Professional Wrestling Belts are numerous in number, and there are many which are very gorgeous, while there are some which are..not so much so. But a prevalent question many people tend to have is this. Are the belts used in WWE real gold belts?
The answer is not so simple, and requires a bit of context. So first, we will go back to “The Big Gold Belt”.The Big Gold Belt was first introduced by Ric Flair for the NWA, as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, thus being dubbed “The Ric Flair Big Gold” was created by a company named Crumrine.
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Incidentally, they weren’t a company that made professional wrestling belts, but made belt buckles, thus why the leather work was very simple and there was no backing at the back of the belt to cover up the bolts.
The Crumrine Big Gold Belt, as it is also called, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful belts of all time. It originally came on a red-brown burgundy strap with white stitching going around the belt, and it was jewel plated – it had a sterling silver background with the gold pieces, along with red gems.
It was a replacement for the domed globe of the NWA.
Eventually, when NWA and WCW went their separate ways, it became exclusive WCW property. Many thought that The Big Gold Belt was black leather, which is not true. It just so happened that the belt was so beaten up and thrown around so much, and probably had alcohol poured over it, and the strap became discoloured very quickly in its early tenure.
For months, Bobby Heenan went on TV with this belt and proclaimed that the original owner of the belt would be coming to WWF, and lo and behold! Ric Flair ended up showing up on WWF TV, with the big gold belt.
This led to a legal dispute between WCW and Ric Flair over the ownership of the belt. Ric Flair put the down payment and deposit on the belt, and contended that it should’ve been returned to him after he lost the championship, but that never happened.
So he upped and went to WWE with that championship belt. Thus, WCW used a different world championship, created by Reggie Parks, who was an actual professional wrestling belt maker, unlike Crumrine. It was a much simpler design and was known mainly to be on Vader and Ron Simmons, who was the first ever African American world champion.
This belt was used from 1991-93. The logo was used presumably to avoid any legal disputes.
Eventually Ric Flair went back to WCW and they got exclusive rights to the belt. Thus WWE created a new Big Gold Belt that was quite different to flaunt, but fans were quick to realize that it wasn’t the Big Gold Belt. A history of the big gold belt till it’s retirement can be seen below:- Ric Flair NWA/WCW/ Crumrine Big Gold (Dual plated) (Crumrine) (Debut - 1991)- Vegas Big Gold (Reggie Parks) (1991)- All Gold Cast cop of the crumrine big gold. (2000-2001)- Cast Big gold "RAW world title" (2002-2003)- WWE 3D Big Gold (plus different curves, leather cuts and snap sets) (Jmar) (2003-2011)- WWE Millican Big Gold (Dave Millican) (2011)- Croc backed flat chit WWE 3D Big Gold (Jmar) (2011-2012)- Millican restored WWE 3D BG (Dave Millican) (2012-present)Dave Millican now creates almost all the belts that are currently used by the WWE. "Most of the belts on WWE television are mine," Millican said. "From the WWE title, the World Heavyweight Championship, big gold belt [to] the Intercontinental title."
WWE used the spinner logo from 2005 up until 2013, when The Rock debuted a new look for the WWE Championship.
After this, by the end of 2013, both the WWE Championship and The World Heavyweight Championship were unified, and thus “The WWE World Heavyweight Championship” was formed. However, by 2014 WWE had introduced the WWE Network and a new logo altogether, and they started to rebrand.
Thus, they used the 2013 model for the belt, but reintroduced it with their new logo, after Summerslam 2014:
This belt was done by Orange County Choppers, where the process of the belt making can be seen below:
It is said that faux diamonds were used for the new belt, on the logo and to the plate surrounding the logo. According to Vince McMahon, this belt is a combination of “The new and old”.
Are WWE belts real gold? Here’s your answer to that – Each Champion is handed two belts. One is made of gold, which the Superstar keeps at home, while the other – which is dipped in gold – is the one that the wrestlers travel with.
