12 Misconceptions About WCW You Probably Believe
6. David Arquette Ruined The Big Gold Belt
That's it then - that's the whole system broken. There's no going back from this. The once-proud WCW World Title has been devalued to the point of ridicule, and it'll never matter ever again. Those are the sorts of things people were saying back in 2000 when actor David Arquette won the 'Big Gold Belt' on the 26 April edition of Thunder.
Truthfully, this was merely the latest insult to a championship that'd been afflicted with death from a thousand cuts. Put it this way: The WCW World Title had changed hands 6 times that year by the time April rolled around, and it had been vacated for various bogus reasons a whopping 4 times in 2000 alone. Arquette getting a 12 day reign didn’t help, but the damage had been done long before he rocked up to promote some movies.
There was a cheery upside to Dave's title reign that few others from 1999 or 2000 could boast. He quietly donated all of his WCW earnings to charity like a proper good soul. Jeff Jarrett, Sid Vicious, Kevin Nash, DDP and others couldn't say the same. They'd donated their title reigns to mental torture as fans had to tune in and keep track of WCW's pass the parcel approach.
At least Arquette (a huge wrestling fan) recognised how worthless he was making WCW's top prize by winning it. He shouldn't beat himself up too much though. The company had been smacking that title around with a Triple H-style sledgehammer for several years, and they'd continue doing so long after Dave bolted back to Hollywood.
Arquette didn't put a nail in any coffins.