The Great Ones

By Scott Keith on 22 January 2014

Here's a thought to really define the "great ones" in the modern era of professional wrestling. Being the world champion doesn't necessarily mean what it used to, with so many champions, the belt being used as a prop & used for story line advancement in many cases. But back when the NWA/WCW and WWF were competitors there were far less champions & only a handful of guys were given the opportunity to be World Heavyweight Champion in both promotions. I think Flair being the first, then Hogan, Savage, Sid, Nash, Benoit, Big Show, and finally Bret Hart. How big of a deal was it at the time that Flair was the first to accomplish this compared to the time guys were jumping ship and Bret finally did it? Was this initially a major accomplishment in the business and if so did the luster wear off by the time the Wars started and belts were hot-shotted?

Thanks much

Well people certainly lost their minds when Bobby Heenan first showed up with the NWA World title at Summerslam, that's for sure. But yes, certainly it was a bigger deal when Flair did it than when Sid did it. Although Flair had so many other accomplishments that oddly enough it ended up being one of the lesser ones. It's actually more impressive that, for example, the Dudley Boyz are the only team to win the WCW, WWF, WWE, World, ECW, NWA, TNA and IWGP tag team titles in an era where teams form, break up and are forgotten a week later.