Pro Wrestling Discussion 77: DDP and Jake reach out to Scott Hall

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by Big Burly

Call me weird, but I have always loved this belt. Its not at the level of my Domed Globe passion, but I really like it.

It would look so much better with a black strap.

Now for my rant...

I HATE any world title belt strap color except for black and brown. Jack Brisco was the first to hold the Domed Globe, and it had a shitty red strap. Yuck. If the Green Monster had a black strap, it would probably be better liked.

The boxing world belts with their non-black straps, for the most part, look like cheap toys. Especially the WBC belt.

Black makes the gold and silver "pop." A nice dark brown is subdued and doesn't take away from the metal. Dark blue may work okay. Red = no. Green = hell no. Can't wear white after Labor Day, so half the year is gone (sarcasm).

I do like the NWA World belts held by Thesz all the way through the Big Gold Belt. Strangler Lewis' belt and Joe Stecher's belt are from a different time, and just don't look right to me as a modern title. For their time, they were great, tho.

/end rant

I like the original red colored strap on the "Domed Globe" NWA belt just as much as i like the much better known black strap, though your certainly right, the original strap itself was crappy. It was some kind of red velvet that wasn't very durable & showed sweat stains and such, which is why Jack Brisco had it re-strapped with the black leather. Jack Brisco technically wasn't the first to hold the "Domed Globe" though. More on that below....

Originally Posted by Big Burly

I do really like that NWA belt that was held by Rogers, Thesz, Kiniski, Dunk, and Harley. Brisco technically won this belt, but it was quickly retired for the Domed Globe with the red strap. It is very classy looking, and the side polished globes would really shine and glare under house lights.

Now this AWA belt... Is that the one Bock held in the 70s until Hansen took off with it to Japan? That is the only World title design, IMHO, that could rival my love for the Domed Globe. It is very distinctive and, like you said, it really just screams "I am the motherfucking WORLD CHAMP!"

I do also really like that version of the IC belt as well.


Now why do I love the Domed Globe so much? Well, it was the NWA belt when I first started really paying attention to Pro Wrestling. Harley was champ, and I am a huge fan of Harley the wrestler, and Harley the man. Technically, I was alive and watching wrestling when Harley beat Dory Jr, and when Brisco beat Harley. BUT I wasn't really paying much attention until Harley's 2nd run after beating Terry Funk.

Pat O'Connor was the first to hold the 2nd NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt, as it was introduced at some point during his reign as NWA Champion. Harley Race was the last to hold that one & the first to hold the "Domed Globe". When Jack Brisco beat Harley to become the NWA Champion he got the "Domed Globe", not the other belt. Sam Muchnick had presented Harley with the new "Domed Globe" NWA title belt during a ceremony in the ring right before the match where Harley lost the NWA title to Brisco. Here's a couple of pics from the ceremony:

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by BrooklynBomber

I HATE boxing belts. The only belt I think looks okay is the WBA belt but the small center design on the front plate doesn't do the champion justice IMO. The WBC belt almost looks phony and the IBF belt is an eyesore. The Ring belt I always liked though.

I never liked the domed globe belt(blasphemy, I know). Everyone who's posted here for the last few years knows my favorite NWA belt was the one that preceded it.



While not neccessarily the best mode of self-promotion by the NWA, I like that the wrestlers are placed in front of the NWA letters because its very symbolic of who are really important. The design as a whole is kickass and I love it. My third favorite belt design of all time behind...

That 2nd NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt is one of my favorites as well, though i still like the "Domed Globe" a bit more. Whoever made that replica in that pic didn't necessarily do the best job of recreating the original(s), not really a bad job, but not the best job. Many of the details look off.





Though there does look to be some differences between the belt Pat O'Connor is holding & the belt Gene Kiniski is holding, definitely a different strap. So there may have been more than one back in the day, which wouldn't really be surprising if so.

During Dan Severn's first reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion, he had a belt made that was sort of similar to that NWA belt above. Dan used the "Domed Globe" more often than not, but he used this belt for some title defenses:

[DannyBoy1985]

Originally Posted by BrooklynBomber

This AWA belt is actually the replacement for the belt Hansen ran over. This version was held by Bockwinkel in his fourth reign, Hennig, and then Lawler who kept it since Verne didn't want to pay him after Superclash 3. So Zbyszko got a variant of this belt that didn't look quite as good.

That belt design had also been used as the AWA World Heavyweight Championship before the "Inmate" AWA title belt that Stan Hansen ended up running over.







You can see some minor differences between the belts in those pics and the belt used after Hansen's AWA title reign (such as the ornament at the top of the center plate).





It's obviously still the same basic belt design though. Also, the American Heavyweight Championship that Fritz Von Erich held numerous times used a belt with a similar design, as you can see in the pic below:

[DannyBoy1985]

Since we're on the subject, some other championship belts that i really dig:

The WCWA World Heavyweight Championship belt




The WCWA Light Heavyweight Championship belt




The USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship belt




I think all three of those belts were real nice lookin' belts.

[BrooklynBomber]

The AWA design that we like is actually based off of a Minneapolis police sergeant's badge which I thought was pretty cool.

[Smigg]

Daniel Bryan has developed a habit for tackling Hornswaggle and putting him in a Figure Four Leglock.

[Its Me Austin]

I'm watching a replay of last year's Elimination Chamber ppv, they had a pretty cool feature about a gym Cena runs. A lot of the developmental talent work out there, specifically guys that have been beating the crap out of Cena for the past few months (Shield members and Big E).
Big E benched 575...

[Its Me Austin]

As for belts, I didn't like the older AWA one that Hansen had/ran over. Again, it looks like some sort of circus belt to me.
I love the unified belt that Lawler had, specifically how it had sideplates for the promotions involved (CWA/CWF/WCCW/AWA).

[Big Burly]

Originally Posted by DannyBoy1985

It's obviously still the same basic belt design though. Also, the American Heavyweight Championship that Fritz Von Erich held numerous times used a belt with a similar design, as you can see in the pic below:

Danny, Fritz held the AWA World title in the 60s. I believe the belt he is holding here is the same one that Mad Dog Vachon is holding above, and possibly also seen in the older pic of Verne Gagne. It looks like they changed the side plates at some point in time, probably after the 60s.

[Big Burly]

Originally Posted by DannyBoy1985

I like the original red colored strap on the "Domed Globe" NWA belt just as much as i like the much better known black strap, though your certainly right, the original strap itself was crappy. It was some kind of red velvet that wasn't very durable & showed sweat stains and such, which is why Jack Brisco had it re-strapped with the black leather. Jack Brisco technically wasn't the first to hold the "Domed Globe" though. More on that below....


Pat O'Connor was the first to hold the 2nd NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt, as it was introduced at some point during his reign as NWA Champion. Harley Race was the last to hold that one & the first to hold the "Domed Globe". When Jack Brisco beat Harley to become the NWA Champion he got the "Domed Globe", not the other belt. Sam Muchnick had presented Harley with the new "Domed Globe" NWA title belt during a ceremony in the ring right before the match where Harley lost the NWA title to Brisco. Here's a couple of pics from the ceremony:

Awesome detective work, Danny!

For some reason, I get hung up on the entire Dory-Harley-Brisco title change. I have a picture in my mind of Jack Brisco holding the older NWA belt, which is why I keep thinking that he was the first with the Domed Globe. Your photographic evidence, and the fact that Harley looked quite different when he beat Terry Funk, have me set straight.

Now as to the 2nd NWA belt: IIRC (and we know my old man memory isn't the best anymore) the 2nd NWA title was introduced at the match where O'Connor lost to Buddy Rogers in Chicago. You pic of Pat holding the 2nd NWA belt could be at a presser for the title match. I guess he technically held it since he was champ and lost it to Rogers.

I could be wrong again, too. Derp.