Acrylic, oil and spray on 36″ x 48″ canvas
Some say that David Arquette winning the WCW World Championship was the worst moment in wrestling’s history (Totally not. I present the Gobbledy Gooker, Shockmaster and USWA’s Dragon Master). David Arquette winning the world title was actually a pretty cool angle handled by a company that was on its way to going out of business. In a different time and place, this would have been one of the biggest angles ever (think Andy Kaufmann). It got mainstream attention and gave WCW some free promos from the likes of Arquette’s then-wife Courtney Cox and Kevin Costner. A wrestling company wouldn’t be able to pay Costner to do a promo today, and WCW got it for free.
Arquette himself is a lifetime wrestling fan who got to follow up making a fairly fun movie about wrestling called ‘Ready to Rumble’ with promoting it in the middle of the squared circle. A last-minute booking decision (remember, this was WCW) put Arquette in a tag match where the title was on the line, and in a fluke he won. Strip everything about his trappings away and put yourself in his shoes for a second. A lifetime wrestling fan getting to win the World Title. That had to be awesome for him.
When I started this project to paint every World Champion, everyone asked me if I was going to do Arquette. Well, of course I am, I’m painting EVERY champ, but I thought I’d get his input. I was blown away when a bona fide movie star said that he dug my art and wanted to buy it.
Arquette’s not the only one who gets to live a dream because of wrestling.
Based on a photo by Christopher Ameruoso