Top 20 worst world title changes in wrestling history

1. David Arquette wins the World Heavyweight Championship: Thunder – April 26, 2000

l don’t even know where to start with this. David Arquette was once a world champion. Even all these years later, it still pains me to even think that was an actual thing. But he didn’t even pin an actual wrestler. That was Vince Russo’s explanation at the time. That and Arquette’s picture was in USA Today the following morning. So that makes it okay, I guess. But that’s what you get for listening to Tony Schiavone in a production meeting. That’s right, you can’t 100 percent blame Russo for this but maybe you could since he still had to sign off on it and put the whole thing together.

Listen, I understand Arquette being around to promote Ready to Rumble. Things like that happen all the time in the wrestling world but this got out of hand. It went down like this. Arquette, who is a huge wrestling fan, was around to promote the flick and got taken hostage by Jeff Jarrett, who had lost the title to Diamond Dallas Page two days earlier on Nitro in a steel cage, a match that was made after Arquette won a singles match against Eric Bischoff.  Double J demanded a tag match in which he and Bischoff would take on Arquette and DDP, with the stipulation that whomever made the pinfall in the match would be crowned the champion. So the match takes place on Thunder and it was just awful.

DDP’s wife, Kimberly, who in the storyline had served Page divorce papers beforehand, was the special guest referee but at the end of the match, DDP kissed her and essentially knocked her out of the match. Because that makes sense. Arquette climbs in the ring and spears Bischoff. Simultaneously, Jarrett has knocked out DDP with the title. So Arquette covers Bischoff just moments before Jarrett covers Page and referee Mickey J slides into the ring and doesn’t even acknowledge the two actual wrestlers in the ring, instead focusing on Arquette’s pin and counts the 1-2-3 and Mr. Courtney Cox is the new world champion. And seeing as he’s not that great of an actor to begin with, the surprised look on his face does him no favors.

I will say this for David Arquette. He actually never wanted to go through with this. He knew the backlash it would cause and did this whole thing very reluctantly. But he did still do it but the saving grace from all of this is that the money he earned from these appearances was donated to the families of Owen Hart, Darren Drozdov and Brian Pillman, which actually is pretty cool. Arquette would drop the title to Jeff Jarrett just short of two weeks later at Slamboree in a Triple Cage Match, a structure that wasn’t cool at all.

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And there you have it. What do you think was the worst world title change in history? Think there’s something I missed? Join in the conversation in the comments section below and be sure to check back in with FanSided each and every day for all of your wrestling needs. For even more from the world of wrestling, head on over to Facebook and give a like to the Sports Illustrated Wrestling page.