8 Wrestlers Who Quit On Top
1. Batista
At Elimination Chamber 2010, WWE gave Batista what they thought he wanted, as he easily dispatched of John Cena in ninety seconds to claim the WWE Title.
That wasn't what he wanted. He wanted out.
Although big Dave and big John were mirror images across their respective brands of Raw and SmackDown, the former was not afforded the same money-making opportunities as the latter. Like Cena, Batista wanted to use his position at the top to branch out into lucrative commercial endeavours: specifically, films.
WWE firmly told him "no", so he told them where to go. In May 2019, he gave the company a year's notice for his departure.
Wanting to get the most out of their star whilst they still had him - and in a desperate attempt to persuade him to stay - Batista won his first world championship a month later. He'd be given a second run on top the following February, as the clock ticked down on his time.
Though he lost the strap back to Cena, Batista was still every bit a top draw when the date of his contract's expiration arrived. He featured in the main event of Over the Limit on 23 May; a day later, his time with WWE was up. He'd eventually return as the Hollywood star the promotion had prevented him becoming.