10 High Profile Wrestlers With Forgotten NWA Championship Runs
5. Chris Candido
When Shane Douglas threw the NWA Championship belt down and declared the organisation dead, the National Wrestling Alliance was shell-shocked. Not since the WWF's withdrawal in 1963 had such a public blow been dealt to the NWA and the group needed to act quickly to salvage the situation.
As such, a ten-man tournament was declared and a new champion would be crowned on 19 August 1994. Featuring names such as Eddie Gilbert, Al Snow, and Jerry Lawler, Chris Candido would make it to the finals to face Tracy Smothers for the vacant NWA strap. Candido, himself a former and future ECW superstar, would defeat Smothers and begin a 97 day reign as NWA Champion.
Despite the victory, the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship was at its lowest point in history at this stage and Candido's run would receive little fanfare. With no national TV partnership in place and all the focus on WWF, WCW, and ECW, the NWA was a distant fourth and the NWA Championship was a forgotten afterthought of the wrestling world.
Candido would appear predominantly for Smoky Mountain Wrestling during this period, often without the NWA Championship belt in hand. The "Suicide Blond" would eventually drop the title to Dan Severn six months later in February '95.