With the NWA refusing to accept WCW’s booking of their championship, the title was dubbed the International World Heavyweight Championship and helped make this day in wrestling history happen.
The fictitious championship was active from 1993 to 1994 with Rick Rude having three runs as champion for 202 total days, with this one coming against Ric Flair at WarGames’ penultimate main event.
Richly deserved
Rick Rude had a great run in the WWE, but he barely got a sniff of the World Championship despite proving himself as champion for other companies previously.
So, when he returned to WCW following their breaking away from the NWA, he quickly worked his way up the ladder.
In what many consider to be Dusty Rhodes correcting the WWE’s oversight, Rude was tabbed to win the match and after some of the best back and forths between two of the best, Rude nailed Flair with brass knuckles to win on September 19, 1993.
It was a moment that should’ve come in the WWE, but there are plenty of rumors as to why it didn’t.
One of the most prominent being that Hulk Hogan refused to work with Rude after Rude knocked out the Ultimate Warrior backstage.
While it’s been said Warrior deserved it, it’s believed that it showed others Rude wasn’t ready or deserved to be the champion.
It’s not the first time the WWE didn’t see the potential in someone, so Rude went back to his roots.
One of the greats
There’s no denying that Rude is one of the best heels in the history of the business, and that could be why he never became WWE champion.
It’s been reported that Vince McMahon wants the good guys to win, but moreso he cares about the entertainment value, so if Rude didn’t have a compelling enough story in his mind he couldn’t be champion.
While that may or may not be true, there’s plenty of evidence to support the idea. In the WWE, Ted DiBiase was every bit on Flair’s level as a heel, but he never officially won the WWE title.
Hogan was the money maker, and he kept the title as the biggest draw in history. It makes sense, but there are ways they could’ve made it work.
Still, there’s something to be said about being too good at his craft that he couldn’t be champion.
It sounds odd, but thankfully other companies didn’t have a problem with it and they gave Rick Rude this day in wrestling history.
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