10 Times WWE And WCW Screwed Over Their World Champions

4. Sid Vicious And WCW's Title Reboot

When WCW was in the midst of its downfall, several bad decisions were made which ultimately made the situation far worse, when a comeback wouldn't have been such an impossible prospect. By the middle of 2000, most of WCW's premiere talent had left the sinking ship for the considerably greener pastures of the WWF, mainstays like Jericho, Raven and The Giant (Big Show) had left in years prior, while in 2000 the WWF gained The Radicalz (Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero). At the same time, many wrestlers who WCW had previously relied on were absent from the world title picture - Hogan had been fired in January, Bret Hart was inactive due to injuries, Savage had left the company in May, Ric Flair was generally ignored over younger talent. Upon winning his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Chris Benoit left the company the very next day due to disputes. In response, WCW gave the belt to his former opponent in the tournament finals, Sid Vicious. WCW didn't have many other options, and Sid certainly wasn't a bad candidate championship candidate out of what remaining talent they had left. If Sid already looked weak, inheriting the title from the guy he lost to before, then Kevin Nash taking the title away for a stupid tag-team match stipulation didn't help. After that, Vicious reheld the belt, and looked to be on for a strong run (about 10 days was the average at this point) having held the title for 74 days. But of course, Russo and Bischoff couldn't have their WCW World Champion looking strong, competent or dominant, as they soon completely rebooted all title continuity. Vicious was then written off TV for several month, for some reason. In a year full of title vacancies, disqualifications and ridiculous booking, Vicious was just trying to do his job and bring back some notoriety to the company, as he has claimed himself in numerous interviews. Clearly, Vicious was passed up as a champion, so more qualified candidates such as Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo and David Arquette could later win the belt. If that wasn't bad enough, WCW creative would later ruin his career, by forcing him to perform an aerial maneuver. What a waste.