Top 20 worst world title changes in wrestling history

16. Diesel def. Bob Backlund: House show – November 26, 1994

lt was always interesting back in the day (after pay-per-view events started) when you would turn on wrestling on a Saturday morning or a Monday night or whenever and hear that a title had changed hands at a house show. There was hardly ever any footage and we just had to take their word that the match was amazing, hard-fought and this or that, and just accept that the champion you thought you were going to be watching wasn’t the champion anymore. Now, it was usually a mid-card title or the tag titles when this happened, but that wasn’t the case in November 1994 when the WWE Championship changed hands at a house show in New York.

Bob Backlund, the former long-time champion from the late 70s and early 80s, had returned to WWE and found himself in the title picture, claiming he had really never lost the belt in 1983 since his manager had thrown in the towel in his match with The Iron Shiek. He ran the crazy gimmick for months, which really was entertaining and a submission match with champion Bret Hart was set for Survivor Series where the old-timer went more than 35 minutes and emerged victorious, holding the Crossface Chickenwing for almost 10 minutes. It was quite a shock at the time as it had been more than 11 years since Backlund had held the WWE Championship but it made for a fun story, especially at a time when WWE was struggling. So how do you keep that going? By taking the belt off him three days later. And that’s not the worst part.

Diesel, aka Kevin Nash (who you’ll see plenty of on this list), was named the number one contender for the title and got his title shot three days after Survivor Series at Madison Square Garden. And not only would he win his first world title, he’d do so in eight seconds (you know, like that awesome Luke Perry flick) with a Jackknife Powerbomb and a 1-2-3. But hey, at least there’s footage out there of this one. But to put Backlund through that match with Bret and give him the title only to have it taken away three days later (and not even on TV) was a little off.