simply forgotten through the years. One of the most famous stories, of course, is Stan Hansen vacating the AWA world title and destroying the “Inmate” belt.

AWA owner Verne Gagne wanted Hansen to lose the title to Nick Bockwinkel on June 29th, 1986, in Denver, Colorado. Hansen and Giant Baba (owner of All Japan Pro) had a commitment at that time in Japan with the AWA Title. Hansen refused to drop the title because of his loyalty to his commitment to Baba and left the building, so Gagne stripped the title from him and awarded it to Bockwinkel. When Hansen found out, he put the belt on the ground and drove his truck back and forth over it several times, and then sent the championship belt back to Verne–withthe tire tracks on it. Bockwinkel would show up later with a new version of the title, which was based on Verne Gagne’s original AWA championship belt but updated and improved by Parks.

And then there are the titles stolen from wrestlers’ vehicles. Bruno Sammartino had a WWWF title stolen from his vehicle while he was eating dinner one night following a successful title defense at Madison Square Garden. Pedro Morales claims he lost a championship belt the same way–although not, it should be noted, at the same restaurant. Later on, Pedro’s version of the belt showed up in a Pennsylvania pawn shop, where it was purchased by a private collector. And Michael Hayes had one of the NWA tag titles stolen from him, which is why the Freebirds