I’m
sure everyone will remembers the illustrious 12 day reign that David
Arquette had as WCW World Champion, but what most may not remember is
that he is not the only non-wrestler to win a
Championship in one of the major companies. There have been others,
and some may even surprise you. My definition of a non-wrestler is
someone who may be involved in the wrestling industry but has never been
considered a full time competitor or a wrestler
in the traditional sense.
David Arquette
On
the April 25, 2000 edition of Thunder Arquette pinned fellow
non-wrestler Eric Bischoff in a tag team match that also featured Jeff
Jarrett and then champion Diamond Dallas Page to win
the title. Arquette then turned on Page at Slamboree on May 7, 2000 in
a triple cage match to aid Jeff Jarrett in winning his second WCW World
Championship.
Judy Bagwell
Rick
Steiner and Buff Bagwell won the WCW World Tag Team Championships on
October 25, 1998 in Las Vegas at the WCW Halloween Havoc PPV. During
the match Bagwell turned on Steiner and leaving
him on his own, when Steiner won he was allowed to pick his own tag
team partner. Initially he chose Kenny Kaos and on the October 26th
Nitro in Phoenix they successfully defended the titles against The
Giant & Stevie Ray. Shortly thereafter
Kaos was injured and Steiner was allowed to choose his next partner.
On November 9, 1998 Steiner chose Buff’s mother Judy Bagwell to be his
partner and she is officially recognized as a WCW World Tag Team
Champion. They never teamed to defend the titles
and on January 4, 1999 Steiner was stripped of the titles after he was
legit injured.
Oklahoma aka Ed Ferrara
On
January 16, 2000 at the Souled Out PPV in Cincinnati, OH Oklahoma
defeated Madusa to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship in a 3 minute
“match” that was terrible. He was forced to relinquish
the championship on the January 19th edition of WCW Thunder
for exceeding the weight limit of the title. Wouldn’t that have made
him ineligible to have a match for the title to begin with?
Eric Bischoff
On
June 5, 2000 at Nitro in Atlanta, GA Eric Bischoff defeated Terry Funk
for the WCW Hardcore Championship. That just seems wrong to type those
words. Granted Bischoff had help from Big
Vito, Johnny the Bull and The Cat, but still, wrong. On Thunder that
week he awarded the championship to both Big Vito and Johnny the Bull
announcing the Freebird rule would be in effect for their joint reign.
Pacman Jones
At
the TNA No Surrender PPV on September 9, 2007 in Orlando, FL Pacman
Jones and Ron Killings defeated Sting and Kurt Angle to win the TNA
World Tag Team Championships, yup that is as wrong
as it sounds. While on suspension from the NFL Jones and perennial
mid-carder Ron Killings beat two of the all-time greatest wrestlers in
Sting and Kurt Angle. Granted Angle attacked Sting which led to the
victory, but I mean what else were they supposed
to do, Jones was only allowed to appear in a non-physical role. The
champs lot their titles to AJ Styles and Tomko at Bound For Glory on
October 14th with Consequences Creed wrestling in Jones’ place.
Vince McMahon
On
September 14, 1999 (aired 9/16) in Las Vegas at a Smackdown taping Mr.
McMahon defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
with his son Shane McMahon as special guest
referee. This was part of the storyline where Triple H drugged and
married Stephanie. Mr. McMahon vacated the title on the September 20th RAW in Houston, TX
At
Backlash in Atlanta, GA on April 29, 2007 Mr. McMahon would capture the
(WW)ECW Championship defeating champion Bobby Lashley in a handicapped
match with partners Shane McMahon and Umaga.
He would lose the title back to Lashley in a Street Fight at One Night
Stand on June 3rd in Jacksonville, FL.
Harvey Wippleman
Disguised
as Hervina, Harvey Wippleman won a limberjill snowbunny match on the
January 31, 2000 RAW from Pittsburgh to win the WWE Women’s
Championship. It would be a short reign lasting
just 1 day, 3 days in tv time, as Jacqueline would win the title on
Smackdown from Detroit, MI.
Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley
Stephanie would topple Jacqueline at the March 28, 2000 Smackdown taping in San Antonio, TX which aired on March 30th
to win the Women’s Championship. Stephanie would go on to
hold the championship for 146 days, not defending it once, until she
lost the title to Lita on Raw in Lafayette, LA on August 21, 2000.
Shane McMahon
Off
all the McMahon’s it can be argued that Shane was a wrestler on the
active wrestler. I even saw him compete in a house show street fight
match against Kane at the Cumberland County Civic
Center in Portland, Maine. However at the time when he won the
European Championship he was not an active wrestler. Shane won the
title on February 15, 1999 in Birmingham, AL on RAW pinning X-Pac in a
tag team match pitting Shane & Kane vs. Triple H & X-Pac.
Shane did defend the title a few times before retiring the championship
on Sunday Night Heat in Uniondale, NY taped March 30, 1999 aired April 4th. On June 21st
of that year Shane would aware Mideon the Championship after Mideon
found
it in Shane’s duffel bag. The title would be retired for good on July
22, 2002 when it was unified with the Intercontinental Championship.
Hardcore Championship
The
hardcore championship changed hands 235 times in its less than 4 year
existence before being unified with the Intercontinental Championship.
Tommy Dreamer was the last defending champion
before losing it to Rob Van Dam. Surprisingly there were only two
instances when a non-wrestler won the championship although there were
several attempts by non-wrestlers to do so. Yes Gerald Brisco and Pat
Patterson both held the Hardcore Championship
but I can’t consider then non-wrestlers.
May 15, 2000 Godfather’s Ho aka Bobcat pinned Crash Holly in Cleveland, OH, Crash won it back moments later
May 27, 2002 Terri Runnels pinned Steve Richards in Edmonton, Alberta, Richards won it back moments later
No comments:
Post a Comment