9 Old-Timers That Won Wrestling Gold (And Shouldn't Have)

They give the phrase "golden oldies" a new meaning.

Vince McMahon ECW Champion
WWE.com

Like many other forms of sports and entertainment, professional wrestling is often regarded as a young man's game. And for the most part, that's true. When you look back at the history of the industry, it's usually the younger and hotter performers in their prime who find themselves thrust into the main event spotlight.

Still, there have also been plenty of performers we might qualify as "middle-aged" out in the real world -- but who may as well be considered geriatric in the wrestling business -- who manage to sneak in a few more title runs before their retirement. And many times, this is a grave mistake.

This isn't to say that all old-timers should be kept far away from the main event, or that there is some sort of arbitrary age cutoff as it pertains to winning championships. Hell, Diamond Dallas Page didn't win his first championship until he was 38-years-old, and you'd have a hard time finding anyone who believes DDP didn't deserve every piece of gold he got in his career and then some.

But too often, these veterans of the industry simply don't know when to move away from the center of the spotlight. And since their legacies allow them to retain plenty of clout backstage, they often get another taste of championship gold even though it's the wrong move for the company.

9. Gerald Brisco (WWE Hardcore Championship, 53)

Vince McMahon ECW Champion
WWE.com

When Crash Holly won his first WWE Hardcore Championship he introduced the 24/7 rule, which stipulated there wasn't a single minute out of the week where the title wasn't up for grabs. This created some pretty solid comedic moments -- including an all-out brawl at Fun Time USA, with Crash retaining his Hardcore Championship in a ball pit.

It was the juxtaposition of this very "serious" sounding title with these ridiculous environments that made them work, and there were some legitimately clever matches that took place using he stipulation.

But the 24/7 rule eventually collapsed the Hardcore division from within, allowing literally anyone with a pulse to score an upset victory. That's how we got Hardcore champions Terri Runnels, one of Godfather's Hoes, and perhaps worst of all, Vince McMahon's lackey, Gerald Brisco.

Don't get me wrong, Brisco was a solid worker back in his days alongside his brother, Jack, in Georgia Championship Wrestling, and he was usually pretty entertaining in his segments with Pat Patterson and Mr. McMahon. But he also started the snowball rolling on the swift downslide of the Hardcore division when the 53-year-old doofus won that title. Twice.

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Jacob is a part-time contributor for WhatCulture, specializing in music, movies, and really, really dumb humor.