Championship belts for combat sports winners have been around since at least the 19th century, though originally belts were usually manufactured and presented by a sponsor or fans to mark a particular victory. The idea of a title belt that would pass on to each new champion didn’t become widely popular until 1909 when Lord Lonsdale created title belts for British boxing champions. Lonsdale’s rules meant the champion only kept a belt permanently if he made two successful defences, after which a new belt was created for the next champion.
Surprisingly, the first title belt to operate in the same way as today’s wrestling belts was in golf’s British Open where it was awarded to each year’s winner from 1860 to 1870; Tom Morris was then allowed to keep the belt outright after three straight victories. While the champion now gets the famed Claret Jug, officials present a replica of the belt on special occasions such as Opens in anniversary years.
Belts seem to have been slower to catch on in wrestling. The likes of early world champions Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt rarely if ever sported belts in promotional photographs, though some of the claimants Hackenschmidt defeated to become the undisputed champion did have belts. It wasn’t until at least the 1920s that it became common practice for a defeated champion to pass on a title belt to his successor.
Today title belts are not just a given in virtually every wrestling promotion, but have become a key element of merchandising. It’s perhaps surprising then that the majority of WWE’s belts, along with those of dozens of other promotions, are made in an converted garage in Alabama.
While early WWWF title belts were made by wrestler Alex ‘Nikita Mulkovich’ Mulko, many of the famous wrestling belts of the 1980s and 1990s were made by the undisputed king of the title belt, Reggie Parks. He continued working for WWF until 1998 when he refused to sign a new deal giving up some of his intellectual property rights. For the next 10 years, the promotion used the services of Joe Marshall of J-Mar belts, but WWE now deals mainly with Dave Millican and his design colleague Rico Mann.
Millican, an apprentice of Parks, describes himself as the “Ace of Belts” but is always quick to point out the debt he owes to Parks. Today Millican creates title belts for dozens of professional wrestling and MMA promotions, along with some less conventional customers such as the organizers of hot dog eating contests, businesses wanting to reward their best salesman, and even Madonna, who wore a custom-designed belt on the cover of her album Hard Candy.
Most belts used by wrestling promotions are made with the same basic principles: a metal centerplate and several smaller side plates are attached to a leather strap (complete with fastenings) through a combination of welding and hand-fitting nuts and bolts. A number of jewellery stones are then mounted on the plates.
The main variation is the process of getting the design onto the plate, which is usually a solid unit. The most common technique is acid engraving. This involves transferring the design, either through a standalone stencil laid over the plate, or by covering the plate with a protective waxy layer which is etched away to expose the metal below. In both cases, the plate is then exposed to an acid that eats away at the exposed metal, leaving a permanent indentation. Most commonly the plate is made of zinc and then coated in nickel or gold once the design is in place, though some beltmakers have a preferred metal or alloy for the plating.
Some belts use dual plating, in which two different coatings are applied, allowing a two-tone design such as gold on a silver background. The metal can then be painted to add extra color detail such as in a globe design or a flag, with particularly intricate designs involving a toothpick and a steady hand.
In some cases, beltmakers will use a more elaborate and expensive 3D-plating process. Similar to 3D-printing, this involves repeating the acid etching several times with a specialist machine to create indentations of different depths for a three-dimensional design. The highest-profile example of this is the WWE’s “World” title belt debuted by HHH at WrestleMania 19.
An alternative process is known as casting, used notably in the WWWF title belts of the 1970s. This involves creating a cast either from scratch or from an existing belt and then filling it with molten metal to set. While the process can be useful for creating multiple copies of a belt, it can be expensive to set up. Unlike with etched plates, a cast plate can’t be bent easily to fit the curvature of the waist, meaning that you have to choose between using a small design or risking the plate cracking.
Although wrestlers have always come in different shapes and sizes, Millican tells FSM that waist size isn’t usually an issue. “The average belt I do for WWE is 48 to 50 inches long. The exact waist measurement depends on how big the centre plate is and how many plates are on the strap, both of which affect how flexible the belt is. There’s usually between five and eight [popper] studs in each row, so there’s room for adjustment.
“Because they are in such great shapes, most WWE guys actually have relatively small waists, so the belts don’t have to be unusually sized. One difference is with the new NXT belts where the studding goes the full length of the straps, so they can fasten while wrapped right around. Even with the women’s belt, I don’t think they’ve got anyone skinny enough that they couldn’t wear it!”
There’s always an exception though. In 1987, while building up to WrestleMania III, WWF had a custom belt made for Andre the Giant “in case he won.” With a six-foot long strap, the belt fit Andre, and Andre alone. After the belt was shown off on television, many ‘smart’ fans who probably should have known better concluded that if the promotion was willing to spend money on such a belt, Andre must be winning. “I remember being surprised they didn’t bring it to ringside and show it on camera to add to the sense of excitement that Andre might win,” Millican recalls.
For many fans of a certain age, the greatest title belt will always be the “Winged Eagle” that debuted on the night Andre finally did win the title from Hogan and was used for the next decade. The design was based on an idea by former wrestler and road agent Jay Strongbow and followed a less prominent eagle image appearing on the tag belts.
There’s surely no bigger fan of the Winged Eagle than St Louis’s Justin Deming who had the belt’s image tattooed around his waist over the course of two and a half years, having successfully talked Millican’s late business partner Ed Chuman into letting him have the necessary design artwork. So committed was Deming to the image that the tattoo stretches round his back, where the “done-up” belt buckles even display the fine detail of Millican’s leatherwork. Aficionados consider the tailoring and dyeing of the leather into a strap to be among the most underappreciated skills in the belt-making process.
While it was a less painful process than Deming’s tattoo, Millican notes the current WWE title belt, debuted by the Rock in 2013, is the most elaborate design he’s ever worked on. “The main plate with the WWE logo has 630 stones alone.” The design is so substantial, it was made with aluminium rather than the usual zinc to avoid the belt becoming too heavy; the logo itself was crafted by Orange County Choppers, a motorcycle manufacturer that’s the subject of a US reality TV show.
(Watching the weight was a lesson learned from Mid South’s North American title belt, which legitimately weighed in at around 14 pounds — equivalent to six bags of sugar — and left most wrestlers preferring to carry it than strap it around their waist.)
While belt enthusiasts are divided over the new WWE title belt design, Millican has noted that making the company logo so prominent is a deliberate tactic for maximising exposure in the champion’s mainstream media appearances. While the traditional nameplate has been removed from the front, the first side plate on either side is replaceable with a custom design to fit the wrestler, something taken advantage of by the likes of Rock and Cena. It’s rumoured WWE has also commissioned a stock of side plates each designed for a specific potential champion, though understandably Millican isn’t able to reveal those details.
Just as with in-ring action, when it comes to belts some fans prefer WWE’s offerings while other hearts belong to those of the NWA/WCW. The most famous of these are the “Domed Globe” (or “Ten Pounds of Gold”) used between 1973 and 1986 and “Big Gold” which followed it. The former, recently owned by Ric Flair, was last spotted in Triple H’s office where it’s authenticity can be confirmed by two distinguishing features: a dent in the globe, likely from a stiff headshot during Harley Race’s reign; and the scratched initials of Kerry Von Erich, who clearly wanted his legacy as titleholder to last beyond his 18 days as champion.
Perhaps the most famous belt though is “Big Gold”. The original was designed and commissioned by wrestler Nelson Royal acting on behalf of promoter Jim Crockett. Although Crockett initially rejected the design, Royal used his own money to have the belt made, then sold it at a healthy profit to Crockett who was impressed when he saw the finished product.
Surprisingly, given its status, the belt wasn’t made by a wrestling specialist but rather Nevada silversmith Crumrine which normally makes jewellery and belt buckles. Part of the belt’s stature comes from the gold plating being applied to a base of solid silver rather than the traditional zinc.
The belt featured in a couple of legal tussles over the years. When Ric Flair left WCW in 1991, he kept the belt as the promotion had not returned a $25,000 security deposit that each NWA champion had to pay to ensure they would drop the title when asked. During the subsequent legal dispute, WWE opted not to air the belt on television and temporarily used a redesigned version of its tag belt design, covering it with a storyline in which figurehead president Jack Tunney ordered it to be video distorted.
In 1993, when WCW formally quit the NWA grouping, a court case ensued over its continued use of the belt. The court concluded that although it could no longer use the NWA initials, it had the rights to the belt itself. From the following summer the belt was used by the WCW champion until the closure of the company at which point it WWE obtained it as part of its purchase of the WCW assets.
While the actual Big Gold belt carried by the champion was always the same, in its final years WCW commissioned several castings to be kept as souvenirs by titleholders. Officially these belong to Hulk Hogan, Dallas Page and Scott Steiner, though many experts believe that Steiner actually left with the original belt and it’s his cast that wound up in WWE’s hands; what’s thought to be the original is now in the hands of a private collector.
It’s remarkable that the original Big Gold held up so well: title belts take a tremendous amount of punishment. Indeed, WWE now maintains at least two copies of each belt: one that the champions carries to house shows and one that is kept in pristine condition and used only on television. The “TV” or “HD” belt will still take knocks when used as a weapon by wrestlers, so will be demoted to house show status once it suffers too much damage and a replacement is ordered.
It creates a bittersweet viewing experience for Millican: he’s pained to see his creations treated roughly, but at the same time knows frequent replacements keep his order book full. He notes that baby oil and sweat can both damage belts, while using metal polishes to clean a belt can destroy the gold plating. “That said, it’s amazing just how much damage is done to belts just packing and unpacking it in bags each day for travel.”
Indeed, new champions often find the belt soon becomes a curse as they regularly attract attention at airport security checks. Few cases are quite as extreme as that of Ted DiBiase though: his opulent “self-commissioned” Million Dollar belt, fitted largely with cubic zirconia stones, actually had three tiny diamonds on the back of the plate so that he could legitimately tell curious examiners that “the diamonds in the belt are real.”
Not every wrestler takes such good care of their belt. After refusing to drop the AWA title over a booking dispute, Stan Hansen was ordered to return the belt — which had been manufactured by inmates of a Denver prison — to promoter Verne Gagne. Before doing so Hansen wore the belt one last time while driving a truck around his property and “accidentally” dropped and ran over the belt. Four times.
Sometimes though, promoters sanction destruction. In 1982 Billy Graham tore apart WWWF champion Bob Backlund’s title belt; Backlund’s overly tearful whining response hurt his image in the eyes of many fans. The angle was repeated in 1985 by Greg Valentine with the Intercontinental title and in 1989 when Mr Perfect and The Genius did the same to Hogan’s belt. A popular rumour had it that the smashed “Winged Eagle” was used nearly a decade later as the WWF Hardcore title, but this was false; the remnants actually wound up with disgraced ring announcer Mel Phillips.
Discussion of such rumours plays a key part in the belt collector community, a lesser-known subculture that has just the same mixture of camaraderie and politics as that for wrestling itself. Where general wrestling fans argue the booking of John Cena’s latest title win, belt fans will discuss the merits of different manufacturers or the intricate details of designs.
So dedicated are some belt collectors, they are prepared to wait for several years to have the likes of Millican make a belt to their desired standard. Indeed, he’s now stopped giving firm timescales to collectors, noting that the production of “company” belts must always take priority. He says that economically he could easily drop the collector side of his business today, but has made a deliberate choice not to do so.
“As a collector of memorabilia myself, I don’t like the thought of collectors not being able to get authentic belts directly from the source. As long as they are willing to understand the delays, I want to keep having them available so they can have the real deal.”
Belt Talk
The belt-making and collecting community has a range of terms for different types of belts. Here are some of the key categories:
A real belt is one made in exactly the same way as those used by a wrestling promotion, with similarly high costs. The only difference is that a collector version will usually only have promotion logos if the buyer pays an additional licensing fee.
A bootleg belt is one that uses a copyrighted design and/or a promotion’s logo without authorization. This could be done with or without the knowledge of a buyer.
A replica belt is a mass-produced machine-made copy of a real belt. Key differences include thinner plates of a lower quality metal; the strap having a cardboard or padding centre rather than being solid leather; and a generally lower quality of detail.
Releathering is where the plates from a replica belt are attached to a solid leather strap to give added weight and “realism.”
A commemorative belt is a cheaper version of a replica belt, usually using plastic rather than metal plates.
A toy belt is made with very cheap materials such as foam and is purely a novelty item.
Beyond The Belt
While belts are the main embodiment of a wrestling championship, several promotions have used other objects to represent defendable titles. Many regional promotions used a tag team trophy, likely to save money on producing a pair of belts; this practice continued into the 1980s with the NWA six man titles.
The Mid-South promotion initially used a medal for its TV championship. Memphis went a step further, with its television champion Koko Ware winning and defending a colour television set, though predictably it was soon destroyed by rival Jimmy Valiant.
Headwear has also been at stake. The cult GLOW promotion’s titleholder wore a championship tiara rather than a belt. Meanwhile the WWF had a defendable “King” title complete with crown (held by Harley Race, Haku, Jim Duggan and Randy Savage), while NXT forerunner FCW offered the same prize to its Queen of the Ring.
Perhaps the cheapest titles belonged to the Gulf Coast promotion which had a separate tag team championship for each of the towns it ran regularly. Rather than making belts for each town, promoters simply had the titleholders wear a pair of championship jackets, with a different colour for each venue.
