[VIDEO] I vaguely remember this as I anticipate this year's Royal Rumble of which overtime Ric Flair participated in his prime. This clip was likely on WWF's Wrestling Challenge where Bobby Heenan shows of the then WCW/NWA World Heavyweight Title or the Big Gold Belt. As a kid starting off watching wrestling I didn't view this as particularly shocking, but I knew the separation between the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling at the time.
The drama is that Flair was going through negotiations with WCW back in 1991. His stature with the company was fading owing whatever was going on with then WCW President Jim Herd. There is a clip out there where Herd strips Flair of the Big Gold Belt, but one problem. Flair wanted his deposit back per some form of stipulation, Herd never gave him his deposit back and according to Flair the Big Gold Belt got sent to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon.
I wonder if this was controversial. Perhaps if a financial obligation wasn't met then this definitely made since, though certainly it has to be controversial since well this belt represents another wrestling company. I understand that at some point during this gimmick they started using a different title belt and sometimes they actually pixelated it adding to its credibility. The creative folks at WWF made this work and Flair remained with the company for two years before returning to WCW. And Flair had a couple of runs as WWF champion during that run.
I have to add the Alundra Blayze aka Madusa angle, this I don't really remember she came to WCW and threw into a trash can the WWF Women's Championship. That was controversial for sure and Vince McMahon didn't want a repeat of that so that's where the Montreal Screwjob comes into play by 1997. McMahon didn't want Bret Hart to take the WWF championship with him onto WCW TV and especially after he refused to do business with Shawn Michaels.
I think they chose the right promo person with Bobby Heenan to begin selling this angle. And it's sad that all the three men you see in this brief clip are all gone. Starting with Gorilla Monsoon, then Heenan, and then Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
