5 Times when Champions in WWE wrestled non-title PPV matches

#4 Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton (WWE Vengeance 2011)

Outta nowhere.

Back in 2011, Cody Rhodes was on a major roll in WWE. He looked certain to enter the main event picture, gaining some serious momentum throughout the year as the Intercontinental Champion. Deep into his 'undashing' phase, Rhodes brought back the classic IC Title strap and took his reign to the next level.

The future All Elite megastar entered a feud with Randy Orton, who had just put Mark Henry over as the World Heavyweight Champion. Rhodes and Orton traded wins on TV, before settling their score at the mid-October Vengeance pay-per-view.

However, the Intercontinental Title was not on the line. This was likely a tactic to give the Viper a big win after losing to Henry multiple times while allowing Rhodes to continue the stellar work he was doing with the "workhorse title". The match was still a pretty good outing for both men.

Randy Orton defeated his former Legacy stablemate, maintaining his status as one of WWE's top Superstars. This was one of the more blatant instances of WWE deciding to have a Champion wrestle a non-title singles match on pay-per-view.