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It has been almost two decades since David Arquette won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and till this very day, it is almost beyond belief that a Hollywood actor once became the primary champion of World Championship Wrestling.
Yes, that was indeed the case when Arquette had pinned Eric Bischoff of all people to win the WCW World Title in the year 2000 on an episode of Nitro.
However, as the years gradually progressed, the wrestling industry also evolved simultaneously and since then we've witnessed some of the finest world champions in wrestling history.
The likes of The Rock, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Mankind, Edge, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels are only a few names on the elusive list of Superstars who have held a world title in the wrestling business. But, similarly enough, there has been an equal share of world title changes that made the fans upset and rage all over social media.
In this list, we will take a look at some of the world title changes which made fans upset. Mind you, these are the major championships of a promotion which were held by Superstars fans particularly didn't care about in the first place, to begin with, and title reigns which were pretty lackluster right from the get-go.
With that being said, here are the 5 world title changes in the wrestling business which made fans upset.
#5 David Arquette- WCW World Champion
And once again, I'm starting my list with the most obvious option of the lot.
In the year 2000, after filming the WCW based movie, Ready to Rumble, David Arquette was inserted into the WCW storylines and made his debut for the promotion in April, on an episode of Thunder where he was sitting in the crowd.
Things took a major turn when Arquette got into a confrontation with Eric Bischoff and the New Blood Stable. He then formed an alliance with Chris Kanyon and then-reigning WCW World Champion, Diamond Dallas Page.
Within the span of a few days, Page and Arquette teamed up for a tag team match against Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett, as the actor went on to pin Bischoff for the second week in a row, however, on this occasion, Arquette actually captured the WCW World Championship.
Arquette only appeared on two WCW shows as the champion and to this day, some fans still believe that this was the decision that initiated the downfall of World Championship Wrestling.
#4 Vince Russo- WCW World Champion
Like David Arquette's title win wasn't bad enough, WCW or rather Vince Russo decided to put the company's World Championship on himself in the same year as Arquette won his first and only major world title in the wrestling biz.
On an episode of Nitro which aired from Uniondale, New York, Russo defeated now WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T in a Caged Heat Match (basically a Steel Cage Match) to win the WCW World Championship.
At least, Arquette's world title win was aired on TV, but this one was a totally different ball game, as THAT episode of Nitro ended with Goldberg spearing Russo out of the cage and two days later, the latter was seen draped in gold, with the WCW World Championship around his shoulder.
Russo had declared himself as the new champion of WCW and also announced his retirement from in-ring competition. However, he did go on to vacate the title the following Monday on Nitro, as it was the ninth time the WCW World Championship was vacated since Russo came on board with the company.
#3 The Miz- WWE Champion
Switching gears to WWE now, let's beging the list with one of the most confusing yet memorable world title changes in the company's history.
On July 18, 2010, The Miz won the Money in the Bank briefcase and earned himself a guaranteed opportunity at the WWE Championship at some point down the line. Also being in possession of the WWE United States Championship at the time, The Miz had several unsuccessful attempts of cashing in his briefcase on then-WWE Champion, Sheamus.
Simultaneously, 'The A-Lister' went on to lose his US Championship to Daniel Bryan (one less headache you would say after the unsuccessful cash-in attempts) and on the November 22nd edition of Monday Night RAW, The Miz pinned now 13-time WWE World Champion, Randy Orton to win his first major world title.
Following Orton's successful defense of the WWE Title against Wade Barrett, Miz pinned 'The Viper' and thus began his reign as WWE Champion. A reign that also saw him main event WrestleMania XXVII against John Cena. Not only did he do so, but the former also retained his WWE Title over Cena (thanks to The Rock, of course) in the final match of a WrestleMania.
Within the span of a few months, The Miz had defeated a 13-time and a 16-time World Champion. Let that sink in for a minute!
#2 The Great Khali- WWE World Heavyweight Champion
In 2007, Edge was enjoying a solid reign as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, however, it didn't take too long before disaster had struck and 'The Rated R-Superstar' was forced to vacate his title due to a torn pectoral.
With the WWE World Heavyweight Championship being vacant, WWE decided to come up with the idea of a 20-Man Battle Royal to determine the next champion who would walk out with the vacant title. And on July 17, 2007, The Great Khali survived through 19 other challengers in the SmackDown brand battle royal and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
It was quite a gutsy move WWE had pulled on the occasion, but Khali definitely wasn't greeted with a pleasant reaction from the WWE Universe upon his world title win. The 7ft tall giant went on to enjoy a title reign that hardly lasted for two months, as Khali dropped the title to Batista in a Triple Threat Match also involving Rey Mysterio.
Well, not only did Khali lose his world title, but he was pinned after 'The Animal' had hit a Spinebuster on the former to end his reign at 61 days. Khali's only title reign in WWE and it definitely failed to live up to the hype.
#1 Goldberg- WWE Universal Champion
Over the past year, WWE did a formidable job in developing 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt as one of the best-built characters to have ever stepped foot in the company.
In his journey to the top, 'The Fiend' destroyed some of the biggest names in his path including the likes of Kurt Angle, Jerry 'The King' Lawler, and Mick Foley. If that wasn't enough, Wyatt even marked dominant wins over the likes of Finn Balor, Daniel Bryan, and took the Universal Championship from Seth Rollins in an iconic match in Saudi Arabia.
Just as we thought 'The Fiend' was set to walk into WrestleMania 36 as the WWE Universal Champion, 53-year-old Goldberg ran straight through him in the very same country Wyatt had won the Universal Title.
Goldberg's win over Bray Wyatt in WWE SuperShowdown 2020 was unexpected and received quite the backlash from fans all over social media, who certainly didn't appreciate the idea of Goldberg winning the Universal Title for the second time. More importantly, the WWE Universe wasn't too happy with 'The Fiend' losing so early in his first reign as Universal Champion.
However, in terms of storyline perspective, Wyatt's defeat to Goldberg was eventually justified when he got redemption over John Cena in the bizarre Firefly Funhouse Match at WrestleMania 36 and eventually found himself back in the Universal Title picture.
