8. David Arquette Wrestles For WCW; Wins World Heavyweight Title (Thunder, April 2000)
Surely, there is not a more infamous result in pro wrestling history than the actor most famous for playing the goof in Scream winning the WCW Championship. Fewer and fewer fans gave a rip about WCW in 2000, as evidenced by their rapidly declining TV ratings and lousy PPV buyrates, but they arguably had their fate sealed by the decision to make a short-term run at a Nielsen pop by having David Arquette win their World title. No booking blunder has ever been as justifiably criticized. It was surely shocking, though. You had to do a double take, whether you watched it live or merely read about it after the fact. Poor Arquette became a pro wrestling pariah. It was not his idea to put the title on himself. As Diamond Dallas Page once said, As much heat as he ever tookall the money he made for that pay per view when he busted me over the head with the guitar and Jarrett took the World Title, the money he made, he gave to Melanie Pillman When he pinned Bischoff, not me, and I will go on record as saying that was the biggest cluster$&%# ever! and it never should've happened, but it did.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
