Top 20 worst world title changes in wrestling history
By Luke Norris
14. Triple H def. Mankind: Monday Night RAW – August 23, 1999
Once Mick Foley dropped the WWE Championship for the second time to The Rock, it would be a few months before he would regain it, finally doing so in a Triple Threat Match against Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H at SummerSlam in Minneapolis, a match refereed by none other than Jesse “The Body” Ventura, who was the governor of Minnesota at the time. There was a lot of guest refereeing going on in title matches at this point.
It seemed like a really big deal to have Mankind win the title at a pay-per-view, especially one as big as SummerSlam. So Mick Foley is now a three-time WWE Champion and he heads to RAW the next night in Ames, Iowa to begin his newest reign but there’s a problem. The legend is that the plan all along was to put the WWE Championship on Triple H at SummerSlam but Jesse Ventura didn’t want to put a heel over, which is funny enough in itself, so the decision was made to give Foley the belt…for 24 hours.
That’s right. The night following SummerSlam, with Shane McMahon as the special guest referee (see what I mean?), Triple H defeated Mankind to win his very first WWE Championship, which is obviously a great thing for him but it made Foley look very foolish and he would never hold a world championship again. Combined, Foley’s three WWE Championship reigns totaled 36 days. He deserved more then and he deserved more on this night as well.