In pro wrestling, there are lots of reasons for wrestlers to fight one another, and it doesn’t always have to be for a championship. A few examples include tag team betrayal, a villain feeling jealous of a hero, or whatever was happening in the Claire Lynch storyline. It doesn’t have to be complicated -- in fact, sometimes it’s just as simple as one wrestler stealing something from their opponent.
Most viewers can appreciate the basic feeling of having an item taken from them, and that scenario has been the focus of a number of storylines over the years -- not only in WWE but also in other promotions like New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
10 King Corbin’s Crown
One of the most recent examples occurred on SmackDown in 2021. The former Baron Corbin won the King of the Ring tournament in 2019, and has since been wearing a crown and worked as “King Corbin.” After a loss to Corbin on the 5/14/2021 episode, “King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura stole the crown in a post-match attack, posting online videos of himself wearing the crown and forcing Corbin to lose the “King” in his ring name.
9 Rey Mysterio’s Mask
Any new Latino heel in WWE is guaranteed to feud endlessly with Rey Mysterio, and Andrade was no different during his time with the company. After the two had some awesome matches in 2019, Andrade started his 2020 defending his United States Championship against Mysterio on the 1/6/2020 episode of Raw, not only winning the match but also stealing Mysterio’s mask in the process. A feud ensued between the two, leading to Andrade successfully retaining the US belt yet again in a ladder match on the 1/20/2020 episode.
8 Bret Hart’s Jacket
Any wrestler who owns some iconic piece of clothing or accessory is at risk of having it stolen, and even a technical wizard like Bret Hart isn’t above such shenanigans. In 1995, French Canadian pirate Jean-Pierre LaFitte -- better known as Pierre Carl Ouellet, a.k.a. PCO -- decided to get into a feud with The Hitman by stealing his signature jacket.
LaFitte took a loss for his efforts, but at least the fans benefitted from his actions, as the pair put on an underrated gem of a match at In Your House 3: Triple Header.
7 Taichi’s Iron Finger
When Suzuki-Gun’s resident monster heel Takashi Iizuka retired in 2019, he bequeathed his signature Iron Finger weapon to stablemate Taichi. Since then, it was The Holy Emperor’s go-to foreign object to heelishly win matches he didn’t deserve to win -- that is, until it was stolen by Tama Tonga of Bullet Club. Tonga carried the Finger around with him, antagonizing Taichi over the stolen property, which led to Taichi winning it back in a rare New Japan ladder match, at Wrestling Dontaku 2021.
6 The Undertaker’s Urn
The Urn wasn’t just a signature prop for The Undertaker. It was also the source of his magical powers, thus making it a perfect target for heel-based thievery. At 1995’s WrestleMania XI, ‘Taker was in a match with King Kong Bundy, during which Kama Mustafa (a.k.a. The Godfather) stole the Urn, exacerbating matters by melting it down and turning it into a chain. The feud would end at SummerSlam later that year, with Undertaker winning a casket match.
5 Kurt Angle’s Medals
Kurt Angle being a real-life Olympic Gold Medalist was certainly a boon for his on-screen character, as it gave him a reason to think himself better than the rest of the roster, not to mention that he wore his gold medals, which were easy to steal. One of the earliest instances of this happened at the hands of Chris Benoit, who stole them to set up a Three Stages of Hell Match at Judgment Day. The medals were actually on the line in the match, which Angle won in a well-regarded 24-minute bout.
4 Cade and Murdoch’s Hats
Composed of Shad and JTG, Cryme Tyme’s whole thing was that they were lovable criminals, so they naturally had a gimmick where they stole items from a wrestler and sold them off to the crowd. When they did it to Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, it launched the two teams into a title feud, as Cade and Murdoch were tag champs.
In late summer 2007, Cryme Tyme stole Cade and Murdoch’s hats on a couple different occasions, selling Murdoch’s hat for $2 and giving away Cade’s hat for free. However, the feud never ended because Cryme Tyme suddenly got released from the company, albeit for only a few months.
3 Yoshitatsu’s Action Figure’s Leg
Because nobody was watching NXT Redemption -- not even WWE management, it felt -- the show was able to do some bizarre stories featuring the under-est of WWE’s undercard. Yoshitatsu was obsessed with the fact that he had his own action figure, so Tyson Kidd took it upon himself to break the toy, stealing the leg in the process. What resulted was probably Yoshitatsu’s best match in WWE, an Action Figure Leg On a Pole Match, which happened on the 7/26/2011 episode of Redemption.
2 The Intercontinental Championship
In 2015, several of WWE’s best wrestlers suddenly got kleptomania over the Intercontinental Title. It started with Dean Ambrose stealing the belt -- but not winning it -- from Wade Barrett, which led to Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper, Stardust, and R-Truth all stealing the IC strap at some point. This ridiculous series of title abductions eventually led to an awesome seven-way ladder match to open WrestleMania 31. It was maybe the stupidest ever build that led to a legitimately great match.
1 Macho’s Hat
Formerly known as Smash of Demolition, Repo Man was an occupational heel who dressed like a stereotypical robber -- complete with mask -- and stole from people, presumably under the guise of them not paying their bills. Naturally this would lead to feuds with babyfaces who wanted their stuff back, including Macho Man Randy Savage. On a January 1993 episode of Raw, Repo Man stole Mach’s signature hat, which led to Savage beating him in a match on Raw the following week.