The current king of WWE, Brock Lesnar wears the most recent of WWE belts with the current oversized logo mounted in the middle. Now, similar with what happened in the past with Bruno Sammartino or Hulk Hogan, it’s hard to imagine that someone will be able to get the WWE World Heavyweight belt from Brock so it’s a great time to take a look back on belt designs ever since WWE started.
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Early Versions of the WWE Championship Belts
Back when everything started, WWE was far from the flashy and noisy form it shows now. WWE was a lot similar to other contact sports and the action and since the main theme of the times was simplicity, the belt Sammartino wore between 1963 and 1971 had a simple design, wearing the WWE logo and the flag of the USA at the beginning. Then, when he won the second world title, a big gold plating made its way on the belt with a large eagle included as well. This opened the door for adding the eagle on each model and since then it seems they started to grow from year to year.
That belt is more than just a trophy, it’s the sing that marks the champion in the eyes of the audience, fans and other athletes. Who has a championship belt, who had one in the past – this things are heavily considered even by professionals when putting out WWE betting odds
Around 1983, the symbols depicted on what was already a pretty big belt were a man standing in front of a globe, holding a WWE belt in his hands. It might sound a bit like that Inception movie since the WWE wrestling belts were depicting a wrestler with a belt but those were the times. Another change that came along affected the color of the belt that gradually switched from the all-gold look to a more copper-related color, similar to what we can see today in WWE Tag team belts.
All WWE Belts in the Hulk Hogan Era
The first WWE title that Hogan was presented itself as a big change from the direction WWE belts were following at the time. As if the world of WWE knew it was witnessing something that it’s going to change the sport forever, this version had a silver plate with red letter on it. Hulk was the only wrestler to ever hold this model since in the four years when he held the champion title, another one was already on the way. This new model came out around 1986 and had international flags on the sides with a big colored globe in the middle with the WWF logo on top of that globe.
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The Modern Era
After the Hogan era, a winged eagle in various shapes and size was the main symbol on WWE belts with some changes along the years up until WWE reached its modern times. This made way for a lot of custom belts, inspired by the ones to wear them. Personal logos or even portraits made their way onto the belt until, due to marketing and image concerns, the WWE logo took the main spot on the belt that also became huge in the meantime. The big W logo on the center of the belt is there to make a very solid statement about what the intentions of this sport are for the future.
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