In a recent episode of Everybody’s Got a Pod, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase discussed wrestling Ric Flair for the NWA World Title and explained why the NWA always had heel World Champions.
Talking about the prominence of the NWA, DiBiase said:
“The NWA was probably as — nationally, probably the most recognized. There was NWA, and that was several territories. Georgia, Mid-South, Florida, I can’t remember. But then like the WWE was like, the East Coast. Maine and Pennsylvania and New York and, you know, big cities.
But the NWA on a national scale, I mean it was probably a more recognized World Championship than the WWF, in terms of territories. Where the NWA — if you were the NWA World Champion, you were going to a different territory weekly. And once you made the rounds, then you start back at the one where you started.”
DiBiase also highlighted why NWA World Champions were almost always heels, explaining that it was a strategic choice to build up local babyface wrestlers:
“They would build their show — and the only time that the NWA World Champion was a babyface would be in his home territory, wherever home was. So for Ric Flair, that would have been Charlotte. And I’m not sure he was a babyface there, either.
But anyway, the NWA World Champion was always a heel. Why? Because as a territory, you’re going to build somebody up.
You’re going to build up your big babyface to have an opportunity to wrestle the World Champion and possibly beat him. That’s why the NWA World Champion was generally always a heel.”
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