A History of Wrestling's "Phantom Champions" | Wrestling With Wregret
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Wrestling championships have changed hands hundreds of times throughout history ... but not all of them have counted! Brian gives you a brief history of pro wrestling's "phantom champions"!
Did you know Cultaholic did a video about this same topic recently? I didn't until it was too late!
• 10 Phantom Wrestling T...
D*CK KICK CITY, THE HIGH FLYERS & MORE!
www.prowrestlin...
Check out the WWW Patreon!
/ wrestlingwithwregret
WWW FACEBOOK: / wrestlingwithwregret
wrestlingwithwregret@gmail.com
@zmanbrianzane
When a 10 year olds 1 day title reign is recognized, but yours isn't.
Str8 Krillin where is your nose
You have the best name in youtube
Sloth Johnson
Thanks, I try.
It's a fine name but I like mine
I think they’re both kinda average but I’m not hating
There’s one phantom Royal Rumble winner that doesn’t get recognized, despite proving he won, Big Show in 2000. Remember the whole “Rocky’s feet touched the floor” story that lead to the 4-way at Mania?
yeah and rock flamed the shit big show and made him ignore his own point lmao
They accidentally released big show was suppose to win so they had to change it up
But in a sense he did get a shot
Unofficial and not supposed to happen he isn’t a ‘winner’
VACANT vs Phantom Champ. With Stone Cold Soap as referee.
wstine79 Yes!
Yes
Yes!!!
Now go wash up.
You my friend are a genius
I don't think you had to be that apologetic, Zane. Cultaholic didn't invent the concept of phantom title changes (as far as I know)
Killjoy what a noob, he is a professional and its cool that he did it, because he could be accused of stealing ideas, your comment is just moaning and trying to iniciate a fight
yeah but you can't prove they didn't invent them....
dusty invented them duh
+Leandro Souto I know he's a professional but all he had to say is it was a coincidence, it's just a video on wrestling history at the end of the day. And how am I starting a fight? So Pacitti already said to Zane the coincidence is okay but suddenly my comment will make them sworn enemies dafuq?
And with the large density of videos they output it's bound to happen
NWA Championship: This is why other Wrestling companies don’t want to be with us anymore
Jacob The Spartan
Well, except Billy Corgan; Smashing Pumpkins.
(smiling politely)
i know you're being facetious but this shit has been going on so long the NWA had to be broken up and reformed before 1960. the one we know of was not the first NWA, it was the 2nd. This kinda stuff happens, too many different minds and different ideas.
Internet idiots getting upset that fake wrestling companies faked out fans by rewriting fake history. Boggles the mind.
@@marcatkinson4149 I know right? Imagine if people got mad that Game of Thrones's tv show went differently from the books. Imagine if FMA fans got annoyed and needed a whole different show to follow that "fake history". Or could you imagine if Star Wars made its extended universe non-canon. Gosh, all those things would be absurd right? Why would anyone want consistent writing from their entertainment?....Oh wait...
Back in 1999, Lenny Lane was stripped of his WCW Cruiserweight title after Standards and Practices took them off the air. Psychosis was basically handed the title and told, “Hey, go lose this to Disco Inferno.” I’m not sure the backstory behind Psychosis getting the belt was ever determined beyond “Because reasons.”
The Brian Kendrick is the best WWE Champion ever
Here is the man speaking some truth
He is a man with a championship and a plan
It’s honestly a shame he didn’t win that match, even if he only got to hold it for a day or two it would’ve been great.
he was tag team champion for like 2 years and never defended the titles on ppv.
The Brian Kendrick was never a WWE champion he was only a two-time tag team champion and a former Cruiserweight champ
I feel like WWE needs to eventually have an event and a title debut at Rio De Janero, as an ode to it.
Chigen Atomic the WWE South American Championship for NXT South America
Logan Brown I bet there's a lot of people who would fucking love that actually
Chigen Atomic, maybe WWE is waiting some brazilian becames a star (like Cezar Bononi, Adrian Jaoude or Taynara Conti) to debut the title. Book it, Vince!
GMA #WrestlingAmino well it's coming just like NXT UK did as well, and NXT Asia and South America and NXT Africa is soon to come
Logan Brown If they did NXT South Africa they could get that guy who low-blowed Randy Orton lol
Brock Lesnar = phantom Universal Champion
nice original comment; sure took you a long time to create it
/s
oh, touched a nerve i see for you to bring my mother into the mix, lol
fartsnstuf Pointing out unoriginal comments. How unoriginal.
Drunk Jeff Hardy=phantom champion
Well it’s true isn’t it and exactly
Thank you. Someone finally mentioned the Brian Kendrick title reign. I was hyped when he won the belt for about 5 minutes😂😂
Your Preface was Pure Class Sir. I love All the Wrestling Channels. Your Channel, WrestleTalk, Wrestlelamia, Cultaholic and WhatCulture. You All ARE great!!
I understand that in WWE times (mostly the Attitude era) had frequent title changes but at least they conclusive finishes but The NWA title thing was ridiculous in comparison
I'm happy to hear that the NWA is starting to recognize some of these reigns, it will be pretty awesome for bobo to be the first black world champ, hogan to have a nwa title reign before getting the wwf title ( too bad for that AWA world title reign though) and all those guys from the Caribbean getting their just title wins
The Dale Gagne (Gagner)/Johnnie Stewart Version of the AWA (AKA Wrestling Superstars Live) Actually Does Recognize Not 1, But 2 of Hogan's "Phantom" AWA World Heavyweight Championship Title Reigns
Yeah bobo and his people got alot given to them since your comment, they get everything out of pity now
I stopped watching WWE about a year ago and I still watch you cause I just love your vids keep it up man
If memory serves me correct, Ric Flair is a 17 world champion. He beat The Undertaker during his badass gimmick, while 'Taker was the undisputed champion, on an episode of RAW. The decision was reversed though, through intimidation of 'Taker or just plain fuckery. I think this was during the time Ric, was one loss away from being fired by Vince.
OMG THE WIGGLES AT THE END THATS MY CHILDHOOD
I DIDN'T EVEN THINK PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA EVEN KNEW ABOUT THE WIGGLES
Chris Kent Bro from ages 1-6 all I ever watched was the wiggles
TalkWrestlingTV sameeee, I was soooo disappointed when 75% of my childhood retired
Chris Kent sameeee especially when Greg wasn’t there I couldn’t watch it
TalkWrestlingTV that's when I stopped watching
A good recent example would be Adam Cole as NXT Tag Team Champion with Undisputed Era. He subbed in for Bobby Fish at TakeOver New Orleans via Freebird Rule and was recognised as champion.
However, after Roddy betrayed Pete Dunne and joined the faction, he was also declared champion under the Freebird Rule and Adam Cole's reign was retroactively made unofficial.
Throughout all of this, the inactive Bobby Fish was still recognised as champion.
That Wiggles song at the end brought back childhood memories. Cringeworthy ones too
See this is why I love Brian Zane and cultaholic because they at least give the recognition. What culture and wrestlelamia and wrestling hub seem to be sniping each other's video topics without acknowledging similar videos released within a week. Kudos to Bryan Ain and everybody at cultaholic for being cool about videos on the same subject
My Thursday morning right here!
I remember a RAW in 2002 where Taker was Undisputed Champion and he defended it against RVD. RVD initially won, and Lilian Garcia even announced him as "new WWE champion", but Taker's foot was on the ropes and Ric Flair restarted the match... which then Taker won. Adding onto the confusion was that Lilian announced Taker as "new WWE Undisputed Champion" (though I think this was a botch on her end). Classic Dusty finish lol. They obviously never recognized RVD's phantom title win.
You are a lovely lad for doing that intro. Cheers mate!😃
Very respectful intro Brain
I didn't even know about the other one
Brian Zane is a great UA-cam. Love your videos you are great.
That's one thing I hated about the fact that Rockers had their title win taken away just because the rope snapped. If that happened now, the title change would have been recognised!
Remember Jaque and Pierre took the belts from the Steiners in that ridiculous Province de Quebec rules match, lost to Men on a Mission in Sheffield England, won the titles back a day later then lost to Marty Jannetty and 1-2-3 Kid won the titles back 2 weeks later, then the Royal Rumble fiasco before dropping the belts for good to the Headshrinkers.
You should do a list of wrestlers how did a fake retriment
IT was all too common back in the territory days. That's how wrestlers left one territory for the next.
I've watched both videos and enjoyed both. I didn't feel like they were similar even though some aspect show up in both vids. And I knew for a fact you never tried to copy them. Nice vids and good work.
Didn't they do something like this in the AWA, with Hogan winning that title from Bockwinkel, but the AWA didn't recognize it? Hell you may have mentioned in the video because I just had this on the background as I was doing a few things around the house.
The opening of this video is why Brian is my favorite UA-camr
I must say, the choice of music for the credits was very apropos.
You're a genuinely decent guy, Mr. Zane, and most of us believe that you're talking about a true coincidence. Plus, it's a subject that a lot of us think about from time to time as fans. You make great vids.
What about Chris Benoit Word Champioship Reign
The only way they mention it is if it's in the WWE encyclopedia but they will not elaborate
As one of those fans who uses the description thank you.
Bruno Sammartino "lost" his WWWF title to Dr. X in Australia in 1966....but it was never recognised by the WWWF.
Similarly, Mark Lewin "defeated" Ric Flair for the NWA title in New Zealand in 1983...only to have the title returned to Flair because he was thrown over the top rope by Lewin. Madness.
Hmmm Zane is part of Wrestletalk....however he reached out to Cultaholic....who promised to take over Wrestletalk....I really need to stop thinking in kayfabe....
5:50 THE LEGEND RETURNS!
You don't have to apologize in your videos. You do it a lot in your Raw vs Smackdown videos also.
It took me to the end of the video to get the NWA rap joke
Flair is technically a 21(?) Time world champion. But as mentioned there were a few title changes that were never recognized by the nwa.
Well done this was extremely well researched! you covered alot from Rougeau Brothers and The Rockers win over The Hart Foundation in '1987 and '1990. To Ted Dibiase's 5 day WWF Championship run in 1988. And Antonio Inoki's victory over Bob Backlund for the WWWF title in 1979!
P.S. And the NWA title Phantom Champions!
Kendrik's biggest accomplishment is somehow getting the okay to be the first person in the WWE to hit the Burning Hammer on someone - arguably a better accolade than any title. After he hit it, the response from the commentators and the pop from the audience gave me that fuzzy feeling that wrestling hasn't given me since I was a kid. Him and the fella who took it like a champ get my eternal respect for that.
Another Phantom Champion was Jack Swagger back in 2013, he beat Big E at a live event for the Intercontinental Title but it was never recognized.
*COINCIDENCE, I THINK NOT! CULTAHOLIC BRIAN ZANE WRESTLTALK STORYLINE HYPE*
Dean Douglas awarded the IC Title, only to lose it the same night.
Don't forget the Don Muraco was the winner of the first-ever King of the Ring Tournament in '85. Ted DiBiase & Tito Santana also won the tournament, and Bret is the only multi-time winner, having won the first time in '91.
Don't forget Hogan won the AWA World Title twice over Nick Bockwinkle, only to be screwed over by off-screen politics.
This is pretty tame, but I remember when the Dudley boyz got dusty finished out of the tag team titles on an episode of Raw by Eric bischoff against I believe Christian and Chris Jericho
What about when Razor Ramon pinned Dean Douglas for the I-C title at In Your House 4, Dean had his whole leg outside the ring minutes before that Douglas had Ramon pinned and he barely touched the ropes with one foot. Talk about a night of controversy because just a few minutes before the match started Douglas had won the belt on a forfeit from Shawn Michaels. The rules clearly state if a champion is unable to defend their title then a tournament should be held to find a new champion.
I love the use of The Wiggles at the end of the video. As an Aussie, that made me smile :)
10:00 finally someone use inokis awesome theme
That’s okay Brian you’re channel is the best wrestling channel on UA-cam so your videos are always going to be the best
I will always be mad at Dean Ambrose being screwed out of the WWE World Title at Elimination Chamber 2015. When the referee's hand hit the mat for the 3 count, it was up there with AJ Style's WWE debut and his WWE Title win for one of my biggest mark out moments. The referee got pulled in the way by Seth Rollins, Rollins lost, and the referee still came to to disqualify Rollins, allowing him to keep the title. WTF! Talk about stupidity. Basically handing the title to Seth for pulling you in the way to cheat.
I thought we'd see things like the Road Warriors debuting in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1983. They beat Ole Anderson and his partner in Dahlonega or some place like that.
Clever nwa 👍👍👍
Bob Holly should have got a title run goddammmit!
My local Indy fed has a world champ which is the hurricane yea that one. At the February show ( the only show to date) they said tag champs would be crowned in April but that got cancelled and no reschedule yet it's July nearly August
Hulk Hogan phantom AWA champion circa 1982. He won it from Nick Bockwinkel but was stripped of it afterwards.
The whole "same video idea" could've been used to fuel the storyline feud between Cultaholic & WrestleTalk, since Brian has a woriking relationship with the latter
Barry Windham “won” the NWA Western States Heritage Championship in a phantom tournament.
Brian Zane joining Cultaholic confirmed!
I cant believe you forgot the greatest phantom Rumble winner: Maven eliminating Undertaker in '02 and then being beaten afterwards without being eliminated.
The champion scramble was a fun match to play in the wwe games
You forgot the time Chris Benoit won the WCW World title and then quit the company the next day, so they declared that Benoit didn't win because Sid had his leg under the bottom rope when he submitted.
What about Jeff Jarrett when he had the NWA title for 364 day reign but he actually lost the belt to I think it was Pedro Gonzalez at about the 210 day mark. Yes this was when the belt was in TNA Wrestling.
I remember seeing the Rockers “win” live as it was in Fort Wayne at the time.
What about when Dan Severn won the NWA title from Shinya Hashimoto for TNA, only for Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett to strip the title off of him?
For an undisclosed reason Severn was unable to defend the title in a rematch with Hashimoto so he was stripped and top contenders Hashimoto and Ken Shamrock faced off for the belt with Shamrock emerging victorious . Not exactly a phantom title reign but you made a good point so have a like .
For an undisclosed reason Severn was unable to defend the title in a rematch with Hashimoto so he was stripped and top contenders Hashimoto and Ken Shamrock faced off for the belt with Shamrock emerging victorious . Not exactly a phantom title reign but you made a good point so I have given you a like.
Brian Zane-The Irate Gamer of wrestling videos! LMFAO just playing
I actually f with Chyna and The Kat’s matching gear. It’s like The Kat is Chyna’s mini me.
It was great seeing Owen hold the winged-eagle belt
Indeed although unofficially
My Dad told me a story about how my grandpa (may he R.I.P) picked up the TV and slammed it to the ground when Valentine won the World Title. My grandpa is the definition of "it's still real to me dammit"
Absolute madman
Awesome lolol
@@mattjustofficial vacant
@@OikPoinFive huh?
🤣 and I thought we got upset when undertaker beats you CAW on legend mode
Brian I love the fact you gave credit to Cultaholic and reached out to them about this. You do things the right way and it’s one of the reasons I love your channel.
Edit: And well played using Real American for the US Express, the original users of the theme!
I can't believe it was for Windham and Rotundo, Derringer should have stayed buried!
I thought they used Born in the USA.
@@Ladderthief1 they did, but springsteen would cost too much to license so the company rewrote history by dubbing all their matches with real american.
He only credited them because of marks like you. Cultaholic didn't invent the list.
@@BigJasonMc or because he's not a dick like you
"wrestling back in the day was some straight up carnie shit"
*Regal uncomfortably shifts out of his restful sleep*
working with big daddy in england or working in germany in early 90s for otto?
@@SAM-ru4vx His Earliest Days as an Actual Carnie Wrestling Worker
what about the greatest champion. VACANT
Weeb Stick
Vacant dominated WCW in 2000
The record of Vacant shall never be broken
yeah vacant needs to be in the HOF
I agree
The wresteser To rival Bruno!
Brian, we get it, we'd never think you'd rip off Cultaholic..... You're not Name Redacted after all.... ;)
Are we still doing this faction war shit?
Also he acknowledging Cultaholics means Pachitti was fine with it
Yeah can’t blame Brian about having an idea/vid ready just for another vid about the same topic. Plus he even talked to Adam Pachitti for permission so it’s ok
I have seen What Culture copy WatchMojo so they shouldn't be so angry.
Name Redacted?
My favorite example of this (because it was the most blatant, egregious, and flat-out insulting) was - you guessed it - in WCW.
From 'The Death of WCW: 10th Anniversary Edition', the chapter on 1998:
"WCW had a problem at the Augusta, Georgia, house show on April 30. The main event was scheduled to be Flair versus Hennig, but with Flair out indefinitely and Hennig, well, just not there, fans were very upset. So upset, in fact, that hundreds of them demanded refunds. After thinking over several scenarios, the decision was made to do a last-minute change and have Chris Benoit beat Booker T to win the TV title. It worked; the fans were overjoyed. So the decision was made to do it again the next night. And then again, and again, and again. The belt changed hands four times in four days at the house shows, going from Booker to Benoit to Booker to Benoit to Booker again. Every night, the fans went crazy as they watched something special happen right there in their hometown. But then on Monday, when Booker T showed up to lose the belt to Fit Finley on TV, the announcers never mentioned anything about the house show title changes. They just ignored them, and to all the casual fans watching around the nation, it was as though nothing had ever happened. It also sent a very strong message to all those previously overjoyed fans in Norfolk, Greenville, North Charleston, and Savannah: you don’t count, and if anything happens in your little hick town, it won’t be acknowledged on TV because it’s not important. If they hadn’t already done enough to kill business in those areas, this was another nail in the coffin."
Kind of Like How During the Raven v Dreamer Feud, and Joey Styles &/or Whomever His Broadcast Partner Was at the Time Would Mention that Dreamer HAD NEVER BEATEN Raven ... Yet, Dreamer Had Beaten Raven in Non-Televised Live Events/House Shows ... Proving That Point in a Way
@@frankbonini9128 I'd Gotten that from a Book on ECW that I Believe Was Published by the Same People that Published the Death of WCW
House shows only count if the company decides it does.
As a Hip Hop fan I preciate the NWA joke.
John Marston did you watch the video dingy
Antonio Donofrio You couldn’t have watched the video
Took me a minute to get it.
Antonio Donofrio why comment if u have no idea what ur talking about
That was funny
Chris Jericho winning the WWE championship on RAW was the greatest example of the Dusty Finish in modern times. It was a legitimate 3-count by Earl Hebner and Triple H lost. Sure, it got reversed on account of Earl doing a purposeful fast count cause he hates Triple but it was still a great finish that made ppl both hate The Man of Three H’s even more and sympathize with Y2J.
Hardcore Holly? In a title match?
Really?
You sure?
P.S. "Fay-tul FIVE WAY-EEE?!"
Do you remember when Dean Ambrose pinned HHH at Roadblock in Canada to become champ then the match was restarted and Hunter won?
pepperidge farm remembers
The Modern-day Maharaja dude when he pinned hunter i popped so hard, then got pissed off when they did the dusty finish
Caleb Robinson me 2 especially because Dean was my favorite wrestler back then
And now, Dean is gone.
@@HWJASURY and is a world champ
My favorite one was when Pedro Morales was Intercontinental Champion and Bob Backlund was Heavyweight Champion and they beat The Wild Samoans in Shea Stadium for the tag team titles but were stripped because back then nobody could hold more then one title. Why did they have the match then? lol During those Championship Scramble matches I always wanted so badly for someone that won the belt to run out of the ring,go to the parking lot,get into their car and drive away. lol
M Dion Ohhhhhhhh I thought they had to pin the guy.
Backlund was WWF champion at the time but Morales had to wait 4 months after the tag title change( s) to win the intercontinental title
God it depresses me thinking how Jinder Mahal and the Great Khali have been World Champion, but Owen Hart wasn’t
greenbayandtottenham the only reason they held the belts were PR reasons
Sergio Navarro your an embarrassment to wrestling if you think that
Rob Picken just bexause he died doesnt mean he's good
"Jinder Mahal and the Great Khali have been World Champion,"
as have David Arquette and Vince Russo...
Jinder Mahal and Great Khali DESERVED to be champions
that NWA reference tho
Viktor Korsun
Fuck the police!
Not as good as the wiggles though. 😂😂
Viktor Korsun Oh! That's what it was!
I'm slow! LOL!
Viktor Korsun I thought I heard Dr. Dre XD
Viktor Korsun *though
Since Scotty 2 Hotty never got to enter the 2005 Rumble, and Cena and Batista eliminated each other, Scotty is the rightful winner of the 2005 Rumble and deserves his Wrestlemania match
This is the only time I heard a match with both Shawn Micheals and Bret Hart in it was boring...........feels strange
Lpaidtiger97 the tag match was bad because it didn't have a top rope so they couldn't do much
Lpaidtiger97 it was not that good
I always thought Bret hart was boring. Great wrestler. But boring as hell
Their 1996 sixty minute Ironman match at Wrestlemania 12 would DEFINITELY fall in that BORING CATEGORY. The first thirty five minutes are nothing but rest holds after rest holds and then the last 25 minutes are nothing more than a reworking/rehashing of their 1992 Survivor Series World Title match...
This Vacant guy seems to have wrestled in every promotion and must be 70 by now
Vacant's immortal
I liked the basic idea of the Championship Scramble. It's quite sad that they never used it again.
CX Grosskreutz They even had it in the game that year and was one of my favourite match types to play. Maybe they should try it out in NXT like with the War Games Match.
They used it one other time. At The Bash in 2009 with the ECW Title
thekydragon They've used it in Smackdown 2 as well.
Did any of you catch the Hardcore Battle Royal at WrestleMania 16 same idea just executed a little differently .
Random fact, during WW2 the jet engine was invented in the UK and Germany at the same time (nobody knows which was first) with no espionage involved, sometimes these things just happen when two groups are working on stuff along the same lines.
jet engine was invented in 1910.
You could make a whole video talking about Ric Flair's 20 World Title wins compared to his 16 recognized wins. You've only scratched the surface with the brief section on Flair. Like, in 1984 Flair loses the NWA title to Kerry Von Erich. While Flair's loss is unrecognised, Von Erich’s reign IS recognized. WTF?! Also, when Flair signed with the WWF in 1991, and is stripped of the belt, his reign as NWA champion was recognised by WCW but not by the WWF.
Back in the 1980's and right up to 1998 WWF made it a habit of recognizing just their own champions . Back then they were pretty much isollationist .
You missed the AWA title, Hogan won that off Bockwinkel several times only for it to be reversed, many others got screwed in similar fashion, they would also just give it back to mainly Verne or Bockwinkel after being held up for weeks
Matt F all because gagne didn't want hogan to be champ due to him not being technical enough though the most popular wrestler of the time, and kept the title on either himself or bockwinkel because they were good technical wrestlers but they were well past their prime. verne gagne, the original internet mark
Caleb Robinson lol, yea Verne couldn’t see the future even though it was right in front of him in Hogan. I guess his way worked for so long it was hard to just change. But all the bullshit title changes really killed it for me back then.
If they counted Hogan's phantom title changes, he would have been the only man to hold the WWF, AWA, NWA, WCW world titles...
ferox965 I don’t think he ever held the NWA title, it was WCW by the time he got there. He did win it once off Harley Race in a similar scenario to the AWA wins, but never recognized. Also, was the IWGP champion.
Matt F that was my point. If they counted his phantom title e reigns, he would have been the first and only man to hold all those titles.
That NWA skit.. My gosh lol 😂 the I didn't get it at first lmao
*Phantom championships video*
*WCW World Tour Music, which had a ton of fake championships*
Nice.
japan taking control of the nwa world's heavyweight championship is the best one. poor rick rude was given a consolation prize.
You forgot probably the most famous one of all time. Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 2000.
I still recognize Brian Kendrick as a former World Heavyweight Champion even if WWE doesn't.
"Straight up carny shit!" Best closing line for sure!
Ok Man. We believe you.lol It's cool.
I hope Cultaholic returned the favour with the link Brian.
Also, having Million Dollar Man’s title reign stricken from the record is the biggest injustice in wrestling history, it was a genius move I don’t know why they got cold feet about it afterwards.
"The 90's were relatively free of title controvery. Other than the most controversial finish in wrestling history, and what is often regarded as the worst moment in Wrestlemania history".
I'm a simple man. I see Wrestling With Wregret, I click.
Spencer Valdez I don't think Brian likes if you go randomly poking him. If you mean video, then it's ok
I see youre also a man of culture
EDGY McEDGELORD you're fucking dumb
I keep hearing and seeing this on numerous channels, but Buddy Rogers was named WWWF champion back in 1963 after his one-fall loss to Lou Thesz was not recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance Northeast promoters (Vince McMahon Sr, and Toots Mondt) and they decided to break away from the NWA, with Rogers as their champion and Thesz as the NWA champ. It was Pat Patterson that "won" the newly created Intercontinental title in a fictitious tournament in Brazil. The theory being that Patterson was already the WWWF North American champ and "won" a South American tournament to unify the titles and be the first I/C champ. Before last year, I never heard of Rogers winning in Brazil.
That NWA transition was great!
Interesting how you brought up the Royal Rumble but never mentioned Big Show's phantom win at the 2000 event with footage showing The Rock hit the floor first, that would eventually lead to the clusterfuck that was the main event of WrestleMania