7 Totally Accidental Wrestling Title Changes
3. The Holly Cousins Mess Up At ‘Mania
The bulk of WWE’s accidental title changes have taken place at house shows, far away from the prying eyes of the company’s international audience. This one, however, took place at the biggest show of the year.
WrestleMania 2000’s second match saw a horde of lower-midcard wrestlers contest a Hardcore Title battle royal. The idea of having designated matches for a belt with a 24/7 defence rule always seemed moot, but WWE needed to fill up the PPV card, so they gave their trashiest division 15 full minutes of airtime.
The title changed hands ten times throughout the match. Crash Holly entered with it around his waist, but dropped it to Tazz within 26 seconds. It took him 14 minutes to eventually regain it, but while the original plan was to have Crash retain, his cousin Hardcore took the victory after cracking the champ with a jar of sweets.
Crash was supposed to kick out, but he forgot, even as referee Tim White deliberately delayed his third and final count. The Hardcore Title’s disposable nature meant it didn’t really matter, but it still wasn’t supposed to happen.