In a couple of shoot interviews in the 2000s and 2010s, legendary manager, storyteller, and podcast host Jim Cornette discussed his dislike of “hot-shotting” a major title like the WWE World Championship during the Attitude Era.
For those who have never heard this term in wrestling, it’s when a champion loses a title only for the new champion to lose the belt in short order.
Oh, it doesn’t end there! That new champion also loses their title quickly and that’s just how wrestlers live in that company.
Hot-Shotting The WWE World Championship
The most known culprit was the WWE World Championship during the Attitude. Cornette has pointed out that hot-shotting, in this case, worked since Attitude Era WWE was meant to be unpredictable on TV.
I mean, he had a strong point. Petty authority figures, WWE World title matches on TV, title stripping, and just Dusty finishes meant that the belt was a hot potato.
Plus, the roster had fewer guys who could just sneak a title win out of the midcard. Some of those guys were on the rise but I never considered most of them as being capable of rolling up The Rock out of nowhere.
If “I did it for The Rock” heel Rikishi managed to okie-doke a WWE World Championship on WWE RAW, I would never stop marking.
Of course, most of the midcard didn’t come off as closers at that level and at that time.
Hot-Shotting In The Territories
I bring this up because Jim Cornette has never been shy about his Memphis (and Mid-South. In the Memphis territory, the main championship was often hot-shotted.
This was a friendly belt, folks. It was around several people’s waist several times. In the USWA period of the territory, Lawler held the Unified World Championship twenty-eight times between December 1988 and November 1997.
For those curious, the runner-ups were Eddie Gilbert and Kamala who are tied at four reigns each. The belt often sat on a champion for a couple of weeks or a month.
Jerry Lawler’s second Unified World title reign was the longest at just under five months between April 1989 and October 1989.
This approach goes back to the CWA period in Memphis where the title was shuttled among champions rapidly. I always wondered why this belt rarely stayed on anyone long.
In part two, well really get into why it worked in the territory days and why it became looked down upon.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE! Don’t forget to check out Gamestingr for gaming news and reviews and TV Rocker for recaps and the latest gossip!
