10 Most Deserving Ways A Vacant Wrestling Title Was Won
8. Taka Michinoku (D-Generation X: In Your House)
Sticking with the tournament theme, but switching to a
different weight division, here we have the 8-man bracket that saw the crowning
of a new Light-Heavyweight Champion after the title was reinstated in December
of 1997.
I say reinstated, but really this was the title’s debut in the company as its early history had largely been exclusive to Mexico and Japan, and previous reigns weren’t officially recognised by the WWE.
If anything though, that only made this one all the more significant. In terms of the tournament itself, we saw the likes of Super Loco (more commonly known as Super Crazy) and Mr. Aguila (who’d later re-debut as Essa Rios) feature in the bracket, but it was Taka Michinoku who eventually succeeded to win the vacant championship.
Unlike the aforementioned Roman Reigns, Taka’s victories actually arrived on different nights, so it’s arguably not quite as impressive. I’ve ranked it higher though partly because of that historical significance and partly because it isn’t every day that you get a chance to rank Taka Michinoku, of all people, above Roman Reigns in a top 10 list.