26 Times Wrestling Titles Have Been Disrespected

10. Mike Awesome Holds Up The ECW Title

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Now this one is a tricky one. Firstly, Mike Awesome was totally in the wrong, but then again you can maybe say he had every right to do what he did.

Awesome was the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion when he signed with WCW in April 2000. Whilst Awesome was never shown on WCW TV with the ECW Title, he was still in possession of the belt. Part of the reason that Awesome signed for WCW was down to Paul Heyman owing him money for unpaid wages.

At the time, stories claim that certain members of the ECW roster wanted to turn up at WCW and confront Awesome and physically take back the ECW Title. When all was said and done, though, Mike Awesome would appear at an ECW event to drop the title. Fearing for his safety after taking the belt from the struggling company and sticking a middle finger up to Heyman and his roster, Awesome had the head of WCW's security with him for protection.

Awesome would drop the belt to another returning former ECW superstar. Tazz, by that point in the WWF, made his return and defeated Awesome before losing the ECW Title a week later to Tommy Dreamer.

 
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.