Ric Flair's Real World's Championship

[fortknox]

Remember in '91 after the WWF had Ric Flair stop using the Big Gold Belt because of a lawsuit so they gave him a tag belt and had it pixelated on tv?

Well it may look like a tag belt but, it was a custom belt by David Millican.

I would so buy replica of it.

[Squirrel Master]

Thirty years later this is the first time I’ve seen a closeup of this belt. It’s actually pretty good looking.

[cjh]

I think the "video distortion" angle started around the same time Flair and WCW finally reached an agreement for Flair to return the belt to them.  He had the real WCW belt at the October 1991 TV tapings, then had a knockoff of it at the November tapings, wearing it for a Coliseum Video match with Bret Hart.



The third belt, the one being discussed here, was used at Survivor Series 1991.

[Sparvid]

When did the Big Gold first reappear on WCW programming?

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Apr 8, 2021 23:01:19 GMT -5 cjh said:

I think the "video distortion" angle started around the same time Flair and WCW finally reached an agreement for Flair to return the belt to them.  He had the real WCW belt at the October 1991 TV tapings, then had a knockoff of it at the November tapings, wearing it for a Coliseum Video match with Bret Hart.



The third belt, the one being discussed here, was used at Survivor Series 1991.

Hmmmm, I’m almost positive the belt as shown on Survivor Series 91 very clearly had WWF side plates but it’s been a while since I saw the show.

[CeilingFan]

Apr 9, 2021 0:49:18 GMT -5 Sparvid said:

When did the Big Gold first reappear on WCW programming?

Halloween Havoc 92, when Masahiro Chono defended the title against Ravishing Rick Rude.

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2021 23:01:19 GMT -5 cjh said:

I think the "video distortion" angle started around the same time Flair and WCW finally reached an agreement for Flair to return the belt to them.  He had the real WCW belt at the October 1991 TV tapings, then had a knockoff of it at the November tapings, wearing it for a Coliseum Video match with Bret Hart.



The third belt, the one being discussed here, was used at Survivor Series 1991.

The pics in the op are nice, but doesn't at all resemble the big gold belt. they should have stuck with this belt.

[cjh]

Apr 9, 2021 0:49:18 GMT -5 Sparvid said:

When did the Big Gold first reappear on WCW programming?

Bill Watts shows it on the 1992 Great American Bash when announcing the NWA World Title tournament.

[cjh]

Apr 9, 2021 4:26:50 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Apr 8, 2021 23:01:19 GMT -5 cjh said:

I think the "video distortion" angle started around the same time Flair and WCW finally reached an agreement for Flair to return the belt to them.  He had the real WCW belt at the October 1991 TV tapings, then had a knockoff of it at the November tapings, wearing it for a Coliseum Video match with Bret Hart.



The third belt, the one being discussed here, was used at Survivor Series 1991.

Hmmmm, I’m almost positive the belt as shown on Survivor Series 91 very clearly had WWF side plates but it’s been a while since I saw the show.

Yes, you're right.  That was the third belt.  First was the actual WCW belt, then the knockoff I posted, then the WWF tag title lookalike.

[fw91]

That’s a beauty

[johnnyk9]

I thought this was awesome at the time

[SAJ Forth]

Apr 9, 2021 6:07:55 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Apr 8, 2021 23:01:19 GMT -5 cjh said:

I think the "video distortion" angle started around the same time Flair and WCW finally reached an agreement for Flair to return the belt to them.  He had the real WCW belt at the October 1991 TV tapings, then had a knockoff of it at the November tapings, wearing it for a Coliseum Video match with Bret Hart.



The third belt, the one being discussed here, was used at Survivor Series 1991.

The pics in the op are nice, but doesn't at all resemble the big gold belt. they should have stuck with this belt.

I wish they had too. Am guessing it had a tag belt look because of legal, but it looked wrong.

[Muskrat]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen detailed pictures of either of those belts. Awesome finds!!!

[James Fabiano]

Apr 10, 2021 15:26:56 GMT -5 SAJ Forth said:

Apr 9, 2021 6:07:55 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

The pics in the op are nice, but doesn't at all resemble the big gold belt. they should have stuck with this belt.

I wish they had too. Am guessing it had a tag belt look because of legal, but it looked wrong.

Think it's because of the same reasons why no soundalikes on the Network: it looked too close to the actual BG.

I did learn years ago that the tag belt was actually an original work. The bejeweled strip where "tag team" would be still has an electric tape look, though.

But not as bad as the GWF, which used real duct tape to cover the incriminating parts of their tag belts when passing them for other titles.

[fortknox]

Apr 10, 2021 20:57:17 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Apr 10, 2021 15:26:56 GMT -5 SAJ Forth said:

I wish they had too. Am guessing it had a tag belt look because of legal, but it looked wrong.

Think it's because of the same reasons why no soundalikes on the Network: it looked too close to the actual BG.

I did learn years ago that the tag belt was actually an original work. The bejeweled strip where "tag team" would be still has an electric tape look, though.

But not as bad as the GWF, which used real duct tape to cover the incriminating parts of their tag belts when passing them for other titles.

Or that time WCW showed this on camera at GAB '91.

[James Fabiano]

Apr 11, 2021 7:20:09 GMT -5 fortknox said:

Apr 10, 2021 20:57:17 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Think it's because of the same reasons why no soundalikes on the Network: it looked too close to the actual BG.

I did learn years ago that the tag belt was actually an original work. The bejeweled strip where "tag team" would be still has an electric tape look, though.

But not as bad as the GWF, which used real duct tape to cover the incriminating parts of their tag belts when passing them for other titles.

Or that time WCW showed this on camera at GAB '91.

Not a tag belt, so WWF and GWF still "win".

[Phosphor Glow]

Yo this belt is gorgeous. Wish it could've gotten some actual usage outside of Ric Flair carrying it around pretending it was the WCW title.

[Crappler El 0 M]

WCW filed suit against WWF and a judge had blocked WWF from using the belt commissioned by Crockett (used as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship) and the lookalike belt they had made. The belt confused with the tag belt is what he carried most of the time. WWF had to black-out or pixelate over the belt commissioned by Jim Crockett Promotions and the lookalike belt they had made. They continued to do so even with the belt in the original post, perhaps to hide that it was a different belt. There are some matches were they didn't censor it.

[Hit Girl]

The real world champion gimmick didn't work without the WCW belt.

[cjh]

Apr 11, 2021 15:51:37 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

WCW filed suit against WWF and a judge had blocked WWF from using the belt commissioned by Crockett (used as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship) and the lookalike belt they had made. The belt confused with the tag belt is what he carried most of the time. WWF had to black-out or pixelate over the belt commissioned by Jim Crockett Promotions and the lookalike belt they had made. They continued to do so even with the belt in the original post, perhaps to hide that it was a different belt. There are some matches were they didn't censor it.

They didn't start the censorship angle until Flair returned the original belt to WCW.  The WCW belt was shown uncensored on the Nov. 9 Superstars episode (taped Oct. 21).  At the Nov. 11-13 tapings, he had the replica, and at Survivor Series, they were censoring the WWF tag title version.