10 Ridiculous Ways WWE Champions Lost Their Titles
Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Steve Austin beat the system but cheat the audience...
A study in contrasts:
Stone Cold Steve Austin, he of biggest-single-year-draw-in-the-history-of-the-industry fame, noted in his legendary "Desire" vignette that if you're not in WWE to win the top title, get out of the industry.
Present-day WWE employee, they of spending every day living in abject fear of their septuagenarian boss, successfully pitched The New Day and The Street Profits swapping their title belts because the straps no longer matched the brands they'd been switched to a week prior.
Critics of Austin's philosophy would argue, with some rationale, that the whole roster can't be in the main event - how would the audience know a headliner from a scrub otherwise? But his attitude jives with the individualistic capitalistic endeavour of the industry, and makes a broader point that everybody should at least think that way, even if a promoter won't book them as such. If they do, they'll take it all seriously, and will thus be taken seriously.
Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston took their Survivor Series match very seriously, but what the f*ck does the "brand supremacy" they were fighting for matter if they can just trade belts anyway? Championships are bedrocks of pro wrestling when properly positioned.
There's a reason half of WWE's are subsequently viewed as props, and it's nothing to do with being allowed to say "belt" again. And it's in the company's DNA...
10. Mankind Quits On Tape
Months before The Rock nearly separated Mick Foley's head from his shoulders at the 1999 Royal Rumble, Mankind was referring to The People's Elbow as a move so ridiculous that he wouldn't actually sell it. This, indirectly, eventually informed the heft of their I Quit WWE Championship match.
The build centred around the idea that 'The Great One' simply could not win. No corporate team member could help him, no hidden hand of Vince McMahon could steer the rules in his favour and - most crucial of all - nothing he was physically capable of would be enough.
Foley was thrown off and through cells and didn't quit. He bumped on C4 explosives and didn't quit. He lost an ear and didn't quit. What could a guy with an eyebrow and an elbow as his chief weapons do to put an asterisk on that CV?
Cheat. He could f*cking cheat, as well as nearly separating Foley's head from his shoulders.
Rock had the words from a promo on Heat loaded into the sound system at just the right time to steal the gold from 'Mrs Foley's Baby Boy' and leave everybody in the venue thinking he'd actually make a quitter out of 'The Micker'. The ruse being revealed the next night triggered their empty arena rematch just days later.