David Arquette winning the WCW World Title is generally regarded as one of the key moments that led to the downfall of World Championship Wrestling. Less than a year after Arquette won the Big Gold Belt, WCW closed its doors for good. WCW made a lot of mistakes during its final years and making Arquette the World Champion was one of them.
Arquette isn't the only celebrity to win a title in the world of professional wrestling, but he is arguably the most controversial. Various different wrestling promotions have decided to give a title to a celebrity, including WWE. None were as infamous as Arquette's reign, but these stars were still able to etch their names into wrestling history.
10 Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny is the most recent celebrity to step into the wrestling world and win a title. Thanks to Damian Priest, Bunny was able to win the WWE 24/7 Championship by scoring a pinfall victory over Akira Tozawa on the 2/15/2021 episode of Monday Night Raw. The popstar took his title to SNL and held onto the gold while singing the song "Te Deseo lo Mejor".
On the 3/15/2021 episode of Raw, Bad Bunny would exchange the 24/7 Title with R-Truth for Stone Cold merchandise. Bunny would make his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37 where he teamed with Priest to defeat John Morrison and The Miz. Bunny surprised the wrestling world with his performance at the event. No one expected him to pull off a Canadian Destroyer.
WWE had enough sense not to make Bad Bunny the Universal Champion. But, of course, they're not World Championship Wrestling.
9 David Arquette
As a means to generate media publicity while promoting the wrestling-related comedy movie Ready to Rumble, WCW decided to put their World Title on actor David Arquette. On the 4/25/2000 episode of Thunder, Arquette pinned Eric Bischoff for the three count following a Spear, becoming WCW World Heavyweight Champion. This happened during a tag team match pitting Arquette and Diamond Dallas Page against the likes of Jeff Jarrett and Bischoff. Despite DDP being the World Champion at the time and technically winning the match, the wrestler who made the pinfall would win the title.
Arquette did have one successful title defense before dropping the gold in the Triple Cage at Slamboree. Thanks to a Diamond Cutter from DDP, the controversial World Champion defeated Tank Abbott on a May 2000 episode of Nitro in a shade above two minutes. After 12 days as champion, Arquette turned on DDP at Slamboree, allowing Jeff Jarrett to become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Jarrett's title reign would be even shorter than Arquette's run with the gold, lasting eight days.
8 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
The Rock is a megastar in both pro wrestling and movies. In 2019 and 2020, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, according to Forbes. In the main event of the 2013 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, The Rock defeated CM Punk to become WWE Champion for the eighth time. During this reign, The Rock retired the spinner belt and introduced a new title design that resembles the current-day WWE Championship. Needless to say, Punk didn't seem too thrilled to have "Dwayne" come in and take his spot.
When he won the WWE Title in January 2013, The Rock wasn't quite the blockbuster Hollywood star that he is today. However, by that time, he had already starred in multiple films. Two years prior, The Great One was featured in the box office smash, Fast Five.
The Great One would drop the title to John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 29.
7 Rob Gronkowski
During the second night of WrestleMania 36, multi-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski staged-dived onto a large group of lower-card wrestlers. Gronk then pinned his good friend Mojo Rawley to become WWE 24/7 Champion. Rob dropped the gold to R-Truth who pinned him in his own backyard on a June 2020 episode of Raw. Since dropping the gold to Truth, Gronk has gone on to win the Super Bowl again, coming out of retirement to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who defeated the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LV.
In 2020, Gronk also won a Slammy Award for Celebrity Appearance of the Year.
6 Adam "Pacman" Jones
TNA also featured an NFL star on their programming. At the 2007 Hard Justice pay-per-view, Adam "Pacman" Jones made his TNA debut in a segment that involved Mike Tenay and Ron "The Truth" Killings. Although at first Truth and Jones had an adversarial relationship, it wouldn't be long until they formed a tag team known as Team Pacman.
Team Pacman defeated Sting and Kurt Angle for the TNA World Tag Team Titles at No Surrender '07. Towards the end of the match, there was a misunderstanding where Kurt thought that Sting slapped his wife Karen. Jones pinned Sting after The Stinger received an Angle Slam from Kurt. Team Pacman held the gold for 35 days. However, Jones wasn't allowed to wrestle during this reign as a result of his contract with the Tennessee Titans. As a result, if Pacman was booked in a match, he mostly stood on the apron while Truth essentially wrestled a handicap match.
Although this tandem gets plenty of criticism, it did make Truth relevant again in TNA. However, this renewed relevancy wouldn't last long as Team Pacman dropped the gold at Bound for Glory '07. During that PPV, the debuting Consequences Creed, who'd later be known as Xavier Woods in WWE, would take Pacman's place in the tag team match with Truth. Creed and Truth would be defeated by Tomko and AJ Styles. However, Team Pacman would have won the match if referee Earl Hebner wasn't picking up Pacman's money.
5 Doug Flutie
Rob Gronkowski isn't the only football star to win the WWE 24/7 Championship. Former quarterback Doug Flutie defeated R-Truth for the 24/7 Title during half-time for the 21st annual Celebrity Flag Football Challenge. This all went down in Clearwater, FL, on February 6, 2021.
However, unlike Gronk, Flutie didn't enjoy a lengthy reign with the 24/7 Title. Later on that day, Doug would be rolled up by R-Truth, with the comedic wrestler bringing the gold back home to WWE.
Doug Flutie is also a 1984 Heisman Trophy winner. After he was done with college football, Flutie played for both the CFL and NFL, playing for teams like the Calgary Stampeders and the San Diego Chargers. In 1998, Flutie received the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award as a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Following his professional career, Doug was inducted into numerous halls of fame, including Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. In total, Flutie played pro ball for 21 seasons.
4 Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch racked up numerous accomplishments as a NASCAR driver, including becoming the 2009 Xfinity Series Champion. A decade later, Busch would win a title in professional wrestling, capturing the WWE 24/7 Title on the first Raw of December 2019. Kyle rolled up R-Truth at ringside to win the gold. Former racer Michael Waltrip was the referee to count the pinfall. Later on that night, R-Truth would regain his title during a backstage segment that was shown online.
In 2019, Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup Championship, a title which he also won in 2015. Busch is also the first and only NASCAR driver to win a title in WWE. And no, Hardcore Holly doesn't count.
3 Enes Kanter
Enes Kanter received the opposite of a warm welcome from the MSG crowd on a September 2019 episode of Main Event. Kanter had left the New York Knicks that year and the fans from the Empire State let the basketball player know their displeasure with his decision. Charly Caruso introduced Kanter to the ring and was about to interview him before they were interrupted by R-Truth.
Truth called Kanter his friend. The 24/7 Champion tried sticking up for the Boston Celtics center, who was receiving a hostile reaction from the audience. However, Enes responded by pie-facing Truth and pinning him for the gold. After the win, the new 24/7 Champion unzipped his tracksuit top, revealing a Celtics jersey as the crowd booed. Kanter was clearly playing the role of a heel. However, Enes' title reign would end in short order as Truth rolled him up for the win.
2 Marshmello
Marshmello is a world-famous DJ and producer who has won multiple awards and one reign with the WWE 24/7 Championship. Most fans remember the SmackDown debut on FOX as the episode where Brock Lesnar squashed Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship, ending #KofiMania with ease. But what many fans don't recall is that Lesnar wasn't the only one to win a title on that night in October 2019.
On October 4, 2019, Marshmello was busy dealing with The Bella Twins' friendliness and R-Truth's ridiculousness when Heavy Machinery entered the picture. Otis brought graham crackers and a bucket labeled "chocolate" and intended to make s'mores out of Marshmello. This frightened the DJ, causing him to knock over Carmella and fall on top of her for the pinfall.
Carmella, who was 24/7 Champion at the time, lost her title to Marshmello. However, she would regain the gold later that night thanks to a distraction from R-Truth wearing a Marshmello helmet. Mella, who also wore a Marshmello helmet, rolled up the DJ for the victory.
1 Peter Rosenberg
Peter Rosenberg isn't the most famous celebrity to win a wrestling title, but he was famous enough to be included in the 2017 NBA Celebrity All-Star Game. Rosenberg is a media personality with a keen interest in hip hop and professional wrestling. Peter can be found on the New York radio station Hot 97 as a co-host for Ebro in the Morning. He is also one of the co-hosts for an ESPN Radio sports program The Michael Kay Show.
The 42-year-old has his own web series on YouTube called Wrestling with Rosenberg. He's currently employed by WWE, appearing as a panelist on pay-per-view preshows. At the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Rosenberg won the 24/7 Title by rolling up R-Truth for the count of three. However, Peter was only a champion for about half a day. On February 1, R-Truth regained the gold after surprising Rosenberg in his hotel room. That title change occurred during a live broadcast of The Michael Kay Show.