Can somebody Clarify this?

[canadian8773]

Somebody has on their site that RIC FLAIR was the first WCW INTERCONTINENTAL champion but i have never heard of that title, can somebody help

[Dan Poutsma]

That's because there never was such a title. They meant the 'WCW International' World title, although Flair was not the first holder of that championship either.

He was the NWA World champion at the time WCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance. When WCW continued to advertise his match with Rick Rude at the Fall Brawl PPV as an "NWA" title bout even after pulling their membership, the NWA took them to court to prevent them from doing it. The decision was made by the judge that since the NWA trademark was owned by the National Wrestling Alliance, WCW could no longer use it. However, they did have legal ownership of the belt itself, so he couldn't stop them from having the match altogether.

When the time came for the match to take place, WCW just announced it as being for the "Big Gold Belt". Not any title, but the belt. About a week or so after Rude won it, they came up with the BS story that a ficticious group of promoters called "WCW International" was now recognizing him as their "World heavyweight champion".

So it was Rude who was the first "official" WCW Int'l champ, not Flair, although he did hold the belt that eventually came to represent it at the time WCW severed ties with the NWA.