“The Strap.”

“The 10 Pounds of Gold.”

“The Most Prestigious Prize in Sports Today!” 

There are a lot of names and phrases used to describe them and they are probably the most recognizable item used in professional wrestling over the years other than the ring.  They are championship belts and over the years they have become more than just a symbol of the person holding a promotion or alliance’s championship, they have become a symbol of the business itself. 

To some people in wrestling, belts are simply “just another prop” and nothing more.  To others, they are true prizes which can be “won”, even if not always in a “legit contest” (or “shoot”), although many have been rumored to have been won in shoots over the years.  Those that think of titles as “just props” are perhaps the most unfortunate in the business, in my opinion.  All of the great champions have stressed their pride over the years in winning major titles and holding particular belts and most either still have those belts or replicas of those titles in their possession.  A recent example would be the “The Game” magazine recently published by the WWF prior to HHH’s return to the ring.  One photo of Levesque’s home showed a framed and mounted WWF Heavyweight Championship Belt and a replica of the WWF Intercontinental Title that he also held.  (Note: The WWF title in that photo is a “real” belt, made and designed by Joe Marshall of J-Mar.  The “old” WWF IC title belt is a design that was made for the WWF by Reggie Parks, but the belt in the photo is also done by J-Mar.) 

Another example is the famous NWA “Dome Globe” World Championship Belt that was used over the years by Ric Flair, Terry Funk, Harley Race and others.  That belt is on display at Flair’s Gold’s Gym in Charlotte, NC.  That belt even made a reappearance with Flair, along with a replica of the belt called the “Big Gold” on one of the last WCW Nitros before the end of that promotion. 

As one long-time wrestler told me, “Whoever says that belts don’t mean anything has no sense of history and little appreciation for this business.  The person that holds a strap is the top person in that promotion or either is the ‘go to’ guy at that point.  Regardless of the set-up that gets you there, you’re the person that the promotion believes can put (butts) in seats by being the champion and that’s what’s important.”  Mick Foley, in his first book “Mankind: Have A Nice Day” and his second book, “Foley is Good”, referred to a promotion’s biggest title as being similar to the “Best Actor” award in the Oscars.  I can’t see many actors (outside of Marlon Brando) treating the little gold statue with the sword as “just a prop.”   More...