5 of the best custom WWE title belts

#2 Stone Cold Smokin’ Skull WWF Championship Belt

The barbed wire outline is a nice touch.

This is by far the most popular custom belt but comes second on the list for reasons that will become apparent. Stone Cold Steve Austin held this belt when he was the WWF Champion and it was actually a part of some pretty notorious segments on WWF Raw.

The Rock became incensed with Austin and actually stole the belt for a time, dunking it in the river on one episode of Raw is War.

Only Austin, Undertaker and Mankind held it officially though the latter two superstars reverted back to the original design once they had captured the gold.

The belt is fairly simple in design as it is just gold with black detail, barring the red WWF logo. Barbed wire surrounds the main face of the belt. It has rattlesnakes slithering around the skulls on the plates ready to strike and two surrounding the skull with smoking eyes, which is the centrepiece. Let us not forget the snakeskin style leather, which could be seen on the back of the strap.

The story behind this belt is quite interesting. I‘ve heard two accounts in my years of paying attention to everything wrestling. The first, is that the new belt cut Austin either on the chin or the stomach, so he wanted a new belt that was more ergonomically designed for him as he was carrying the company as champion.

However, as told by Austin himself, The Road Warriors suggested he should have his own belt as his character did not play by the rules and therefore would look better with a custom belt rather than the corporate one that had been presented to him originally.

What remains true is that Austin had the belt made without McMahon’s knowledge and used it on TV without prior approval. McMahon was fuming and forced him to use the proper belt but, due to fan reaction and backlash, ended up allowing Austin to use the belt he had made and incorporated it into storylines.

It’s certainly iconic and will remain a part of WWE history forever. You can still purchase a replica of this belt, but thanks to the lawsuit, your copy will sport the scratch WWE logo.