Tracking The World Champions
Welcome to a brand new feature for our Premium Investors for Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel. Tracking The World Champions in a series where we run down the working schedules of the known world champions in our relative time frames we are tracking in the territory era of pro wrestling. (40-years, 50 years, 60 years, etc.). Each month we will track the previous month’s activity for the world champions. All data is based on the known research we have available in databases in our present time.
For each World Champion, we will designate the year of the current stage of the territory era framework, the current age of the champion and the amount of title defenses they made that month. We will list all of the matches the champion was involved in for the month, as those matches were also part of the busy schedule, as well as the singles title defenses and if known, television appearances as well.
February 1986:
Stage of Territory Era: Year 2 of Disintegration
NWA World Champion: Ric Flair age: 36 (23 title defenses)
*Tony Note: Flair’s current reign began (officially recognized as his 3rd) on May 24, 1984, when he defeated Kerry Von Erich in Yokosuka, Japan, and would continue until July 26, 1986, making it one of his longest at 793 days total. By January 1986, Flair had held the belt for over 600 days, solidifying his role as the NWA’s top draw and a quintessential heel champion known for his flamboyant promos, technical prowess, and ability to elevate opponents.
Flair’s championship was still represented by the classic “domed globe” belt (nicknamed the “Ten Pounds of Gold”) at this time, as the iconic Big Gold Belt design made its debut February 14, 1986, at the Battle of the Belts II event in Florida, where Flair defended against Barry Windham. The new belt made its national TV debut on February 22, 1986, on NWA World Championship Wrestling. The segment marked the end of the “Ten Pounds of Gold” era and the beginning of the Big Gold Belt’s legendary run, which would later represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after WCW withdrew from the NWA in 1993.
