Lucky Thirteen #4
Nifty-Looking Title Belts
Written by Mark Adam Haggerty
You know a belt can do more than keep your trousers from falling down around your ankles. The right accessory around your waist might mean you're the best at what you do. Of course I'm only referring to one type of belt—those leather straps coated in gold made to distinguish super humans from every day citizens. Championship title belts come in many forms and represent a slew of action sports from mixed martial arts to boxing, but perhaps are most synonymous with the over-the-top world of professional wrestling. My name is Mark Adam Haggerty, and this week I'm counting down "Nifty-Looking Title Belts"—the most aesthetically pleasing championships in professional wrestling history.
Honorable Mention
I don't always do an honorable mention, but I figured one was most certainly warranted given this week's subject matter. For the purpose of variety, I excluded Superstar-specific championship belts such as the spinners worn by John Cena and the ghastly Willow-inspired TNA belt created for Jeff Hardy. I also left out the Million Dollar Championship, the current Matt Hardy Title in Ring of Honor, the Smoking Skull Belt and anything else designed to fit one specific superstar. I wanted this list to focus on "real" titles, rather than gimmick belts—but who knows? Perhaps that's another list for another Lucky Thirteen?
13. Impact Wrestling – TNA Heavyweight Championship [Present Design]
Our countdown begins with a championship still in use today, the TNA World Heavyweight title belt. When Total Nonstop Action broke from the National Wrestling Alliance, they needed to establish their own world title apart from the NWA. The TNA Championship was introduced in 2007 and first held by the Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle. The current belt was unveiled in 2011 and closely resembles the IWGP Heavyweight title in New Japan in its magnificently decadent design. Sitting atop an already extravagant set of plates are the words, "TNA Heavyweight Champion," embroidered in cubic zirconias. The front plate extends higher than the average belt, making it almost impossible to ignore this glistening piece of hardware, especially around the waist of the current champion Bobby Lashley.
12. WWE – WWF Heavyweight Championship [Winged-Eagle Design]
I grew up in New Jersey during the 1990's, so in many ways this was the only world title I ever knew. Worn by the greatest champions in history, the "Winged Eagle" design features a deep-blue globe positioned in the center of, you guessed it—an eagle! The bird's massive wingspan encompasses the words "WWF World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion," with classic representations of modern professional wrestling along the edges and side plates. This was the championship belt passed down from Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart to Shawn Michaels, with names like Ric Flair, the Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna each having their opportunity to carry the gold. Unfortunately the "Austin Era" signified the end of the "Winged Eagle" belt, and introduced the round-faced Attitude Era championship.
11. Right Coast Pro – RCP World Heavyweight Championship [Present Design]
The most indie of independent titles on our countdown, the Right Coast Pro Heavyweight belt debuted in 2013 after a lengthy design process involving RCP executives and the engineers at Top Rope Belts. This belt is the largest on our countdown, including massive side plates each depicting a certain set of skills required to win a chess match. Looking closely at the front, you can see that the plate is covered with nearly microscopic inscriptions. Don't try and read too closely unless you're familiar with Latin—the dead language of the Catholic Church extends across the entire faceplate, fading into the background behind the all-original RCP logo.
10. Shimmer – Shimmer Championship [Present Design]
Feeling the need to represent women in wrestling, I scoured the internet in search of the coolest looking lady's championship title in the world. While the pink WWF Women's belt and current Diva's title are unmistakably original, I decided to instead go with the most-sought after title in women's wrestling, the Shimmer Championship. Made from soft leather, the Shimmer belt includes a perfectly-rounded set of face and side plates, with the word Shimmer stretched across the front and extending over the sides. Shimmer is the premier league for women's wrestling, meaning the title has only been held by highly skilled competitors such as Cheerleader Melissa, Sara Del Rey, and mother of WWE Diva Paige, Saraya Knight.
9. AAA – AAA Latin American Championship [Present Design]
Let's venture across the southernmost border of the United States for number nine, the AAA Latin American Championship. The L.A. championship belt was first introduced in 2011 and originally worn by the second generation luchador Dr. Wagner Jr. As opposed to most belts, this AAA title doesn't feature a circular centerpiece, but a sharp angular shape with more than thirty separate sides. In the middle sits a globe focusing on Central and South America with the Mexican flag beneath. On the right and left of the map are ten more flags, each representing a different nation in Latin America. The current title holder is Chessman, a near 20-year veteran who's managed to retain the championship for over 300 days.
8. AWA – AWA World Heavyweight Championship [Last Redesign]
If the WCW title was referred to as the "Big Gold Belt," then the final belt representing the American Wrestling Association should surely be known as the "Big Silver Belt." When the sport of sports entertainment began to go global, Verne Gagne stuck to his all-American roots, outfitting his belt with the red white and blue of the United States. The face plate makes this among the most reflective championship titles in history, serving to mirror anyone who looked directly at it, but only belonging to one man at a time. The middle of the centerplate simply reads: "AWA World Heavyweight Champion," without any sort of star-studded bells and whistles aside from the standard red jewels and fake diamonds that any belt of the time was designed with. Sadly the title was retired nearly a year before the AWA closed when the final champion Larry Zbyszko signed with WCW.
7. WWE – WWF Light Heavyweight Championship [Original Design]
WCW's Monday Nitro on TNT maintained a solid lead over WWF's Monday Night Raw on the USA Network, partly because of the innovation on display each week from the cruiserweight division. High flying luchadors from every corner of the planet converged on World Championship Wrestling to practice their craft and it was only a matter of time before Vince McMahon sought to cash in on the junior weight division. In 1997 the WWF dusted off the Light Heavyweight Championship, a 1980s title that had since been retired. The new belt was red and featured the same sort of prestigious styling as the "Winged Eagle." The first champion to hold the crimson championship was Taka Michinoku who defeated Brian Christopher in the tournament finals. The belt was soon replaced with a classic black strap, and then once again retired in 2001 when Vince McMahon bought WCW and the cruiserweight championship.
6. WWE – WWF King of the Ring [1995 Prototype]
Alright so I cheated with this one. I promised I would keep the countdown focused on real titles worth wrestling for, and sadly this was a one-time only concept. But how cool is the WWF's King of the Ring title designed in 1995 for King Mabel? Whether the original idea was to have the late Big Vis defend his Kingly crown on a regular basis, or simply display his reign in classic championship form, we may never know. The faceplate is similar in shape to the classic WWF tag team titles of the 1990s, but features castle towers raising off the words "World Wrestliing" with "Federation beneath the "King of the Ring" logo. On either side the strap are the flags of several noteworthy wrestling nations such as Mexico, Japan, the UK, Australia and—South Korea? Unfortunately the only man to ever own this title has passed, leading me to wonder whether his widow is still in possession of this one of a kind piece of wrestling folklore?
5. EVOLVE – EVOLVE World Championship [Present Design]
The Evolve Championship title looks like it belongs to the Springfield Nuclear Powerplant with all of its atomic elements including the EVOLVE logo in the center. The entire faceplate has a symmetrically wavy style to it, representing both the unpredictability of nuclear energy and the action inside the EVOLVE squared circle. EVOLVE is an extension of Dragon Gate, and therefore adheres to a variety of the same principles as both DG and DGUSA. The first ever EVOLVE champion was AR Fox crowned in April of 2013, and since then there have been two additional title holders: Chris Hero and the current champion Drew Galloway AKA Drew McIntyre.
4. ECW – ECW World Tag Team Championship [Last Redesign]
It's about time for this countdown to get EXTREME. ECW was always relentless when it came to designing their championship titles in a way that reflected the sharp-edged style of Hardcore Wrestling. Their belts always seemed to have some barbed wire or broken glass—hell they even had an FTW championship that stood for "Fuck the World." But perhaps the most interesting-looking belts ever produced by Paul Heyman were the final tag title belts, redesigned for ECW on TNN. In addition to the barbed wire motif, the ECW world tag team championship featured an entire prison fence torn to shreds with a black and white globe crashing through the middle.
3. New Japan – IWGP Heavyweight Championship [Present Design]
The IWGP Heavyweight Championship might possibly be the most prestigious championship in all of professional wrestling. Currently held by the record-setting Hiroshi Tanahashi, the IWGP championship has been passed from men like Vader and Brock Lesnar to stars of today such as AJ Styles and Kazuchika Okada. The most recent title design makes for a near-30 pounds of brushed silver and gold plates, making it one of the more massive belts on our countdown—most certainly the heaviest. Although defended in the "Land of the Rising Sun," the IWGP heavyweight title features roman lettering and English phrases such as "Heavyweight Champion." The side plates lining the strap are used to display the names of all former champions, so that the current title holder never forgets the historic significance of his championship.
2. WWE – WWWF Heavyweight Championship [Big Green Belt Design]
Everyone's heard of the "Big Gold Belt," but somewhere lost in the shuffle of history is the championship belt that represented the era between Vincent J. and Vincent K. McMahon. Only ever held by three men including Bob Backlund, the Iron Sheik, and Hulk Hogan—the WWWF Heavyweight Championship consisted of several heavy gold-plated slabs affixed to a bright green leather strap. In the center was a perfectly circular plate depicting the earth underneath the words, "World Wide Wrestling." The length of the belt was covered in rectangular pieces of metal, each displaying the length of reign for all previous champions. The above photos display the original belt as it was in the early 1980s, as well as a fully restored replica created by Wild Cat Belts.
1. Dragon Gate – Open the Dream Gate [All Designs]
The number one title belt in the world is the Dream Gate championship title awarded to the best and brightest stars of Dragon Gate. The Dream Gate belt is considered the equivalent of the world title in Dragon Gate, and has been held a record number three times by the first ever champion Cima. Unlike virtually every other title belt in existence, the Dream Gate championship opens up to display a championship compartment where the current title holders name may rest. When a competitor is named number one contender to the Dream Gate championship, they're given a key which "Opens the Dream Gate." Should the challenger best the champion and take his title, he may use his key to remove the former champions name and replace it with his own. However, should the champion retain his title, the key is then added to a bar along the bottom of the belt; many keys hanging from the Dream Gate championship means a series of successful title defenses. Not only is the outside stylish, compete with black and bronze colored plates topped with silver accents, but the hidden compartment and "contender's key ritual" represents an entirely new level of innovation in championship belt design. That is why I've named the Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate the number one championship on this countdown of "Nifty Looking Title Belts."
Whether their style be classic like the Winged Eagle, or radically adventurous such as the titles seen in Dragon Gate; some date back fifty years, while others were introduced in the past two. Regardless of who's gone before, each championship belt tells a story and it's up to the current title holder to keep that tale alive. Until next time, my name is Mark Adam Haggerty and this has been another installment of Lucky Thirteen, exclusively at Cheap-Heat.
