1999 was a big year for title changes. Belts were proverbial hot potatoes. The WWF Championship and Intercontinental Championship changed hands more than any other year in their existence at that point. Titles changed hands so much in 1999 that folks were just giving them away! Handing off championships wasnt a completely new tactic. Andre the Giant gave (or rather, sold) the WWF Championship to Ted Dibiase. In 1999, this happened three times, more than any other year. It started when Shane McMahon gave the defunct European Championship to Mideon, who reinstated it. Later that year, that same belt would be given by Jeff Jarrett to Mark Henry, who helped him defeat DLo Brown the previous night at Summerslam to win both the European and Intercontinental Championships. A couple months later, the British Bulldog won the Hardcore Championship on Smackdown and immediately gave the belt to Al Snow. So any fan who claims that the belts today dont mean as much as they used to possibly forgot about 1999, where the belts meant so little that they were given away.
