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Upsets are one of the greatest moments in sports and even in pseudo-sports like the WWE, they can be the stuff of legends. In the last 20 years, the WWE has seen its fair share of shocking title changes even when it came to their iconic WWE title.
Fans and sports bettors alike have celebrated over such moments. With sports betting in California paving the way for fans cashing in on these moments, we look at several WWE title upsets nobody saw coming.
Top 5 WWE Championship Upset Wins Since 2000
In compiling this list, we’re only counting the WWE title so the World Heavyweight and Universal title upsets won’t be included. We also didn’t count Money in the Bank cash-ins (sorry, Miz!).
Jinder Mahal surprises Randy Orton to become WWE Champion (2017)
This was the Backlash heard around the world. Prominent 3MB member and longtime jobber Jinder Mahal pinned 14-time world champion Randy Orton to become the 50th WWE Champion.
Nobody, not even his diehard fans, could’ve seen this coming as Mahal had never won anything of note prior. Although he started receiving a push following his 2016 return, few could see this victory happening.
Rumours were swirling online that the WWE wanted to make a splash in the Indian market. So what better way to do so than make their best Indian wrestler as the champion?
The “Modern Day Maharaja’s” tepid run would last 170 days. He is often regarded as one of the worst WWE champions. But hey, he still won the title, which is more than what many Hall of Famers can say.
JBL shocks the world by beating Eddie Guerrero (2004)
Before the Modern Day Maharaja was John “Bradshaw” Layfield a.k.a. Bradshaw, the quasi-jobber and worse half of the iconic tag team, the Acolyte Protection Agency (APA).
JBL’s championship win over Eddie Guerrero came out of nowhere and left many fans bamboozled almost like they just got mugged themselves.
The great Guerrero had just won the belt a few months prior only to drop the belt to a newly created gimmick from a wrestler most fans had associated with mediocrity.
To JBL’s credit, his 280-day reign as champion was better than many expected although many would still say that’s 280 days that should’ve never happened.
Sheamus turns the tables on John Cena (2009)
Sheamus is a future Hall of Famer, but his first title win came so unexpectedly that fans online still debate where it was a botch. Accident or not, Sheamus won the WWE’s most prestigious title in just his 166th day with the company.
“The Celtic Warrior” won the belt in a tables match when he and Cena simultaneously fell from the top turnbuckle onto tables. Cena went through the table but Sheamus didn’t, leading to his victory.
The win may have been accidental as Sheamus looked legitimately surprised that he had won the match. The original finish may have been planned to be a No Contest with both going through their tables.
Either way, Sheamus won the title and kept it for just over two months before surrendering it back to Cena.
Chris Jericho beats WWE’s two biggest stars to become the undisputed champ (2001)
You can make a list of Chris Jericho’s most iconic moments and it’d be a list greater than his own. But to this day, his greatest victory came on the night of Vengeance when he unified the WCW and WWE titles to become the first undisputed champ.
Jericho was one of the WWE’s most touted signings. He quickly established himself as a superstar and it was evident the promotion had big plans for him. But putting him over both The Rock and Stone Cold? Fans could only imagine.
But “Y2J” not only beat Stone Cold and The Rock on the same night, he beat both of them again on separate pay-per-views to retain the title twice. Though he’d lose the belt to Triple H at Wrestlemania X8, his monumental victories sealed his place in the WWE pantheon.
Hollywood Hulk Hogan turns back the clock against Triple H (2002)
Just a month after “The Game” reclaimed his spot atop the WWE mountain, he was challenged by the returning Hulk Hogan for the belt.
At this time, Hogan was coming off a defeat against The Rock in a match that saw him revert back from his NWO heel persona to the famous Hulkster boomers grew up idolizing.
Fans simply thought Hogan would be one of many superstars Triple H would go over as he enjoyed a long title reign.
Little did everyone expect that the near-50-year-old Hogan (with some help from The Undertaker) would pin Triple H and win his first WWE title in nearly 20 years.