These are the top 10 greatest matches where the Unofficial WWE Championship changed hands. If by some odd chance you got here without knowing what the Unofficial WWE Championship is, I suggest you read up on it on this very blog – the home of the UWWEC!
The very nature of the Unofficial WWE Championship means that matches where the title changes hands is entirely random so the fact that there are matches as big as these ones that are part of the UWWEC is amazing.
10.
[14/02/99] Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon at St. Valentines Day Massacre (Steel Cage Match)
In most people’s opinions, the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon feud in the late 90s is the best and most important feud in professional wrestling history. The story of the blue collar worker vs the evil boss worked an absolute treat at the time and was one of the main reasons why WWF was able to become not only the most relevant wrestling promotion – but the only relevant wrestling promotion,
The match here isn’t an in-ring classic but it is quite a historically significant match. Stone Cold was finally able to officially get his hands on Vince and give him quite a bit of punishment. Vince flipping off Austin so that he wouldn’t leave the cage is also quite a great image. It also marked the debut of The Big Show, who appeared through the bottom of canvas and actually cost Vince the match.
UWWEC Statistics: Stone Cold Steve Austin won his 3rd Unofficial WWE Championship after this match and held the title for 16 days.
9.
[20/03/94] Bret Hart vs Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X (WWF Championship)
A 5 star classic. Bret Hart opens Wrestlemania X with a technical masterpiece, a performance that has possibly never been matched and one of the greatest opening matches in Wrestlemania history. It’s personally one my favourite matches of all time, so why is it #9 on this list? Because Bret pulls double duty at Wrestlemania X, fights his brother in an unbelievable match and decides there’s still enough time to win the WWF Championship against Yokozuna.
The match is basically a squash. Yokozuna spends the whole of it in charge and dominating Bret Hart who has a visible limp. Hart gets a few bits of offence but they are few and far between and usually ineffective. Bret capitalises on a mistake from Yokozana and pins him to win the WWF title and the Unofficial WWE title.
The reason that this match made the list is basically for the ending. It’s probably Yokozuna’s best match but Bret celebrating with the belt at the end is a great moment and worth watching.
UWWEC Statistics: Yokozuna won the title earlier in the night, stopping a 172 day reign from Lex Luger. Yokozuna wouldn’t even make it a few hours before he dropped the title to Bret Hart in the main event. Bret won his 2nd Unofficial WWE Championship and would go on to hold it for 91 days.
8.
[19/06/94] Bret Hart vs Diesel at King of the Ring (WWF Championship)
Bret Hart is well known for giving people their best matches, especially when they aren’t well known workers. I don’t know if this is Nash’s best (probably his match against Bret at Survivor Series or against Shawn at Good Friends, Better Enemies) but it did help the Diesel character become a “big deal” in the WWF. I say that with reservation because while he did go on to have a year long reign, it is usually accepted that it’s one of the worst WWF title reigns in history.
Bret Hart makes his opponents look incredible but what he really does is make himself look legendary. When you analyse the match you really see Nash’s limitations and how good Bret is to get a match like this out of him. It’s matches like these – as opposed to when he’s facing other competent workers – where you really find out how great Bret was in the ring. Basically, fuck Nash.
UWWEC Statistics: Diesel would stop the 91 day reign of Bret Hart after the Yokozuna match but would only go on to hold it for 1 day before losing the title to Razor Ramon.
7.
[07/09/08] Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels at WWE Unforgiven (Unsanctioned Match)
Unsanctioned Matches have never really made sense to me. I mean, there’s a referee there to count pinfalls and they go in the record books so what exactly does it mean? It has something to do with legal ramifications but I’ve never heard anything like that in a regular No DQ match. In any case, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels continued their ‘personal’ feud in 2008 and this match at Unforgiven was another successful one.
The match is pretty brutal and has some really cool spots. The fire extinguisher spot (pictured above) is great – even though I think it’s been done before? I dunno. The double table spot is also awesome. The match is annoying to watch without any heel commentators – it feels like no one is on Jericho’s side – but Jericho does a great job of looking like a psychopath throughout anyway and eventually Shawn Michaels turns into a psychopath, which allows him to not only win the match but get even more cheers. It perhaps goes a little long but it is still worthy of a watch if you haven’t seen it before.
UWWEC Statistics: This would be Shawn Michaels’ 5th Unofficial WWE Championship reign. His reign only lasted 28 days, which is one of his shortest because HBK is known for having really long reigns. He is 3rd of all time for most days as champion and has the highest average of days per reign.
6.
[15/08/04] Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton at Summerslam (World Heavyweight Championship)
This is definitely a really interesting match looking back on it. First of all, the match is in Canada and Earl Hebner is the referee, which means most of the chants are directed at him – it starts with a “you screwed Bret” chant. Second of all, most of the fans are constantly dying for the WWE to build young stars and give them a chance – they did that here with Randy Orton and yet there were still thoughts of, “too soon”. Thirdly, Chris Benoit is someone that is not allowed to be mentioned on WWE television anymore so whenever they show highlights of Orton winning his first title, they have to show him RKO’ing someone else before he holds the title high.
Because of all that, I feel like this match gets somewhat overshadowed and underrated. I’d be comfortable calling it Randy Orton’s best match or at least very close to it. Benoit is universally called one of the greatest in-ring competitors in wrestling history and he rarely gives a bad performance. The match here starts of slowly but becomes an exciting contest towards the middle and end. Okay, so the match isn’t that great but I’m a real sucker for titles changing hands cleanly to younger guys.
UWWEC Statistics: Randy Orton held the Unofficial WWE Championship for a 3rd time before dropping it at Unforgiven to Triple H after 28 days.
5.
[01/04/07] The Undertaker vs Batista at WWE Wrestlemania 23 (World Heavyweight Championship)
Both of these men seem to bring out the best in each other (err, I guess should say The Undertaker brings out the best in Batista). Batista is not known for having great ring skills but he was intense and a monster and a great heel. The Undertaker takes Batista to arguably his best match in a WWE ring and it just so happens to be at Wrestlemania – that means it will probably be remembered more than any other of his matches by default.
The Undertaker’s entrance is particularly long and he takes about 10 minutes to get to the ring but as soon as the bell rings, they get into it. The Undertaker spends most of the early part of the match on the attack and brings out all of his big moves – old school, snake eyes, big boot, leg drop on the apron, leap over the top rope, etc. The match really gets going after Batista takes control and sends ‘Taker through the announce table. This match is great because you believe that Batista can take the streak. The match hits it stride with the typical finishers sequence of kicking out a ton of times but it is a legitimately great match.
UWWEC Statistics: Both of these men are known for having a lot of reigns as Unofficial WWE Champion. Batista has the second most reigns of all time and The Undertaker has the 4th most of all time. With this win, he won his 10th UWWEC which he held for 37 days.
4.
[30/03/08] The Undertaker vs Edge at WWE Wrestlemania 24 (World Heavyweight Championship)
In recent years, The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania has been highly anticipated, not because we wonder if it will be broken but because it usually produces the best match on the card. Before his classics with Shawn Michaels and Triple H, The Undertaker had a match of the night contender with Edge.
As a kid, I would’ve never guessed that Edge would go on to have such a storied career and win multiple world titles but he deserves every moment of it. To have the privilege of holding the title going into Wrestlemania and have a chance to break the streak is an amazing achievement regardless of the match at hand.
The match told a few stories throughout. One is that Edge had done his homework and knew what The Undertaker was going to throw at him. He countered every move possible and kicked out when those moves were eventually hit. He made ‘Taker look unprepared on his night.
The story that is told at multiple Wrestlemanias featuring The Undertaker is that he simply does not quit on the streak. It seems obvious after the match is over that he’ll be walking out of there as the new World Heavyweight Champion, but when Edge hits his second spear you start to think it might be done. The Undertaker, however, is at his no-selling best here and goes straight into Hell’s Gate to extend the streak to 16-0.
UWWEC Statistics: The Undertaker captured his 11th Unofficial WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 24 and held the title for 63 days.
3.
[05/10/08] Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels at WWE No Mercy (Ladder Match; World Heavyweight Championship)
In 2008, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho had an incredible feud and gave us some of the best work of their careers. Their match at Unforgiven was the prelude to this match for the title. As individual wrestlers, both HBK and Y2J excelled in Ladder Matches are two of the biggest stars of the gimmick. HBK revolutionised the match with the Wrestlemania X match against Razor Ramon and Jericho was involved in many great matches himself (the best being against Benoit at the Royal Rumble in 2001).
It’s always a delight when you get a match that has seemingly exhausted all new possibilities and still manages to deliver some original spots. There are some parts in this match that I’d never seen before and it’s moments like that why we keep watching as fans. The match produced basically no signature moves and yet it was still enthralling from beginning to end.
Jericho and Michaels have always had an incredible chemistry (their match at Wrestlemania XIX is superb) and they show it here. I think in 2008, it was probably always unlikely that Shawn Michaels was going to have a run with the World Title but he makes you believe that he might win here.
UWWEC Statistics: Chris Jericho won his 5th Unofficial WWE Championship from this match and held the title for 8 days.
2.
[31/03/96] Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XII (Iron Man Match; WWF Championship)
Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had one of the most important feuds of the 90s. They ushered in a new era of wrestling that was highlighted by great in-ring work and grounded characters. They weren’t larger than life but you believed that they could beat anyone and you knew that they would put on a clinic. Throughout the decade, they had great matches with just about everyone that they faced.
The HBK-Hitman feud has always been so interesting because of the real life animosity that the two had for each other (even though according to the DVD that discussed the feud, they were still friends by this point- I prefer to pretend that this is not the case).
Even though the match is very highly regarded and extremely influential, it also seems to be one of the more polarising matches in WWE. There are moments in the match that are downright classic and deserve every bit of praise they get but (according to some) there are moments that are, well, boring. I don’t consider this match to be boring at all so I’m going to write from the perspective of a fan.
The match is methodical and slowly builds as the clock counts down and the two hit their stride. The two of them don’t give each other an inch and it is fairly even from start to finish. With 5 minutes to go, the match really comes to life as Bret has HBK in the Sharp Shooter but he refuses to give up. The clock hits zero and the match ends in a draw – or does it?
The powers that be decide that a match of this magnitude can’t end in a draw and overtime is ordered. From here it doesn’t take long for Shawn Michaels to realise his boyhood dream and hold the WWF Championship in his arms.
UWWEC Statistics: This was Shawn Michaels 2nd reign as the Unofficial WWE Champion and it would last an impressive 176 days – the 8th longest of all time.
1.
[01/04/01] Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock at Wrestlemania X-7 (No DQ Match; WWF Championship)
If you were a wrestling fan in 2001 then this match probably meant the world to you. A match between the two biggest stars during the biggest era in the main-event of the biggest stage for the biggest prize in wrestling had no choice but to be one of the most important matches in WWE history.
Beginning with Austin winning the 2001 Royal Rumble and The Rock winning the belt at No Way Out from Kurt Angle, the build-up to this match was incredible. The story was simple and summed up by Austin in the hype video for the match – “the fact is, Rock, you’ve got the WWF title and I want it”. That video is the one and only time that Limp Bizkit has ever been tolerable – that is how incredible this feud was.
Before the match even started, Wrestlemania X-7 was already being hailed as one of the greatest wrestling events that was ever produced and the main-event confirmed that it might never be topped. The match itself is a brawl from beginning to end and in a way it set the standard for the major matches that followed. The formula relied heavily on multiple finishers being hit and multiple finishers being kicked-out of. It wasn’t a technical masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it never was going to be one. Austin would be willing to try anything to win the title and The Rock wouldn’t let him have it that easy.
The closing stages of the match gave us one of the most iconic images in WWE when Stone Cole Steve Austin decided that he couldn’t do it all on his own and joined forces with the devil himself in Vince McMahon. In many people’s minds this is the close to the most popular era in the history of professional wrestling. That image brings this list full circle – starting with a brutal cage match between Austin and Vince and ending with them sharing a beer.
UWWEC statistics: This was the start of Stone Cold’s 5th and final reign as Unofficial WWE Champion and would only last one day before losing the title the following night on Monday Night Raw.
Well, there you have it. The top ten matches where the Unofficial WWE Championship changes hands. You may not agree with the order, the matches listed or the analysis of each match but this is what I believe. The top two matches in particular are stuff of legends and will never be forgotten as long as professional wrestling is still alive.
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock at Wrestlemania X-7
- Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XII
- Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels at WWE No Mercy
- The Undertaker vs Edge at WWE Wrestlemania 24
- The Undertaker vs Batista at WWE Wrestlemania 23
- Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton at Summerslam
- Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels at WWE Unforgiven
- Bret Hart vs Diesel at King of the Ring
- Bret Hart vs Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon at St. Valentines Day Massacre
Thank you,
The Unofficial WWE Championship.
The Unofficial WWE Championship 