I wouldn't personally say the WCH is any more prestigious than the Olympics or vice versa.
Any hockey that involves the Canadian National team is exciting.
Maybe none more than the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia.
This is a pretty good site for that:
http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1972/content.htm
Here's some history of the WCH too:
http://wch2004.com/history/index.html