10 Real Life Events That Forced WWE Title Changes

9. Christian Becomes World Champion At Extreme Rules 2011 After Edge Retires

A big outside-the-ring story coming out WrestleMania XXVII: A week after the event took place, Edge got tests done on his neck and found out that he was one bump away from possibly being paralyzed. He was advised to retire from wrestling immediately and complied. He announced his retirement on the April 11, 2011 edition of Raw in an emotional speech.

What made things difficult when he retired was that Edge was the World Heavyweight Champion at the time. He defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain his championship at WrestleMania, with his best friend Christian in his corner. After Edge's retirement, there was a battle royal on Smackdown which Christian won to set up a Ladder Match at Extreme Rules against Del Rio. They went on to have a very competitive matchup with a happy ending as Edge showed up in a Jeep to distract Del Rio, who had his buddies at ringside trying to help him. Christian was able to climb the ladder to win the World Title for the first time in his career.

It was a moment that a lot of people thought wouldn't happen because Christian was a smaller wrestler that was never pushed to the main event level before that. While we don't know if Christian would have ever won the World Title if Edge was still healthy, it was a great moment to see the childhood best friends celebrating Christian's accomplishment just a few weeks after Edge had to end his career.