The 10 youngest champions in WWE history
Some competitors in WWE spend their entire careers fighting to
achieve greatness, while others find themselves having greatness thrust
upon them. And when that latter opportunity comes knocking, the grappler
in question must respond, regardless of his or her readiness for the
challenge.
That’s what makes bearing witness to the championship success of a
young prospect so captivating. A wide-eyed Superstar or Diva receives an
unlikely chance to go toe-to-toe with a titleholder and, defying
historical precedent and common sense, capitalizes on the opportunity.
In the blink of an eye, anyone — even a precocious teenager — can
take down a fighter who underestimates the challenge before them. Who
are some of these competitors that seized glory before they were old
enough to rent a car? Read on to discover the 10 youngest Superstars and
Divas to ever win championship gold in WWE.
10. Paige (Divas Championship, 21 years, 7 months, 21 days)
One day after seeing AJ Lee improbably retain her title
in the Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational at WrestleMania
30, NXT Women’s Champion Paige decided
to show good sportsmanship on Raw by congratulating her WWE
counterpart. Her gesture didn’t exactly go according to plan.
The Diva of Tomorrow inadvertently offended AJ Lee, who felt slighted
by the intrusion of some NXT upstart. Instead of developing mutual
respect between the top Divas in WWE and NXT, Paige became an unlikely
challenger in an impromptu Divas Championship Match requested by a more
experienced titleholder seeking retribution.
Of course, AJ Lee’s plot didn’t unfold as she had hoped, either. The
challenger, four months shy of her 22nd birthday and competing in her
WWE debut match, pulled off the Paige Turner after successfully
reversing the titleholder’s Black Widow submission maneuver. As quickly
as she found herself in trouble, Paige turned her situation into a
heroic underdog story that ended with the British grappler becoming the
youngest Divas Champion in WWE history.
9. Rey Mysterio (Cruiserweight Championship, 21 years, 6 months, 27 days)
On June 16, 1996, Rey Mysterio made
his WCW debut, challenging Dean Malenko for the Cruiserweight
Championship at The Great American Bash. Although he was unsuccessful,
the masked master of lucha libre opened eyes with his arsenal of
high-flying moves. The Ultimate Underdog wouldn’t let a second
opportunity against The Iceman slip away as he pinned Malenko on Monday
Nitro to win the title less than a month later.
At just 21 years, six months and 27 days old, the sensational
Superstar became the youngest competitor to earn the Cruiserweight Title
at the time. Even more impressive was the fact that Mysterio beat a man
who was much more experienced — 14 years Mysterio’s senior — and widely
considered one of the top mat technicians in the world. The Master of
the 619 would go on to win a record eight Cruiserweight Titles in a
career that continues to shine to this day.
8. 1-2-3 Kid (World Tag Team Championship, 21 years, 5 months, 28 days)
Less than one year after earning his moniker 1-2-3 Kid by
upsetting an overconfident Razor Ramon on Raw, the fresh-faced
highflier found himself in an odd tag team with former Rocker Marty
Janetty. The Kid and the former Intercontinental Champion earned a World
Tag Team Title Match against The Quebecers, Jacques & Pierre,
managed by Johnny Polo.
The amazing French Canadians failed to take their smaller challengers
seriously, calling the match a tune-up for their upcoming Royal Rumble
defense against Bret & Owen Hart. As a result, they were upset for
the titles on Jan. 10, 1994, on the one-year anniversary edition of
Monday Night Raw. At 21 years and five months old, 1-2-3 Kid became one
of the youngest champions in WWE history. Though a more serious Jacques
& Pierre won the belts back seven days later at a non-televised
event, the brief title reign cemented the fact that The Kid could score a
1-2-3 on any man at any time.
7. Essa Rios (Light Heavyweight Championship, 21 years, 2 months)
Wrestling under the monikers of Aguila and Papi Chulo,
this highflier debuted in WWE in 1997 at 18 years old. The luchador
finally found success in February 2000, with a new name and a new
sidekick.
WWE Light Heavyweight Champion Gillberg issued an open challenge on
the Feb. 13, 2000, edition of Sunday Night Heat. The call to action was
answered by the red-haired luchador, now going by the name Essa Rios and
accompanied by the fiery Lita. Gillberg could not keep up with the speedy grappler, spinning in circles as Rios darted around the ring.
In less than a minute, Rios had pinned Gillberg after a top rope
moonsault to win the Light Heavyweight Title. At 21 years and two months
of age, Rios was the youngest competitor to hold the championship,
which was retired in late 2001.
6. Hornswoggle (Cruiserweight Championship, 21 years, 1 month, 23 days)
Not only was Hornswoggle the last-ever Cruiserweight
Champion (not to mention the shortest), but he also became the youngest
bearer of the coveted title when he astoundingly defeated the comparably
massive Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore, Funaki, Jamie Noble and
defending titleholder Chavo Guerrero at The Great American Bash in 2007.
In a Cruiserweight Championship Open that invited all WWE Superstars
weighing in at 215 pounds or less, the tiny troublemaker let the five
participants in this high-flying collision wear each other down before
emerging from underneath the ring and hitting his Tadpole Splash on a
prone Noble to score the pinfall. It’s not a victory purists like to
bring up in casual conversations — none of his opponents even knew he
was in the match — but the record books will forever show that
Hornswoggle was a legitimate Cruiserweight Champion at just 21 years of
age.
5. René Duprée (WWE Tag Team Championship, 20 years, 8 months, 25 days)
René Duprée — already a World Tag Team Champion alongside
Sylvain Grenier as French snobs La Resistance — wasn’t even old enough
to enter a bar when he joined up with fellow jingoist Kenzo Suzuki to
defeat Billy Kidman & Paul London for the WWE Tag Team Titles on
Sept. 9, 2004.
Although he was only 20 at the time, the master of The French Tickler
had already been wrestling professionally for six years as he’d gotten
his start at the age of 14 in his father Emile Duprée’s Grand Prix
Wrestling promotion in Canada. With his victory, Duprée became the
youngest Superstar to ever hold the WWE Tag Team Championships, but he’d
already set an even more impressive record. More on that later…
4. David Flair (United States Championship, 20 years, 3 months, 29 days)
In January 1999 at the age of 19, Ric Flair’s son David
debuted for WCW on the Souled Out pay-per-view as his father’s tag team
partner against WWE Hall of Famers “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig & Barry
Windham. Watching the match on WWE Network would indicate that the son
of the 16-time World Champion had barely been trained to wrestle. Still,
David and his father won the match.
Although Flair lacked his father’s considerable polish, he continued
with WCW for the next two years, and was eventually awarded the vacant
United States Championship by “Slick Ric,” who was then the WCW
President. At 20 years old, David became the youngest U.S. Champion
ever. Still, he’ll always be admired for his romantic relationship with
Stacy Keibler. In that sense, Flair did live up to the standards set by
his legendary dad. Wooooo!
3. Kenny Dykstra (World Tag Team Championship, 20 years, 18 days)
There’s not too many wrestlers that start in the business
before they can drive a car. Kenny Dykstra is one of the few, first
stepping in the ring at the age of 15. A standout trainee of WWE Hall of
Famer Killer Kowalski’s school, Kenny signed with WWE at 18 and debuted
on the main roster at 19.
As one-fifth of The Spirit Squad, Kenny and his cheerleading cohort
Mikey pulled off a stunning upset when they defeated the titanic team of
Big Show & Kane to capture the World Tag Team Titles. The win came
just 18 days after his 20th birthday, making him the second-youngest
champion of any kind in WWE history.
2. Tyler Bate (United Kingdom Championship, 19 years, 10 months, 8 days)
Tyler Bate
strode into the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament with an
easygoing attitude. After all, he was two months shy of his 20th
birthday. If he got knocked out of the tournament, more opportunities
would surely await him down the road. But, as the WWE Universe would
quickly find out, Bate didn’t need to wait very long. The teenage wonder
showed strength and ability beyond his years in four grueling bouts
over two days, defeating Tucker, Jordan Devlin, the towering Wolfgang
and surviving an attack from the vicious Pete Dunne before putting The
Bruiserweight away to become the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion.
And if you want to feel really old, chew on this: Bate’s trademark
finisher — the Tyler Driver ’97 — takes its name from the Dudley,
England native’s birth year, 1997.
1. René Duprée (World Tag Team Championship, 19 years, 6 months)
Not only is René Duprée the youngest WWE Tag Team
Champion of all time, not only is he the youngest World Tag Team
Champion of all time, but he’s the youngest champion of all time —
period — in WWE.
The young upstart was just 19 years old when he won the World Tag
Team Titles alongside La Resistance cohort Sylvain Grenier for the first
time on June 15, 2003. This makes him the only teenager in the entire
history of WWE to ever hold a championship. Makes you feel kinda guilty
about spending all your teenage years eating Funyuns in your best
friend’s basement, doesn’t it?
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