10 Times Wrestlers Became WWE Champions Without Winning A Match

5. The Rock - Intercontinental Championship

The Rock Stone Cold Steve Austin Vince Mcmahon Intercontinental Champion
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By the end of 1997 Stone Cold Steve Austin was quite clearly the most popular man on the professional wrestling planet, and as such was a little too big for the boots of the Intercontinental Championship. Austin was IC Champ, and as he moved up into the main event it was clear that the belt would be best served on someone else.

They couldn't really have Austin drop the belt in the middle of the ring however, so the booking decision was made for Vince McMahon to meddle in it all. Vince booked Austin vs. The Rock for the title on Raw, at what was the height of the crowd's anti-Rocky sentiment.

Austin had no interest in competing however, and as such chose to hand over the title to Rocky instead. The Rock became the Intercontinental Champion, although he did immediately receive a Stone Cold Stunner for his troubles.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.