12 Exact Moments WWE Titles Became Worthless

WWE's one sided history would tell you that Eric Bischoff rarely played fair when trying to build WCW into a powerhouse. He gave away results from Raw, challenged Vince McMahon to a fight on pay-per-view and generally did everything he could to get under the market leader's skin or beat them at their own game. Bisch did a lot of controversial things, but at least he didn't have someone dressed as 'Stone Cold' win the Cruiserweight Title.

The then-WWF did something along those lines, and it totally mauled any chances of their Light-Heavyweight Title gaining traction with the audience. Taka Michinoku was a fine choice as first (revived) Light-Heavyweight Champ in late-1997. Christian was a slightly puzzling successor in 1998, but the title still had some potential. Then, someone said 'hold my beer' and Gillberg was introduced.

That Bill Goldberg knock off gimmick won the title on the 23 November 1998 episode of Raw, and literally nobody cared about the belt after that. It’s a real pity, because Dean Malenko and Scotty Too Hotty showed what could be done with it once the 400+ day nightmare was over at Backlash 2000, and X-Pac tried his able best to make something of the championship once he became main man in 2001.

Eventually, the old WCW Cruiserweight Title was changed to a WWF version after that. Light-Heavyweight was a goner, but it'd actually been skating on thin ice since Gillberg came out with his sparklers as a send up of WCW's main event star. What was that about inside jokes being left in creative meetings and never making it to TV?

What other exact moments torched WWE belts? For more wrestling, check out 10 Booking Steps For WWE's Road To WrestleMania 41 and 10 Untouchable WWE Stars Who Got Special Treatment!