10 Wrestling Champions Who've Vacated The Most Titles

3. Steve Austin - 4

1997 was an up-and-down year for Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was hotter than he'd ever been coming out of his famous double-turn Wrestlemania 13 match with Bret Hart, and the crowd were firmly behind him. Then he won the tag titles in May with Shawn Michaels, but was stripped of the belt within two months because of HBK's suspension. He got the belts back shortly after, partnering with Dude Love against the Hart Foundation. The feud with the Harts bled over into Summerslam and a match for Owen's IC title. In a now infamous botch, Owen hit Austin with a misjudged sit-out Tombstone piledriver. The move broke Austin's neck. Despite that, he managed to execute, in his own words, "the worst roll-up in history" to win the belt. Due to the severity of the neck injury, he was forced to vacate both the IC title and the Tag belt shortly after. He regained the IC title at Survivor Series, but shortly after, in a act which could almost be seen as vacating the title (but doesn't appear that way in the record books), threw it in the New Hampshire river rather than defend it against The Rock, who was crowned new champ. Finally, in 1998, after being pinned in a triple threat by both Kane and the Undertaker simultaneously at Breakdown: In Your House (a very confusing finish), Vince ordered that the WWF Championship be left vacant.