10 Real Life Events That Forced Wrestling World Title Changes

4. Seth Rollins Becomes WWE Champion After Roman Reigns' Wellness Failure

option 1 failed drugs test
WWE.com

Having defeated Triple H at WrestleMania 32 to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns embarked on an impressive run with AJ Styles in the immediate aftermath of that 2016 edition of the Showcase of the Immortals. And then, well then the Big Dog had the returning Seth Rollins in his crosshairs.

When Rollins vs. Reigns was set for June's Money in the Bank PPV, many presumed that it would be another W for Roman.

Instead, not only did Rollins beat his former Shield brother, he did it cleanly!

At the time, this was insane to imagine, with this being the first ever clean singles loss for Roman. The reason for him dropping the title soon became clear, though, with WWE shortly announcing a 30-day suspension for Reigns following a Wellness Program violation.

The Wrestling Observer reported that WWE was aware of this violation prior to Money in the Bank, and it was due to this that the company's hand was forced in regards to taking the title off its top star. Rollins' 'reign' would be an extremely brief one, mind, for his celebration party would be immediately crashed by his other Shield brother - as Dean Ambrose cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new WWE Champion.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.