Most surprising title change ever

[SupaNovaHBK]

In hindsight of batista claiming the wwe championship, no one really picked it happening.

so i ask you all, what is the most surprising wwe championship victory ever?

doesnt have to be shocking or have a twist, could be a simple match. like the elimination chambers match where cena was pitted against batista after the EC.
i thought cena had it in the bag! shocker.




anyway one of my most surprising ones would have to be EDGE from last year, cant remember PPV, but it was booked as HHH vs KOZLOV vs HARDY. but i swore right up until edge walked out HARDY would somehow come in and win.

[Xero]

Sheamus winning.

[jerichoholicninja]

Sheamus and Punk's first reign.

[SupaNovaHBK]

orton NOT winning at mania 25 was also a big shock to me


jericho being the first ever undisputed champion is nice surprise to :D

[TrentDRUGFREE]

For some reason I remember being certain that Triple H was going over Cena at mania 22.
Punks first major title win was a huge suprise.

[Juan]

I'm sure there are tons, but the one that comes to mind right now is James Gibson winning the ROH title.

[CWK]

Deep breath......

Kevin Nash's title win over Goldberg and giving him his first loss
Sheamus winning the belt
Eddie Guerrero over Brock Lesnar
David Arquette winning the WCW Title
Booker T winning at Bash at the Beach 2000 w/o any main event card exp.
Kane's win in 1998 when Stone Cold was RED HOTTTT, even if it was for only a day
Diesel over Bob Backlund at a house show in a less than 10 second victory with no main event star buildup for Diesel.
Stone Cold gets "run over" at Survivor Series 1999, and his replacement, winner, and new champ is.... The Big Show?
Edge's first time cashing in the MITB on Cena, happy that happened, just surprising.
Punk winning on RAW vs. Edge by cashing in the MITB briefcase.
Andre the Giant's win over Hogan on SNME ending Hogan's 4+ year reign

I am sure there is more

[Mr. Nerfect]

Sheamus winning the WWE Championship comes to mind. It seemed like a perfect set-up to give Sheamus a test-run in the main event, and put Cena over strong as he headed into his Road to WrestleMania build. In the end, we essentially got the same result, anyway.

Chris Jericho winning both the WCW Championship and WWE Championship in the same night was also a surprise. Long live the Ayahtolla!

[Team Sheep]

Not my most surprising, but I was pretty shocked when Jericho won the title at Unforgiven in the Scramble match in 2008. Was also very shocked when he won it back from Batista in a cage match on Raw a few weeks later. A couple of pleasant surprises.

[The Mackem]

Rob Van Dam

[Mr. Nerfect]

Not my most surprising, but I was pretty shocked when Jericho won the title at Unforgiven in the Scramble match in 2008. Was also very shocked when he won it back from Batista in a cage match on Raw a few weeks later. A couple of pleasant surprises.

Actually, when you think about it, all Chris Jericho's World Title wins have been pretty surprising. The most expected one would have been his victory just now in the Elimination Chamber -- but even then I wouldn't have been surprised if Jericho had lost.

I hope this indicates a new era for Jericho: one where he is actually expected to win World Championships from time-to-time. He's now in his sixth reign, which is far more than what many other people obtain in their careers. To be honest, I would not be shocked to see Jericho win the World Heavyweight Title back from Edge soon after he loses it to him. Perhaps as a way to get Wade Barrett over as Jericho's protoge.

[Ytoojae]

I think the two most surprising title changes in my history of following wrestling came back to back in 2004.

I was not expecting Eddie to win at all. I honestly believed that he was having a nice push to the main event but that he was going to fall short and that perhaps he'd get a small run later on in the year when it doesn't really mean as much. I was blown away when he won it. One of the happiest memories I have of wrestling.

Chris Benoit's wasn't quite as surprising to me, but until Triple H tapped out to the crossface I was sure that the same thing that I had predicted for Guerrero was going to happen with Benoit. I thought that they had Benoit win the Rumble match as a nice way to reward him for a tremendous career (to that point) by giving him the one accolade most wrestlers strive for (main eventing Wrestlemania) while also allowing the WWE to run with yet another Triple H Vs Shawn Michaels match, which we had seen numerous times in the 20 months that Shawn had been back for, without them having to book it as Trips Vs Shawn straight up.

Although Benoit's life ended the way that it did I have to say that Guerrero and Benoit together in the ring at the end of that triple threat match is the biggest markout moment I have ever had in wrestling - enough to make me bawl through happiness - Jericho's undisputed title win did too (but that's more personal).

[Nicky Fives]

Edge cashing in MITB....

[Jeritron]

I would say CM Punk's shocked me the most, that I can remember. Especially considering the circumstances, and it being his first reign.

There are other candidates, like Big Show at Survivor Series 99. Obviously that's shocking, but nobody saw it coming for the obvious reasons that he wasn't booked in the match or title scene at the time.
It wasn't like he hadn't already had runs in the main event/as champion years before that.

I don't think I was shocked by Eddie winning at the time. I can't really recall, but I remember it being fairly obvious that Goldberg was going to cost Brock the belt. I suppose it was hard to believe when seeing it happen either way.

I think Foley winning the title was a long time coming, but it still seemed to shock me and everyone else.

[Savio]

Who is that guy christian just lost too?

[LuigiD]

I don't remember exactly when this happened but I think it was during the McMahon/Helmsley era crap. Jericho fought HHH one night on RAW when HHH was champion and Jericho won. I dove out of the couch from excitement. Then the ref came out or something and the whole thing was reversed.
Besides for that, I thought Sheamus was a pretty big shocker.

[The Jayman]

Jeff Hardy's first run as wwe champion

[Xero]

Who is that guy christian just lost too?

Ahmed Johnson.

[The Jayman]

Michael Clarke Duncan?

[addy2hotty]

Jericho beating Stone Cold and The Rock in the same night. Never ever expected it in a million years. So, basically both of those wins are equal.

[Favre4Ever]

I'd say Kurt Angle's first win over the Rock for the WWF Title thanks to Rikishi interference. Did NOT see that one coming.

[Jeritron]

Kurt Angles rookie year was one of the best jobs of booking someone to the moon ever. Seriously, he won every title and became a permenant main eventer in under a year, and it never felt forced or rushed for a second.

[Cool King]

Ahmed Johnson.

Michael Clarke Duncan?

You're both wrong, it's Uncle Phil on steroids. :roll:

[Jeritron]

Oh I was pretty suprised when Mankind won the title at Summerslam 99.

[Savio]

I was surprised when Mankind got his first title run.

[Sixx]

Jeff Hardy's first run as wwe champion

Was that sarcasm?

I don't think there's ever been another title change hyped as much as this one.

[The Jayman]

Was that sarcasm?

I don't think there's ever been another title change hyped as much as this one.

for years I always thought it would be Matt that would get the wwe title before Jeff

[dablackguy]

For some reason I remember being certain that Triple H was going over Cena at mania 22.


I LOL'ed at the looks of shock and horror on the faces of fans that were there

Also, Jericho becoming undisputed champion as some have said

[Jordan]

Are you guys crazy?? Three words, John Bradshaw Layfield.

Who saw that coming?

[jskinnyg]

You're both wrong, it's Uncle Phil on steroids. :roll:

Damn, that's good...

I'd have to say Jericho's Undisputed title, Eddie G over Lesnar, & Sheamus...
And did Cena just beat Kane's time for shortest Championship reign ever... If so, I love that Cena has to bear that one...

[Team Sheep]

Are you guys crazy?? Three words, John Bradshaw Layfield.

Who saw that coming?

If it had happened at Judgment Day 2004, I'd have been absolutely stunned. But when they had their rematch in the bull rope match at the GAB, I wasn't so surprised because they were pushing him to the moon and it was his match.

[Emperor Smeat]

Punk "stealing" the moment from Jeff Hardy when Hardy won the title only to lose it minutes later when Punk cashed in his briefcase for a title win. I was shocked at WWE really willing to give Hardy a short reign since it was built up for a while of him chasing the title. It made Punk into the #1 heel in all of WWE just of how upset the crowd was and how Hardy's moment was taken over by Punk's surprise.

Others would be :
1) David Arquette really winning the WCW title
2) Jericho's 1st title reign that never occurred on RAW
3) Kane dropping the title after a day with it
4) Hogan's Undisputed title reign since it came right after Triple H's return from injury title reign.

[DAMN iNATOR]

You're both wrong, it's Uncle Phil on steroids. :roll:

You're wrong too. It's Black Zangief. :shifty:

[Damian Rey]

Mysterio leaving Mania 22 as champion was surprising as hell to me, as I completely expected Orton to walk out as champ. Going back and rewatching the match, the way it was booked it looked like either Orton or Angle leaving with the belt.

Sheamus is an obvious one.

Though I knew it would happen some time soon, Triple H winning his first title on Raw was shocking. I thought for sure they would save that pay off for a ppv.

Vince winning with Austin's aid stunned me at the time.