The list of World Champions is short and very exclusive, containing some of the greatest performers in professional wrestling history. But there have been World Champions that, for many reasons, simply didn’t work out. Maybe they weren’t seen as deserving, maybe the booking of their title reign was a disaster, maybe they simply weren’t who the fans wanted to see as champion. But whatever the case, there have been several World title reigns that probably would have been better for the history of pro wrestling if they’d never even happened at all.
13. Vince McMahon (1999), Vince Russo (2000), and David Arquette (2000)
We figured we would get these three out of the way quickly, and move on to reigns that weren’t complete business-exposing jokes. Three World title wins, all by non-wrestlers, and the one in the best shape when he won the title was probably the one who was also nearly a senior citizen at the time in Vince McMahon (although, had Sting won the title against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions in 2015, he would have been older than Vince was when he won). Honestly, as much crap as WCW gets for David Arquette winning the WCW World title, at least he lost it in the ring (and in a ridiculously dangerous triple cage match, at that). Both McMahon and Russo vacated the belt after winning it, meaning that nobody ever defeated them for it. All three were terrible decisions by the respective companies, and were widely mocked. And yet, years later, Vince McMahon would also win the ECW Championship, just to prove that nobody learned anything from these debacles (which, coincidentally, officially marked the end of that belt being treated as if it were a legitimate World title by WWE).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtUD3P2MeK4 Source: YouTube.com