10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The World Heavyweight Championship
7. It Was Handed To Triple H
There's been some amazing tournaments to crown new champions.
Some of them never happened, like the showdowns in Rio de Janeiro, but usually there's an epic run from the announcement of a brand new title to when the first holder is crowned. The biggest superstars all want to raise the belt above their head before anybody else; they go through brackets and the new champion is crowned in the main event of the next pay-per-view. Confetti falls from the roof, fireworks fly from the stage, and tears stream in the crowd.
Other times they just hand the strap to Triple H.
The reason given by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff was that The Game was not only number-one contender to Brock Lesnar's WWE Championship, but he was also the last person to hold the Big Gold Belt.
With a roster including Booker T, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kane, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker, the fans were robbed of a tournament to crown the first ever champion. You know what? The Game was handed the belt in September... they had the first ever Elimination Chamber match in November! Why didn't they just wait for that? It was even held in Madison Square Garden! It was right there WWE, what were you thinking?
In 2002 it felt like art imitating life when Triple H was given the top prize without having to do anything, but that's what they went with.