Brian Damage
On August 18th, 2014…the World title aka ‘The Big Gold Belt’ was retired by the WWE. It was a title belt that was created in 1985 to replace the old NWA world title and become the recognized strap for the NWA/WCW. When it was removed and replaced for a singular belt…it was yet another piece of WCW that had vanished and was killed off. There is no talk that Rey Mysterio will be retiring as an active wrestler in 2027. There isn’t much left of the old WCW…
The big gold belt was perhaps one of the most iconic of items of the old guard…World Championship Wrestling. When it was taken off TV and no longer recognized as an official title belt…another piece of WCW history faded away. It was just another piece of WCW that was no longer deemed relevant. It seems to be a recurring theme in the WWE, out with the old and in with the new.
Since the WWE bought out WCW in 2001, slowly but surely…wrestlers, titles and officials have been released, retired or decommissioned. Over two decades have passed by and only a few remaining vestiges of WCW’s past that are currently on the active roster…
Referee Charles Robinson and the United States title.
Oh sure, there are other wrestlers who wrestled for WCW who still pop up from time to time on WWE TV like Arn Anderson or WWE agent Fit Finlay. Booker T is a commentator on NXT….but as far as the active roster goes…it’s just Robinson, Mysterio and the US title that are left.
Charles Robinson
Charles started out with WCW in 1997 and has been involved in a couple of front line angles for the company. He was the sidekick to Nature Boy Ric Flair as the Lil’ Naitch and also was the heel referee for Sid Vicious. A nice little factoid is that Robinson was the referee who officiated the last match on WCW Nitro between Sting and Flair.
The United States Heavyweight Championship
The US title was established in 1975…first held by the legendary Harley Race. Other notable champions included…Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Wahoo McDaniel, Lex Luger and Barry Windham just to name a few. The look of the actual championship has changed several times in its history…but has remained active for over 50 years.
Rey Mysterio
Rey joined WCW back in 1996 and remained with the company until it folded and was sold in 2001. He remains semi active as a wrestler, but has focused more now as an on screen authority figure for AAA Mexico.
That is all that is left of the old WCW since it was bought by the WWE in 2001. Stars like Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, Mark Jindrak, Shane Helms and Chuck Palumbo have all been released or retired….the Cruiserweight title is gone. In recent years, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque has resurrected certain gimmick matches and old pay per views like War Games and Halloween Havoc.
Just Charles Robinson , Rey Mysterio and the United States Title remain active since the buy out of WCW in 2001.
Kyle Prescott
The US title always brings back memories of Nikita Koloff and Magnum TA wrestling across the country in the Best of 7 series. It was during the Great American Bash tour, I went in Philadelphia. It was at the University of Penn arena because WWF had the Spectrum locked up. Where the hell did 40 years go?