20 Most Horrifically Stupid Things That Ever Happened In WCW

6. Vince Russo, World Champion

Another hallmark of Vince Russo as a booker is a complete misunderstanding of (and some would say contempt for) wrestling tradition - specifically, championship belts.

Russo's defilement of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship - which he called a "prop" on television - was swift and brutal, and one of the more insulting assaults on its prestige (and, by extension, its use as a tool to draw money) was when he booked himself to win it.

First, some background. Russo had once sworn that he would never appear on TV, which was allegedly why only the back of his head was shown during the "Powers That Be" era. By the time he and Bischoff took over together, though, Russo had apparently gotten over his camera-shy instincts, because he was all over Nitro and Thunder. He even entered into a feud with Ric Flair, whom he wrestled on Nitro, no-selling the figure-four leg-lock during the match.

On the 25 September 2000 episode of Monday Nitro, airing live from Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, Booker T defended the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Russo in a cage match. When Goldberg, having entered the cage, speared Russo though the wall and out of bounds, the booker became champion. It was a sad, strange development, and perhaps the worst part was that it didn't even seem like a big deal at the time - so much damage had already been done to the title and its organization that it was merely more of the same.

Still, it stands as a colossally stupid move - Russo indulged his vanity, nobody stopped him, and yet another nail was put in the coffin of the company, which only had six months left to live.