5 WWE Superstars who refused a title reign

#3 The Rock turns down a WWE Championship run

CAN YOU SMELL IT?!?!?!@TheRock is HERE on Friday Night #SmackDown on @FOXTV! pic.twitter.com/73sJhJbBT2

— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2019

Well, The Rock has been on the opposite side of this situation as well. Known by the WWE Universe as the People's Champion, The Rock has had multiple World title reigns with the company, cementing himself as one of the central pillars of the Attitude Era of WWE.

Interestingly, WWE had plans to put the WWE title around The Rock's waist at WrestleMania 21 by letting him defeat the then champion, JBL. According to 411Mania, The Rock initially pitched several other ideas for his return, but WWE wanted him to face JBL. But it never came to fruition.

WWE had different ideas and wanted him to wrestle JBL, back when the plan was to keep the belt on him indefinitely through the spring. At some point there was even talk of Rock winning the title and dropping it back two days later to swerve everyone who would assume he couldn't win. Anyway, it all became moot when the company let his contract expire in an "oversight" and he ended up not working the show in any capacity. Our loss. Things would certainly be a lot different right now if Rock/Layfield had happened; for one, John Cena's coronation would've been held off.

Happy 15th birthday to WrestleMania 21: WrestleMania Goes Hollywood!A classic WrestleMania from the WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era! John Cena vs. JBL, Batista vs. Triple H, Undertaker vs. Randy Orton, Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels and the first Money In The Bank Ladder Match! pic.twitter.com/PlM2Mli461

— Allie-RX (@AllieRX) April 4, 2020

Instead, JBL defended his title against a young John Cena at WrestleMania that year, which led to John Cena's first World title reign in WWE - a historic moment!