On a recent edition of his “What Happened When” podcast, AEW broadcaster Tony Schiavone recalled David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Title in 2000 and the decision to crown Arquette champion.
On the exposure from having David Arquette as WCW World Champion: “We would’ve never had Courtney Cox on our show. We would’ve never had Kurt Russell on our show. Kurt Russell did an appearance on the show where [Arquette] was holding onto the belt and he just walked by and laughed at him. It gave us a lot of exposure.”
On suggesting putting over David Arquette to win the title: “I’m not gonna take complete blame for this, but I was in the conversation. Vince [Russo] had concluded a meeting … And he said, ‘So what do you think of the show?’ I went, ‘It’s okay.’ He says, ‘There anything we should do different?’ I said, ‘No, I think it’s good … [but] there is one thing you might want to consider.’ And he looks at me, and we stared at each other. He says, ‘You’re trying to tell me that maybe we should put Arquette over?’ I went, ‘Well, it certainly would give us a lot of exposure.’ And he said, ‘That’s a pretty good idea.’ So that’s kinda’ how it happened.”
