10 Weirdest Ways To Create A Wrestling Championship

9. The WWF And Rio De Janeiro - Part 1

History has long stated that Pat Patterson, the North American Heavyweight Champion, defended his title in a tournament for the South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro. When the WWE Hall of Famer emerged victorious, he unified the two titles to become the first Intercontinental Champion. That tournament, of course, never took place. That€™s why there are no photos and why there€™s no film from the event: it never happened. It€™s the most famous example of a wrestling promotion creating a new title and simply working the whole backstory for the thing, inventing it out of cloth. In 2013, WWE.com pulled off a brilliant April Fool on all the wrestling geeks who like to think they know it all (i.e. me and you) when then-producer for the company's website Zach Linder published all the gory details of this fictitious tournament that Patterson had competed in, delivering five pages of concise, mouthwatering detail on all the s**t-hot seventies pro wrestling sexiness that had gone on... action that had never been filmed, and so was lost in the mists of time. It's a wind-up of perfect beauty, even down to well-researched descriptions of the venue, the real life Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, next to the Maracanã Stadium in Rio. Bravo, Mr. Linder. Everyone go to his Twitter and perform the required 'we're not worthy' genuflection.