The Most Exciting Accidental Title Changes In Wrestling
On the December 16 episode of WWE NXT, Thea Hail won the Women’s North American Championship from Blake Monroe in a shock upset. Fightful Select quickly reported that Hail was not scheduled to win the title and that the switch was a result of a botched finish.
There have been a few instances of accidental title changes in the world of professional wrestling, including but not limited to:
WrestleMania 2000 – Hardcore Holly wins the Hardcore Championship
The belt was defended in a battle royal match that had a fifteen minute time limit. Crash Holly entered the match as champion and was scheduled to retain. As the time limit expired, Hardcore Holly pinned Crash Holly to win the title. As it turns out, Hardcore Holly made the pin a few seconds early, as the time limit was supposed to expire in the middle of his pinfall attempt.
WWE Battleground 2017 – Kevin Owens regains the United States Championship
AJ Styles was originally set to retain his title, kicking his feud with Owens into another gear. Instead, Styles failed to kick out of a cradle pin attempt from Owens, granting the ‘Prizefighter’ another title victory. Two days later, AJ Styles won the title back from Owens in a triple threat match that also included Chris Jericho.
WWF House Show 1995 – Razor Ramon didn’t want to look stupid
On May 19, 2005, Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett faced each other in a Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. The match took place at an untelevised house show in Canada. Jarrett was set to retain the belt, but Razor Ramon took matters into his own hands and grabbed the belt after Jarrett missed his cue to stop ‘The Bad Guy’ from climbing the ladder.
WWE House Show 2007 – Mickie James didn’t leave France with gold around her waist.
On April 24, 2007, WWE visited Zénith de Paris in Paris for an untelevised live event. Melina defended her WWE Women’s Championship against Victoria and Mickie James in a triple threat match. Mickie James came away with the accidental victory, as Victoria failed to kick out of a pin attempt from James. Later on that night, Melina had a singles rematch with James and defeated her to retain the championship.
To learn more about about Thea Hail’s shocking title win on NXT, click here.
