10 Times Wrestlers Held Championship Belts Hostage

4. Hulk Hogan - WWE Championship

Tessa Blanchard Impact Champion
njpw1972

Much of this is on Vince McMahon for allowing Hulk Hogan to convince him that he hadn't yet turned into a snake oil salesman by 1993, but 'The Hulkster' was just as big a sh*t to every Hulkamaniac as he was Bret Hart when he took the beloved and treasured WWE Championship with him to Japan right after WrestleMania IX.

It was perhaps the lowest moment for a physical belt that represents the peak of the the title's prestige - in an effort to put over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship he'd gone there to try and eventually gain, Hogan referred to the gold as a "trinket" and a "toy" by comparison. A trinket and toy he'd politicked hard to win just weeks earlier despite having no intention of doing much with it, but supposedly valueless while he was making eyes elsewhere.

Back at WrestleMania, Hogan had pledged to put Bret Hart over at SummerSlam after finishing his new story with Yokozuna, but all of that was dead by June too. He made one live televised appearance as Champion, and it was simply to lose it and finally get the f*ck out of the way.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett