Uh Why Did WWE Keep Redesigning the WWF Title in the 80s???

[romanstylesiii]

6 designs used in 6 years, and that does not even include the Andre belt.

4 of these designs were only ever worn by Hogan. And I am pretty sure the one he had before the Winged Eagle had a few different variants with minor differences.


 








None of these include the never used "Andre" belt

[GuyOfOwnage]

Might wanna fix your thread title.

[Mozenrath]

Presumably, you mean '80s.

Good question. I mean, I am glad they did, the belt they ended up with looks better than the other ones.

[romanstylesiii]

Jan 2, 2021 20:44:12 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

Might wanna fix your thread title.

Woops! Fixed 

[BorneAgain]

If I had to guess I'd say with WWF going national and starting relationships with the likes of NBC that they wanted the title belts to really reflect the glossy image the company had. Hence all the experimentation until they found a design like the Winged Eagle that fit the slick presentation they were going for.

[Deleted]

Probably just trying to find the right look for the kind of high-profile, glitzy product they were looking to put on. It hadn't really been done before in wrestling so I could see where a lot of experimentation would be needed to land on something that worked.

[CMWaters]

One thing I get a kick out of is that they used the basic shape of the Andre belt for the "Champion of Champions" belt from the THQ era WWE games.



Meanwhile, also looking back, having not started watching until 1994 I was confused why the foam belts they were selling for the world title didn't look like the winged eagle. Now, I just wonder why they never changed them accordingly until the Attitude Era.

[Beebs is the Final Girl]

A couple of those look like NWA/Crockett titles

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Jan 2, 2021 21:56:46 GMT -5 Beebs is the Final Girl said:

A couple of those look like NWA/Crockett titles

Probably had the same belt makers, I would imagine.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

The one he won off Shiek looks about 10 thousand years old. That one HAD to change.

[Deleted]

I always liked the concept of the Big Green Belt with the names of past champions on it, but all of them between that and the Winged Eagle look pretty bush league. The one with Hogan's picture on it is especially weird.

[sdoyle7798]

Jan 2, 2021 22:01:59 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

The one he won off Shiek looks about 10 thousand years old. That one HAD to change.

Which is funny because it was only around for 2 years when Hogan won it

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

I think it was just Vince being ADD with the main belt until he found something he really liked. IC and Tag changed in 85, and stuck for a long time. The WWF belt right before the winged eagle was a good looking belt, but it didn’t quite pop like the other belts did. The winged eagle felt like a proper championship belt. To this day, I say the original Big Gold is the only belt that looks better

[ANuclearError]

This would have been around the time the Big Gold Belt was introduced right? Did that go through iterations as well or did the NWA pretty much nail it first time?

I could see Vince being more willing to try things out with the belt in public more than the NWA at any rate.

[WoodStoner1]

Well it seems like the other belts came and went, mainly throughout 1985. The Hogan '86 was the one that stuck after, till they got the Winged Eagle.

And yet, if you listen to the commentary at Mania 3, they sounded like they'd award the winner of Hogan/Andre with a new belt? Unless that was a reference to the Andre title. And the one-shot (?) Hogan Portrait title. That one never made national TV, or did it?

And I am one who actually LIKES the Hogan '86 more than the WE. Had the belt tropes I loved. Big blue globe and black ribbons. Flags on the side plate.

[WoodStoner1]

Jan 2, 2021 21:59:56 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Jan 2, 2021 21:56:46 GMT -5 Beebs is the Final Girl said:

A couple of those look like NWA/Crockett titles

Probably had the same belt makers, I would imagine.

Was it Millican or Parks?

Yeah the 1985 belt = NWA National and TV titles, basically. And other regional NWA titles looked like it too. Oh, the WCCW American title from the mid 80s.

[Dub H]

Jan 2, 2021 21:08:20 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

If I had to guess I'd say with WWF going national and starting relationships with the likes of NBC that they wanted the title belts to really reflect the glossy image the company had. Hence all the experimentation until the found a design like the Winged Eagle that fit the slick presentation they were going for.

Basically my guess,they wanted to find their "brand".

[Jaws the Shark]

Jan 3, 2021 4:37:24 GMT -5 ANuclearError said:

This would have been around the time the Big Gold Belt was introduced right? Did that go through iterations as well or did the NWA pretty much nail it first time?

I could see Vince being more willing to try things out with the belt in public more than the NWA at any rate.

The Big Gold Belt was introduced in 1986 so around the same time, but the NWA title went straight from the Ten Pounds of Gold belt to that, as far as I'm aware there weren't other designs before it. In fact, having only had five designs, it's had fewer designs in its entire existence than the WWWF/WWF/WWE title had in the eighties alone.

I know it's silly, but my first thought with all of these designs was that I hate to think how much it cost to have all these designs made only for them to be used for a few months.

[Hit Girl]

It took them a while to reach the utter perfection and beauty of the Winged Eagle belt,

[Pushed to the Moon]

Wow I never realised there were so many. I knew there was a different one before the winged eagle but never that many. Never heard of the Andre belt either. Interesting!