7 Wrestling World Champions Who Were Fired

4. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar does whatever Brock Lesnar wants and he doesn't give a hoot what you think about it. There needs to be an acceptance of this when working with 'The Beast Incarnate,' because he's always going to make whatever decision is best for him, personally, regardless of who else might be negatively affected. That's just the cost of doing business, brother.

WWE has been happy to reconcile this over the years, keeping Lesnar at the very top of the card throughout his current run. The one notable time they weren't led Lesnar's NJPW run coming to a premature end.

Brock became IWGP Heavyweight Champion in his first match for the promotion. Pinning Masahiro Chono in October 2005, he was stung by a temporary restraining order WWE had filed to prevent him from competing with NJPW, though this failed. Another injunction followed in January 2006, before finally, in July, Lesnar had to be let go from New Japan on account of "visa issues," with the belt vacated and Hiroshi Tanahashi emerging the new champion in his absence.

This didn't stop Lesnar taking the "IWGP Heavyweight Championship" to the IGF in June 2007, eventually dropping it to Kurt Angle. Promoter Antonio Inoki put Brock over as the "real" IWGP champ as he'd never lost the belt.