Looking Back: Vince Russo Wins the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 16 Years Ago.

Sixteen years ago today on WCW Nitro, Vince Russo defeated Booker T in a Caged Heat match to win the WCW Championship.

Actually, Russo was never announced as the winner during the Nitro broadcast. The match (and show ended) with Goldberg spearing Russo out of the cage. Russo then showed up on Thunder with the WCW Championship belt in his possession declaring himself the champion. He then retired from in-ring competition.

Russo officially vacates the title the following Monday on Nitro (the ninth time the title was vacated since Russo came aboard, and the seventh in 2000 alone—to put that in perspective, the WCW world title was vacated three times total prior to the Russo era), with a new champion crowned that evening in a San Francisco 49's match.