Should Rick Rude be Recognised as a Former WCW World Champion

Spoiler:

Currently we have a "WWE Champion" and a "World Heavyweight Champion" in WWE.
It doesn't matter which you won, you go in the history books as some sort of a "WWE World Champion"

anyway....

Back in the early nineties there was a similar situation with Flair going to the WWF and the WCW/NWA split.
Suddenly there was a "WCW Champion" (new belt) and a "World Heavyweight Champion/ WCW International Heavyweight Champion" (big gold).

In the title official history of the WWE/WCW World Heavywyweight Title, there seems to be no mention at all of Rick Rude's 3 title reigns. In hindsight he was really build as a legitimate "World Heavyweight Champion" at the time, defending the title against Flair/ Sting and in Japan.

Should Rick Rude still be recognised as a former WCW World Champion?

Watch Rude win the "World Heavyweight Championship" : https://youtu.be/HyfsdninX08
Watch Rude defend the "World Heavyweight Championship": https://youtu.be/hIlqdml7Fuc

Spoiler:

no one can answer this for me then??

Wasn't the WCW International Title was a gimmick title like the Million Doller Title

nope was brought in when Flair returned from the WWF with the real world belt, was later unified with the WCW title

I wouldn't say so, A titles only as good as the organisation validates it to be,WCW regognised the NWA World Title as there world belt, but upon Flair leaving with the belt the WCW World championship was validated as the new world title, when Rude won the belt it was the WCW International title, if WCW wanted him to be a world champion they would have called him a world champion as WWE do with the WWE World Title and the World Heavyweight Title

The answer to this for me is no although it's all a bit complicated.

The WCW International World Title was never recognised as an official World Title outside of World Championship Wrestling after WCW severed all ties with the NWA and re-named the title as such, it became a Title to a fictitious subsidery of WCW, like they pretended they had an International version of WCW as well as the existing promotion that was based in the states, it was considered a subordinate Title which in it's basic form means something of less importance

Pro Wrestling Illistrated are the closest thing Pro Wrestling has to an independant unbiased view point and since there isn't an official universally accepted method every organisation pretty much accepts their perception of what merits World Title status

The WCW International Heavyweight Title was slightly above the United States Heavyweight Title at the time but not considered an equal to the WCW World Title and for that I can't agree that Rude should be recognised

I wouldn't compare it to the current WWE product having two World Titles because it wasn't ever recognised or treated as well as the WCW World Title

thanks guys, big help

I enjoyed the question mate, due to the complexity of the title I think it was a fair point well made