Personal favourite title change on telly?

[spinningtorturerack]

We all have favourite championship matches, however generally these have occurred on ppv. So I want to know what your favourite championship change that has occurred on telly, whether in wwf/e, wcw, ecw or wherever!

My personal favourite is mankind's win in 1999 against the rock. This is the famous one where it was prerecorded and nitro announced he was going to win, causing most their audience to switch to RAW!

So go on then out with it!

 

[WWEWrestleFest]

gotta go with lex luger or goldberg beating hollywood hogan.

i'm old enough to remember andre "beating" hulk hogan and then immediately selling the belt to ted dibiase. but that was voided and the belt was vacated as they held a tournament for it at wm4 instead. if that counts as a title change, i'm gonna go with that, just because that was one of my first memories as a wrestling fan.

 

[dwith]

I would have to say a great one was when Santino Marella won the intercontinental title, and began his career at least until WWE has ruined him. Such a talented wrestler, it's just a shame he is a clown now..

Another great moment was the first time Goldberg won his first heavy weight title on Nitro.

 

[mister_b1LL]

I'm gonna go with the one that first popped into my head. Smackdown. January 2006. Batista was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship and Teddy Long announced a Battle Royal for the title. Kurt Angle makes a surprise appearance as the last entrant in the match and despite getting press slammed on the announce table by Mark Henry, Angle manages to wrestle Henry over the top rope and becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion

If winning a vacated title counts, I'm gonna stick with that.

 

[The Brain]

One that immediately comes to mind is Strike Force taking the tag title from the Hart Foundation. I was young and had only been watching wrestling for about a year. It was around mid 1987 that I began to follow storylines and understand the importance of the titles. Strike Force was the first time I saw the good guys win a title on tv. Back in the squash match days of television it was rare enough to get a title match on Superstars or Challenge much less a title change. I remember when it was announced the week before I was so excited I immediately ran to tell my brother and cousin. They both just blew it off and said it was no big deal because the Harts were easily going to win. I was an excited little kid when Neidhart gave up in the boston crab. That was a fun Saturday morning.

The Brain Busters beating Demolition of Saturday Night’s Main Event was pretty cool. It was so unexpected. I was only 9 and hadn’t realized the greatness that was Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson yet. I wanted Demolition to win. They were champions for 16 months and even though I didn’t like the outcome the surprise of it is what stands out to me.

One last honorable mention is Diesel beating Razor Ramon for the IC title in 1994. I liked Diesel, but it looked like he wasn’t going to do much. Him winning that title was a turning point in his career.

 

[fenfool]

Probably Goldberg...it was a situation where he was pushed to the stars, so it seemed like he had to win, and yet with Hogan in the way, you thought there was no way. That was a nice mark-out moment!

 

[Judah's Lion]

all of the Money in the Bank title changes that did not occur on PPV have been pretty surprising. i'm thinking like Edge beating the Undertaker on Smackdown, CM Punk beating Edge on Raw and the latest with Jack Swagger beating Chris Jericho on Smackdown. they've all been pretty crazy, though obviously no build up or history, and so have not been as "big" as some of the others.

previous posters have given some good ones: Santino winning the IC title in his first match with the WWE and over Umaga no less in the "Milan Miracle", Kurt Angle winning the vacant world title in a Smackdown Battle Royal, Goldberg and Luger over Hogan on Nitro and my personal favorite of Mankind over Rock on Raw in December of 1998.

of the ones not previously listed, i'd have to say that another great one was Marty Janetty vs. Shawn Michaels for the IC title on Raw. that was a great match and i believe Shawn's first in a long line of "Match of the Year" winners.

i also think that Flair's 16th recognized world title reign was on a Monday Nitro, and if that is the case, that'd be considered if only because since then he has gone around as the "16 time world champion" which is a significant accomplishment.

there were also some great title matches with RVD on Raw, against Tommy Dreamer to unify the Hardcore and IC titles and against Christian in a ladder match for the IC title.

two fun ones were when Kane made a return to action and won the Tag Team titles with Hurricane on one Raw and the next week on Raw won the IC title from Chris Jericho. two titles in two Raw appearances and on a clear path to domination. it was so awesome. the match with Hurricane was great when it ended with both giving a chokeslam to the other team, but that match with Chris Jericho was actually very good. great story told and a very exciting match thru and thru.

 

[Jakeyd]

Probably the Iron Man match between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle on SmackDown in September 2003. Was pretty cool to end their feud like that.

 

[LCShazardous]

I'm gonna go with the 1st title match i ever saw it was Edge's 2nd cash in with the money in the bank on undertaker and JBL's violent words "dammit edge" and "not like this" that truly got me to feel like this guy was a dick. this was the 1st time I'd ever seen edge and after that he was the wrestler i hated most

that or a more recent one.. John Morrison beating Rey mysterio for the intercontinental title in one of the best matches i'd ever seen

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Interesting question. Possibly Foley over the Rock where he finally won the belt. I hated the Rock after Survivor Series 98' and I desprately wanted the belt off of hiom and Foley was the perfect answer. he was this anti-Rock like character in that he didn't wear the custom suits or have the $100 hair cut. He was this average joe who wasn't the best technically but more than made up with his likeability. The fact that it was Austin and DX costing Rock too made it just sweeter. I loved it. The Rock FINALLY was taken down. The post match celebration was perfect and Michael Cole's commentary sticks with me to this very day. For all the flack he takes, he did a good call on that match and his words remain immortal.

 

[Lazerball]

Jericho beating batista in cage match on Raw like 2 weeks after batista won the title from him in the most face biased ppv match, austin was the guest ref, how was a heelever goin to win, but two weeks later in the rematch on raw jericho won, by beating batista with a piece of the cage at the top and escaping, was funny too, watched it with some friends, and one left the room to pee and said it doesnt matter batista will keep it, and he comes back from pissing and guess who won, not batista.

 

[Offspring of The Rock]

I would have to go with Luger beating Hogan. Back then wrestling was so easy to get caught up in. Now that I'm older it's predictable but back then the way Hogan had held on to the belt so long he seemed unbeatable. I remember Tony Schiavone saying Luger has to win the match quickly so the NWO wouldn't have the chance to run in. I went crazy after Luger won.

 

[LegendKiller716]

Probably the Iron Man match between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle on SmackDown in September 2003. Was pretty cool to end their feud like that.

that was my fav. as well. really really good television match, easily could have been a ppv headliner

 

[The Jew]

My personal favorite was JBL beating CM Punk 1 or 2 weeks before WrestleMania XXV on Raw. JBL is one of my favorite heels and he deserved something before he retired. I was so freakin happy when he hit the Clothesline from Hell and secured his victory. This win came out of nowhere and nobody expected JBL out of all people to beat the RED HOT CM Punk. ( http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2009/march8-14/9526666 )

 

[Jsaturn14]

I gotta go with either the Iron Man match between Kurt and Brock on Smackdown or the Night Jericho beat HHH for the WWE title on Raw in I think 2000. Granted, HHH had Earl reverse the decision that same night, but that was still a friggen unbelievable win as it was during the prime of the Helmsly-McMahon era. I remember jumping up and down screaming like a madman when Jericho pinned him.

 

[wrestlemaniaIII]

My personal favorite was the rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. This was the biggest rematch in the history of the WWF and I'm pretty sure that episode of The Main Event is still the most watched program in the history of the WWE. The end was pure genius with Hogan clearly kicking out at the one count but Hebner counted the pinfall. The twin referees just added to the intrigue of the match. This was more than just interference for the title change. Then Andre surrendered the "world world tag team championship". (Watch the video. He really said that) This was one of the best swerves ever and set of Wrestlemania IV perfectly.

 

[shapy]

one that sticks out most to me is when Owen beat Rocky for the IC title on RAW in May of '97. Didn't expect Owen to win it and I'd been an Owen fan forever. The finish was somewhat original and didn't see it coming. (it was the same finish HBK beat Jericho with at WM19). I marked out big time for that one.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar on Smackdown. That was the first televised WWE Championship I saw swap hands.

Not to mention it was an IRONMAN MATCH. The ending wherein Lesnar wouldn't tap out so they didn't go overtime....classic. It's not often you see I title swap hands on television (especially the major title) but the fact it traded hands in a Stipulation Match you usually see on Pay Per Views...I mean you can't hardly top that.

Great build up too.

 

[Crawling King Snake]

As mentioned earlier Kurt/Brock Iron Man Match was a good one. One of the more recent and shocking ones was Jericho beating Batista for the title. It was shocking because Batista had just the title less than 2 weeks ago.

 

[DJrayray]

My favorite as a kid was HBK defeating The British Bulldog for the I-C Title. I would also say Rey Mysterio over Matt Hardy for the CW title on Smackdown! That was the first time the CW title was in the Main Event spot on Raw or SD. It's a shame that Hornswaggle was the final CW champ and that the division doesn't even exist anymore. It would be really sweet to see one CW champ, such as idk...Evan Borne, and defend on both shows. They got rid of all of their talent though that would be in the division.

 

[marklouis]

I have to go with one I actually saw live, and that is Goldberg defeating Hogan on Nitro @ the Georgia Dome. I know many people say it was foolish to put such a match on free TV, but because Atlanta was the home base for WCW, they always made sure they had a huge main event @ the Atlanta Nitros, and I was fortunate enough to see just about all of them live. The Dome was electric during this match, as electric as any sporting event I've ever been to. It was just an amazing setting and atmosphere.

 

[TNA cross the line]

Im gonna go with one week ago today when Mr. Monday Night beat The Phenomenal One AJ Styles just because of how unexpected it was

 

[DJrayray]

My all-time favorite one was actually removed from the record books. That was in April of 2000 when Chris Jericho beat Triple H for the WWF Title. I completely marked out. I would also say When CM Punk beat Edge for The World Title was very exciting and memorable as well.

 

[The Idiot]

Razor Ramon defeating Rick Martel on Raw for the IC title. Don't know why...but that stands out for me and remember it like it was yesterday. This match came after the previous week's battle royal where the last two remaining would have a match for the title.
(For the young-ins reading this....the whole reason for this was due to Shawn being stripped of the title. This led to Shawn coming back and declaring he was the real IC champ. Of course this all culminated at Mania with the legendary ladder match.)

Runners up would be Austin-HBK beating Bulldog and Owen for the tag titles on Raw. Great match, great energy...and shocking outcome. Also, Perfect defeating Tito Santana on Superstars after Warrior gave up the IC belt after beating Hogan at WM6.

 

[MooseDaddy]

Been reading for a while and decided I would finally post and this seemed like as good a topic as any.

I don't know if this would really count as my favorite but it was a momentous night. The final episode of Monday Nitro where Booker T (then US Champ) beat Scott Steiner for the WCW Championship. This night is also memorable because it featured the final match between Sting and Ric Flair which Sting came out on top in a match that was clearly more about repsect than any actual story.