Ric Flair's World Title Reigns

[Skyefire]

There's a lot of talk around the wrestling world about whether John Cena will (or even should) break Ric Flair's supposed record of 16 World Title reigns. But, I want to know where they're getting the number 16. By my count Ric Flair has been champion more than 16 times. Here's the stats:

#1 (NWA)-Won: 9/17/81 from Dusty Rhodes; Lost: 6/10/83 to Harley Race
#2 (NWA)-Won: Starrcade '83 from Harley Race; Lost: 3/20/84 to Harley Race
#3 (NWA)-Won: 3/25/84 from Harley Race; Lost: 5/6/84 to Kerry Von Erich
#4 (NWA)-Won: 5/24/84 from Kerry Von Erich; Lost: Great American Bash '86 to Dusty Rhodes
#5 (NWA)-Won: 8/9/86 from Dusty Rhodes; Lost: 9/25/87 to Ron Garvin
#6 (NWA)-Won: Starrcade '87 from Ron Garvin; Lost: Chi-Town Rumble '89 to Ricky Steamboat
#7 (NWA)-Won: WrestleWar '89 from Ricky Steamboat; Lost: Great American Bash '90 to Sting
#8 (NWA)-Won: 1/11/91 from Sting; Lost: 3/21/91 to Tatsumi Fujinami
#9 (NWA)-Won: SuperBrawl I from Tatsumi Fujinami; Stripped after leaving for WWF
#10 (WWF)-Won: Royal Rumble '92; Lost: WrestleMania VIII to Randy Savage
#11 (WWF)-Won: 9/1/92 from Randy Savage; Lost: 10/12/92 to Bret Hart
#12 (NWA/WCW Int'l)-Won: Beach Blast '93 from Barry Windham; Lost: Fall Brawl '93 to Rick Rude
#13 (WCW)-Won: Starrcade '93 from Vader; Title held up after double pin vs Ricky Steamboat at Spring Stampede '94
#14 (WCW)-Won: WCW Saturday Night 5/14/94 from Ricky Steamboat; Lost: Bash at the Beach '94 to Hulk Hogan
#15 (WCW)-Won: Starrcade '95 from Randy Savage; Lost: Nitro 1/22/96 to Randy Savage
#16 (WCW)-Won: SuperBrawl VI from Randy Savage; Lost: Nitro 4/22/96 to The Giant
#17 (WCW)-Won: Uncensored '99 from Hollywood Hogan; Lost: Spring Stampede '99 to Diamond Dallas Page
#18 (WCW)-Won: Nitro 5/15/00 from Jeff Jarrett; Stripped by Vince Russo on 5/22/00
#19 (WCW)-Awarded Nitro 5/29/00 by Kevin Nash; Lost Nitro 5/29/00 to Jeff Jarrett

Not included in this list are losses to Jack Veneno in Dominican Republic in 1982, Victor Jovica in Trinidad in 1983, and Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico in 1983. In each case the title was returned to Flair shortly afterwards. He also lost the belt in 1983 to Midnight Rider, who, when revealed it was Dusty Rhodes, had to return the title to Flair.

 

[Samoa Looch]

I feel like someone made a post like this last year already.

#8 (NWA)-Won: 1/11/91 from Sting; Lost: 3/21/91 to Tatsumi Fujinami

#12 (NWA/WCW Int'l)-Won: Beach Blast '93 from Barry Windham; Lost: Fall Brawl '93 to Rick Rude

#13 (WCW)-Won: Starrcade '93 from Vader; Title held up after double pin vs Ricky Steamboat at Spring Stampede '94
#14 (WCW)-Won: WCW Saturday Night 5/14/94 from Ricky Steamboat; Lost: Bash at the Beach '94 to Hulk Hogan

These are the ones WWE either doesn't recognize at all, or see as a continuation of another run (like with the #8 for example).

And yea, Cena should've beaten this.

 

[Chris]

I don't feel like looking it up rn but I think the big discrepancy is at least one or multiple of those Looch named are what aren't counted in the 16 like he said but on like the official title histories on WWE.com they're listed, like I think they legit have 17 for Ric if you count them individually on the histories on their own site

It's all arbitrary really tho, the ones on the 80s should count too and I actually like that NWA I believe retroactively did recognize one that was like that a few years ago, maybe more

 

[Deadd2009]

WWE only recognizes the WWF/WCW/NWA reigns. That's why.