The result saw Forest leapfrog the Baggies and take their place in the top two for the first time this season - while also extending their unbeaten away record.
But it was also the manner of the performance which left boss Billy Davies understandably delighted - almost a year to the day after he took charge with the East Midlands club struggling at the wrong end of the table.
He said: "It's a very important three points and psychologically it's a very important win, but I genuinely still feel it's only three points at this stage of the season. It's no more.
"It was no more than three points but it's the manner of which we came here because this is a big club.
"To come and show the courage this young team showed and to pass it and play positive...
"We had to come here and justify our position in the league."
He continued: "If you look at their list of players and their spend you will find it at least doubles the spend of Nottingham Forest.
"That is why I'm delighted that we've come here against a very good side and played some wonderful stuff.
"We're making very good progress but it's not over until the fat lady sings.
"There's a lot of games left and we've just got to make sure no complacency comes in.
"It will be a huge test and a big ask for this young team."
Forest took the lead in the 18th minute when Dexter Blackstock stole a yard on Albion's new centre-back Gabriel Tamas, who endured somewhat of a nightmare debut, to volley home Radoslaw Majewski's corner off the near post from eight yards.
Majewski himself volleyed home a stunning crucial second for Forest eight minutes after the restart, connecting sweetly with Chris Gunter's far-post cross to smash his effort past Scott Carson off the underside of the bar.
Chris Cohen then added a classy third after some neat one-touch approach play as Forest started to turn on the style.
And although substitute Roman Bednar netted a consolation for Albion it was certainly Forest's day - much to the annoyance of a downbeat Roberto Di Matteo.
"It's probably been the worst performance that we've had (this season)," he said.
"We didn't play which is very unusual for us.
"There were quite a lot of players that didn't perform to the level we know they can
"It's a bad defeat against Forest, credit to them they played well."
Source: Team Talk
Source: Team Talk