Typically, championships in pro wrestling change hands when a challenger defeats the previous champ in a professional wrestling match; however, because pro wrestling is predetermined and relies on soap opera style storytelling to surprise the fans and deliver some plot twists, that isn’t always the case.
Sometimes these changes work, like when a Money in the Bank winner cashes in their contract for a quick win, but there are many, many examples of title changes that are the opposite of sensical and good. Here are ten incredibly stupid title changes that were either completely nonsensical or had very little to do with winning a wrestling match.
10 The Giant Wins via DQ (WCW Halloween Havoc, 10/29/1995)
The Giant is the opposite of George Bluth, Sr. – he’s got the best lawyers. Remember in the early 2010s when The Big Show was terrorizing WWE because he had an “ironclad contract?” Well, his taste in strong legal representation goes back to at least Halloween Havoc 1995, where he lost a monster truck sumo wrestling match to Hulk Hogan (seriously) and then manager Jimmy Hart betrayed Hogan to draw a DQ finish.
Turns out at some point Hogan gave Hart power of attorney and he signed the Hulkster’s contract for the match, which stipulated that he would lose the title in a disqualification.
9 Owen Hart Pinned A Guy Dressed as Triple H for Triple H’s Title (WWF Raw is War, 1/26/1998)
What was with the WWF European Title? First Shawn Michaels beats British Bulldog for it in front of the guy’s sick sister, and then he lays down for Triple H as a goof. After about a month, Owen Hart challenged Triple H for the title, but Trips sent out Goldust in a Triple H costume instead.
Owen Hart won the match anyway, so WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter decided that Owen was now the champ. Hard to tell if this was a wacky Vince Russo idea, WWF trying to work around Triple H refusing to put Hart over, or both.
8 Actor David Arquette Wins The WCW Title in a Tag Match, From His Own Partner, Who is An Actual Pro Wrestler (WCW Thunder, 4/26/2000)
A tag match having a singles title on the line is inherently screwy, as a guy who isn’t the champ can get the pinfall and win the title. The worst example of this is when David Arquette – an actor visiting Nitro to promote his new WCW themed comedy Ready to Rumble – tagged alongside WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page against Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett, and managed to get the pin on Bisch.
The crowd hated it, but Page was weirdly okay with a non-wrestler winning a title DDP had fought so hard to win literally a day before.
7 Abyss Wins The Title Thanks To Rules Nobody Knew About (TNA Genesis, 11/19/2006)
Sting defended his NWA World Heavyweight Title against Abyss in a match that had Sting getting riddled with thumbtacks, Sting hoisting Abyss up on a rope and beating him with a chair, and tossing Abyss into a bunch of barbed wire. Despite all that, this was not a No Disqualification match.
Sting ended up attacking the referee, so the ref called a DQ and made Abyss the champ. Turns out – the commentators needed to inform the viewers – TNA had a long-standing but little-known rule that the title could change hands on a DQ. A good failsafe in case some ex-WWE star wants to be a prima donna, but not exactly conducive to a satisfying match.
6 Hacksaw Goes Dumpster Diving (WCW Saturday Night, 2/19/2000)
It sucks to rag on WCW all the time, but the company’s history is full of championship belt nonsense like the time Jim Duggan fished the WCW Television Title out of a dumpster. Scott Hall ended up getting awarded the title because champ Rick Steiner got injured, but decided the TV Belt was useless and tossed it in the trash.
Jim Duggan – WCW’s (onscreen) janitor at the time – ended up finding it and decided he was the champ. At least when Madusa did that to the WWF Women’s Title, she was making a grand statement about a different wrestling promotion.
5 Debra Won the Women's Title Because She Was Naked (WWF Raw is War, May 10, 1999)
One should expect some championship nonsense involving WWE’s women’s division during the Attitude Era. In 1999, Debra took on Sable in an Evening Gown Match, where both competitors wear dresses and the object is to rip the opponent’s clothes off for the win.
Debra lost, but WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels came out and decided the most naked person in an Attitude Era women’s match should win. So, Debra became Women’s Champion despite losing the match according to the rules.
4 The Boss Can Do Whatever He Wants (AWA, 5/19/1981)
The legendary Verne Gagne was a 10-time world champion for the American Wrestling Association, a promotion he founded in 1960. In 1980, 54-year-old Gagne decided to retire from in-ring competition, but he was also still holding the AWA World Heavyweight Title, which he’d held for nearly a year.
So, instead of losing a title match or simply vacating the title, Gagne himself awarded it to Nick Bockwinkle, who had the title for like five years before Gagne won it from him. Guess no one can tell you what to do when you run the company.
3 Triple H Gets a Treat (Raw, September 2, 2002)
In 2002, the WWF Undisputed Title suddenly became disputed, as Raw and SmackDown fought over the fact that the title became SmackDown exclusive.
To make the title further disputed, Raw authority figure came up with a new top title just for his show, the World Heavyweight Championship – based on the old WCW title – and awarded it to Triple H. That’s it. No drama, no tournament or nothin’. Trips got a title because he was next in line to challenge for the Undisputed Title. While not a traditional title change, it did start a new championship reign on a really dumb note.
2 Vince Russo Gives the WCW World Heavyweight Title to Himself (WCW Monday Nitro, 9/25/2000)
If Vince Russo is running a wrestling show, there is a 100% chance he’s going to make himself an on-screen character. One time, he took on Booker T in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title in an overbooked mess that ended with Goldberg spearing Russo through the cage wall and onto the floor, thus technically allowing him to escape.
While it sucks that Vince Russo won the WCW Title by being speared through a cage wall, on the bright side, Russo was speared through a cage wall.
1 Kanyon Becomes Champ Because He Won an Unrelated Match (WWF Raw is War, 7/26/2001)
One of the most baffling title changes happened during WWE's infamous WCW/ECW Invasion storyline, an era full of creative and booking decisions fans didn’t really like.
At the InVasion pay per view, Chris Kanyon helped The Alliance win a six-man mid-card tag match. On the following Raw, Stephanie McMahon determined that Kanyon did such a good job in the match that he deserved a reward, so she ordered Booker T to give his WCW United States Title to Kanyon for winning the match.