The WWE has been around since 1952 when ‘Jess’ McMahon founded ‘Capitol Wrestling Corporation’.
The world’s premier professional wrestling organisation, WWF (WWE since 2002), largely featured 3 major championships, namely the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Tag-Team Championships. The aforementioned WWF World title was held by some of the most legendary names in the business such as The Undertaker, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan.
The WWF (World Wrestling Federation) belt spanned 23 years (1979-2002) featuring various design changes to said belt, with the most prominent amongst them being the ‘Big Green’ belt, the ‘84, ‘85 and ‘86 Hogan belts, the 1988 ‘Winged Eagle’ belt introduced by Hulk Hogan, 1998 Smoking Skull belt, the Attitude Era’s ‘Big Gold’ strap and the WWF scratch logo design.
Arguably, the most beloved design of the WWF belt is the aforementioned ‘1988 Winged Eagle’ that was famously held by icons such as Bret Hart and The Undertaker. Today, we take a look at what’s inside the famous Winged Eagle WWF belt, courtesy a video produced by What’s Inside, LLC. Father-son duo Dan and Lincoln Markham team up with social media phenomenon/spokesperson Gary Vaynerchuk, to cut a WWF Wind Eagle strap in half (PS- the belt had been signed by The Undertaker, Bret Hart and legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel; and they cut it open!) Here’s the video:
The original belt was handcrafted by former pro-wrestler and legendary belt designer Reggie Parks, whose moniker ‘King of Belts’, was earned in part by his design of the iconic 1988 WWF belt.
Now mind you, the belt featured in the video is a replica belt and not the original ones handed out to Taker, Hart and the others. Nevertheless, said replica is worth nothing less than $500 in today’s market with some fans willing to go as far as $2,000 for the ‘Eagle’. Once cut open with an electric saw, the first thing to catch our eye, is the ‘Gold Dust’- and no, I don’t mean Dustin Runnels either- I mean actual fine particles of solid gold! In other words, the belt has not I repeat, NOT been cheaply made. It’s definitely worth the current price it goes by in today’s market.
The belt is made up of four main layers- 1) Metal 2) Leather 3) Cork 4) Foam.
#1 Metal Plates:
The outermost portion is made up of gold-plated metal which of course is top-of-the-shelf, rust proof and most probably nickel-free. The original plates- large plate in the center and secondary plates towards each side- seem to be made out of brass, that’s been coated with golden spray-paint and further rust-proofed.
Although most of today's belts are silver-plated and then coated with gold, the Winged Eagle seemingly comprises only the original brass texture with a finish of gold. The plates are attached on top of a leather strap that forms the foundation of the belt, running through the center where it forms a circle, to the left and right straps.
#2 Leather Strap:
The belt’s second layer is made up of pure leather and forms the foundation upon which the metal plate rests, featuring the iconic Eagle’s Wings. Now I’m not a Hells Angels member, but do know a thing or two about leather, which in this case, seems to be an expensive chrome-tanned variety. The WWF belt is not made of the low-tier belting-leather that’s more common in run-of-the-mill appliances that utilize belts.
Furthermore, the belt comprises not one but two layers of leather- one that holds the metal belt and the other that comprises the innermost layer alongside foam. It seems to be extremely water-absorbent and reminds me of something that Seth Rollins once said about the WWE belt that he won off of The Rock, stating that said belt absolutely stunk up his bag, reeking of mildew and beer. Yikes!
#3 Cork:
For those of you wondering what a bottle-stopper has got to do with a WWE belt, take note that ‘cork’ in this context merely refers to the bottle-stopper cork’s parent material, that’s a light-brown mat derived from the bark of a cork oak tree.
As you may have noticed in the video, the brown mat-like material that appears similar to a piece of cardboard, is the third layer of our belt, with the texture of a tree-trunk. Given the fact that the cork material looks sleek and legitimate, one has to wonder how much it’d cost (PS- A cylindrical cork used in wine bottles, generally costs upwards of 1 Euro.).
#4 Foam:
The innermost layer of the belt is made up of foam, that’s most probably of the open-celled variety, something that’s common in your usual bath sponges. The main reason behind the inclusion of foam in the belt is to make it flexible and facilitate the twisting, bending and what-not the pro-wrestlers do with championship belts. Here’s a fanpost in reply to WWE’s tweet, showing KO with a Winged Eagle replica-
It’s essential to note that the solid-foam is directly attached to a strap of leather that runs through the interior, whilst the outermost strap of leather forms the exterior of the belt.
#5 Adhesive:
A strong adhesive serves to ensure that the four primary layers are held together, preventing said layers from falling apart on impact. Now although this belt is a replica and not the original hand-made one crafted by Reggie Parks, the replica boasts a stronger design that the original, owing to the perfect quantity of adhesive utilized in its manufacture.
That’s not to disrespect the ‘King of Belts’ in any way, with the original belt being used to good effect inside the squared-circle by none other than the ‘Hulkster’ himself, way back in 1988.
#6 Miscellaneous:
The belt also features fine gold particles aka ‘gold dust’, something that’s evident in the video, once Dan Markham saws open the strap. The golden powder adds to the mystique of the strap, making it worth its weight in gold (pun intended).
I, for one, take my hat off to Reggie Parks and his pupil Dave Millican, who seeks to continue his legacy to this date. Parks crafted the ‘88 Winged Eagle WWF belt, something that pro-wrestling fans unanimously agree to be one of the greatest championship belt designs of all time.
Stay tuned in as I break down more of your favorite WWE belts in the coming weeks. Maybe throw in the New Japan and Impact Wrestling belts as well. Jeff Hardy’s TNA Heavyweight Divas title...anyone?!?!
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