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WWE Superstars perform in front of a live audience regularly, this means that things don't always go according to plan.
The live show element is the reason why there are several botches on WWE TV weekly. This has also led to several title changes that were not supposed to happen, but superstars have been able to cover for this, until the news has been leaked following the show.
This has happened several times as part of the company's live TV shows as well as at house shows, where the company has then had to scramble to ensure that the title is returned before the next show.
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The following list looks at just five times that Championships have changed hands on WWE TV in recent years as a result of a botch or an accident.
Corey Graves deleted his Tweet! More details HERE.
#5. Mickie James becomes WWE Women's Champion - Paris, France April 2007
Mickie James is a former six-time Women's Champion in WWE, but one of those title reigns wasn't supposed to happen. James had only held the main Women's Division Championship on two occasions when she battled Melina and Victoria in a triple threat match at a live show in Paris in 2007.
Melina was the Champion at the time, but she wasn't part of the pinfall that allowed James to become a three-time Women's Champion. Mickie pinned Victoria following a Mick-Rana in the corner and it appears the former Champion failed to kick out.
Melina wasn't fast enough to break the pin and the crowd was already celebrating Mickie's Championship victory which meant that the decision stood. The decision was then made to give Melina an immediate rematch because Mickie won the Championship by pinning Victoria and not the Champion.
Melina was then able to quickly pick up the victory and make Mickie's Women's Championship reign one of the shortest in WWE history at less than a minute.
Despite the error, the Championship victory has remained part of Mickie's overall WWE statistics and is the reason why she was just one title win off Trish Stratus' record for most of her career. That record has now been broken by Charlotte Flair, who has held the WWE Women's Championship on 12 occasions.
#4. Edge wins the Intercontinental Championship - WWE live show, Canada 1999
Next weekend at WWE Money in the Bank, Edge has the opportunity to become Universal Champion, but back in 1999, The Rated R Superstar was able to win a Championship by accident.
Edge faced off against Jeff Jarrett at a house show in his hometown of Toronto, Canada on July 24th, 1999. The Rated R Superstar was not supposed to pick up the win or take the title, but after he was able to accidentally pin Jarrett, he was told that he could keep the Championship.
Edge appeared on Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction where he revealed the real story behind his first Intercontinental Championship victory.
“During the match we did this thing where I pinned [Jeff Jarrett] and the crowd thought I won and then they were gonna reverse it, but then Jack Lanza, who was the road agent at the time, walked out and said, ‘Go get your belt.’ I went, ‘Whaaaa?’ We’re calling an audible here!”
It's worth noting that this was Edge's first singles championship in WWE and has since led to a lengthy career where the current WWE star is a former 11-time World Champion.
#3. R-Truth becomes United States - WWE SmackDown 2019
R-Truth is a veteran in WWE and has spent the last few years chasing the 24/7 Championship, which he has now held more than 50 times.
Before Truth became part of the crowd chasing the 24/7 title, he was seen as a legitimate competitor in WWE, which is why he was able to accidentally win the United States Championship in 2019.
Former WWE referee Mike Chioda recently told Wrestling Shoot Interviews the story of how Truth rolled up Shinsuke Nakamura and was able to get a surprise victory on an episode of SmackDown.
“Vince loved it. R-Truth tells me the wrong f***ing finish. ‘You said you were only getting schoolboyed once!’ And he was like, ‘Oh, my bad, dawg, I’m sorry, man.’ He had the US title or something, 24-hour title… US title, I think. So it was kind of funny. I thought I was gonna get a bunch of heat coming back and Vince was like, ‘That was phenomenal, I loved it!’ I’m like, ‘What? Okay, great.’”
Vince McMahon loved the surprise and allowed Truth to keep the Championship and have a reign of 35 days.
#2. Hardcore Holly becomes Hardcore Champion - WWE WrestleMania 2000
WrestleMania 2000 saw a 15-minute battle royale for the Hardcore Championship, which was eventually won by former WWE star Hardcore Holly.
The title changed hands about 10 times throughout the match before Holly was seen as the victor and able to leave the arena holding the Championship. Interestingly, it wasn't Holly who was supposed to become the Champion, instead the scripted finish was supposed to see Crash Holly retain the Championship but things didn't go to plan.
After Crash Holly was hit with a jar of sweets, he was unable to kick out of the pinfall attempt which meant that Hardcore Holly became the last man standing.
The fact that the Hardcore Championship, much like the current 24/7 title is contested under 24/7 rules meant that in the grand scheme of things this didn't create many issues for WWE.
The following night on RAW, Crash Holly was able to win his Championship back and Hardcore Holly wasn't able to lift the Championship again until February 2001.
#1. Kevin Owens becomes United States Champion - WWE Battleground 2017
Kevin Owens became a three-time United States Champion when he was able to defeat AJ Styles at WWE Battleground in 2017.
This was Styles' first Championship defense since surprisingly winning the title at a WWE home show in New York just two weeks before.
Styles' short title reign left many members of the WWE Universe questioning the finish of the match, before it was later revealed that the match didn't end the way it was planned.
Owens was able to win the Championship via a roll-up, but just days later on the following episode of SmackDown Live, Styles was able to regain the Championship which confirmed the error.
Chris Jericho appeared on an episode of Busted Open Radio where he confirmed that the end of the match was a botch.
“The idea was for me to work with AJ on Tuesday, and do nothing with Kevin. And then the match happened on the Sunday and they legitimately screwed it up, it happens sometimes – the finish didn’t work… whatever happened."
WWE was able to correct the mistake just days later and the storyline was still able to go ahead as planned, with just a slight delay.
