Favorite title changes

[Some Baritone guy IS REDEEMED!]

I want to hear what some of your favorite title changes are in any company at any time.

Austin Aries pinning Samoa Joe for the ROH title.

[Deleted]

Rock over HHH at Backlash

[champviadq]

Savage over Flair - WM 8

[Instant Classic]

Orton over Bryan at Summerslam

[Deleted]

Austin Aries over Bobby Roode.

Just because I started the match sure that Roode would win (The Storm thing was still looming overhead for BFG). Bobby cheated a lot in his title matches, and when Aries kicked out of a belt shot my jaw dropped. I literally turned to my friend and said "Oh my god, Aries is gonna win." just as Roode had this incredible, stunned look on his face. Went BANANA when Aries hit the brainbuster.

[Capt Lunatic]

Edge beating John Cena with his Money in the Bank cash in.

Not hating on Cena, but I remember about two months before this people were saying "Will Edge ever cash in?" and "What's the point if they don't have a payoff?" It got to the point people kind of forgot about it...then Edge's music hits after the Elimination Chamber and everyone went nuts.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

Have to agree with the two Aries ones already posted. Will also go with:

- Steen winning the ROH World Title
- Nigel FINALLY winning the ROH World Title
- Punk winning the ROH World Title (My cousin had explained that he was leaving so this was basically his farewell match, neither of us had read the spoilers even though we were watching like 3 months after the fact. We were both completely shocked. It was awesome).
- Christian beating Jarrett for his first NWA World Title
- Christian FINALLY winning a World Title in WWE (@ XR vs. ADR, wouldn't count the ECW Title as a World Title)
- Punk beating Cena @ MITB '11 for the WWE Title
- AJ winning the title in the 4-Way at No Surrender '09 (I was on the verge of quitting TNA at the time, I was just burnt out with them and then that happens, BOOM I'm right back in. Lucky too, because the next 4 months or so were some of the best months in TNA's history)
- Stone Cold winning the title at WM's 14 and 15. WM13 was the first wrestling show I saw, and Bret/Austin was what cemented me as a fan with Austin automatically becoming my favourite so seeing him win the big one at the biggest show of the year two years running was fantastic as a fan.
- Stone Cold winning at WM 17. I was a kid, Stone Cold was still (still is in 2014) my favourite wrestler and I refused to believe Austin had turned bad, I automatically assumed Vince was a good guy now - even after the repeated interference and steel chair shots (oh to be a full-blown mark again).
- Angle winning the title at Unforgiven '01. I'd realised Stone Cold was a bad guy by this point and after Summerslam was desperate for Kurt to win.
- Jeff Hardy winning the Title @ BFG '10. I'm not a big Hardy fan but I fully expected Anderson to be the one to turn heel and I loved the swerve.
- Edge cashing in MITB @ NYR '06. It was unexpected because I didn't know the briefcase could be cashed in like that. We'd never seen one before and I presumed it would be a case of okay I want my shot at the next PPV or whatever. Plus that was just a horrible, horrible show. I was seriously considering stopping watching at the time (and I did eventually, after their match at Unforgiven '06) because I was so tired of the terrible product. TNA and ROH were great at the time so I felt no need to watch a product I hated. Edge's title win felt fresh though and was just a truly surprising and brilliant moment.
- Punk cashing in MITB, especially the first time. I was on a break from WWE at the time but my mate text me telling me to watch RAW (he knew I was a big Punk fan) the day after but wouldn't tell me why. When Punk's music hit I lost my shit.
- Punk winning the WWE Title at Survivor Series 2011. Felt like a really big moment to me for some reason.
- Bryan winning at Summerslam '13. I'd been on holiday because it was my Mam's Birthday and I'd been unable to watch it live because the place we were staying had no internet. I avoided the spoilers for a whole week until we returned to the point of not even using my phone. Both me and my sister exploded with joy when he won. We were so deflated after Orton's cash-in. But Bryan's win and the rest of the match as well as Punk/Lesnar really got me excited with WWE when before it I'd been feeling kind of jaded with the product they were putting out.
- Rock beating HHH at Backlash 2000. Perfectly booked match in front of a great crowd. Awesome stuff.
- Foley winning his first title on RAW. Another great moment in front of a great crowd.
- Not sure if it counts but Jericho's phantom title win over Hunter.
- Not sure if this counts either but HBK's phantom title win in his hometown on the final RAW of 2003 against Hunter. A massively underrated match (one of my all-time favourites) with a great feel good moment when it seems like Shawn has won the belt (even though it's taken away moments later).
- HBK winning the title in the first Elimination Chamber.
- Sting beating Jarrett @ BFG '06. When Sting hulked up after the guitar shot I got goosebumps.
- Joe beating Angle @ Lockdown '08. People say they waited too long to pull the trigger on a Joe World Title run. And they're probably right. Didn't stop the moment from being amazing though.
- Bryan cashing in MITB. I thoroughly expected him to be the first one to lose his cash-in. He'd been booked terribly since he won the briefcase and lets face it, you're always more nervous about how your favourites will be booked. I woke my parents up cheering so loud when his music hit.
- Ziggler cashing in MITB. Fantastic feeling with that amazing crowd and Ziggler's sheer joy at winning the belt.

I realise there are a lot there (and that's only singles World Title's, there would've been more if I'd included Tag and midcard belts etc.) but there have been an awful lot of title changes that I've loved over the years. I'm probably forgetting some too but I can't think of any more at the minute.

[Deleted]

I'm a new Chikara fan, but after ordering some of their DVDs, I'm gonna go with Frightmare winning the Young Lion's Cup. Huge momentum changer in the feud with the BDK, plus they told a great story over those three nights, with Lince Dorado being unstoppable thanks to Derek Sabato. So when Sabato got bumped and Bryce hit the ring... I marked, even for a three year old match.

[Loser]

Both of Daniel Bryan's PWG World Title reigns. First, he beats Sami Zayn in an amazing, impromptu match with the crowd going crazy (after both wrestled previously). The other, him beating Kassiuh Ohno in his last PWG match, then being forced to vacate it due to WWE. (He'd come back for 1 more match in 2010).

Antonio Cesaro's title win was also great, because it came absolutely out of nowhere (he hadn't been a PWG regular in years). In a 4-way match, he was the least likely guy to win on paper.

Also, No DQ match of Super Smash Bros. winning the Tag belts from Young Bucks. Similarly, Kevin Steen/Super Dragon beating the Bucks for the belts in a Guerrilla Warfare match. Both insane brawls.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Eddie Guerrero winning the title at NWO 2004.

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2014 22:32:28 GMT -5 @dax said:

Rock over HHH at Backlash

These also came to mind:

-HBK winning the belt at WM XII.
-HBK & Austin winning the tag belts from Owen & Bulldog.
-Pretty much all of Austin's WWF title wins in 1998/9.
-Eddie at No Way Out.
-Benoit winning the WHC at WM XX.

[chronocross]

-Hogan beating Sheik for the title in 84
-Aries beating Joe for the ROH title at Final Battle 04
-Punk defeating Aries for the title at Death Before Dishonor 05
- Sting beating Flair for the NWA title in 1990
-Jericho's phantom title win in 2000 over HHH

[Professor Chaos]

Backlund beating Bret after Owen tricked Helen into throwing in the towel.

[Slingshot Suplay]

British bulldogs over beefcake and valentine at wm2 for the tag titles.

Kerry von erich beating flair with a backside to win the nwa title at the David von erich memorial.

Von Erich beating mr perfect at summerslam for the ic title. I loved how perfect spun around in the air to sell the tornado punch.

ron simmons winning the wcw title from Vader with a powerslam. That was a huge moment and they did such a great job building up simmons .

Flair beating vader for the wcw title
Windham beating muta for the nwa title.

Marty jannetty beating hbk on raw for the ic title. I wish these two would have had a good program for the belt...

123 kid and jannetty beating the quebeccers on Raw. Jannetty and kid were two of my favorites and i really didn't expect them to win, but was so happy when they did.

Benoit beating sid for the wcw title
Benoit at wm20
Punk at mitb

That's all I got for now...

[Aceorton]

Piper beating the Mountie for the IC belt was a great one. Crowd was SO into it.

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

Curtis Axel winning the IC title on Fathers Day

[Bootista]

Booker beating Jeff Jarrett at Bash at The Beach 2000

[SeVeN: #TheBadGuy.]

Might get some flack for these but they came to mind first.

Wrestlemania 9 Hulk over Yoko and Bret.
And... The Dreaded, Vilified, Revolting....


Finger Poke of Doom!

[Deleted]

Tito Santana beating Greg Valentine in a cage match to regain the I-C title, 1985. Greg had injured Tito's leg with a figure-four to win the title the previous September. Tito climbing over the cage door and using the injured leg to kick the door into Valentine's face, sending him to his infamous tree-fall bump and Santana hitting the floor first, that was great. (Much like Mick Foley mentioned when rewatching his Snuka-Muraco match, it's the thrill and excitement of the moment that sticks with me. The match really wasn't that good.)

Rick Steamboat finally beating Ric Flair for the World title at Chi-Town Rumble, 1989. Rick was pretty much destined to be possibly the greatest to never win the World championship until he finally beat Flair.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Booker T winning the WCW Title at Bash at the Beach 2000. For all the crap WCW gets for that year, this moment still gives me more chills than anything WWF did around the same time. It came out of nowhere and, especially after Hogan had been driven out of the company with the worked shoot turned shoot only an hour previously, it really was a validation for why I remained a WCW fan.

Also, Rob Van Dam winning the title at One Night Stand 2006. It was a cheap title win with the Edge business, but the crowd made it one of the most epic title changes in history. That's the night that brought me back to wrestling, and I've yet to experience a moment that comes close to capturing the magic.