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During the National Wrestling Alliance's 1980s heyday, there are said to have been several instances of Ric Flair, the promotion's de facto poster-boy, dropping the NWA Title to a hometown hero in order to prevent a riot.

For the most part, this is just hearsay. NWA itself hasn't recorded these matches (or at least, the results, anyway) as part of its history, which means that - luckily for John Cena - WWE can spin the record books to show Flair as a 16-time world champ.

We know it happened at least once, though. In 1982, Flair fought local hero Jack Veneno in the Dominican Republic, a match in which promoters had originally scheduled him to retain the title with the help of Roddy Piper.

However - according to legend - the two competitors were forced to ad lib an alternative ending when security guards expressed concerns about crowd violence in the event that the heel walked out with the belt. Whether or not these fears were well-founded or not, we'll never know - but Flair usually didn't give up his belt without good reason.