The WWE Vacant Lot: A History of Forfeited Championships

Making the championship vacant is something that pops up every now and then in all promotions for a variety of reasons. Like with the current situation with Roman Reigns, real life disaster can get in the way of pre-planned storytelling and it can’t be helped. Other times it comes from politics. Then there’s many instances where vacating a title is nothing more than a planned plot device. 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. Or maybe you just want to add more interest by making a scenario where multiple wrestlers have an opportunity to be crowned the undisputed champion.

Here’s a list of a bunch of those incidents, whether they were part of the story, forged by real life incidents, or a little of both. I had to give myself some limitations or this would be a bit too overwhelming, so I’m going to stick with the WWE’s main three promotions (WWE, WCW, ECW). Sorry, TNA fans.

Anyway, I’m going to stay away from the Intercontinental Championship and tag belts and such. I’m only going by world titles.

ANTONIO INOKI – DECEMBER 6, 1979

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real?

As WWWF became WWF, champion Bob Backlund visited Japan to do a series of major inter-promotional matches with New Japan’s Antonio Inoki. To make it a bit more interesting, they came up with a plan to have Inoki pin Backlund and become WWF Champion, then drop it in a rematch a few days later. The first part went off without a hitch. Inoki beat Backlund.

Then when there was a rematch, although Backlund got the pin, the win was thrown out. Tiger Jeet Singh had done some minor, inconsequential interference and it was decided that the match would be deemed a no-contest. 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. As far as they were concerned, Bob Backlund never lost the title in Japan and his multi-year run went on uninterrupted. Even to this day, with Inoki being in the Hall of Fame, he isn’t recognized as a former WWF Champion.

ANDRE THE GIANT – FEBRUARY 5, 1988

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

After defeating Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan found himself pestered by the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, who wanted the WWF Championship. He didn’t want to simply challenge Hogan and pin him, but he wanted to actually buy it. Despite Dibiase’s claims that, “Everybody’s got a price,” Hogan wouldn’t sell out. And so, when Hogan had his big rematch against Andre on Saturday Night’s Main Event, Dibiase helped Andre cheat to win by hiring the referee’s corrupt twin brother.

Yes, that was a thing.

Andre had finally won the gold, but after a completely incomprehensible and nonsensical promo, Andre proceeded to hand the belt off to Dibiase. Jack Tunney refused to accept this and stripped Dibiase of the title. The WWE record books don’t recognize Dibiase as a former champion.

The belt was held up and they used WrestleMania IV to crown a new champ. With a one-night tournament, 14 men were entered for the opportunity. Hogan and Andre met in the second round, both with byes, but their battle ended with a double disqualification. That freed up Randy Savage vs. Dibiase in the finals, where Dibiase was fresher due to getting a bye. With Hogan’s help, Savage was able to defeat Dibiase, begin his first title reign, and allow the Mega Powers their time in the sun.

RIC FLAIR – JULY 1, 1991

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

WCW’s Executive Vice President Jim Herd wasn’t a big fan of their champion Ric Flair. He felt Flair was too old and not worth keeping around. Plus he wanted to repackage him by having him shave his head, get an earring, and call himself Spartacus. Wrestling!

The Great American Bash was coming up and Herd planned to have Flair drop the title to Lex Luger. That would’ve been fine for everyone, but then Herd and Flair got in a heated argument about his contract and Herd decided to simply fire Flair. Their champion.

This wasn’t a storyline. Because of an interesting setup for how WCW paid their champions to travel with the belt, which involved putting down a deposit and accumulating interest depending on how long you’re booked as champ, Flair was owed a big deal of money and Herd refused to pay. Flair made him look like a fool by going to WWF with the WCW title, playing himself off as “The Real World’s Champion.”

Meanwhile, Flair was let go just two weeks before Great American Bash. An infamously bad show, it ended with Lex Luger facing Barry Windham in a cage match for the vacated title. Luger did win, but the crowd wasn’t having it. They loudly jeered the match and chanted that they wanted Flair.

HULK HOGAN – DECEMBER 4, 1991

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Hulk Hogan’s third title reign wasn’t a very interesting one for the most part, since the company was low on top heel contenders. Even SummerSlam of that year featured him in a tag team match rather than defending his belt. With Survivor 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 a Survivor Series.

Ric Flair, a guy who had been on Hogan’s case for months, came to the ring and helped Undertaker win via sneaking in a steel chair. Undertaker Tombstoned Hogan onto the chair and pinned him, becoming champion.

Due to the way Undertaker won, President Jack Tunney issued an immediate rematch at an ill-advised Tuesday PPV six days later called Tuesday in Texas. In the rematch, Hogan became the first person to pin Undertaker, but did so after opening the urn and throwing its ashes into his face. Hogan won his fourth title, but since he was also cheating, Tunney decided to straight-up take the title away from both of them.

For the next couple months, there would be no champion. Tunney decided to put the belt on the line at January’s Royal 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. Regardless, Ric Flair was able to tough it out and win at #3, thanks in part to Hogan being such a gigantic crybaby after Sid Justice eliminated him.

RIC FLAIR – APRIL 17, 1994

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Ric Flair was stylin’ and profilin’ as WCW Champion and reignited his old feud with eternal rival Ricky Steamboat. Hey, any excuse for more Flair/Steamboat matches is a good one. The two wrestled at the main event of Spring Stampede. It ended with Steamboat holding up Flair in an elevated double chickenwing – the same move he used to defeat Flair for the NWA title years earlier – and transitioning it into a bridging pin.

Both Flair and Steamboat’s shoulders were on the ground and the ref counted both. Then he acted all confused because they were both officially pinned.

At first, Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel considered Flair to be the champion in light of the events, but the decision was later changed. Flair’s title was held up for one more match between the two on WCW 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 Steamboat’s solar plexus.

THE GIANT – NOVEMBER 6, 1995

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Here’s the list’s first taste of WCW ridiculousness.

Hulk Hogan came to WCW and the whole promotion suddenly became all about him. He feuded with a stable called the Dungeon of Doom, who summoned the Giant, who was meant to be Andre the Giant’s son out for revenge. The Giant’s first match was against Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship and there was apparently a clause in the contract that if Hogan lost by disqualification, he would lose the belt to the Giant.

In the final moments, Hogan’s manager Jimmy Hart attacked the referee, which got Hogan disqualified. Then Hart turned on Hogan and a 7-foot-tall mummy named the Yeti appeared out of nowhere and humped Hogan half to death. Rightfully, that’s all anyone really remembers about this situation.

Because Hart wasn’t really on Hogan’s side to begin with, the Giant was stripped of the title. They put it on the line at the next PPV, World War 3. The World War 3 match, for those who don’t know, is a 60-man battle royal going on in three rings simultaneously. It sounds like the coolest thing ever, yet it’s anything but.

Hogan was the favorite to win, but an eliminated Giant grabbed him by the leg and pulled him out from under the bottom rope. The ref looked over, saw Hogan on the floor, and figured he was thrown out. Randy Savage won the match and the championship, but Hogan made a big deal about how he was more deserving, which about sums up their professional relationship.

SHAWN MICHAELS – FEBRUARY 13, 1997

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

At WrestleMania XII, Bret Hart dropped the title to Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man Match. Although the two started to get heated behind the scenes around this time, they agreed that next year, Michaels would return the favor. Bret took time off, came back to feud with Steve Austin, and took part in the 1996 Royal Rumble. Although he was eliminated, Austin snuck back into the ring without the refs ever seeing the incident and eliminated Bret, Undertaker, and Vader to win. Austin won and Bret was rightfully pissed.

WWF President Gorilla Monsoon decided that the WrestleMania title shot would be put on the line at the next In Your House PPV. Austin, Bret, Undertaker, and Vader would fight it out in a four-man battle royal with pins and submissions in play.

At that Royal Rumble event, Shawn Michaels regained his lost WWF Championship from Sycho Sid. The plan was for Bret to win his title match and get a WrestleMania rematch. 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.” If you believe Bret – and I’m inclined to considering Michaels’ history – Michaels was milking the injury so he didn’t have to lose the match. He simply didn’t want to pay Bret back.

The Final Four battle royal became a title match. Bret won and then immediately lost the belt to Sid. While they were able to spin some gold out of these developments, mainly via giving us the legendary Bret vs. Austin match at WrestleMania 13, Bret’s real resentment over Michaels’ attitude did lead to Vince McMahon’s decision to enact the Montreal Screwjob less than a year later.

STING – JANUARY 8, 1998

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Mostly Kayfabe

WCW had maybe the greatest wrestling angle on their hands and they completely blew the ending. They spent a year building up Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan and all they needed to do was have Sting defeat Hogan at Starrcade. It ended up being a monkey paw situation where Sting did indeed win, but in a way that made the whole product look dumb.

Hogan was supposed to dominate early on and pin Sting with a fast count from referee Nick Patrick, yet strangely (and conspiracy theorists point at Hogan for being responsible in real life) the referee enacted a normal three-count. Bret Hart, who played referee in an earlier match that night, came out to force the match to continue because of the “fast count.” Sting won, but sure didn’t look good from it.

On the following Nitro, Sting agreed to a rematch. Due to an overrun, they cut the feed. A week later, it was explained that the footage was being held up in court and they would show it in its entirety on the new weekly show Thunder. The match was a complicated mess that involved a ref bump, a crooked ref, tights-pulling into a pin, and a false submission. It was decided it would be for the best by simply vacating the title and starting over again because holy shit.

SuperBrawl featured round three and Sting finally won! …because Randy Savage interfered on his behalf. Eh, sometimes you take what you can when it comes to Hogan.

STEVE AUSTIN – SEPTEMBER 27, 1998

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Vince McMahon absolutely hated that Steve Austin was champion and did everything in his power to dethrone him. Kane was able to beat him for the title, but Austin won it back a day later. Austin took on Undertaker at SummerSlam and beat him as well. McMahon decided to sign a unique triple threat between Austin, Undertaker, and Kane at Breakdown: In Your House. The hook was that Undertaker and Kane couldn’t pin each other.

McMahon was so vehement that Austin suffer that HE had to be the one defeated. Regardless, Undertaker and Kane – normally on the same page around this time – ended up breaking each other’s pins and fighting it out amongst themselves.

At the end of the match, with Austin finally out cold, Undertaker and Kane both laid on top of him and made the pin. Both were counted as the winner. Well, great. 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 didn’t take.

At the following Survivor 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. Through a retelling of the Montreal Screwjob from a year prior, Mankind “submitted” to the Rock’s Sharpshooter and the Rock revealed he was in McMahon’s pocket all along.

Long live the Corporate Champion.

VINCE MCMAHON – SEPTEMBER 20, 1999

WWF Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Champion Triple H was in the midst of a rivalry with the whole McMahon family and that led to him demanding a match with Vince, even offering to put the title on the line. Vince tried to play it professional, but the goading was too much and it was agreed with Shane McMahon as the special referee. It was mostly just Triple H destroying Vince while Shane tried to pep-talk his father into standing up for himself. Despite Triple H having everything in hand, he still had Chyna interfere for him just for the sake of getting cheap shots in.

With Shane knocked out for a sec, Steve Austin ran in and decided that at that particular moment, he hated Triple H more than Vince. He dropped Chyna and Triple H with Stunners and dragged Vince’s body over the champ’s. Shane weakly made the count while Austin remained there to see to it that Triple H lost. And on that SmackDown, Vince McMahon became WWF Champion.

Again, trying to play up his professionalism, Vince appeared on the following Raw, saying he didn’t want to be defending the belt or anything like that. He forfeited the gold and put together a Six-Pack Challenge at the next Sunday’s PPV, Unforgiven. Through teaming up with fellow heel Davey Boy Smith, Triple H was able to pin the Rock while special enforcer Steve Austin was reluctantly forced to make the count. Triple H had his belt back.

STING – OCTOBER 25, 1999

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Oh, man. Folks, strap yourself in because the WCW Championship is about to get vacated five times over the course of three months. It’s no coincidence that this is right when Vince Russo became the head writer, but it’s not entirely his fault.

This first one is, though. All right…let’s try to get through this clusterfuck. Sting had a match against Hogan at Halloween Havoc. For whatever reason (if it was ever explained, I’m not aware), Hogan simply laid down and allowed Sting to pin him. That was that. Also at the show, Goldberg defeated Sid Vicious via ref stoppage.

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Sting made an open challenge and Goldberg accepted. Cool, cool. 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.

Wow.

To crown a new champion, they held a 32-person tournament. Although for some reason, Madusa was entered in the tournament twice. It culminated at Mayhem where Bret Hart defeated Chris Benoit in the finals.

BRET HART – DECEMBER 20, 1999

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

That tournament had an opening round match of Bret vs. Goldberg and although Bret won, there was a whole lot of interference against both men and was in no way clean. It made sense that they would do a rematch at Starrcade for the title. Towards the end, Bret put Goldberg in the Sharpshooter. In yet another headshaking attempt to reference the Montreal Screwjob, Roddy Piper showed up as a referee and awarded the match to Bret despite Goldberg not tapping.

It’s important to note that Goldberg nailed Bret super hard with a mule kick to the skull at one point in the match, which would cause a massive, untreated concussion.

The next night on Nitro, Bret wasn’t happy with the Screwjob redux and yelled at Vince Russo himself (who claimed he was behind it to make up for Survivor Series 1997). Bret vacated the title and offered Goldberg a rematch. It was all a swerve as Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Jeff Jarrett ran out to help Bret win and reform the New World Order. Nobody thought this was a good idea.

BRET HART – JANUARY 16, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Despite taking that nasty kick to the head, Bret continued wrestling through his concussion and it caused irreparable damage that ended his career. That meant having to give up the title instead of defending it against Sid Vicious at Souled Out.

There were a lot of real life problems going into Souled Out. One of them was that Jeff Jarrett – who was supposed to wrestle three gimmick matches against Chris Benoit – received his own head injury leading to the show. Scrambling to figure out a new main event, they figured to just put Benoit up against Sid. Benoit won by making Sid tap to the Crippler Crossface, leading right into…

CHRIS BENOIT – JANUARY 17, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real, with a kayfabe failsafe

Like I said, there were real life problems going into Souled Out. 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 Sullivan’s wife left him for Benoit a few years earlier. Having that kind of guy in charge of your career couldn’t be good and Benoit wanted out. WCW tried to placate him by having him win the title, but he saw the writing on the wall and was able to convince the not-so-wrestling-savvy guy in charge Brad Siegel to release him from his contract.

The night after Souled Out, it was shown that Sid’s leg was under the bottom rope during the Crippler Crossface and therefore, the title was vacant. Anyone else notice that there hasn’t been an actual title change in forever by this point?

At the time, Kevin Nash was playing the role of heel authority figure and decided that there would be a match between he and Sid to decide a new champion, but ONLY if Sid could defeat one of the Harris Twins earlier in the night. 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.

SID VICIOUS – JANUARY 25, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

On the following Thunder, Nash stripped Sid of the title because he pinned the wrong Harris Twin. 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, we’re making headway. Let’s see what’s next on the—oh, for crying out loud…

SID VICIOUS – APRIL 10, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

So. WCW decided that maybe they could fix their problems by putting Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo together and hoping that their joint strengths would negate their individual weaknesses. The two acted as on-air personalities, representing the “young and disrespected” New Blood (the midcarders) while rebelling against the “old and controlling” Millionaires Club (the main-eventers).

I won’t go into why this didn’t 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. In one of the most embarrassing WCW moments (and that says a lot), Bischoff joked, “Did you forget your scissors?!” As the inside joke went over most of the audience’s heads, Bischoff doubled down and repeated the line. Still no response for that amazing zinger.

Since they had Spring Stampede coming up in less than a week, they rushed through a six-man tournament to crown a new champion. In the finals, Kimberly Page turned on her husband Diamond Dallas Page to help Jeff Jarrett win his first world title.

RIC FLAIR – MAY 22, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

With the old vs. young storyline going on, part of it became Ric Flair vs. the grouping of WCW Champion Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo, and David Flair. Amidst all the fury, Flair was able to score himself a title match against Jarrett one Nitro and pinned him cleanly. Yes, cleanly. In a Russo show! An angel just got its wings.

On the following Thunder, there was a tag match of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. David Flair and Crowbar. Although Ric’s team came out on top, he collapsed due to an inner-ear problem afterwards. It briefly took him out of action and rather than simply wait for him to make his return, Russo decided to strip him of the title on the air and award the belt to Jeff Jarrett. 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. Don’t even ask.

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Within the week, Nash had beaten Jarrett for the title, handed it back to Flair, and Flair lost it to Jarrett later that night.

HULK HOGAN – JULY 9, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe, but led to some realness

Vince Russo loved trying to blur the line between real life and fiction and it might have meant something if he was in any way good at it and if he knew how to use it to make compelling television. In the end, it just made things come off as faker than usual while painting everything else as pointless. Jarrett was going to defend the belt against Hogan at Bash at the Beach and it looked like there were some political problems going on. Hogan hadn’t shown up to any of the Nitro episodes leading up to the event and Jarrett had to carry the feud himself.

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 he’d 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. The problem was that he went a little too far in his rant and Hogan thought Russo was being legit. Hogan stormed out of the building, sued the company, and never appeared on WCW TV ever again.

Russo then explained that rather than end the show on a down note, he put together Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T for the vacant/new WCW title. Booker T came out on top, gaining his first world championship.

VINCE RUSSO – OCTOBER 2, 2000

WCW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Russo’s insistence of being an on-air personality was completely out of control when he booked himself as champion. He put himself in a cage match with Booker T, which had interference from everyone under the sun. That is pretty much the opposite of 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 following Nitro, he gave up the title.

Later that night, Booker T and Jeff Jarrett wrestled in a San Francisco 49ers Match, which…just take my word for it. It was dumb. Booker T won.

But look on the bright side! That’s the last vacated title in WCW history! Thank God!

TRIPLE H – DECEMBER 6, 2004

World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

Triple H was shoved into a triple threat against Chris Benoit and Edge for the title one fateful Raw. With the ref knocked over, Triple H grabbed a chair and prepared to go to town on his opponents. Randy Orton, Triple H’s 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 Benoit’s 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 wasn’t him.

Raw GM Eric Bischoff decided to vacate the belt. The three of them, as well as Orton, Batista, and Chris Jericho would face each other at New Years Revolution in the Elimination Chamber with Shawn Michaels as the special referee. In an awesome match that strongly built towards Batista’s eventual face-turn and rise to superstardom, Triple H came out the winner and regained his precious title.

BATISTA – JANUARY 13, 2006

World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Batista would be the one to overcome Triple H and he lasted quite a while as champion. He may have even lasted for at least a year if tragedy hadn’t struck. Batista was in the middle of a feud with Mark Henry when something went wrong at a house show and Batista tore his pectoral. Sadly, he had to give up the title.

On that very SmackDown where he forfeited the gold, they held a battle royal to crown a new champion. The 20th entrant was surprisingly Kurt Angle from the Raw roster. 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.

JOHN CENA – OCTOBER 2, 2007

WWE Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Cena was going to take on Randy Orton at No Mercy and defend the title in a Last Man Standing Match. Within days of the event, Cena had a match with Mr. Kennedy where a hiptoss went wrong and caused Cena to tear his pec. Orton attacked him afterwards and they explained it so that it was Orton’s beatdown that put Cena on the shelf. Their title match was off the table.

At No Mercy, Vince McMahon awarded Orton the title and told him that he’d 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. The main event was a Last Man Standing Match and this time Orton stood tall, all while being crowned champion twice in one night.

BOBBY LASHLEY – JUNE 11, 2007

ECW Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

While WWE’s version of ECW was better than many give it credit for, Bobby Lashley’s rise to the top was a constant reminder that Vince McMahon was running the show. Turning off the hardcore ECW fans, Lashley proceeded to be pushed as champion despite his lack of in-ring prowess or charisma. But hey, he was big and athletic, so there was that.

After feuding with McMahon and Umaga over the ECW title, Lashley was drafted onto Raw. Problem was that you couldn’t really have the ECW Champion on a non-ECW brand. It wouldn’t 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. Afterwards, the two finalists stared each other down in the ring, reading for their upcoming dream match at Vengeance: Night of Champions.

That dream became a nightmare. Chris Benoit didn’t make the show, although he actually considered it, sickening as that sounds. We all know what happened. I don’t need to talk about it. He was replaced with Johnny Nitro, who defeated CM Punk to become ECW Champion. I’m sure it’s not a title win he’s especially proud of.

EDGE – JULY 20, 2007

World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

This came from a whole chain of injury-related title juggling. Mr. Kennedy was the Money in the Bank holder and mentioned his intent to hold onto the briefcase and cash it in at WrestleMania. He got injured and the severity was overestimated. He ended up dropping the briefcase to Edge. Then the Undertaker got injured and they used Edge as an out by having him cash in and take him out.

Edge won a series of matches against Batista and in response, Batista was no longer allowed to challenge Edge for the title. Edge’s 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 on SmackDown for the vacant title. There were only a few viable winners in there and the bookers decided it would be better to have the faces chase the title like they were already doing with Edge. 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.

UNDERTAKER – APRIL 29, 2008

World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

In the Undertaker’s lengthy feud with Edge, he defeated him at two PPVs in a row (WrestleMania and Backlash) via his submission move, the Hell’s Gate. The move was put over as so dangerous that SmackDown GM and Edge’s romantic partner Vickie Guerrero claimed it was simply not allowed in a wrestling match. Therefore, retroactively, Undertaker was no longer champion.

Judgment Day was to have Undertaker take on a challenger for the vacant title. Edge stole the opportunity from Batista. Edge lost due to count-out, but Vickie pointed out that the title can’t change hands via count-out and therefore there was still no champion. A TLC match was signed at One Night Stand with the added stipulation that if Undertaker lost, he was fired. Due to the numbers advantage of Edge’s La Familia stable, Edge won the championship and Undertaker had to take a powder.

BATISTA – JUNE 9, 2009

WWE Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Batista just couldn’t catch a break. He was on the shelf for a hamstring tear for five months, which kept him from finishing his feud with Randy Orton and Legacy. He returned and succeeded in defeating Orton in a cage match. Unfortunately, he also tore his bicep somewhere in the process. Bummer.

On the following Raw, 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. Orton watched as Cena took apart Triple H and Big Show before entering the ring, ejecting Cena, dropping Big Show with an RKO, and making the pin.

EDGE – APRIL 12, 2011

World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

Alberto Del Rio seemed like a can’t-miss prospect. 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 to WrestleMania to take the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge. In the lead-up, he lost cleanly to Christian. Then the title match was the opening bout. Which Edge won. Then Edge proceeded to humiliate him even further.

If Del Rio was planned to get his revenge and get Edge’s title at a later PPV, it was never going to happen. Shortly after WrestleMania, Edge announced his retirement due to his neck problems. Edge forfeited the gold.

At the next PPV, Extreme Rules, the belt was up for grabs in a Ladder Match between Christian and Del Rio. Once again, Del Rio lost. Christian became champion and immediately dropped it to Randy Orton two nights later, which made me flip a table over, set it back up, then flip it over again.

CM PUNK – JULY 17, 2011

WWE Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

CM Punk’s contract was coming up and he didn’t think too highly of how he had been used enough to re-sign. The whole New Nexus/Randy Orton feud left a bad taste in his mouth, among other things. When he was set to have his final feud be against WWE Champion John Cena at Money in the Bank, he cut a promo that brought real life into the story and talked up how he was leaving. The narrative became that he planned to win the title and take it with him. It was a big deal, got a crapload of people interested, and did indeed have Punk beat Cena, only to skedaddle into the Chicago night.

The new champion was gone from the company. What to do?

McMahon claimed he would fire Cena on Raw the following night for his failure, but Triple H stopped him under the orders of the Board of Directors. While that was going on, an eight-man tournament took place. The quarterfinals and semis in one week with the finals the following. Rey Mysterio defeated the Miz to win, but then Triple H immediately signed a match for later that night where Rey would defend his title against Cena. Cena, who hadn’t wrestled since Money in the Bank, eight nights earlier. At no point did any of the commentators point out how shitty this was for Cena to do.

Cena beat the tiny, new champion because of course he did and then CM Punk made his big return right after to taunt him. Cena may have had a replacement championship, but it wasn’t the real deal until he could beat the man.

DANIEL BRYAN – SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

WWE Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Kayfabe

John Cena needed to take time off because of a nasty growth in his arm the size of a baseball. At SummerSlam, he dropped the title cleanly to Daniel Bryan. Bryan was then betrayed by COO and guest referee Triple H, who planted him with a Pedigree and let Randy Orton cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. The Authority didn’t want Bryan to be champ because it wasn’t good for business, which was a reflection of real life. They never intended to give Bryan a real reign and hoped he’d just fade into the background so they could push bigger stars.

Bryan got his rematch at Night of Champions and defeated Orton pretty decisively with his flying knee. Even though Orton was out cold, the ref still did a fast count and Triple H called it out the next night on Raw. The ref Scott Armstrong, obviously working under Triple H’s orders, acted like Bryan paid him off and Bryan was stripped of the title.

The two had another match at Battleground for the vacant title and it ended in a no contest due to the interference of a crying Big Show, who punched everyone out. It was really, really stupid. Bryan faced Orton yet again at the Hell in a Cell PPV, inside the Hell in a Cell with special referee Shawn Michaels. An overly-complicated ending happened, culminating in Michaels dropping Bryan with a superkick and counting the pin for Orton.

DANIEL BRYAN – JUNE 9, 2014

WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

WWE tried to shove Bryan into a storyline with Bray Wyatt while hoping Big Show could co-opt Bryan’s popular “YES!” chants. No, really. They figured the chant was the only part popular and Bryan was immaterial. If anyone was going to beat Orton, it was going to be the returning Batista, who was both out of ringshape and incredibly unlikeable as a top face. Between the crowd’s rallying for Bryan, their unavoidable hatred for Batista, and CM Punk’s abrupt leaving of the company, WWE was forced into centering WrestleMania XXX around Bryan finally getting the gold.

And he did. 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. Around this time, he was diagnosed with some neck issues due to wear and tear and needed to have it looked at. They drew it out a bit, but it was worse than initially expected and put him out for months. They had to vacate the title.

At the Money in the Bank PPV, they held the usual ladder match for the titular briefcase and a second one for the vacant title. In a seven-man match, John Cena came out on top. Then a month and a half later, he dropped it after being mauled into oblivion by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, giving viewers an idea of what their original plans for Bryan’s title reign really were.

SETH ROLLINS – NOVEMBER 5, 2015

WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Real or Kayfabe: Real

The moment Seth Rollins turned on his Shield brothers Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, he made a pact with Triple H that would rocket him to the top. Almost immediately, he was given the Money in the Bank briefcase thanks to the assistance of Kane. Then, when the time was right, he cashed in on Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns during their big WrestleMania showdown, pinning Roman and becoming champ.

In the months that followed, Seth was forced to take on many top-level challengers and constantly survived by the skin of his teeth. The likes of Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Sting, and Demon Kane failed to usurp him for one reason or another. The plan seemed obvious: set up Roman Reigns to defeat him at Survivor Series.

Unfortunately, at a house show, Seth’s 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 for Survivor Series where the winner would be the new champion. In the finals, Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose and stood tall with his first world championship victory. Moments later, he was knocked out by Sheamus, who cashed in his own Money in the Bank briefcase to steal the title.

Months later, when Roman Reigns had finally done away with Sheamus and the Authority, Seth Rollins returned from injury in hopes of taking back his title.

FINN BALOR – AUGUST 22, 2016

WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Real or Kayfabe: Real

As Raw and SmackDown split into two rosters, it became awkward for Raw, since the other show had the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley decided to start a new Universal Championship and held a tournament to see who would be Seth Rollins’ opponent at SummerSlam. NXT call-up Finn Balor made it through a Fatal 4-Way and then shocked everyone by cleanly and decisively taking down Roman Reigns later the same night.

At SummerSlam, he kept the momentum going by going over Rollins. During the match, he endured a powerbomb into the barricade and it popped his shoulder out of his socket. He popped it back in and finished. Balor was crowned the first ever WWE Universal Champion, did some interviews, and it looked like he had a great future going as the face of WWE’s flagship show.

The day after, he had some serious pain in his shoulder. With the pain increasing through the day, he had it looked at and it was apparent that he needed surgery. Despite being given a once-in-a-lifetime super push, fate derailed him and forced him to vacate.

Four matches were put together on that Raw, giving us four finalists: Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Big Cass. 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. Then he betrayed Rollins, took him out with a Pedigree, and allowed Owens to embrace his future as the new WWE Universal Champion.

ROMAN REIGNS – OCTOBER 22, 2018

WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Real or Kayfabe: Real

After so many iffy scenarios meant to coronate Roman Reigns as a meaningful champion, WWE finally pulled the trigger at SummerSlam where he speared and pinned a distracted Brock Lesnar. He continued his endless feud with Braun Strowman, but their Hell in a Cell showdown was interrupted by a pissed off Brock. A triple threat match for the Universal Championship was put together for WWE Crown Jewel.

The build-up to it wasn’t the best, partially because Brock wasn’t on TV too often and Roman and Braun were the less-important parts of a Shield vs. Pack feud. Hell, Braun was even wrapped up with his own budding rivalry with Drew McIntyre. Despite the big names in this match, it just didn’t seem all that important and Roman retaining was the writing on the wall.

Then he opened an edition of Raw to announce to the world that 11 years earlier, he conquered leukemia. Now it’s back and while he intends to defeat it again, it means stepping away from WWE for a while at the very least. That means the triple threat is now a one-on-one bout and, going with the logic, the winner will be the new Universal Champion. That puts them in an awkward situation in a way, because either they’re going back to the unpopular status quo of Brock Lesnar being an absentee champion or they’re finally giving Braun his big title win in a show that the company probably wants to distance themselves from.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and dedicates this article to the Go Go’s. Vacation’s all they ever wanted. Read more of his articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L.