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It was earlier reported that Chris Jericho's AEW Championship belt had been stolen while he was eating at a Longhorn Steakhouse. Chris Jericho had left the title belt inside the rented limo. It has now been revealed on AEW's official Twitter page that the Tallahassee Police Department has found the AEW World Championship belt.
How did the AEW Championship belt get lost?
The belt was lost on Sunday, the 1st of September, 24 hours after Chris Jericho had won the title. The incident occurred when Jericho was eating dinner at a Longhorn Steakhouse. The police were notified and provided the following report.
The victim reported the theft of his championship wrestling belt while he was eating inside Longhorn Steakhouse. The victim stated he arrived at the Millionaire Club Airport Terminal and place the belt inside his rented limousine. The limo driver shuttled the victim to Longhorn for dinner. 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. Responding officers searched the limo and airport for the belt without success. On-call CID was consulted, and forensics repsonded to the scene.
How did Chris Jericho respond?
Chris Jericho was unhappy with the incident. He responded with the following video on AEW's official YouTube page. In short, Chris Jericho said he was launching a worldwide investigation to find the missing title.
Was this a work?
According to Wrestling Edge, the Tallahassee Police Department had originally found the title this morning and posted it to their Facebook page but it was deleted. At the time, a TPD spokesperson said that the investigation remained "active and open." But, AEW has now gone ahead and tweeted their thanks for finding the title.
Was AEW planning a story-line around this?
To be clear, the belt was actually lost. It looks like AEW then decided to create a story-line, with the Chris Jericho video strongly hinting what was going to happen. The police posted it on Facebook and let the cat out of the bag.
This still doesn't mean that AEW cannot have suspense around the issue. This can still turn into a very smart story, but perhaps the impact has worn out. It's going to be interesting what AEW has in store for the fans when they debut on TNT.
