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The WWE Championship belt is one of the biggest prizes in the pro wrestling industry. It has been marketed as the ultimate accolade, and whoever holds it becomes the face of the Stamford-based company. Over the years, the belt has been held by numerous top names.
Interestingly, the title has not just changed hands since its inception in 1963, but the design of the belt itself has changed multiple times. The most recent change was the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship merging to form one belt for the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Here are just five times the WWE Championship belt's design was changed:
#5 The Miz's custom WWE Championship spinner belt
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The Miz's custom belt wasn't well-received by numerous fans upon its introduction. However, it did play an important role in his career, considering it marked his first run as the WWE Champion.
Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on November 22, 2010, against Randy Orton on WWE RAW. He unveiled the custom title on an episode of the red show. It was a spinner belt that had the "W" turned upside down to make it an "M" with "The Miz" written as a subtext.
He held the title until Extreme Rules 2011, losing it to John Cena in a steel cage triple threat match involving John Morrison.
#4 The Rock's lost Brahma Bull belt
It would have been a pleasure for fans to witness the Brahma Bull Belt on WWE programming, but the creative had other ideas. It so happened that The Rock did have his customized belt with the Brahma Bull 3D head, but it was never used officially.
Tragically, the belt got lost in the mail after Joe Marshall FedEx'd it. For a while, the existence of this belt was a myth, but WWE finally posted about it to reveal the truth.
There are two authentic Brahma Bull belts in existence, one that got lost in the mail and another which Joe Marshall made to replace the lost one. However, before this belt could be finally used, the promotion went in another creative direction that didn't feature the title's introduction.
#3 Andre the Giant's massive WWE Championship belt
When a star with a towering physique holds the top title, the belt also needs to be massive. It goes without saying that Andre the Giant had a wider waist than other superstars of his generation. So, it was only fair to ensure he could wear the WWE Championship around his waist like his fellow performers.
To ensure this, the promotion created a massive title belt for the late superstar, or so it seemed. The title was shown on WWE Prime Time during the build-up to WrestleMania 3. The main event for the 1987 premium live event featured Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant.
WWE changing the design to make it massive indicated Hogan was about to be crushed at WrestleMania 3. However, Hulk Hogan retained the title at WrestleMania 3 but lost to Andre the Giant a year later. Hence, the title was never used on WWE's weekly shows.
#2 The "Winged Eagle" WWE Championship
The "Winged Eagle" WWE Championship was beautifully designed to capture the best elements of the title's previous designs. To this day, it remains one of the most favored iterations of the championship belt. Hulk Hogan introduced it during the latter half of 1988. Several legendary pro wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Diesel, The Ultimate Warrior, and Shawn Michaels held the iconic title.
The belt was used from 1988 to 1998 and was part of several memorable storylines during the New Generation Era.
The belt was also used during the Attitude Era. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the last superstar to hold the belt after winning it at Wrestlemania 14.
#1 Hulk Hogan's face on the championship belt
During Hulk Hogan's legendary 1474-day title reign, he carried a few iterations of the belt but one of them was quite bizarre.
In 1986, Hulk Hogan wore a title belt with his face in the middle of the plate. While WWE may have had some creative logic behind the design, Hogan himself was seemingly uncomfortable with it. He used the custom belt for a week in October 1986 before changing it.
