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Imagine working hard your entire career, with the sole aim of bagging the big one and winning the coveted gold belt in a promotion. Finally, soon after winning the title belt, or a long while after, the wrestler discovers that the belt is missing! Although the promotion makes things right in a jiffy and said wrestler is handed a new belt, it must sting to see your most prized possession getting stolen or lost.
The rich and storied history of Pro-wrestling has seen its fair share of unfortunate incidents where a Superstar's title belt was stolen or went missing. It actually dates way back to the 60s, when Bruno Sammartino was the WWWF Champion. In the following slideshow, we will take a look at five instances from the past, where a wrestler's Championship belt went missing or was stolen.
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#5 Jerry Lawler's belt gets stolen while he's in a restroom
Jerry Lawler is widely known by many as the greatest legend to ever step foot in the ring in Memphis Wrestling. He is one of the most decorated champions in all of pro-wrestling, and is said to have won a grand total of 168 titles over the course of his illustrious career.
While Lawler was the Southtern Jr. Heavyweight Champion at one time, he was signing autographs for the fans. The title had been the top belt in Memphis territory for a long time. Lawler went on to put the title belt in his bag, and left for the restroom. Leaving the title unattended proved to be a huge mistake on his part, as when Lawler came back, the belt was no longer inside the bag. Unfortunately, Lawler never found the belt.
#4 Wrestlers ask fans to help them find stolen belts
This intriguing tale is from the 80s, and what makes it interesting is the fact that the wrestlers actually cut a promo in a backstage area, asking the fans to help them find the stolen belts. In 1985, Lance Von Erich and Bobby Jaggers had their Pacific Northwest tag team titles stolen.
If anyone knows where the belts are, please bring them back. We can't have a tag team match without the belts. There's a reward for them.
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#3 Chris Jericho's belt gets stolen at a restaurant
This incident recently happened with WWE veteran and current All Elite Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho, while he was enjoying his food at a Longhorn Steakhouse, in Tallahassee, Florida.
The news caused quite a stir on social media, with WWE announcer Corey Graves taking a subtle jibe at Jericho on the latest episode of SmackDown Live. Later, Graves clarified that he was simply making a friendly joke. Here's an excerpt from the initial police report:
The victim remained at Longhorn while the limo driver returned to the airport. The victim had taken the wrong luggage from the airport and the driver took it back to the terminal. When the driver picked up the victim from the restaurant, the belt was missing.
On Wednesday, the Tallahassee police confirmed that they had found the missing belt. They even posted a picture with one of their officers holding the belt. AEW retweeted the tweet but when the cops deleted their tweet, AEWs retweet automatically got removed.
#2 Bruno Sammartino's car gets broken into
When one talks about the greatest WWE Champions of all time, Bruno Sammartino's name is bound to come up. The WWE Hall of Famer held the title for more than 11 years over two title reigns. On September 27, 1965, Sammartino bested Tarzan Tyler at Madison Square Garden.
Later that night, Sammartino went to have dinner in Manhattan, as he had done several times in the past. Bruno left the title belt in his car, and was dumbfounded when he returned after having his dinner. Someone had broken into the vehicle and stolen the belt. Much like Lawler, Bruno never recovered his title.
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#1 The Rock's Brahma Bull belt goes missing
Today, whenever a Superstar bags the gold, they get custom plates for their newly won title belts. This practice of giving custom title belts to Superstars has been going on for a long time.
Back in the mid-2000s, John Cena shocked the world by debuting the spinning WWE title. If we go back even further into the past, Stone Cold Steve Austin possessed a Smoking Skull title belt.
The Rock was also going to have a customized title belt, featuring a raging bull on it. The belt reportedly got lost in the mail. WWE decided to drop the idea and the belt never made it to TV. Joe Marshall, the maker of the belt, stated that the title belt was stolen in the mail by FedEx, but was eventually delivered. Fightful was told that Marshall's assistant at the time, Brian Kennedy, could confirm the story.
Thanks to Pro Wrestling Stories for the information.
