10 Wrestlers Who ASKED To Drop The Title!

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WWE, WWF, WCW, ECW and ROH World Champions who didn't want the belt anymore.

Transcript

00:0010. Daniel Bryan and the WWE Title

00:02Bryan was so beloved he won the WWE title once more in 2018 after booting AJ Styles right in

00:08the balls. Now this was kind of odd as it meant Daniel had to turn to the dark side, but we all

00:13know the deal. He transformed into an eco-caring warrior that was a joy to watch. None of this

00:18was a problem. As WrestleMania 35 loomed closer though, Kofi Kingston stumbled into a position

00:23where all of a sudden it seemed like he was destined to win the big one. It was tough to

00:27believe because we've been waiting for this for a decade. So who went out of their way to make sure

00:31it happened? Daniel Flippin' Bryan. As Kofi has said in multiple interviews, DB ensured that their

00:36ending to the story was Kingston winning the title, which means yes, he was telling those in charge,

00:41he wanted rid of the gold. It was exactly the right move because Kofi winning on that stage

00:45was perfect. Let's not talk about how he lost it. 9. Chris Benoit and the WCW Title

00:51At sold out in January 2000, Bret Hart was set to defend his world title against Sid Vicious.

00:56Sadly, the hitman's concussion issues were about to come to a head, meaning management

01:00needed a replacement. They settled on Chris Benoit. The problem was that during this time,

01:05Benoit along with his fellow radicals were talking about leaving the company. He was

01:09done with not being used and always undermined so was happy to go, and for some reason, WCW

01:14didn't believe him. As such, and hoping it would keep him around, the decision was made

01:18to have Benoit win at the PPV and give him his first run as a world champion. None of this

01:23did any good. The next night on Nitro, Benoit still wanted to leave, even though he was

01:27told in doing so, he would be stripped of the title. I'm sure you figured out he didn't

01:31give two hoots about this, so just gave it back and went and joined WWE.

01:35World Championship Wrestling in 2000, everyone. An utter mess.

01:398. Becky Lynch and the Raw Women's Title

01:41During night one of WrestleMania 36, Becky Lynch defended her Women's Championship when

01:46she used the most devastating move in all of sports entertainment, the surprise roll-up,

01:50and beat Shayna Baszler. We didn't know it at the time, but it was going to be her last match

01:54for a while. Shortly after on Raw, she came to the ring and invited Oscar to join her,

01:59where she willingly gave up her belt to the woman who had just won the money in the bank briefcase.

02:03Of course, Becky was pregnant, the storyline then became the winner of that gimmick match

02:07was actually going to be crowned the champ. It was a lovely moment. Amazingly too, this was never

02:12the plan. During an appearance on the Bella Twins podcast, Lynch admitted she wanted to lose the

02:17title to Shayna and even said as much to management. She also wanted to do that again after she found

02:22out she was going to have a child, but we all know the deal, it wasn't happening. It is kind

02:26of a shame as it would have helped Baszler no end, but I'm not going to worry about this now.

02:307. Ricky Steamboat and the Intercontinental Title

02:33As we all know, during their WrestleMania 3 classic, Ricky Steamboat reversed Randy Savage's

02:38scoop slam into the most devastating move in all of sports entertainment, the surprise roll-up

02:42to become the Intercontinental Champion. It's as good now as it was then. The plan was to have

02:47Steamboat hold it for a while, but after a few months, Ricky actually went to Vince McMahon and

02:51asked to lose it because he wanted to take some time off. He felt like it was important to be close

02:56to his family, especially as his wife was expecting their first son, plus he had a bunch

02:59of injuries he needed to recover from. This did not go down well. So on June 13th, Butch Reed was

03:05chosen to replace him until he oddly no-showed a superstar's taping. As McMahon tried to find a

03:10replacement, Hulk Hogan of all people suggested the Honky Tonk Man, and let's just say Steamboat

03:15wasn't pleased. I mean, who wants to lose to the guy who thinks he's Elvis? It also meant when Ricky

03:19returned properly, he was never used the same way again, and that just sucked, and it got so bad,

03:24he eventually left for WCW. Go figure.

03:276. Tommy Dreamer and the ECW Title

03:29Tommy Dreamer loved being the underdog so much, he would regularly tell people he never wanted to win a

03:35world title. He didn't even want to win a tag team championship until Paul Heyman convinced him

03:39otherwise, because Dreamer just didn't think it made sense with his character.

03:43An interesting take. His dream was to be the guy that always got close, but never won the big one.

03:48That all changed at Cyberslam 2000. Once again talked into doing it, Tommy did indeed beat Taz for

03:54the ECW world title, but he had one proviso. He wanted to lose it immediately. And so yes,

04:00during the same night he won it, he also lost it in an impromptu match versus Just Incredible.

04:04As it turned out, this was the best thing he could have done, as it enhanced his persona even more.

04:09Even when Tommy Dreamer touched the clouds, he was tragically pulled back down to earth.

04:145. Bruno Sammartino and the WWWF World Title

04:18Bruno Sammartino held this belt for 2,803 days during a single reign. That record will never be

04:25broken, because that means he had it for just over seven and a half years. Amazingly too,

04:30if Bruno had wanted to be so, this stretch could have gone on for longer. Vince McMahon Sr. was

04:35more than happy with Sammartino's work and drawing power, but it was Bruno who felt like he needed a

04:39break, and a break meant relinquishing the gold. As Sammartino mentioned in many interviews,

04:44he just felt beat up as he'd been travelling the world, and given he wasn't one for even taking

04:48an aspirin, he just felt like it was the right time to step away. It all resulted in him losing the

04:52title to a genuinely shocked crowd on the 18th of January 1971. Fans could not believe it when

04:58Ivan Kolov beat him in the ring, and the only thing you could use to compare it to the modern day

05:02was when Brock Lesnar broke the Undertaker's streak. Surely something must have gone wrong.

05:07Fast forward a year and McMahon wanted to put the belt back around Sammartino's waist,

05:11which he agreed to do, as long as he got more money and a lighter schedule. Smart!

05:16Even then though, it was Bruno who decided to ask for this burden to be taken off his back for the

05:20same reason as before, he just wanted to rest.

05:23Number 4, Ric Flair and the NWA World Title

05:26We all know that Ric Flair is one of the greatest of all time, and he carved out a huge part of that

05:30legacy when he was the NWA champion. Such was his drawing power, the Nature Boy was invited to the

05:36Dominican Republic in 1982 for a world title match against Jack Veneno in front of 14,000 fans.

05:42Veneno was a local hero, so promoters knew this would work, so much so that Flair was paid thousands

05:48of dollars and a percentage of the live gate for doing it, so he did. This is where wrestling

05:52politics slowly came into play. Knowing they wanted to give the crowd something, Jack did indeed get

05:57Flair to pass out thanks to a sleeper, although sadly the time limit had expired. It meant while

06:02the challenger celebrated like he was a champion, the record books didn't officially recognize it.

06:07This of course led to a second match, and this time Ric would win to clear up any confusion.

06:11To save face, Roddy Piper would help out, and then he and Flair could get the hell out of there,

06:15but it did not go that way. Instead, when Piper tried to interfere, armed guards stopped him,

06:21leaving the match in a bit of a pickle. Flair realized there would likely be a riot if he won,

06:26so told Jack to roll him up to appease the audience, and that's exactly what happened.

06:30It caused the NWA a lot of internal issues for obvious reasons, but let's face it,

06:34Flair did this for his own safety, I kinda think that's more important.

06:383. CM Punk and the Ring of Honor World Title

06:40The original Summer of Punk that happened in Ring of Honor in 2005 is widely considered

06:45as one of the best runs in the promotion's history. Punk was going for the championship,

06:49although had already accepted a deal with WWE, before leaving was booked in a match against

06:54Austin Aries for that title at the Death Before Dishonor 3 show. Obviously it meant CM Punk was

06:59going to lose, and then he didn't. In fact, ROH went the other way and had Punk win their major

07:04championship before turning on the fans and rubbing it in their face that he was taking the belt and

07:09heading to the World Wrestling Federation. The crowd was not happy, especially when Punk legitimately signed

07:14his WWE deal on the belt. Oh boy. This was all done because Punk wanted to win it to lose it.

07:21He knew this would get a ton of attention, and as he felt strongly about the Ring of Honor product,

07:25wanted to give them as much as he possibly could before he left. It worked. Punk would defend this

07:29against the likes of Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong, and Christopher Daniels before he finally lost it

07:33to James Gibson, better known today as Jamie Noble. It was incredibly innovative, different,

07:38and was all designed thanks to one guy wanting to lose a title in the best possible way.

07:432. Shawn Michaels and the European Title

07:46Shawn Michaels almost caused a riot in 97 when he won the European Championship from the British

07:51Bulldog in the UK at the one night only event. This was mostly because it had been made very clear

07:56that Davey Boy Smith was going to be victorious, until the heartbreak kid got Vince McMahon to change

08:00his mind. A few months later, Michaels also won the WWF title, meaning he was now a double champion.

08:06Everyone agreed they had to get the European belt off of him, and as ever, we all went with

08:10Shawn's idea. That time it was to lose it to Buddy Triple H, in what would turn out to be a bit of

08:14a joke match. The story went that Commissioner Sergeant Slaughter got sick of D-Generation X's

08:19antics, so put Buddy against Buddy, and when we got there, well yeah. Triple H won the thing in about

08:25a minute after running the ropes as if it was the first time he'd ever done so, and when all was said

08:29and done, Michaels pretended to cry. If you want to call this the original finger poke of doom,

08:34well you can. 1. Eddie Guerrero and the WWE title

08:38Eddie Guerrero winning the big one at No Way Out 2004 was awesome. After years of climbing the

08:44ladder, he actually did it by beating Brock Lesnar no less, and it was one of those moments when

08:48every fan in the world just felt happy. And you know why? Because it felt right. Given that Lesnar

08:53left the company soon after this, WWE needed a new bad guy for Eddie, so Bradshaw of all people was

08:59transformed into John Bradshaw Layfield and managed to be reviled by the fans. To help with this,

09:05Guerrero even said that JBL should win the championship. The reason for it was twofold.

09:10Firstly, Eddie knew it would help the character be even more hated, but he was also struggling with

09:14the pressures that being the champion brought. TV ratings and house show numbers were falling,

09:18and being the old school guy that he was, Guerrero decided that he was to blame,

09:22he was the top dude, and it wasn't working. So it transpired that at the Great American Bash,

09:27JBL beat Eddie in a Texas Bull Rope match, and the rest is sad history. Bradshaw has said time and

09:33time again that without this, and Eddie Guerrero in general, his new persona would never have caught

09:36on like it did, and he is likely correct.

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