Whether real or fake, sometimes WWE’s world champ has to give up their belt.
From Antonio Inoki to Roman Reigns, here are 33 examples.
Other times it comes from politics.
Then theres many instances where vacating a title is nothing more than a planned plot unit.
Maybe you want to dethrone a wrestler without them truly losing.
Maybe you want to build up a rematch without having the title actually change hands.
Sorry, TNA fans.
Anyway, Im going to stay away from the Intercontinental Championship and tag belts and such.
Im only going by world titles.
The first part went off without a hitch.
Inoki then vacated the title on the spot.
WWF was a bit annoyed at this situation and dealt with it by completely sweeping it under the rug.
He didnt want to simply challenge Hogan and pin him, but he wanted to actually buy it.
Despite Dibiases claims that, Everybodys got a price, Hogan wouldnt sell out.
Yes, that was a thing.
Jack Tunney refused to accept this and stripped Dibiase of the title.
The WWE record books dont recognize Dibiase as a former champion.
The belt was held up and they usedWrestleMania IVto crown a new champ.
With a one-night tournament, 14 men were entered for the opportunity.
He felt Flair was too old and not worth keeping around.
The Great American Bashwas coming up and Herd planned to have Flair drop the title to Lex Luger.
This wasnt a storyline.
Meanwhile, Flair was let go just two weeks beforeGreat American Bash.
Luger did win, but the crowd wasnt having it.
They loudly jeered the match and chanted that they wanted Flair.
EvenSummerSlamof that year featured him in a tag team match rather than defending his belt.
WithSurvivor Series 91, Hogan took on the nigh-unstoppable Undertaker in what was referred to as The Gravest Challenge.
Coincidentally, it was also the first non-elimination tag match at aSurvivor Series.
Undertaker Tombstoned Hogan onto the chair and pinned him, becoming champion.
For the next couple months, there would be no champion.
Tunney decided to put the belt on the line at JanuarysRoyal Rumble.
In the four prior Rumble matches, there was no real reward for winning.
This changed everything by making it a must-win match.
Hogan and Undertaker were each given random draws between 20-30.
Hey, any excuse for more Flair/Steamboat matches is a good one.
The two wrestled at the main event ofSpring Stampede.
Both Flair and Steamboats shoulders were on the ground and the ref counted both.
Then he acted all confused because they were both officially pinned.
Flairs title was held up for one more match between the two onWCW Saturday Night.
Again, any excuse for more Flair/Steamboat matches is a good one.
This time, Flair won decisively via a headbutt to an exhausted Steamboats solar plexus.
THE GIANT NOVEMBER 6, 1995
Heres the lists first taste of WCW ridiculousness.
Hulk Hogan came to WCW and the whole promotion suddenly became all about him.
In the final moments, Hogans manager Jimmy Hart attacked the referee, which got Hogan disqualified.
Rightfully, thats all anyone really remembers about this situation.
Because Hart wasnt really on Hogans side to begin with, the Giant was stripped of the title.
They put it on the line at the next PPV,World War 3.
It sounds like the coolest thing ever, yet its anything but.
The ref looked over, saw Hogan on the floor, and figured he was thrown out.
Austin won and Bret was rightfully pissed.
WWF President Gorilla Monsoon decided that theWrestleManiatitle shot would be put on the line at the nextIn Your HousePPV.
At thatRoyal Rumbleevent, Shawn Michaels regained his lost WWF Championship from Sycho Sid.
The plan was for Bret to win his title match and get aWrestleManiarematch.
Instead, Michaels gave up the belt without having any match.
He blamed a bad knee and cut a promo about having to leave to find his smile.
He simply didnt want to pay Bret back.
The Final Four battle royal became a title match.
Bret won and then immediately lost the belt to Sid.
Sting won, but sure didnt look good from it.
On the followingNitro, Sting agreed to a rematch.
Due to an overrun, they cut the feed.
SuperBrawlfeatured round three and Sting finally won!
…because Randy Savage interfered on his behalf.
Eh, sometimes you take what you might when it comes to Hogan.
Kane was able to beat him for the title, but Austin won it back a day later.
Austin took on Undertaker atSummerSlamand beat him as well.
The hook was that Undertaker and Kane couldnt pin each other.
McMahon was so vehement that Austin suffer that HE had to be the one defeated.
Both were counted as the winner.
Suddenly, there was no champion.
At first, Kane and Undertaker were put in a match to figure out who the champ would be.
Austin was chosen as the referee and he proceeded to beat them both down and award himself the title.
McMahon angrily fired Austin, although that certainly didnt take.
At the followingSurvivor Series, a 14-man tournament was put together.
Undertaker and Kane each got a bye.
The Deadly Game Tournament ended with the Rock taking on the McMahon-backed Mankind.
Long live the Corporate Champion.
He dropped Chyna and Triple H with Stunners and dragged Vinces body over the champs.
Shane weakly made the count while Austin remained there to see to it that Triple H lost.
And on thatSmackDown, Vince McMahon became WWF Champion.
He forfeited the gold and put together a Six-Pack Challenge at the next Sundays PPV,Unforgiven.
Triple H had his belt back.
STING OCTOBER 25, 1999
Oh, man.
This first one is, though.
All right…lets give a shot to get through this clusterfuck.
Sting had a match against Hogan atHalloween Havoc.
Also at the show, Goldberg defeated Sid Vicious via ref stoppage.
Shop official WWE connection merchandise at WWEShop.com!
Sting made an open challenge and Goldberg accepted.
It was announced as unsanctioned and non-title.
Goldberg won and referee Charles Robinson handed him the belt.
Sting attacked Robinson because why the hell was he handing him the title after a non-title match?
Sting was then stripped of the title for putting his hands on a referee.
To crown a new champion, they held a 32-person tournament.
Although for some reason, Madusa was entered in the tournament twice.
It culminated atMayhemwhere Bret Hart defeated Chris Benoit in the finals.
It made sense that they would do a rematch atStarrcadefor the title.
Towards the end, Bret put Goldberg in the Sharpshooter.
Bret vacated the title and offered Goldberg a rematch.
Nobody thought this was a good idea.
That meant having to give up the title instead of defending it against Sid Vicious atSouled Out.
There were a lot of real life problems going intoSouled Out.
Scrambling to figure out a new main event, they figured to just put Benoit up against Sid.
One of them was that Vince Russo was demoted and was no longer calling the shots.
The new head booker was Kevin Sullivan.
This was bad news for Benoit as they had some serious problems.
Namely that Sullivans wife left him for Benoit a few years earlier.
Having that kind of guy in charge of your career couldnt be good and Benoit wanted out.
Anyone else notice that there hasnt been anactual title changein forever by this point?
Sid did so, even with Ron and Don Harris repeatedly switching places during the match.
Prior to the main event, Nash announced that powerbombs would be grounds for disqualification.
Sid made due and when Jeff Jarrett attempted interference, Sid stole his guitar and used it on Nash.
He made the pin and became champion.
Nash awarded himself the title and put together a handicap match of himself and Ron Harris against Sid.
Sid still came out on top and made Nash tap out…to the Crippler Crossface.
Cool, were making headway.
I wont go into why this didnt work, but I will talk about how this angle began.
The two agreed to reboot the product.
That meant that all the titles would start from scratch.
They called out Sid to the ring and demanded he hand over the WCW Championship.
As the inside joke went over most of the audiences heads, Bischoff doubled down and repeated the line.
Still no response for that amazing zinger.
In a Russo show!
An angel just got its wings.
Although Rics team came out on top, he collapsed due to an inner-ear problem afterwards.
Nash appeared and stole the belt away, causing Russo to book a title match.
In a completely overbooked nightmare, Jarrett defeated Nash.
The highlight was when they tried to have it rain poison (?)
blood on Nash and it missed completely.
When it came time to do the match, Jarrett laid down and let Hogan pin him.
The narrative was that Hogan had creative control in his contract and insisted hed win.
This was Russo letting him win.
Hogan cut an angry promo and left.
Russo showed up and cut his own angry promo.
All of this was planned.
Hogan stormed out of the building, sued the company, and never appeared on WCW TV ever again.
Booker T came out on top, gaining his first world championship.
He put himself in a cage match with Booker T, which had interference from everyone under the sun.
That is pretty much theoppositeof what a cage match is supposed to represent.
Anyway, the end came when Goldberg showed up and speared Russo through the cage.
Technically, that meant Russo escaped first and was the champion.
Not being a trained wrestler, Russo suffered a pretty nasty concussion from that spot.
On the followingNitro, he gave up the title.
But look on the bright side!
Thats the last vacated title in WCW history!
Randy Orton, Triple Hs rival at the time, intervened and beat him down on the outside.
That left Benoit and Edge alone to decide a winner.
Benoit reversed a spear into the Crippler Crossface, but Edge hesitated.
He was able to flip Benoit over into a pinning position.
While one ref counted Benoits shoulders on the mat, the other noted that Edge was tapping out.
That led to a lot of confusion and Triple H was livid.
Somebody was champion and it definitely wasnt him.
RawGM Eric Bischoff decided to vacate the belt.
He may have even lasted for at least a year if tragedy hadnt struck.
Sadly, he had to give up the title.
On that verySmackDownwhere he forfeited the gold, they held a battle royal to crown a new champion.
The 20th entrant was surprisingly Kurt Angle from theRawroster.
JBL insisted everyone stand back so he could take out Angle himself, but he was eliminated immediately.
The match centered around Angle and Mark Henry with the two of them making it to the end.
Angle levied Henry over the top rope and won it all.
Their title match was off the table.
AtNo Mercy, Vince McMahon awarded Orton the title and told him that hed have to defend it.
Triple H who was scheduled to face Umaga demanded the title shot.
McMahon agreed and Triple H came out the winner.
Still, Triple H vs. Umaga was advertised and by gum, it was going to happen!
For the title, even!
Triple H won again, but then McMahon told him that Orton wanted to cash in his rematch clause.
But hey, he was big and athletic, so there was that.
After feuding with McMahon and Umaga over the ECW title, Lashley was drafted ontoRaw.
Problem was that you couldnt really have the ECW Champion on a non-ECW brand.
It wouldnt make sense.
Reluctantly, Lashley had to give up his title.
While that was all part of the story, the aftermath was very real and very tragic.
They held a mini tournament to crown a new ECW Champion.
Chris Benoit defeated Elijah Burke and CM Punk defeated Marcus Cor Von.
That dream became a nightmare.
Chris Benoit didnt make the show, although heactually consideredit, sickening as that sounds.
We all know what happened.
I dont need to talk about it.
He was replaced with Johnny Nitro, who defeated CM Punk to become ECW Champion.
Im sure its not a title win hes especially proud of.
EDGE JULY 20, 2007
This came from a whole chain of injury-related title juggling.
He got injured and the severity was overestimated.
He ended up dropping the briefcase to Edge.
Edges success was short-lived as he transitioned into a feud with Kane.
During a segment between the two, Edge tore his pec and had to relinquish the title in response.
The solution to this problem causes a chill down the spine of wrestling fans to this day.
A battle royal was held onSmackDownfor the vacant title.
That meant the only options were Mark Henry, Fit Finlay, and the Great Khali.
In the end, Khali eliminated Batista and Kane at the same time.
He then held up the belt…upside-down.
Therefore, retroactively, Undertaker was no longer champion.
Judgment Daywas to have Undertaker take on a challenger for the vacant title.
Edge stole the opportunity from Batista.
A TLC match was signed atOne Night Standwith the added stipulation that if Undertaker lost, he was fired.
BATISTA JUNE 9, 2009
Batista just couldnt catch a break.
He returned and succeeded in defeating Orton in a cage match.
Unfortunately, he also tore his bicep somewhere in the process.
On the followingRaw, Legacy put the boots to Batista as the on-air explanation for him being gone.
Batista had to have surgery and was forced to relinquish the title yet again.
A Fatal 4-Way was held to figure out a new champion.
The competitors were John Cena, Triple H, Orton, and Big Show.
They booked him effectively in his first few months, rising him up while being careful about his losses.
He won the Royal Rumble and was on his way toWrestleManiato take the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge.
In the lead-up, he lost cleanly to Christian.
Then the title match was the opening bout.
Then Edge proceeded to humiliate him even further.
Shortly afterWrestleMania, Edge announced his retirement due to his neck problems.
Edge forfeited the gold.
Once again, Del Rio lost.
The whole New Nexus/Randy Orton feud left a bad taste in his mouth, among other things.
The narrative became that he planned to win the title and take it with him.
The new champion was gone from the company.
While that was going on, an eight-man tournament took place.
The quarterfinals and semis in one week with the finals the following.
Cena, who hadnt wrestled sinceMoney in the Bank, eight nights earlier.
At no point did any of the commentators point out how shitty this was for Cena to do.
It was really, really stupid.
An overly-complicated ending happened, culminating in Michaels dropping Bryan with a superkick and counting the pin for Orton.
They figured the chant was the only part popular and Bryan was immaterial.
He beat Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton in one night to become WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
He was then shoved into a lackluster feud with Kane.
They had to vacate the title.
In a seven-man match, John Cena came out on top.
Almost immediately, he was given the Money in the Bank briefcase thanks to the assistance of Kane.
The plan seemed obvious: set up Roman Reigns to defeat him atSurvivor Series.
Unfortunately, at a house show, Seths leg gave out when attempting to powerbomb Kane.
He finished the match, but the damage was done.
He needed surgery and it would keep him out for about six months.
In the meantime, a tournament was setup forSurvivor Serieswhere the winner would be the new champion.
In the finals, Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose and stood tall with his first world championship victory.
AtSummerSlam, he kept the momentum going by going over Rollins.
He popped it back in and finished.
The day after, he had some serious pain in his shoulder.
Despite being given a once-in-a-lifetime super push, fate derailed him and forced him to vacate.
On the following week, the four fought it out in an elimination match.
Cass went down first and towards the end, Triple H appeared.
He dropped Roman Reigns with a Pedigree and had Rollins make the pin.
A triple threat match for the Universal Championship was put together forWWE Crown Jewel.
Hell, Braun was even wrapped up with his own budding rivalry with Drew McIntyre.
Then he opened an edition ofRawto announce to the world that 11 years earlier, he conquered leukemia.
Gavin Jasper writes forDen of Geekand dedicates this article to the Go Gos.
Vacations all they ever wanted.Read more of his articles hereand follow him on Twitter@Gavin4L.
