6. Chris Jericho Wins The WWE Championship...Or Does He? - Raw; April 17, 2000
State College, Pennsylvania was the site of Monday Night Raw on April 17, 2000 and the show got off to a hot start with the most hated villain the sport, Triple H, heading to the ring with wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Chris Jericho eventually interrupted, hurled insults in Stephanie's direction and goaded The Game into putting his WWE Championship on the line in an impromptu match. It was a brilliant ploy by Jericho to manipulate the so-called Cerebral Assassin into a potential trap match. With Shane McMahon floating around ringside, Y2J invested in protection in the form of the APA to keep both the golden boy of WWE and anyone else from the McMahon-Helmsley Regime out of the action. With any potential interference held at bay by the brute force of Faarooq and Bradshaw, Jericho was able to defeat Triple H and win the WWE Championship! Or so he thought. Referee Earl Hebner delivered a fast count that called the decision into question and led to Triple H threatening him with bodily harm if he did not reverse his decision. He did, ripping the title from Jericho's hands and returning it to the most vile Superstar on the roster...who proceeded to go back on his word and beat Hebner senseless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Su_XnbpDM It was a heartbreaking conclusion to one of the most memorable moments in Raw history but there simply is no mistaking sheer pandemonium and marking out that existed in the minutes that followed Y2J's win and what many thought was the beginning of a new era in WWE.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
