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Over the years, WWE has looked to put championship gold on superstars that they feel can propel the company moving forward and represent them on a global scale.
However, some stars have had to give up the gold, whether it be via an unfortunate injury or a storyline.
Join us as we take a look at four superstars who made their names in WWE and were stripped of a championship belt during their pro wrestling careers.
#4 A WWE Hall of Famer has to let go of gold
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After retaining his World Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania 27, The Rated-R Superstar Edge was riding a wave of momentum, with him finally being loved and accepted by the fans as a main event babyface star.
However, he would have to retire the next week due to a series of neck injuries that he picked up throughout his career.
Fast forward to 2020, and the iconic star made his triumphant comeback to the ring. After WWE reintroduced the World Heavyweight Championship earlier this year, Edge stated on social media that the big gold belt should be his once more.
"Twelve years ago, I was forced to give the thing up. I never had a chance to get it back. Now I have a chance, and it all comes full circle. Now, this ride, it's going to end sooner than later. Let's face it, we all know that. I gotta get this done. It's the last thing to do. It's the period on the end of the sentence, right? This last sentence in the book. I gotta get that stuff out of the basement. I just gotta do it." (H/T SEScoops)
This goal never came to fruition, however, as the Hall of Famer chose to leave WWE and sign with AEW a few months later.
#3 The Deadman's reign comes to a shocking end
In 2008, one of WWE's greatest rivalries saw The Undertaker face off against Edge, with the two stars battling it out across multiple shows for the World Heavyweight Championship.
After successfully beating The Rated-R Superstar for the belt at WrestleMania 24 and then again a few weeks later at Backlash, The Deadman was stripped of the belt by the SmackDown GM and Edge's on-screen wife, Vickie Guerrero. Vickie claimed that Taker's Hells Gate submission, which he used to win the title, was an illegal move.
Despite their on-screen rivalry, Vickie said years later in an interview with Instinct Culture that she and the Hall of Famer got on very well backstage.
"He was pretty intimidating and that was the one that, just by how tall he was, and the lights going out, and the coffin and everything. That’s not one of my favorite moments. Backstage, he’s a sweetheart and I love him to death, and his whole family is just beautiful, but as a character, yeah, I don’t want to get him on my bad side." (H/T 411Mania)
#2 The Boss crosses The Texas Rattlesnake
In the late 1990s, there was undoubtedly no bigger star in WWE than Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The future Hall of Famer made a career out of getting under the skin of his boss, Vince McMahon, while also winning the hearts and minds of the fans in the process.
However, in 1998, McMahon looked to finally get one over on Austin after Stone Cold's triple-threat match at Breakdown: In Your House against Undertaker and Kane saw the Brothers of Destruction both pin Austin at the same time, leaving the match as a no-contest.
Despite the match not having a conclusive winner, Vince McMahon chose to strip the WWE Championship from Stone Cold Steve Austin.
This would lead to one of the most iconic spots in company history as the next night on RAW, Austin would attack Vince in the ring after he arrived on a Zamboni.
#1 The Beast goes east
During his World Wrestling Entertainment career, Brock Lesnar has won multiple world championships against many of the company's biggest names.
Despite making a big name for himself, Brock chose to leave WWE in the mid-2000s. The Beast looked to establish his dominance in the land of the rising sun in 2005 as he signed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
The conquerer would capture the company's biggest prize in the form of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, with him defeating Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono in a triple-threat match.
However, after holding the belt for 280 days, Lesnar only defended the gold three times. With the company unhappy about how little he wanted to defend the championship, New Japan management decided to strip him of the iconic title.
