10 Late Replacements Who Won Big In WWE
7. Johnny Nitro
What: ECW Championship, Vengeance: Night of Champions 2007
Replaced: Chris Benoit
Sadly a World Championship win that will be forever tainted by what transpired both before and after the event. The Benoit tragedy is one that doesn't need revisiting, but still plays a part in the career of Johnny's Nitro, Morrison, Mundo and Impact.
CM Punk was in line to face Chris Benoit at Night of Champions for the vacant ECW title after Bobby Lashley was drafted to Raw and vacated the belt. Only, Benoit never arrived.
With time running out and the PPV fast-approaching, tag specialist Johnny Nitro was shoehorned in as an 11th-hour replacement… and he won!
Punk was pinned with a corkscrew neckbreaker off the second rope in just eight minutes.
Nitro would return the favour later that same year, dropping the belt to Punk, but at Vengeance he was the unlikely Champion no one knew they were getting. Not even the man himself.