Unexpected Title Wins

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

I'm too young (19) to remember if certain title wins were unexpected from a smart mark point of view.

 

Thinking back... was it unexpected that Sgt. Slaughter would win the title from Ultimate Warrior at RR '91? What about Ron Simmons' title win from Vader? Flair beating Sting at the 1/91 house show?

 

Not even just World title wins... IC, US, TV, Tag... back when those titles meant something. Name some, I'm interested.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Didnt Bret Hart win the title at a house show?

[cawthon777 0]

Didnt Bret Hart win the title at a house show?

I don't know why so many think that. It was a TV taping for WWF Superstars. In the modern era, the only WWF/E world title change at a house show was Diesel / Backlund.

 

Off the top of my head, unexpected title changes:

Booker winning the strap

Bret over Flair

Honky over Steamboat

 

Simmons was being groomed to be world champion. He's even in the audience for Sting / Vader at GAB 92.

 

I'd say Slaughter was somewhat of a surprise.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Two Words: David Arquette

[Guest Choken One]

The Big Show at Survivor Series 1999.

 

He wasn't even NEAR the main event at the time...was in a bad bad bad (it's popular now for all the wrong reasons) with Bossman.

 

Booked in a Elimination match eariler that night...had NO hint or subtle message that he would get the title...

 

When Austin went down...everyone and their mother expected Test to step into Austin's spot and screw HHH out of his title...putting it back on The Rock...or perhaps winning it outright himself...building it like "You may have the girl...but I got the belt"...

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

Two Words: David Arquette

How could anything in the dying days of WCW surprise you? I wouldn't have been surprised if Tony Schiavone beat Arquette in an impromptu match for the title immediately after Arquette won it.

[Guest Stunt Granny]

Chris Jericho winning the Undisputed Title. Kurt Angle beating The Rock at No Mercy in 2000.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Hogan winning the title at Mania IX. He wasn't even in the goddamn match.

[Australian Pride 0]

Sid beating Bret Hart for the World title, one day after he won it.

Rocky Maivia over HHH for the IC title in 1997.

Edge over Jeff Jarrett for the IC title on a house show in 1999.

Mankind over the Rock for the World Title on Raw was unexpected.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Marty Jannetty over HBK for the IC Title

HBK winning it back at a house show 3 weeks later.

Jannetty/Kid over quebecers

Quebecers winning it back at MSG.

 

Yeah, anytime Jannetty won it shocked me.

[Papacita 0]

When Austin went down...everyone and their mother expected Test to step into Austin's spot and screw HHH out of his title...putting it back on The Rock...or perhaps winning it outright himself...building it like "You may have the girl...but I got the belt"...

HHH and Steph weren't together at that time.

 

For me...HBK and Austin over Bulldog and Owen caught me off guard when it happened, as did Marty Jannetty's I-C Win in 93.

 

For World Title wins...Bret's (I'll never forget that episode of Superstars when they announced him as the new champ), Diesel's, Flair's win at Starrcade in 95 (with Hogan around, I didn't think they'd even let him look at the belt again) and the Giant's title win over Flair on a Nitro in 96.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

World Titles:

 

Slaughter over Warrior

 

Flair @ RR 92

 

Yokozuna over Hogan - I didn't know it would be Hogan's last WWF match until WM 18

 

Backlund over Hart

 

Sid over Michaels

 

Goldberg over Hogan - I mean I know it was Bill's hometown, but I figured they would have saved the match for BatB.

 

DDP at Spring Stampede 99

 

Angle over Rock

 

Jericho over Rock & Austin

 

Midcard Titles:

 

Rude over Warrior

 

The Mountie over Hart ( I think the Mountie won clean if I remember correctly that made it even more shocking)

 

Goldust over Ramon

 

Konnan over One Man Gang

 

fucking Rikishi over Benoit

 

Albert over Kane

 

Christian over Booker

 

The Big Show over Eddie

 

Tag Team:

 

Kidman & Mysterio over Benoit & Malenko

 

Raven & Saturn over Benoit, Malenko, Mysterio, & Kidman

 

Benoit & Saturn over DDP & Bigelow

 

Anytime the Hardy Boyz won

 

Benoit & Jericho over Power Trip

 

Rikishi & Rico over Billy & Chuck

 

Regal & Storm over BookDust

 

Batista & Flair over Dudleyz

 

The last 3 WWE title changes (Bashams, Too Sucks, Charlie / Rico)

[bob_barron 0]

I don't see why Rikishi getting the I-C belt was a travesty. He was very very over at the time and they had to get the belt off Benoit to move him into a feud with The Rock. So why not job Benoit to someone very over?

 

I expected Jericho to win the belt that night- Austin retaining would be pointless, Angle was dead in the water and I knew Angle had no chance over Austin and they wouldn't do Rock v. Austin unannounced...so it was kind of obvious Y2J would win.

 

And the Commonwealth Connection going over BookDust was pretty obvious. I didn't know whether to be overjoyed that Regal won a belt...or cry knowing Goldust lost one.

[TheFranchise 0]

The Mountie over Hart ( I think the Mountie won clean if I remember correctly that made it even more shocking)

Yes, but it was played up that Hart had something like a 105 temperature, making it seem less clean.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

The Albert IC Title win wasn't that unexpected, as it was obvious they wanted Albert to be over so badly. The only unexpected thing to come out of that match was the Kane-ensteiner. I'd say Lance Storm beating Albert for the title was more unexpected.

 

I'd also give anything for the Rock/Mankind match to have been live and a total surprise, but it lead to Tony's little comment, and the stories that came out of that are some of my favorite wrestling moments that didn't actually happen on TV.

[bob_barron 0]

The Albert IC Title win wasn't that unexpected, as it was obvious they wanted Albert to be over so badly. The only unexpected thing to come out of that match was the Kane-ensteiner. I'd say Lance Storm beating Albert for the title was more unexpected.

 

I'd also give anything for the Rock/Mankind match to have been live and a total surprise, but it lead to Tony's little comment, and the stories that came out of that are some of my favorite wrestling moments that didn't actually happen on TV.

Oh trust me- Albert's win was unexpected.

 

I was there for that match and when the crowd was in stunned silence when DDP interfered and Albert won the belt.

 

I didnt see that one coming.

 

Booker T/RVD over Evolution came out of nowhere earlier this year

[Guest MikeSC]

No mention of the Midnight Express' win over Arn & Tully? Cornette said they didn't learn about it until about 15 minutes before it happened.

-=Mike

[Slayer 0]

Konnan over One Man Gang

In late '95/early '96, there was a whole string of US title changes that just made me go "WTF", even though I wasn't a smark

 

Sting had the belt. Made enough sense, he was one of the top guys in the company

 

Next thing I know, I hear that Kensuke Sasaki is the US champion... how (and moreso, why) did that happen?

 

Then not long after that, OMG wins it off Sasaki, and shortly thereafter, pre-gangsta Konnan wins it and holds onto it for a good while

 

I think around the same time was the beginning of the end of me being able to keep track of title reigns in my head, since the days of 3-4 champions in a calendar year (which itself was a shift from multi-year champions of before) were beginning to dwindle

[Guest Fook]

D-Lo over HHH for the European title. Granted, it was due to the Rock, but it was still unexpected as D-Lo was nothing more than one of Rock's lackeys.

[tbondrage99 0]

I didnt think Jericho was going to win the Undisputed title at Vengeance 2002, I figured it would be Austin or The Rock like most people did. I was very pleasntly suprised. I think its the happiest I was after watching a PPV in years.

[Youth N Asia 0]

When Backlund beat Bret I just lost it. I cheered like a madman for Crazy Hands and thought he stood no chance of winning the title. Then they completly wasted his "run" by losing it to Nash

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I loved when Vince disgustingly asked himself, "THIS is the leader of the NEW GENERATION?!?"

[Papacita 0]

Another one I forgot about (and I dunno how since I actually went to the show) was Jeff Hardy over HHH for the I-C Title in 01.

[ISportsFan 0]

I don't see why Rikishi getting the I-C belt was a travesty. He was very very over at the time and they had to get the belt off Benoit to move him into a feud with The Rock. So why not job Benoit to someone very over?

Jobbing the IC title wasn't completely unexpected, in my opinion anyway. The fact that it was 4 minutes long bothered me, but that's not too much of an offense since Rikishi can't work more than 10 anyway.

 

The problem I had with the IC title loss was that they jobbed Benoit to Rikiski AGAIN three days later at the King of the Ring in the tournament. If Benoit was going to get a feud with Rock, why job him to Rikishi twice right before the feud starts.

 

Of course, the KOR tournament in 2000 was booked awful anyway, and nobody (except Rikishi) will object to that.

 

Jason

 

EDIT: Back on topic, the one that sticks out most in my mind was Jacqueline just winning the CW title from Chavo. It made no sense. But, Chavo Classic winning didn't surprise me because by then I knew they were burying the division.

[The Mandarin 0]

Sting to Macho Man in 1998. That was really stupid.

 

Wait, everything involving the nWo past Starrcade 1997 was stupid.

 

ETA: Benoit lost to Rikishi in the KOTR by DQ, right?

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Not sure about this one, as I didn't see it when it happened...

 

What about Savage's WrestleMania 4 win?

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I was just thinking of the out of nowhere HBK regaining the title from Jannetty match, and wondered if the match even exists on tape. Probably doesn't, but there's an odd chance it might...

[Guest dreamer420]

Although I was the only one to call it I think it was a huge surprise when Mankind won the title over HHH and Stone Cold at Summerslam 99. Everyone was expecting HHH to take the title, and when Mankind won he got a wick pop.

[The Tino Standard 0]

Flair's final title win... I think he beat Jeff Jarrett on Nitro... I know that was tame compared to other things in that era of WCW (David Arquette), but it still floored me.

[JHawk 0]

No mention of the Midnight Express' win over Arn & Tully? Cornette said they didn't learn about it until about 15 minutes before it happened.

-=Mike

It wasn't unexpected in the sense that nobody thought it possible, but I think most people figured it would happen at Starrcade or possibly a Clash rather than some random house show. The Vince McMahon came calling, and the rest is history.