10 Worst Simultaneous WWE/WCW Heavyweight Champions
Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho & Vince McMahon redefine what it takes to be "Champion"
"You wear a belt, you win a Championship", so sayeth Vince McMahon, according to most of those that have worked for him at various (and, in this case, particularly fractious) times.
It's one of the reasons it went on the vaunted banned words list, before Becky Lynch was able to merchandise it anyway. As 'Becky 2 Belts', Lynch briefly tackled his irrational hatred of a term with his irrational love of alliteration - but lost her nickname when she lost one of her "championship titles" back to Charlotte Flair within a month of winning it.
'The Man' was of interest to McMahon going in to WrestleMania, but less so on the back side. Comparisons to Stone Cold Steve Austin fizzled as she was booked to try and elevate newcomer Lacey Evans rather than take on the f*cking world like 'The Rattlesnake'. Austin, naturally, is nowhere near this list.
WCW's carelessness with their top title at the tail-end of the company's existence proffered some intriguing options as company figureheads, but it was rare WWE made such boneheaded moves back then. Money talked loudest, and it spoke primarily for the fans' collective voice.
For all the fleeting and rapid-fire glory of the heady 1990s though, it was also the decade when a bad decision meant actual box office decline. These mistakes weren't just creative misfires, they were costly...
10. Diesel/The Giant (1995)
It gives your writer no pleasure to start this particular list criticising an all-time favourite, but October 1995's Kevin Nash/Paul Wight double-header reflected a business well and truly the bin despite the enormous difference both men would be making on it just one year later.
Emblematic of an industry in decline rather than being the sole causes of it, the two seven-footers being chosen to hold gold was borne out of the bigger-is-always-better belief still hanging around from the long-departed 1980s.
In WWE, Vince McMahon was only a year removed from the steroid trial that nearly sent him to jail and in no mood to face similar consequences again. Size was the substitute for big, and Diesel had plenty of height to match his charm and charisma. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan's maiden stranglehold over the WCW World Championship only came to an end because of the 'Hulkster's filming commitments elsewhere - and his dated mindset only allowed for defeat if it came at the debuting (and completely unprepared) hands of a brand new Giant.
Times were changing, but wrestling wasn't. 12 months later, and WCW were beginning to reap the benefits of their big gamble, even if it came with a rather frustrating familiarity...