Surprises are indeed part of the major factors that make the art of professional wrestling exciting. While the storytelling, in-ring performance, characterization and a lot of other factors do contribute to the art form, the shock value of a surprise or an upset always manages to create a pop among the fans no matter what.
That particular moment when an underdog or someone that no one expected to win emerges victorious is simply blissful. Throughout the rich history of WWE, there has been a string of such instances and in this list, we are going to dig deeper into them. So here are 10 biggest upsets in the history of WWE (and maybe ECW and WCW as well since all of them are owned by WWE now).
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Rey Mysterio wins the World heavyweight championship
WWE has these unwritten rules that define how their champion should be. Rey Mysterio was a superstar that did not fit into this description. Of course, he was exciting in the ring and is a legend in the business, but that doesn’t mean WWE would make him the top champion in the promotion. Especially, the ‘heavyweight’ champion as Rey was more of a ‘cruiserweight’.
This is why everyone was surprised when Rey defeated Kurt Angle and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 22 to win the Title. Many say that it was WWE’s idea to cash in on the death of Eddie Guerrero, but it was an upset nevertheless.
The Rock is stunned by Hurricane
Hurricane was one of the most memorable characters towards the end of Attitude Era. He was a lovable jobber and though he was talented, he never found his way beyond the mid card. Maybe it was the fun gimmick that restricted him. The reason why Hurricane is in this list is because of his win against the Great One, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Rock was feuding with Steve Austin ahead of WrestleMania in 2003 and Hurricane crossed paths with him in an entertaining feud. They were booked for a match on Raw and thanks to some distraction from Austin, Hurricane defeated The Rock.
Santino Marella wins the Intercontinental Championship
Eddie Fatu Jr. had a considerable amount of success in WWE when he played the Umaga character. He feuded memorably with John Cena and then went on to have a run with the Intercontinental championship. When everyone thought that it was impossible to take away the title from the Samoan, the unthinkable happened.
Vince McMahon picked up a random guy from the crowd named Santino Marella and gave him a chance to face Umaga for the title. Everyone expected Umaga to dismantle Santino, but instead he ended up becoming the new champion thanks to some timely help from Bobby Lashley.
Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino could be tagged as the John Cena of his era. Or in fact, John Cena could be tagged as the Bruno Sammartino of the current era. You get the point right? Both the superstars were considered to be unbeatable. Bruno held the WWWF Championship for around eight years and no one expected him to lose the title even then.
But Ivan Koloff had other plans. At the Madison Square Garden in 1971, Koloff did the unthinkable and ended the title reign of Bruno. This marked one of the biggest upsets of the era and changed the wrestling business forever.
Battle of the brothers
The Hart family has given some talented names to the wrestling business, but Bret Hart will probably rank as the most successful one. This was the idea that WWE used when they came up with an Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart Feud. Owen was less established and known than his brother, but at the same time, Owen was immensely talented.
When these two locked horns, everyone expected that Bret was going to put Owen back to where he belonged but the exact opposite happened. Owen got one over his brother and made it clear that he is Bret wasn’t the only member in Hart family that had the star power.
Guerrero slays the Beast
During his initial run with the WWE, Brock Lesnar was booked pretty much like he is booked these days. He was a monster that no one wanted to rub shoulders with and thanks to the great booking that Paul Heyman did on SmackDown, Lesnar had a great credibility. This is why all the opponents that faced Brock became underdogs.
Eddie Guerrero was no different. In the No Way Out pay-per-view before WrestleMania XX, Eddie faced off against Lesnar for the WWE championship. The contrast of the styles produced a great match between these two and the ending was the cherry on the top as Eddie closed out the PPV with the title.
Kevin Owens defeats John Cena on his debut
Kevin Owens is awesome, period. After spending a quality portion of his career in the independent circuit, he finally was picked up by WWE and sent to NXT. There, he made a huge statement and then went on to win the NXT championship. But this was not the end for Owens, in fact, it was only the start. While reigning as the NXT champion, Owens showed up in the main roster and locked horns with none other than John Cena.
Making your main roster debut against John Cena is a great thing, but going on to win that match, is legendary stuff. Owens did just that, and it is something that he could brag about his whole life.
The Ratings Changer
Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWE saw a lot of dirty tricks. One of the tricks that Eric Bischoff used against WWE was to give away results. WCW was airing Nitro live when Raw used to air taped shows. Bischoff, who had the results of Raw beforehand, used to announced them on Nitro. One such incident happened on January 4, 1999.
Mankind and The Rock faced off for the WWE championship on Raw and Mankind when into the match as an underdog. He, however, came out winning the title and Bischoff gave away this result on Nitro. It back-fired on him as fans switched over to Raw to witness the upset. Raw won the ratings war that day and WCW never managed to recover from that deficit after that.
Chris Jericho beats The Rock and Steve Austin on same night
If we take a list of underrated or underappreciated superstars in the history of WWE, Chris Jericho is probably going to feature on top. In a career that has spanned decades, Jericho has achieved a lot that most superstars cannot even think about. One of those achievements is his win over Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Steve Austin, and that too, on the same night.
Austin and Rock are two names that outgrew the company in-terms of popularity and WWE allowing Jericho to defeat both of them was something special. In the process, he also became the first ever undisputed champion the WWE and though he required some interference to get the job donw, that doesn’t matter does it?
Brock Lesnar ends the streak
This is arguably the biggest upset of the decade in sports entertainment. Undertaker and his undefeated streak at WrestleMania were nothing short of legendary. In fact, having Taker on a WrestleMania card along with his streak was guaranteed fan attraction. Names like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and many more tried and failed and this is why most of us didn’t give Brock Lesnar a chance when he went up against the Phenom at WrestleMania 30.
However, the match turned into a platform for Brock Lesnar to prove that he is indeed the most priced wrestler on the WWE roster today. He not only ended the streak but literally destroyed the Undertaker in a vicious match that also marked a great upset.
