WCW may be a dead brand nowadays, but did it’s downfall begin with David Arquette’s win for the World Heavyweight Championship?

April 26, 2000, would see the WCW World Heavyweight title change hands on WCW Thunder.

The match would be David Arquette and DDP vs. Eric Bishoff and Jeff Jarrett, the WCW World Heavyweight title was on the line as well. The finish would have Arquette spear Bishoff for the win making him the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

Arquette would further explain his backstage heat on an interview with SNME Podcast and would state the following:

“There was a lot of hatred, and a lot of people got so pissed off,” said Arquette. “I remember telling one wrestler, I’m not sure who it was, wasn’t Bam Bam Bigelow, but it was someone who hadn’t ever been the champion before. And he was just so pissed. I was like I don’t know what to say, man. You know, that was my first inkling on how sort of upset people were gonna get.

“And obviously, I get it. These people dedicate their lives, I have nothing but respect for wrestlers. To this day, I haven’t taken a dime for wrestling… I get it. I’ve just been training for a little over a month now, and I get it. I mean, it’s painful. It’s intense. It takes a ton of hard work. These people go in and out every day working on themselves and working on their craft. So I get it… I always respected the business. I just sort of had an opportunity that I think a lot of people would have made the same decision if they were in that situation. And it’s sort of a dream come true for me, so I was like, ‘yeah. This is amazing.'”

Arquette would further state that he did not receive any money from his time at WCW and would donate the funds to pro wrestling families such as Brian Pillman and Darren Drozdov.

After 18 years, Arquette will once again step into the square circle and face RJ City at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.