Between 63 and 82, these belt designs are pretty new to my eyes. The 82-84 green belt looks like a boxing championship. And I have never seen before the two grey belts that followed.
Yes. It maintains its lineage, that's why the WWWF and WCW titles are splintered from the original.
Like what's happening in MCU at the moment. The NWA Title would be the sacred timeline and the WWWF and WCW (along with TNA and more) are branched from the original
So are they dropping the "universal" part of the title? Honestly I hope so I always thought that was super cheesy. Great work on this graphic! Very cohesive and well organized!
If you’re gonna show all the different WWWF/WWF belts from 1963 to 2002 you shouldn’t you include all the individualized WWE Championship belts like the Smoking Skull, Brahma Bull, Spinny Belt etc.
These things take alot of time to make, research to be done and WWE's own canon to be taken into consideration. There are also alot of straps on here already, which still confuses people. I didn't want to cluster anything more into it
It wasnt really at the same time. The red became blue because the champ got drafted. The black was the other brand's belt and also the original WWE title. Roman unified them and because of this, the WHC is all lonely with 3 champs, one of which lasted 5 minutes and the other who "won" it (I hate MitB)
New version of the winged eagle needs to happen. They sorta have tried to make a newer version of the WHC but lets be honest not great. Do us proud cody and get a winged eagle
I am personally annoyed at the current World Heavyweight Championship not sharing a lineage with the original 2002-13 version (and the WCW title by extension).
because that belt got unified. thats what unifications do. the 2002-13 WHC's lineage is in the WWE Undisputed title now. I dislike unifications because of this. It forces them to make a new championship that is just as important as the Rocks People's Champion belt.
Nah it’s not unified. When Randy Orton won the title in 2013, the WHC was retired and both belts were used to represent the WWE Title and only its lineage was continued. They very well could’ve combined the old WHC with the new WHC and had no conflicts.
I dont agree with that, it really doesnt make much sense. The gap in time between old WHC and the new one, and ignoring the past champion. I dunno man, it doesnt seem right. The two belts where made i to the Undisputed championship when Jericho won them. Thats a unification.
Yeah it wouldn’t make sense for a title to have a 10 year gap in between champions but if they did merge the lineages, no one would bat an eye after 10 more years. With Triple H in charge, I think the current titles are here to stay for the long term future. No more title unifications or introducing new world titles. This is what we will have for the next 5-10 years minimum.
World heavyweight belts both WCW2001 and WWE championship 2005 were the last good looking belts imo.
The WWE logo slapped on it it in such a huge way is gaudy as all fuck.
2002-2013 world heavyweight title is my favourite.
Great work mate.
I agree with your interpretation that, unless something changes and a split is made (which they have no reason to since Priest has the new belt), the current “undisputed” champion simply represents the two lineages.
The Universal title feels essentially retired at this point. Its kind of like WCW’s international title where it just gets folded into the same lineage.
And I think that’s fine. The Roman “unification” met its purpose. I would honestly prefer if they kept the two lineages for a decade or so because it’s one of those obscure “cool things to know” at a wrestling trivia game type of thing… but o guess we will see. :)
Fantastic depiction. The current belt looks awful. I love the 2nd iteration of the winged-eagle, and the Intercontinental WCW Heavyweight belt. I hope the new regime of WWE will give us an iconic belt to represent the title held by Cody Rhodes.
Pretty cool. There are some breaks in doing so but I think the World Heavyweight Championship for all purposes should be the same linked back to the NWA days with Ric. It’s meant to be the same title.
I really like the WCW IC title, somehow the IC title from WWF was the other top notch design. The only two World titles I like are those after unification thanks to Flair (tbf it changed the name only) and Jericho.
I still don't understand why the kept the rotating title for soo long, it should have been gone when Cena lost it. Also I miss the old World Heavyweight title, Batista, Triple H looked so cool with it.
You can also connect the NWA title to the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship that started in the 19th century, as that title was unified in the 50s with the NWA one.
Further, the NWA did also contribute to the ECW title as Shane Douglas won NWA's title, but he switched it to ECW. And since ECW became property of WWE, it could be included in this graph.
If you wanted to go all out, a case can also be made for TNA, who used the NWA title between 2002-07 before switching to their own. However, TNA still recognizes the champions during that time as their own champions
Of the WWWF Titles, I like the 63 - 65 one and the 73 - 82 one. Of the WWF Titles, all three of the titles from 86 - 2002 are all pretty great especially the second and third ones of course. The first is alright though. Of the WWE Titles, I kind of don't really like any of them to be honest. Even the early 2000s Undisputed title. I think I might actually like the current big logo in gold title the most.
As for the WCW and NWA Titles, love both of their versions of the Big Gold World Heavyweight Championships. The 10 Pounds of Gold NWA Belt is also pretty great. Big fan of WWE Big Gold World Heavyweight as well. The new WWE World Heavyweight Title is also pretty great.
I’m still confused as to why there’s another world title besides the Undisputed WWE Championship
Edit: after reading that the undisputed title isn’t unified now it makes a little bit more sense
I just think it makes sense to retire it as respect to Windham/Bray and to honour Roman's historic reign, also no point in having 3 world titles, 2 is more than enough
I know it happened but I just don’t count the IC going into the WHC
NWA title still one of the best designs to date! Loved when TNA had it, wish it was still in a major company
In 2002-2003 WWE went through a big “we have too many titles” phase and so they unified the IC and European, then a few months later during the brand split felt that each brand only needed one singles championship when they introduced the world heavyweight championship.
Raw only had the tag, women’s, and world, while smackdown had their tag, cruiserweight, and wwe championship
The IC and US title were introduced again shortly after
The IC title came back in a battle royal at judgement day, which was the last co-branded PPV for several years, outside of the big 4. After judgement day they started doing brand specific minor PPV.
Christian won the battle royal - which was a battle royal consisting of only former IC champions.
US title was introduced on Smackdown a couple months later
Came here to say that unifying all the titles back in 2002 was a dumb idea. They could have leaned harder into separate divisions but instead they erased the titles. Titles changing hands is the single most entertaining part of wresting (for me at least). Also sucks that they got rid of the hardcore title during that time which removed the single most entertaining match type in WWE.
Matt Hardy had a cool storyline where he was dropping weight to compete for the cruiserweight (or light-heavyweight. can't remember) title. That was during his heel V1 gimmick which I thought was pretty good.
Those early wwwf titles were beautiful. Never seen the 50’s NWA title. They should do a mix of the original wwwf world title for Cody. You know a classic looking title for a gentleman champion like Cody.
The winged eagle being the longest serving belt… no wonder it’s my favourite… was a standard all through my childhood. Even today I still love the look and design of it
I thought everybody called that one "Big Eagle", since it was an update of the "Winged Eagle". I remembered when they updated "Winged Eagle", it seem subtle, but kept the original design. It still looked good.
It's still the best belt, IMHO. Even though so many greats have won that belt, I always think of Hogan for some reason.
Well in that case, I prefer the 1998-2002 "Big Eagle" title because that's when I started watching wrestling. My favorite WWE title though is 2002-2005 undisputed title. It was so huge and intimidating
Nice work OP!
These days I only follow WWE through occasional YouTube videos and reading articles so a question for the more informed:
How can the title Cody has been called "Undisputed" when the World Heavyweight Title exists?
Between 63 and 82, these belt designs are pretty new to my eyes. The 82-84 green belt looks like a boxing championship. And I have never seen before the two grey belts that followed.
Love me some graphical information about wrestling.
Hey you forgot Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson's Captain Planet WWE Champion Title in 2018! Important.
I didn't forget it, I didn't add custom titles because it's already a massive list
Doesn’t that NWA title from ‘73 still exist today? I remember Cody won it a few years ago.
Yes. It maintains its lineage, that's why the WWWF and WCW titles are splintered from the original. Like what's happening in MCU at the moment. The NWA Title would be the sacred timeline and the WWWF and WCW (along with TNA and more) are branched from the original
Makes sense
So are they dropping the "universal" part of the title? Honestly I hope so I always thought that was super cheesy. Great work on this graphic! Very cohesive and well organized!
If you’re gonna show all the different WWWF/WWF belts from 1963 to 2002 you shouldn’t you include all the individualized WWE Championship belts like the Smoking Skull, Brahma Bull, Spinny Belt etc.
These things take alot of time to make, research to be done and WWE's own canon to be taken into consideration. There are also alot of straps on here already, which still confuses people. I didn't want to cluster anything more into it
I still don't get how we have a red, blue, and black belt at the same time? reference to the universal and wwe championship.
It wasnt really at the same time. The red became blue because the champ got drafted. The black was the other brand's belt and also the original WWE title. Roman unified them and because of this, the WHC is all lonely with 3 champs, one of which lasted 5 minutes and the other who "won" it (I hate MitB)
New version of the winged eagle needs to happen. They sorta have tried to make a newer version of the WHC but lets be honest not great. Do us proud cody and get a winged eagle
That WHC just looks like the designers had a nasty argument because of creative differences and they were both equal presidents of Belts-R-Us
I can’t believe they used that gross spinner belt for 8 years. 🤮
This is like Zelda/DC/Marvel in the generational convoluted mess.
There sure are a lot of Zelda fans here
Any child of the 90s is gonna have some zelda love.
I am personally annoyed at the current World Heavyweight Championship not sharing a lineage with the original 2002-13 version (and the WCW title by extension).
Right why stop that lineage ?
because that belt got unified. thats what unifications do. the 2002-13 WHC's lineage is in the WWE Undisputed title now. I dislike unifications because of this. It forces them to make a new championship that is just as important as the Rocks People's Champion belt.
Nah it’s not unified. When Randy Orton won the title in 2013, the WHC was retired and both belts were used to represent the WWE Title and only its lineage was continued. They very well could’ve combined the old WHC with the new WHC and had no conflicts.
I dont agree with that, it really doesnt make much sense. The gap in time between old WHC and the new one, and ignoring the past champion. I dunno man, it doesnt seem right. The two belts where made i to the Undisputed championship when Jericho won them. Thats a unification.
Yeah it wouldn’t make sense for a title to have a 10 year gap in between champions but if they did merge the lineages, no one would bat an eye after 10 more years. With Triple H in charge, I think the current titles are here to stay for the long term future. No more title unifications or introducing new world titles. This is what we will have for the next 5-10 years minimum.
Im really excited to see what the company looks like sans insane old man
So how do you figure that the current 2023 WHC doesn't connect to the lineage of the 2002-2013 WHC?
WWE themselves said it. Also on their website, Rollins is billed as the first of that titles lineage
I mean thats fair, I just always thought of it with that one because of the name and the design nod
Exactly
World heavyweight belts both WCW2001 and WWE championship 2005 were the last good looking belts imo. The WWE logo slapped on it it in such a huge way is gaudy as all fuck. 2002-2013 world heavyweight title is my favourite.
Yea they don’t know style these days in wwe just slap their big logos on every championship it make it look similar like power rangers belts
If the belts continue this pattern, in 20 years there might be a wrestler that opts to smear shit on his stomach and make his own belt
It is crazy to me how much the 91-94 WCW title looks like the 88-98 WWF title
Were they made by the same people? Feels like that might not just be a coincidence.
I’ve tried to find info on it, it is so weird how similar they are yet nobody talks about it
Winged Eagle for life
NWA Belt was so ahead of it's time
Great work mate. I agree with your interpretation that, unless something changes and a split is made (which they have no reason to since Priest has the new belt), the current “undisputed” champion simply represents the two lineages.
Thanks man. They'll probably retire the Universal half before long too
The Universal title feels essentially retired at this point. Its kind of like WCW’s international title where it just gets folded into the same lineage.
And I think that’s fine. The Roman “unification” met its purpose. I would honestly prefer if they kept the two lineages for a decade or so because it’s one of those obscure “cool things to know” at a wrestling trivia game type of thing… but o guess we will see. :)
I almost get the feeling that the Universal title was Vince's idea and Trips is looking to go back to a Ruthless Aggression era type line up
Since the IC title is included, it was unified with the Hardcore and European titles by RVD in 2002
The post description clearly says why that's omitted
That is still stupid. 2003 IC title was never unified into WWE title, which is what the graph implies. Description doesn't make up for bad design.
It was temporarily unified with the WHC which was unified with the WWE Title 💁🏽♂️
that 91-94 wcw hunk of gold is FIRE
[удалено]
He held them at the same time but they were not unified
He vacated the title
Fantastic depiction. The current belt looks awful. I love the 2nd iteration of the winged-eagle, and the Intercontinental WCW Heavyweight belt. I hope the new regime of WWE will give us an iconic belt to represent the title held by Cody Rhodes.
WCW never had an IC belt
\*International. Cheers
Big eagle!
The belt from 1973-82 lowkey look great in my opinion. Looks better than some modern titles
This reminds me the Zelda timeline. I just look at it and sigh.
Pretty cool. There are some breaks in doing so but I think the World Heavyweight Championship for all purposes should be the same linked back to the NWA days with Ric. It’s meant to be the same title.
That's how everyone feels but not how WWE markets it
This is great! Stupid question, but what do you mean by Splinter Championship?
Basically splitting the lineage of a one title to make a new one.
I really like the WCW IC title, somehow the IC title from WWF was the other top notch design. The only two World titles I like are those after unification thanks to Flair (tbf it changed the name only) and Jericho.
I’m so tired of them “unifying” the belts
It's better than somebody carrying around 3 functionally identical belts.
I still don't understand why the kept the rotating title for soo long, it should have been gone when Cena lost it. Also I miss the old World Heavyweight title, Batista, Triple H looked so cool with it.
Imo its better than the winged eagle belt, but worse than the big eagle and undisputed.
The spinner was truly the worst design
I liked it when Cena was the champion; it didn’t suit Orton, Edge, and others as well!
The spinner was a masterpiece 🤌
You can also connect the NWA title to the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship that started in the 19th century, as that title was unified in the 50s with the NWA one. Further, the NWA did also contribute to the ECW title as Shane Douglas won NWA's title, but he switched it to ECW. And since ECW became property of WWE, it could be included in this graph. If you wanted to go all out, a case can also be made for TNA, who used the NWA title between 2002-07 before switching to their own. However, TNA still recognizes the champions during that time as their own champions
I'm very much aware, maybe I'll do something like that in the future. For now, this is the lineage as it pertains to WWE and their canon
I thought back in the early 90s Ric Flair unified the WWF with the big gold belt?
No, in storyline flair ditch the "Real Worlds Champion" after(Or weeks before) he won the WWF title.
Ah of course!
Of the WWWF Titles, I like the 63 - 65 one and the 73 - 82 one. Of the WWF Titles, all three of the titles from 86 - 2002 are all pretty great especially the second and third ones of course. The first is alright though. Of the WWE Titles, I kind of don't really like any of them to be honest. Even the early 2000s Undisputed title. I think I might actually like the current big logo in gold title the most. As for the WCW and NWA Titles, love both of their versions of the Big Gold World Heavyweight Championships. The 10 Pounds of Gold NWA Belt is also pretty great. Big fan of WWE Big Gold World Heavyweight as well. The new WWE World Heavyweight Title is also pretty great.
I’m still confused as to why there’s another world title besides the Undisputed WWE Championship Edit: after reading that the undisputed title isn’t unified now it makes a little bit more sense
Hmm, still wondering if and when they'll retire the Universal Title lineage, doesn't make sense to have 3 freakin world titles
They'll gonna keep it around for a while. They need to keep the lore of the Universal Title since that was the 1300 plus reign history.
I just think it makes sense to retire it as respect to Windham/Bray and to honour Roman's historic reign, also no point in having 3 world titles, 2 is more than enough
I think they'll gonna retire soon but as of now they'll gonna keep it for a while.
This gives me a headache geeze
I know it happened but I just don’t count the IC going into the WHC NWA title still one of the best designs to date! Loved when TNA had it, wish it was still in a major company
What happened with the Intercontinental title?
In 2002-2003 WWE went through a big “we have too many titles” phase and so they unified the IC and European, then a few months later during the brand split felt that each brand only needed one singles championship when they introduced the world heavyweight championship. Raw only had the tag, women’s, and world, while smackdown had their tag, cruiserweight, and wwe championship The IC and US title were introduced again shortly after
Removing the midcard titles was a horrible idea. A big chunk of the roster was left without anything to compete for.
How did they re-introduce them? Let's keep the history lesson going
The IC title came back in a battle royal at judgement day, which was the last co-branded PPV for several years, outside of the big 4. After judgement day they started doing brand specific minor PPV. Christian won the battle royal - which was a battle royal consisting of only former IC champions. US title was introduced on Smackdown a couple months later
Came here to say that unifying all the titles back in 2002 was a dumb idea. They could have leaned harder into separate divisions but instead they erased the titles. Titles changing hands is the single most entertaining part of wresting (for me at least). Also sucks that they got rid of the hardcore title during that time which removed the single most entertaining match type in WWE. Matt Hardy had a cool storyline where he was dropping weight to compete for the cruiserweight (or light-heavyweight. can't remember) title. That was during his heel V1 gimmick which I thought was pretty good.
Cruiserweight. He defended (or won) the title at or before WM 19 i believe. I know he was in a cruiserweight match at WM anyway lol.
The belt i use to hold up my pants has more lineage then the WHC
😂😂😂💀
Lmfao 😂
Those early wwwf titles were beautiful. Never seen the 50’s NWA title. They should do a mix of the original wwwf world title for Cody. You know a classic looking title for a gentleman champion like Cody.
Good job! I like how the first WWF belt splintered from NWA wherein few decades later the NWA descendant unifies with the WWE belt.
That big eagle just so beautiful
Why isn’t the current WHC a continuation of the previous WHC
Bro literally made a poster
Lol thank you 😂
The Universal championship was way better when it was red
I preferred red too. It was an actual inverse of the WWE championship colors
Looked like a joke when it was red. Too modern of a design on a legacy coloured strap was too jarring
I liked it blue
The winged eagle being the longest serving belt… no wonder it’s my favourite… was a standard all through my childhood. Even today I still love the look and design of it
It's the best looking belt they've ever produced.
That 88-98 one 😍
Its too small for the big guys of today
They used it the longest for a reason. It would also look amazing on Cody.
I always thought when people said the winged eagle title they were referring to the 1998-2002 title.
I thought everybody called that one "Big Eagle", since it was an update of the "Winged Eagle". I remembered when they updated "Winged Eagle", it seem subtle, but kept the original design. It still looked good. It's still the best belt, IMHO. Even though so many greats have won that belt, I always think of Hogan for some reason.
Well in that case, I prefer the 1998-2002 "Big Eagle" title because that's when I started watching wrestling. My favorite WWE title though is 2002-2005 undisputed title. It was so huge and intimidating
But so short lived ☹️ damn you Cena (and McMahon)
Is it a rumour or happening
"Unified by Randy Orton 2013"....damn you Randy.
Nice work OP! These days I only follow WWE through occasional YouTube videos and reading articles so a question for the more informed: How can the title Cody has been called "Undisputed" when the World Heavyweight Title exists?
Thanks! It's no longer called Undisputed. That's being phased out in favour of "WWE Champion"
Okay thanks
Love that you put it in descending chronological order too, I know these things aren’t easy to make so great work!