toughest man alive. He was
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  Speaker 2: universally respected by every wrestler who ever shared a locker
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  Speaker 2: room with him, and he carried the title with unmatched credibility.
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  Speaker 2: For a lot of purists, Harley Race is simply the
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  Speaker 2: perfect fighting champion.
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  Speaker 1: Getting so close. Now here's number two. This spot goes
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  Speaker 1: to a man whose skills in professionalism were quite literally
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  Speaker 1: decades ahead of his time, Louth Thez taking the runner
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  Speaker 1: up spot. THEZ provides a truly fascinating blueprint for what
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  Speaker 1: makes a champion. Think of it this way. If Rick
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  Speaker 1: Flair popularized the title, Louthes legitimized it, holding the championship
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  Speaker 1: for over two three hundred consecutive days during a single run.
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  Speaker 1: He relied on submission holds and chain wrestling, which is
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  Speaker 1: a seamless series of technical grappling moves combined with elite
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  Speaker 1: conditioning and absolute professionalism. Every future world champion owes a
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  Speaker 1: huge debt to Luthz. He laid the foundation for the
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  Speaker 1: man who had ultimately elevated the title to unprecedented heights
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  Speaker 1: and finally are undisputed Number one Rick Flair. I mean
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  Speaker 1: there could only be one right, Flair completely transformed the
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  Speaker 1: NWA Championship into the most prestigious title in all of
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  Speaker 1: professional wrestling. He cemented this legacy with eight recognized rains,
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  Speaker 1: endless sixty minute classics night after night, and that unmatched,
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  Speaker 1: undeniable confidence, complete with the extravagant robes and that iconic whoo.
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  Speaker 1: He traveled the globe facing hometown heroes, and in doing so,
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  Speaker 1: he elevated incredible challengers, guys like Ricky Steamboat Sting and
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  Speaker 1: Barry Wyndham. The crucial takeaway here is that rick Flair
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  Speaker 1: didn't just wear the ten pounds of gold. He aggressively
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  Speaker 1: protected its prestige every single night, literally becoming synonymous with
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  Speaker 1: the championship itself. No one represented it better. Now, before
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  Speaker 1: we wrap things up, it's absolutely vital to acknowledge some
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  Speaker 1: honorable mentions. These are the legends who just missed the
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  Speaker 1: top ten but made undeniable, deeply significant contributions to the
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  Speaker 1: championship's lore. We're talking about icons like Pad O'Connor, Giant
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  Speaker 1: Baba Sting, and Carry Von Eric, all incredible champions in
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  Speaker 1: their own right who helped build this amazing legacy which
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  Speaker 1: brings us to the end of our explainer. But before
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  Speaker 1: you go, I want to leave you with a provocative
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  Speaker 1: question to chew on. Do you agree with Rick Flare
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  Speaker 1: at number one? Or you know, should Lothez have claimed
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  Speaker 1: that top spot for truly legitimizing the belt? What about
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  Speaker 1: Sting nick Aldis or Kerry von Erik? Did one of
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  Speaker 1: them deserve a place in that top ten? Weigh the criteria,
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  Speaker 1: think about the history, and keep celebrating the incredible legends
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  Speaker 1: who built this phenomenal business. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining me today, and as always, keep learning.