10 Most Unlikely First WWE World Championship Defenses

Alcoholic gun-for-hire/tag team stalwart-turned Wall Street-investing singles star, John "Bradshaw" Layfield broke the hearts of millions in June 2004 when he dethroned Eddie Guerrero of his sole WWE Championship at The Great American Bash in a Texas Bullrope match.

On the following SmackDown!, Bradshaw - in the midst of his championship celebration - boasted that he would be a fighting champion and would hand-pick an opponent for his title that night. After some bickering from the SmackDown! midcard (including Booker T, John Cena, and the Dudley Boyz for some reason), JBL announced that he will fight... lil' Spike Dudley.

To be fair to Spike, he did fight valiantly, refusing the help of his half-brothers and able to get some offense in, and nailing JBL with some corner stomps and a patented Dudley Dog for a two-count. However, it was a forgone conclusion how this match would eventually end, with JBL clobbering Spike with a pair of Clotheslines from Hell (Clothesline from Hells?), before pancaking him with a powerbomb.

This would kick-off JBL's record-breaking WWE Championship reign, with him later making defences against the likes of Guerrero, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle and the incomparable Shannon Moore.