10 Times Wrestlers Held Championship Belts Hostage
7. Jerry Lawler - AWA World Heavyweight Championship
Back to Verne Gagne's AWA again, and the only widely recognised World Heavyweight Championship Jerry 'The King' Lawler won outside of his own territory. Unsurprising then, that he kept hold of the physical belt when he was owed money he was never destined to receive.
It all links to the ill-fated SuperClash III, another failed attempt by the remaining territories to put on a show that gave a dominant Vince McMahon something to worry during his inexorable march across the map.
Doomed from the off, the idea for the inter-promotional card's main event was to run then-AWA Champion Lawler against World Class Championship Wrestling Champion Kerry Von Erich in a unification match. In the background, 'The King' and business partner Jerry Jarrett were about to assume control of WCCW anyway, but problems arose around payments Lawler allegedly never received for working the show.
He held onto the belt despite Gagne no longer having an interest in unifying the gold, causing yet another case of on-screen burials and bad blood. Unlike Stan Hansen, Lawler kept the strap, using it in Memphis for years after the AWA folded.