10 Wrestlers Who Became WWE Champion The Quickest
8. Big Show (273 Days)
The Big Show had been wrestling for four years by the time he reached WWE in 1999. A former WCW Champion, he was slow and clunky in the ring and still a few years away from perfecting his dominant giant act, but his sheer size made him an intimidating prospect for any opponent. In tearing through the canvas to attack Stone Cold at an In Your House event, Big Show made one of the most memorable debuts in WWE history, and the Corporation-aligned hoss quickly rose to the top.
His act didn’t always go over particularly well, though. Big Show had an ill-conceived babyface run later in the year, and briefly formed The Union with Mankind, Test, and Ken Shamrock after leaving The Corporation. Still, he soon went after championship gold, and found himself pushed into the main event after Steve Austin was mowed down at Survivor Series 1999.
Austin was removed from the night’s WWE Title match with The Rock and Triple H, and in came the Big Show. He pinned Triple H to win the belt just 273 days after debuting, and retained it against the Big Boss Man one month later at Armageddon.
The reign lasted just 50 days, but Show enjoyed three more reigns as one of WWE’s top champions even though his first spell ultimately fell flat. His early WWE run had failed to capture the imagination like Vince McMahon had hoped, and it took a heel turn against The Rock at the 2000 Royal Rumble to truly kickstart his WWE career.