10 Things You Didn't Know About The NWA World Heavyweight Championship
5. The Champions Deposit
A high figure dollar disagreement hit the headlines when Ric Flair departed WCW for WWE in 1991, but it wasn’t the zeroes on the end of his contract that plunged his old employers into complete disarray.
Creative and contractual disputes between Flair and WCW president Jim Herd had rendered their differences irreconcilable by the middle of the year, but Herd's inexperience at that level created significant problems for the NWA governance that still existed in WCW by virtue of it's top title's lineage.
As agreed-upon Champion by the National Wrestling Alliance despite the belt's place atop WCW, Ric Flair was - like every other champion - financially bound to the belt. Like every titleholder, Flair was required to pay a $25,000 deposit which he'd receive back upon the belt's return or switch to the next planned champion. Herd had either no knowledge or care for this particular caveat during his dispute with Flair, and 'Slick Ric' subsequently sent the strap to Vince McMahon ahead of his own debut with WWE later that Summer.
It was all parts, funny, tragic, shocking and sad - the money ordinarily used to protect its integrity had in fact become the latest source of controversy around it.