By: Damian Gibson
Since its unveiling in 2021, when it was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, the fifth iteration of the now-named IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt has been criticized for its design across the internet. The new angular design was despised, perhaps moreso because the fourth-generation design had been universally beloved.
New Japan’s top prize now looks like a Cody Rhodes neck tattoo has come to life. We are stuck with it for the foreseeable future. To lift our spirits and provide perspective, we’ve compiled a list of five belts that are uglier than the current New Japan strap.
Meanwhile, in other wrestling news, the folks over at @njpwglobal have officially unified both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles, thus becoming one.
The new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt was unveiled earlier this morning. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/cna9ATB4b8
— The Jobber Tear’s Show (@JobberTears) March 30, 2021
There are a lot of belts in the mix these days, and until recently, Roman Reigns had two straps to carry around as proof that he was the head of the table. Unifying the Heavyweight and Universal championships was a chance to start over again aesthetically. What we got, though, was a belt that looked like it had been designed by Goldmember from the Austin Powers films. The belt looks more like the wrapping of a Wonka chocolate bar than the most precious prize in wrestling. If the characters of The Sopranos had started a wrestling promotion, this is the belt they would have come up with. What was it Tony said about being the opposite of King Midas?
Triple H reveals Roman Reigns' new Undisputed @WWE Universal Championship 🏆pic.twitter.com/AeBHawnsW7
— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) June 3, 2023
Vince McMahon has had a lot of wacky ideas over the years, but this was definitely … special. LayCool was a team that consisted of Michelle McCool and Layla.
They teamed up against Beth Phoenix in a handicap match for the Women’s Championship on an episode of Smackdown and won. Hence, we had to look at this monstrosity of a belt the following week.
The Women’s Championship, which had existed since 1954, had been turned into a four-dollar friendship necklace, giving you an idea of how low on the ladder the women’s division was; it was unified. It became the Diva’s Championship, but we’ll get to that later.
and they carry the belt around like LayCool back in the day, where it's just split in half. do it better wwe
(i want something like this please) pic.twitter.com/5DBSvQktJp
— veryverydizzy (@veryverydizzy) June 4, 2023
John Cena’s merch has always been on the wrong end of the fashionable spectrum. The WWE sank to new lows when Cena held the US Championship and later the WWE Championship. Both belts became what was known as spinner belts, as you could spin the logo in the middle of the belt.
The design for the US belt looks as if it had been bought from a New York tourist trap stall. It has “word life” scrawled across it in a font that can only be described as “bad tattoo from a bachelor weekend in Vegas.” Cena’s first reign as WWE Champion started after he beat JBL at WrestleMania 21. Cena was trying to make an impact with a personalized belt emboldened with the word “The Champ.” It looked a like a toy, a cheap one at that— a trend that seems to have no end in sight in the WWE.
John Cena + Spinner Belt appreciation post 😌 pic.twitter.com/Sbwj2Ydqq0
— 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘™ (@WhatsTheStatus) October 5, 2022
The United States Championship spinner belt is so iconic. It just fit John Cena so well. pic.twitter.com/ApSRD8JiTg
— WWE Ruthless Aggression Era (@WWERuthlessEra) August 8, 2022
Oh, the Divas belt. This seems to have inspired the new IWGP World Heavyweight belt, but besides being the baseline for that evil, it was so much more. For one, it branded a whole women’s division as a division of difficult-to-please, self-important people who were overly temperamental.
It also tapped into a feeling that the women’s division was a secondary championship, with a bedazzled pink and purple toy-looking belt. There is a butterfly on it for some reason. This belt looked like it was designed by Sum 41 in a joint committee with Sugar Ray. It seems like a tribal tattoo you would create for a gender reveal party. It would have gone down as the ugliest belt of all time if it were not for a certain enigma.
Why is the WWE Divas Championship belt so ugly? pic.twitter.com/cL4HxXcq19
— arianne "the glamboni" (@kawaii_fieri) January 18, 2021
This had to be number one. Look at it. Having an ego in wrestling is necessary, but this is beyond the joke. Jeff Hardy debuted the design after winning the TNA world championship in 2010, and it stuck around for five months until the madness was stopped by Sting debuting a new style in March 2011. The belt later made a meta reappearance during the broken Hardys storyline in 2016.
This belt is ugly. Having said that, there are plenty of replicas on eBay and Amazon if you want to buy a wrestling souvenir that is sure to end your relationship with your significant other.
@eric_shorey @TheLadyBearica @arielitalic I just thought you all needed to be aware of the Championship Belt Jeff Hardy wore in 2010 for TNA. The Immortal Championship. It is- a thing to behold. pic.twitter.com/np3NKX6HNE
— Auntie Christ (@ItsAuntieChrist) July 21, 2018
Date:
August 10, 2023
Category:
The Midcard