5 times Vince McMahon was forced to take the World title off a WWE Superstar

When a WWE superstar wins a title, it's always a big moment. While there are all kinds of different reigns ranging from transitional reigns to long, legitimate ones, the fact of the matter is that being the Champion is a big responsibility.

It's the company putting its trust in a superstar to carry one of their titles. Naturally, the weight of responsibility is even bigger for the World Championships and the Women's Championships.

For the most part, it all goes well, but there are situations where WWE is forced to play their hand. They may have superstars who they want to carry the World Championship for a certain period, but external circumstances played a big role in Vince McMahon having to take the title off certain superstars.

Here are five interesting cases where Vince McMahon was forced to take away the World title from a WWE superstar:

#5. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin - 2001

A large part of Kurt Angle's career has been as a heel, but it's hard to forget his unbelievable run as a babyface in 2001 that saw him capture the WWF Championship against 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin at Unforgiven 2001.

Why was the title change forced? The PPV took place on September 23rd, 2001, which was just 12 days after the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had his run as the top heel of WWE, having turned at WrestleMania X7.

While Angle was the face heading into SummerSlam that year, Austin would disqualify himself to retain the WWF title. The feud went on, with the most memorable moment being Angle spraying The Alliance with a Milk Truck.

It seems to be well-known that the 9/11 attacks brought up a heavy sense of patriotism, with Angle being the perfect fit. He would win the WWF title in his hometown of Pittsburgh at Unforgiven, though he would lose it 15 days later.

#4. Eddie Guerrero - 2004

You're not going to find many people say bad things about Eddie Guerrero. Simply put, he was one of the most charismatic, dynamic and incredible superstars that WWE had seen in years. 15 years after his passing, there's never been anyone that was able to reach the level that he did, even if their accolades on paper look better.

Guerrero's incredible story saw him overcome big drug addiction and detachment from his family to getting back in the ring, cleaning up his act and winning his family back. The fact that it was all addressed in his feud against Brock Lesnar in 2004 made it that much sweeter when he conquered The Conquerer to win his sole WWE Championship.

It's also no secret that Guerrero was a sensitive man, which is why his peers admitted that he was always too hard on himself. This applied more so to his WWE title reign, which he was unhappy with. He saw the stagnating ratings and took it personally, believing that he wasn't doing enough as World Champion.

JBL was the name who he suggested, according to Bruce Prichard, who said:

“ And it was a decision made, first of all, with Layfield because we needed new characters and that was the goal there. And that was something that Eddie Guerrero actually suggested. ‘What if I drop the title to him?’ It’s like ‘Well, you know what? That’d sure as f**k make him.’

Eddie Guererro seemingly forced his hand and put over JBL in a selfless move. JBL stated that had it not been for Guerrero, his career would never have taken the direction that it did. And in the end, it was JBL who John Cena beat to win his first WWE Championship before leading the company for a decade. One could argue that Cena's win wouldn't have had the same weight had it not been for Guerrero putting over JBL.

#3. Dolph Ziggler - 2013

In 2013, it was evident that Alberto Del Rio's face turn wasn't working. He was simply too artificial and unlikeable as a character to establish himself as a face. While we've seen the greatest heels have face runs, there needs to be an underlying story arc that propels them and helps them turn organically.

We've seen many great RAW after WrestleMania moments, but one that stands out is the RAW after WrestleMania 29 in 2013, where Dolph Ziggler finally cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase.

The victim was Alberto Del Rio and despite being the face, the reaction when Ziggler's music hit made him the biggest babyface on the night. The pop when he won was unforgettable as well, but his reign was affected due to a legitimate concussion that put him out of action for a while.

He had to skip the first PPV post-WrestleMania (Extreme Rules) and at Payback, Vince McMahon was forced to remove the title from him due to uncertainty over his health. They utilized the concussion incident and made it a real-life angle in their title match, with Ziggler and Del Rio having a double turn before The Showoff dropped the title back to him.

#2. Roman Reigns - 2016

This one took a lot of fans by surprise, especially given the amount of effort Vince McMahon personally invested in trying to make Roman Reigns the face of WWE. As you probably know by now, the experiment to make Roman Reigns WWE's top babyface backfired in a big way, turning The Big Dog into the most hated superstar in WWE.

Despite this, Vince McMahon was determined to make WrestleMania 32 the coronation of Roman Reigns and he pulled through. After two incredible matches against AJ Styles after WrestleMania, he switched his focus to the returning Seth Rollins - who was out for over 6 months.

While it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Roman Reigns would retain the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank 2016, everyone was taken by surprise when Seth Rollins became the first person to pin Reigns clean. The assumption was that Reigns would be in for a long title reign (and he most likely was), but the announcement of his suspension for 30 days after violating WWE's Wellness Policy was the clear reason why he dropped the title only two months after WrestleMania 36.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via Wrestlingnews.co), WWE knew about Reigns violating the Wellness policy before Money in the Bank, which is why they waited until the PPV to take the title off him.

#1. John Cena - 2011

In 2011 after WrestleMania 27, John Cena would win the WWE Championship, while CM Punk would emerge as the #1 contender. He took everyone by surprise when he announced that his contract was up at Money in the Bank in July that year.

He had been through a couple of different characters, but he would reach the next level after cutting his famous pipebomb promo - one that completely blurred the line between kayfabe and reality.

The truth was that CM Punk's contract was legitimately expiring at Money in the Bank and WWE took the risk of riding with the storyline, with CM Punk openly declaring his intention to leave with the WWE Championship.

It was a tricky situation for Vince McMahon to be in, but he turned it into a storyline and it led to one of the greatest matches in WWE history. In front of a rabid hometown crowd in Chicago, it seemed as though there would be a riot had Punk not won. The spine-chilling reaction led to an incredible match, where Punk beat Cena to win the WWE Championship before he ran away with it.

There's a lot of truth in what happened and CM Punk revealed that he had Vince McMahon hanging until the day of the PPV, saying:

Vince said, 'You have me over a barrel here'. I wasn't in this for silly demands. It wasn't even about the money. It was simply, 100 percent about the respect and being placed on the card where I deserve to be."

Vince McMahon was forced to cater to Punk and take the WWE title off the franchise player.

Bayley gives us a HUGE update on a top Superstar's upcoming return RIGHT HERE.