Top 5 unsanctioned titles in pro wrestling

It is really interesting to see how many times wrestling promotions reuse old storylines and angles. The recent Jeff Hardy drug test segment on SmackDown was eerily similar to the one involving Shawn Michaels from 15 years ago - right down to the climax and the 'It's better to be pissed off than to be pissed on' line. This week at Fyter Fest, Taz reinstated his old FTW Championship in a scenario that closely resembled what happened in ECW nearly two decades back.

When the then ECW Champion Shane Douglas was out of action in 1998, Taz had introduced the title for himself and defended it multiple times as an alternative to the ECW World Championship. The FTW title remained unsanctioned by the company. Fast forward to 2020, AEW Champion Jon Moxley is out of action due to his wife's COVID diagnosis and Taz has reinstated the FTW title, presenting it to his protege and Moxley's opponent, Brian Cage.

The FTW title is not the only unsanctioned championship that has been featured in major wrestling promotions. This list takes a look at top 5 unsanctioned titles in wrestling over the years and the wrestlers who won them.

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#5 FTW Heavyweight Championship

Taz with the FTW Championship during his ECW days

ECW hosted a special show 'It Ain't Seinfeld' on May 14, 1998 to commemorate the last episode of the popular sitcom Seinfeld. The ECW Championship was on the line at the event with Champion Shane Douglas set to take on Taz. However, Douglas couldn't compete due to an elbow injury, so Taz unveiled the FTW Championship at the show instead.

Taz declared himself the real world champion and even proceeded to defend the FTW title in future PPVs. He beat Douglas' stablemate Bam Bam Bigelow at ECW Heat Wave to retain the title enroute to a 219-day reign with the belt.

Taz also had the ignominy of losing the title he created when Sabu beat him for the belt on December 1998 in a triple threat match. The title would be reclaimed three months later, when the ECW World Champion Taz beat Sabu to unify the belts even though the FTW title was never sanctioned by ECW during its run.

The belt would not been seen for 21 years until last week when Taz presented it to Brian Cage.

#4 TNA World Beer Drinking Championship

The Beer drinking championship - seems familiar to a WWE title?

The TNA World Beer Drinking Championship was conceived in 2007 as a comedy title to add a new layer to the James Storm-Eric Young feud. While it should have been a one-off, the title ended up being displayed on TNA TV for the better part of five months with title defences taking place on multiple TNA pay-per-views despite the title not being recognised by the company.

The title was a replica of John Cena's spinner WWE title with a few enhancements - a spinner design with a beer bottle attached. The title was created at 2007 Genesis PPV by Storm, and Young beat him for the belt on the same night in a beer-drinking contest. Young would retain the title at the next impact and the two would engage in a 'Beer drinking Championship series' at the Final Resolution PPV.

The two would even have a ladder match for the title at TNA Impact when Storm's valet Jackie Moore climbed the ladder and retrieved the title for Storm. The shenanigans ended soon after as Rhyno would effectively retire the championship by smashing it across the ring post and the angle was quietly dropped.

#3 WWE Internet Championship

Zack Ryder with his Internet title

In 2011, Zack Ryder got himself over with the YouTube series 'Z! True Long Island Story'. The series became very popular and soon Ryder started receiving a more prominent spot on WWE TV. During his YouTube show, Ryder introduced a replica belt covered in stickers and named it 'WWE Internet Championship'.

The Championship was not recognised by the WWE and was never shown on RAW or Smack Down. However, Ryder did defend the belt against Primo Colon in a WWE house show in Australia.

The popularity gained by Ryder from his 'internet fans' did lead to him winning the United States, Intercontinental and Tag team titles in the WWE, but he never received a sustained run in the upper mid-card. Now a free agent, Ryder might possibly revive the title to appeal to the independent fan base.

Ryder would later replace the replica belt with a custom made one, engraving an illustration of his head and spiked hair, with the side plates displaying his logo and the YouTube logo. The Championship has been rarely spoken of in recent times.

#2 ROH 'Real' World Championship

Matt Taven had a version of the ROH World title before he eventually won the original one

At Ring of Honour's 'Death before Dishonour' event in 2018, Matt Taven and his stablemates attacked ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and Will Ospreay. After the beat down, Taven would introduce a replica of the ROH World title - with the slight modification that the belt was in purple leather than the traditional black. He proclaimed to be the real world champion in Ring of Honour.

Taven would put his title on the line against the likes of Dalton Castle, but the belt was not recognised by ROH. Later, Taven would continue his pursuit of the recognised ROH World Championship, wrestling champion Jay Lethal to a 60 minute draw at ROH Anniversary show.

At G1 Supercard in 2019, Taven would finally capture the World Championship, beating Lethal and Marty Scurll in a three way. This effectively ended the need for a separate 'real' world title in ROH.

Impact Wrestling superstar Moose has also been carrying around an unrecognised title in the company - the old TNA World heavyweight title. However, the title was once the official world title at a time before it was retired.

#1 Million Dollar Championship

Even Aksana had a few segments with the Million Dollar Championship

The Million Dollar Championship is arguably the most famous unsanctioned championship belt in wrestling history. It was started for story line purposes when the 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase grew frustrated over his inability to beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship.

DiBiase said that he would create his own world championship and reportedly spent over $50,000 dollars in 1989 to get the belt ready. The belt was rarely defended, but was used to extend storylines, leading to a memorable feud between DiBiase and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts when the latter stole the belt.

In 1991, DiBiase lost the belt when his valet Virgil turned babyface and beat him for the title at SummerSlam. DiBiase would recapture the belt after three months with the help of Repo Man. The belt would disappear from WWE TV when DiBiase captured the WWF tag team title later that year.

The championship returned for a short while when DiBiase started managing 'Ring master' Steve Austin in 1996, but the story line fizzled out. Later in 2010, the title was reinstated by DiBiase's son Ted DiBiase, Jr who made himself the champion.

The title was invloved in a few skits where it was stolen from Ted by Goldust and later Aksana before it ended up with the Ted DiBiase, Sr. The championship was retired after Ted, Jr rejected the title from his father in a segment on RAW.