17.) Ron Garvin
Total Days: 62
Number of Reigns: 1
An underrated worker among fans nowadays is “The Hands of Stone” Ronnie Garvin, who actually got his moniker from his NWA Title feud against Ric Flair when the Nature Boy once referred to him as such during a promo and the name stuck ever since. Garvin was a solid wrestler but was never really seen as main event material. His run with the belt was only a short one and more of a transitional champion. The real feud at the time was between Flair and “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin, Ron’s kayfabe brother. In 1987 Jim Crockett decided to have an interim champion for the belt, a lot of wrestlers declined thinking that they wouldn’t hold the belt long term anyway as Flair was still the focus of the promotion in their rivalry against the WWF, but Garvin being already at a late age at this point decided to take on the offer as he thought this would be the last time he’d ever have a chance to hold the big one and well, he was right. He defeated Flair at an episode of NWA World Wide Wrestling and held it for 62 days, successfully defending it six times before dropping it right back to Flair. Garvin spent his final years with the AWA, WWC, and finally with the WWF. He would come out of retirement from time to time during the early 2000’s and 2010’s but is officially retired now with his last match being in 2014.
18.) Ricky Steamboat
Total Days: 76
Number of Reigns: 1
It still surprises me that Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat only won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once in his entire career! In fact it is the only World Title he ever won in his nearly two decade active career in wrestling. We all know the legendary rivalry Steamboat had with Flair. Some of their matches are still seen as some of the greatest ever and they really were at the top during the pre Monday Night Wars era of WCW. On February 1989 at Chi-Town Rumble PPV, Steamboat ended Flair’s 452 day reign as champion and won the belt for the first time. It was kind of an odd run actually that only lasted for 76 days. He first defended the belt in Japan against Tiger Mask II aka Mitsuharu Misawa, then in his second defense he had a three minute squash match against some jobber named Snake Brown, which the internet even barely knows about. Then against Flair again before dropping it right back to him at WrestleWar. When talking about great babyfaces obviously guys like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, John Cena, and Dusty Rhodes come to mind. But those guys had heel runs as well, to me the greatest pure babyface in all of wrestling is still Ricky Steamboat. From beginning till the end of his career, the man was always a good guy and he played the role very well. Plus it wasn’t just an act, he is one of the few universally respected legends of the industry and earned it as well as in his prime, not a lot of wrestlers could have a great match like Steamboat had, way ahead of his time with his abilities.
19.) Sting
Total Combined Days: 216
Number of Reigns: 2
From one great Flair rival to another, this time we got “The Icon” Sting. What’s interesting about Sting’s runs as NWA Champion is that they happened on two separate decades. His first one was in 1990, the peak of Surfer Sting and his rivalry with Ric Flair. He defeated the Nature Boy at the main event of The Great American Bash PPV becoming the World Champion for the first time in his career. Sting would go on to hold the belt for 188 days and had four successful title defenses, one of which was against “The Black Scorpion” which by the end turned out to be Ric Flair again, so much for a fresh new rivalry. Anyway at a house show in East Rutherford, Flair defeated Sting and this would be recognized as the first ever title victory for the lineage of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which would then be separated from the NWA Title later on. Sting would not win the title again until many years later in 2006 during in his time with TNA. At this point the NWA Title had already lost a majority of its prestige but it gained some semblance of relevance again by being the top championship belt for the early years of TNA, around this time Sting was feuding with Jeff Jarrett and he won the title from him in a career vs. title match at the main event of Bound for Glory 2006. It was a run that lasted for 28 days only though before he dropped the title to Abyss. While Sting is one of the greatest of all time, his runs with the NWA World Title weren’t really something to rave about. He is best remembered for his times as champion with the WCW World Title, especially as his Crow persona feuding with the nWo. He would go on to wrestle until in 2015 where he had his last match in the WWE, a company he avoided for the majority of his career. Sting is a living legend by this point and truly is one of the most iconic figures the wrestling world has seen.
20.) Tatsumi Fujinami
Total Days: 59
Number of Reigns: 1
We’ve got another Dragon that held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, this time it’s Tatsumi Fujinami. If you’re a Puroresu fan you’re probably familiar with Fujinami, he is one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time and a respected figure amongst his peers. An excellent wrestler especially in his prime, Fujinami was the Ace (top star) of New Japan Pro Wrestling after Antonio Inoki began to slow down in his career. He is a 6x IWGP Heavyweight Champion (the top prize for NJPW) and 5x IWGP Tag-Team Champion, among many other accomplishments. What a lot of Western fans probably best him know for was his match against Ric Flair at the main event of Starrcade in the Tokyo Dome (1991) where both the NWA and IWGP Titles were on the line. It was a great match that ended with Japanese fans happy as they see their favorite Fujinami win it all. He is the first man in history to hold both belts at the same time.. Once again the title change itself was more than a feel good moment as just 59 days in, Fujinami dropped the belt right back to Flair at the first ever SuperBrawl PPV. Originally the title run by Fujinami was not even recognized in the United States and was only seen as a continuation of Flair’s 8th run but it was then retroactively recognized later on by the WWE. At the age of 65, Tatsumi Fujinami is still an active wrestler in Japan where he primarily wrestles for his own promotion: Dradition as well as other independent and locally produced events.
21.) Masahiro Chono
Total Days: 145
Number of Reigns: 1
Before he became the yakuza boss persona we know him best as today, Masahiro Chono first began his career as a traditional Japanese wrestler aiming to be the Ace of the company, particularly for New Japan. In fact the Young Lions class he was a part of was legendary in itself as he shared dojo time with Keiji Mutoh (aka Great Muta) and Shinya Hashimoto, the three of them would later be dubbed together as “The Three Musketeers” ushering a new era of wrestling for NJPW in the 90’s. By the early 90’s Chono was already cementing his legacy as the greatest G1 Climax performer by winning the tournament back-to-back. In 1992 the G1 Climax was a single elimination tournament and was also held up for the vacated NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Chono won defeating Rick Rude in the finals, having his first World Title victory of his career. He would go on to have a respectable but pretty short 145 day reign as champion, partly because he suffered an infamous neck injury at the hands of a young Steve Austin in their title match at an NJPW show. This would eventually sideline Chono for awhile but the injury itself was somewhat of a blessing in disguise as he would return with a brand new personality, gone was the bland babyface but rather he embraced his dark side and went on to create and lead nWo Japan which would heavily influence the WCW counterpart, we all know how successful that was. Nowadays Chono is still active within the wrestling business whether performing as a wrestler (on rare occasions) or a commentator as you can see sometimes on big events for NJPW.
22.) The Great Muta
Total Days: 48
Number of Reigns: 1
The man Chono loss the NWA World Title to was one of his contemporaries and an individual he is very familiar with: The Great Muta. Keiji Mutoh actually got the Great Muta persona while working on his excursion overseas, it is also inspired from his predecessor: The Great Kabuki, another Japanese wrestling legend who also experienced success in the US territories during the 70’s and 80’s. In 1993 at the traditional January 4th Tokyo Dome Show (which is now consistently known as Wrestle Kingdom) Chono and Muta faced for both the NWA and IWGP Titles, the latter of which Muta held. The match lasted for almost 20 minutes and in the end saw Muta winning both belts, making him the second man behind Tatsumi Fujinami to become NWA and IWGP Champion at the same time. He wouldn’t hold the belt for a long time though as in his first defense at SuperBrawl III in North Carolina, he lost the belt to Barry Windham. He may not have had a legendary reign as champion but if we look back in his career, Great Muta’s NWA Title run only added to his decorated career and solidified him as a Pro Wrestling Master. Whether as Mutoh or Muta, he is still an active wrestler at the age of 56. Mainly producing his own events or competing for other promotions both in Japan and the US.
23.) Barry Windham
Total Days: 147
Number of Reigns: 1
The final individual champion before everything would go downhill from here on out for the lineage of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Another second generation wrestler, son of Blackjack Mulligan and member of the Four Horsemen: Barry Windham. He is often overlooked by many and just casted as “another Horsemen member” especially by younger fans but in his prime, Windham was one of the top wrestlers in all of America. He is just as good of a worker as his peers. Before winning the World Title, Windham was already an accomplished wrestler having won a plethora of titles especially for the Florida territories. He has also wrestled for the WWF previously in the early 80’s, teaming up with his brother-in-law Mike Rotunda as the “US Express” feuding with The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff and winning the World Tag-Team Championships twice. By the time he faced The Great Muta for the NWA World Championship, Windham is already a veteran and a respected one at that. He held the title throughout the early parts of 1993 but his reign in itself was forgettable, in his 14 title defenses he mainly faced undercard talents like Johnny B. Badd, Pistol Pez Whatley, and Dustin Rhodes, who was yet to be a breakout star at the time. His run ended at Beach Blast PPV against former Horsemen compatriot Ric Flair. Barry Windham had his final match in 2010 at a Florida independent show and two years later was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Four Horsemen.
