7 Times WWE Title Was Vacated With Shocking Consequences

3. CM Punk Walks Out Of WWE €“ July 2011

When RAW rolled out of Las Vegas in 2011, very few expected that it would be remembered as one of the most influential episodes of RAW in history! CM Punk, who was yet to renew his contract, delivered a scathing promo, which had the entire wrestling fraternity buzzing about his upcoming bout with John Cena at MiTB PPV in Chicago for the WWE title. CM Punk won the belt in his hometown, and said he was leaving WWE for good. The next episode of RAW saw the management trying to get WWE back on its feet and function normally, as Triple H then announced a tournament to crown a new WWE champion, as the belt was assumed to be vacated. John Cena ended up winning the belt by defeating the winner of the tournament, Rey Mysterio, stating that Rey wouldn€™t be a true champion unless he defeated Cena. As the episode ended however, CM Punk returned with his WWE championship which set up a match at SummerSlam between the two to unify the titles, and to see who the real champion was. CM Punk won the contest but quickly dropped his title to Alberto Del Rio who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. What followed was a bit of a hot potato with the WWE title until CM Punk eventually defeated Del Rio again some months later and then enjoyed the longest WWE championship reign in the last 25 years, cementing himself as one of the top guys in the industry. CM Punk held the WWE title for a record 434 days, defeating the likes of Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan in the process. CM Punk€™s run finally ended at Royal Rumble in 2013, when The Rock defeated Punk to win the WWE title.