15 Phantom WWE World Title Changes

4. Antonio Inoki - November 30th, 1979

Arguably one of the best kept secrets in professional wrestling, Antonio Inoki's victory over Bob Backlund for WWF Championship has become a buried point of trivia, confined to the darkest corner of WWE€™s vaults and largely lost in time. Despite being heralded in Japan as a hugely momentous occasion, Inoki's six day run as champion is currently totally overlooked by the WWE; who's revisionist history of events would have you believe that Backlund's run as WWF Champion spanned an uninterrupted 6 years, from February 1978 to December 1983. But happen it did and, on November 30th, 1979, before a packed house at in Tokushima, Japan, the father of Japanese wrestling added WWF Championship gold to his long list of accolades. In a match that saw just under 30 minutes of back and forth action, the two men traded hold for hold in an old school display of technical one-upmanship for the Japanese crowd. Inoki would pick up the monumental victory by hitting a Back Suplex on the champ when Backlund momentarily took his eye off the ball after failing to get the win with his signature Atomic Drop €“ the very move that had won Backlund the belt from €œSuperstar€ Billy Graham in the first place. Inoki would square-off with Backlund once again a week later in Tokyo for the title rematch; however, controversial interference from Tiger Jeet Singh would cause the bout to be ruled a no contest. Inoki retained the title on the technicality but refused to accept such a dishonourable victory; leading to the belt being held up and declared temporarily vacant. Backlund would regain his estranged belt 11 days later, getting the best of Bobby Duncum in a €œTexas Death Match€. Inoki would go on to challenge Backlund for the WWF Title twice more in 1980, coming off a close second in the both attempts - first losing by DQ and then by countout - before taking the champ to a draw in their final title showdown in Mexico in 1981. Interestingly, the win over Backlund also made Inoki a double-champion in the WWF at the time, as he also held the little-known WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship. The rarely mentioned title had been awarded to him a year earlier in recognition of his accomplishments against combatants from other fighting disciplines; such as his famously anticlimactic showdown with Muhammad Ali in 1976. While many western wrestling fans unfamiliar with his countless accomplishments in Japan would point to Inoki's match with Muhammad Ali as the most famous bout of his career (and what many consider the unofficial birth of Mixed Martial Arts), his WWF Championship victory over Backlund should be seen as Inoki€™s crowning achievement in Western professional wrestling. Despite this fact, WWE€™s reluctance to acknowledge its occurrence makes the feat virtually null and void and the title win has largely become a forgotten moment in history; despite being a huge moment in time for the Japanese legend and the sport itself.