The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It existed within WCW between 1991 and 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in March 2001, it became one of two world titles in the WWF, with its name being immediately abbreviated to the WCW Championship and finally, the World Championship. It complemented the WWF Championship until December 2001, when both titles were unified. The following year, its physical belt design, known historically as the Big Gold Belt, was restored by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE—formerly WWF) to represent the World Heavyweight Championship. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition.

In December 1988, Ted Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions, which had promoted under the name "NWA World Championship Wrestling". While the promotion remained a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the use of the NWA name was gradually reduced on televised programming, in favor of the name "World Championship Wrestling", or "WCW". On January 11, 1991, Ric Flair defeated Sting to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and was recognized as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The new championship was not initially represented by its own title belt, and WCW continued to use the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title belt. Because of this, WCW regularly claimed the NWA World Championship lineage for its own championship.

World heavyweight championship may refer to:

The following world championships also have weight divisions:

David Arquette (born September 8, 1971) is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He has since had several television roles, including playing "Jason Ventress" on ABC's In Case of Emergency. In addition to his acting career Arquette took a brief foray into professional wrestling in early 2000, competing for World Championship Wrestling (WCW). During his tenure, Arquette became a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, an angle that has been cited by prominent professional wrestling commentators as being pivotal to the degradation of the title and the demise of WCW.

Arquette was born in a Subud commune, which had no electricity, no bathrooms, and no running water, in Winchester, Virginia. He is the son of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" (née Nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor. Arquette's paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. David Arquette's mother was Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust refugee from Nazi-occupied Poland, and Arquette's father was a convert to Islam. Arquette's siblings are actors Rosanna, Alexis (born Robert), Richmond, and Patricia Arquette. The Arquettes had a dysfunctional upbringing, with a mother who was physically abusive and a father who abused substances, mainly marijuana.

Terry Gene Bollea (born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—now WWE), and was notable in the mid-to-late 1990s as Hollywood Hogan, the villainous nWo leader, in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Following the closure of WCW, he made a brief return to WWE in the early 2000s before revising his heroic character by combining elements of his two most famous personas.

Hogan was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a 12-time world champion being a six-time WWF/WWE Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, as well as a former WWE World Tag Team Champion with Edge. He won the Royal Rumble in 1990 and 1991, making him the first to win two consecutive Royal Rumbles. He was also the first WWE wrestler to win the WWE Championship three times. In his first reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan held the title for 469 days from July 17, 1994 to October 29, 1995—the longest ever reign for this championship.

Rey Gutierrez Mysterio Jr. (born December 11, 1974) is a Mexican American professional wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment currently wrestling on the RAW Brand. In WWE, Gutierrez was trained by his uncle Rey Misterio, Sr. and wrestled early on in Mexico where he learned the Lucha Libre high flying style that has been his trademark.

Gutierrez originally worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in Mexico, from 1992 to 1995. He wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1995 to 1996 and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1996 to 2001, as Rey Misterio, Jr./Rey Mysterio, Jr. but dropped the "Junior" from his name when he began working for WWE in 2002.

Mysterio is known for having a high flying style, which helped kick-start the cruiserweight wrestling revolution in the United States in the late 1990s during his time in WCW. In WCW he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times, and the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship once with Billy Kidman as part of the Filthy Animals. In WWE, Mysterio is a three time world champion having held the World Heavyweight Championship twice, the WWE Championship once and is currently listed as the lightest world champion in WWE history. He has also held the WWE Tag Team Championship a record-tying four times, and the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice. He also held the WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Championship a record eight times (five times in WCW, three in WWE). All totaled, he has won 21 titles between WWE and WCW. Mysterio was the 21st person to win the WWE Triple Crown Championship, and was the winner of the 2006 Royal Rumble.