A championship title belt being stolen is always good fodder for a pro wrestling storyline. Unfortunately for newly-crowned inaugural AEW world champion Chris Jericho, though, he experienced the classic angle in real life. Police confirmed on Tuesday that Jericho had reported the All Elite Wrestling title belt missing as he was dining at a Longhorn Steakhouse in Tallahassee, Florida. On Wednesday, however, Tallahassee police confirmed they had recovered the championship belt, posting a picture on Facebook of one of their officers holding the gold.
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The initial police report read as follows:
"The victim reported the theft of his championship wrestling belt while he was eating inside Longhorn Steakhouse," the report says. "The victim stated he arrived at the Millionaire Club Airport Terminal and placed the belt inside his rented limousine. The limo driver shuttled the victim to Longhorn for dinner. The victim remained at Longhorn while the limo driver returned to the airport. The victim had taken the wrong luggage from the airport and the driver took it back to the terminal. When the driver picked up the victim from the restaurant, the belt was missing. Responding officers searched the limo and airport for the belt without success. On-call CID was consulted, and forensics responded to the scene."
Case solved .. thank you @TallyPD pic.twitter.com/DOGLBNwxea
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) September 4, 2019
Naturally, the inaugural AEW world champion losing the belt in such a manner just days after making history drew a plethora of snarky jabs in the internet -- especially since this involves a legendary figure in the industry the likes of Jericho. Even popular fast food chains such as Arby's were getting those jokes off at his expense.
Hey @IAmJericho, heard some Judas stole your championship belt. We've got plenty of cardboard... want a new one? https://t.co/V5ErXedVjI
— Arby's (@Arbys) September 3, 2019
This was quite the embarrassing situation for the upstart pro wrestling promotion, but if AEW has proven one thing: they're very good at turning a negative into as much of a positive as possible. After the news began really gaining some steam on Tuesday evening, AEW shared this video originally posted to Jericho's Twitter account where he hilariously addressed the incident, claiming he had launched a "worldwide investigation" to retrieve his title.
Chris Jericho’s (@IamJericho) statement on Missing #AEW World Championship - Worldwide Investigation Launched pic.twitter.com/aLubwjkpW6
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) September 4, 2019
Jericho won the title by defeating Adam "Hangman" Page this past Saturday in the main event of AEW's All Out pay-per-view. AEW's new cable TV show debuts on TNT on Oct. 2, where Jericho is scheduled to team with a pair of mystery partners against real-life company executives Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.
