26 Times Wrestling Titles Have Been Disrespected

Over the decades, the wrestling industry has so often had championships be the be-all and end-all of the business. The belts that superstars have fought for have been drenched in prestige, honour, respect and quite frankly just made to feel like they are important.

On the flip side of this, there have been plenty of times when various title belts have been disrespected, tarnished, or just treated (in some cases literally) like a piece of trash. Be it as part of a storyline or as more of a "shoot", companies such as the WWF/WWE, WCW, NWA and ECW have all had their fair share of controversy when it comes to some of their championships.

At times these titles are denigrated merely as part of the show, used to further an angle, to possibly get over a heel performer, but then there are those moments where real life comes into play and the disrespecting of a particular title belt is a wrestler's way of spitting in the face of a company or of a company taking a shot at rival company. And then there are those times where a title is devalued purely because of some ridiculously poor booking (here's looking at you, WCW).

So after Kevin Owens recently caused waves by stepping on John Cena's US Title, let's take a look at 26 times that titles have been mistreated over the years.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is arguably the biggest name that the wrestling industry has ever seen, and he's certainly someone who is well versed in the prestige that a wrestling championship should have. That said, he was involved in a hugely memorable moment that saw him launch the Intercontinental Title from a bridge.

Having forfeited the IC belt to The Rock, Stone Cold delivered a patented Stunner and held onto the belt for just a little while longer. We'd then see him eventually throw the title into a river. If The Rock was going to be handed the belt, Austin was certainly not going to make it easy for him.

Stone Cold giving up the Intercontinental Championship because he was no longer interested in it did take the shine off the gold a little, and him chucking the title into a river during an episode of Raw did make the championship look like a piece of trash. That said, this was all done to further the storyline of Austin going after the World Title and to make for some massively entertaining TV as two of the Attitude Era's two biggest stars began to have some of their first interactions of note together.