$25,000 Deposit
During the glory days of the NWA, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was required to place a US$25,000 security deposit to the NWA treasurer to ensure that the champion did not leave the NWA with the belt. When the champion lost the title, the deposit was returned, plus any interest that had accumulated over time. There were a few exceptions where Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes declined the return of their deposit whenever they dropped the title because they knew that they were going to get the belt back in the future. However, when Flair was fired from WCW in 1991, the NWA would not return his deposit (as he was technically no longer an NWA employee, since WCW was still affiliated with the NWA at that time). Flair retaliated by taking the belt with him to the WWF and appearing on TV with it. On the Ric Flair DVD he said he gave the original title belt to Triple H as a gift. However, Ric Flair also has said in a shoot interview with Highspots that Hulk Hogan has the original belt.
In fact both stories are partly right. When NWA/WCW sued WWF and Flair for their use of the "Big Gold" Title belt on WWF TV, the WWF made a new, similar belt (called the "Vegas" Big Gold as it was debuted by Flair in Las Vegas). The "Vegas" Big Gold is the belt that Flair gave to Triple H as a gift. Meanwhile, the Big Gold (original) was returned to NWA/WCW and cast copies were made of the Belt. One of those cast copies of the Belt is the one that Hogan won when he beat Jeff Jarret before leaving WCW. Hogan kept that belt. Another of the cast copies went to WWF with the purchase of WCW. Diamond Dallas Page and Sting each have original cast copies of the belt as well.
Read more about this topic: NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Famous quotes containing the word deposit:
“A real life, a life that leaves a deposit in the shape of something alive.... It’s difficult to say what makes a life a real life.... You could also say it depends on a person being identical with himself.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)