Here's a fun fact for you: Kyle Busch is the only NASCAR driver in the history of the sport who can say that he's also a WWE champion. How about that, huh? Pretty cool, right?
Okay, so obviously professional wrestling is pre-determined and all the two-time Cup Series champ had to do win the belt was basically just show up, but let the guy have this. With all the uncertainty surrounding his future in NASCAR heading into the 2023 season, Kyle needs some happy memories to look back on. And judging from his reaction to winning the belt and all the fun that he and his family seemed to have backstage, this is definitely a memory that he'll be glad to have in the old mental rolodex.
Looking Back on Kyle Busch's Short-lived WWE Title Run
Fresh off the high of winning his second NASCAR Cup Series championship back in 2019 (doesn't that seem like a million years ago?), Busch won himself another title on WWE's Monday Night Raw.
With the Joe Gibbs Racing driver being in Nashville, Tennessee for Champion's week and the WWE hosting its flagship program in Music City, it only made sense for the NASCAR and professional wrestling worlds to collide. And they definitely collided when the NASCAR champion won the WWE 24/7 championship by pinning wrestler and reigning champion R-Truth, with some three-count assistance from special guest referee Michael Waltrip.
Busch's moment of glory was short-lived, and while he was celebrating his big win in his dressing room with Waltrip, a former NASCAR driver and two-time Daytona 500 winner, R-Truth (whose real name is Ron Killings) snuck up behind Rowdy and pinned him to regain the WWE title.
In a couple of tweets sent out after Kyle's big WWE moment, his wife Samantha showed what the behind-the-scenes experience was like, and right off the bat, two things were abundantly clear.
First off, five-year-old Brexton Busch seemed to be having the time of his life, with both stealing the WWE championship belt back for dad and practicing some high-flying moves of his own. Secondly, even the "fake" sports entertainment world of professional wrestling doesn't come without its injuries.
The real champ pic.twitter.com/HqmBbYOeTV
— Samantha Busch (@SamanthaBusch) December 3, 2019
Boys practicing their wrestling duo signature move π@WWE pic.twitter.com/HCbHiFlBs2
— Samantha Busch (@SamanthaBusch) December 3, 2019
Oh man guys itβs getting serious π©ββοΈ π π¨ββοΈ πRowdy Busch the professional wrestler pic.twitter.com/4ii4nO5YgW
— Samantha Busch (@SamanthaBusch) December 3, 2019
Yikes! That finger injury looks like it smarts. Nothing serious — like a racing-induced concussion or getting punched in the face by Richard Childress — but definitely right up there with a paper cut or stubbed toe. Props to Kyle for bouncing back from that one.