Since its introduction in 1963, the top prize in wrestling, the WWE Championship — Originally the World Wide Wrestling Federation World’s Championship — has been re-named and redesigned several times. This is as comprehensive a list as I’m able to put together with the resources available to me at this time.
Unfortunately, WWWF/WWF/WWE history before the early 1980s is not as well-documented as basically everything is today; A lot of video tape from before the era of VHS doesn’t exist anymore, and unless somebody wrote it down, we don’t necessarily know exactly when some of these changes were made. I’ve done my best to provide accurate dates for everything, but as wrestling historians continue to compare notes and figure out history, some of the details from 1963-1984 may turn out to be slightly inaccurate. There may also be some slight variations on one or two of the belts that I am unaware of. If you know of any, please feel free to let me know in the comments! I’d love to update this and make it as comprehensive as possible.
Mostly, I just like studying the designs of various wrestling and championship belts, and looking at their evolution over the years.
World Wide Wrestling Federation
In 1963, Vincent J. McMahon was snubbed by the National Wrestling Alliance, when they refused to make the Capitol Wresting Corporation’s top star, “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, the NWA World Champion. In response, McMahon pulled his Northeastern regional promotion out of the NWA, re-named the CWC into the “World Wide Wrestling Federation,” and on April 11, 1963, introduced the first WWWF Championship belt:
April 1963 until sometime later in 1963.
The original World Wide Wrestling Federation Championship was awarded to “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers for winning a kayfabe tournament in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and defeating Antonio Rocca in the finals. The ring in center holds a photograph of the champion’s face. It’s believed that this particular belt was something like a defunct United States Championship from another promotion since the “World’s Champion” plate is clearly added after-the-fact.
Even though this belt was introduced on 11 April 1963, the WWWF at-the-time recognized Rogers as world champion going back go 25 January 1963. Today, WWE recognizes Rogers’ reign and the establishment of the championship as beginning on 25 April 1963. Strange!
Buddy Rogers got sick shortly after the formation of the WWWF, and was defeated for the championship by Bruno Sammartino on May 17, 1963. The only two wrestlers to have held this belt are Buddy Rogers and Bruno Sammartino.
1963-1965
This was the first replacement championship, and was introduced during Bruno Sammartino’s historic eight-year reign as champion. Bruno was officially the only wrestler to have held this particular belt. However, there exist photographs of both Buddy Rogers and Sammartino holding both this belt AND the previous design. Likely, for the sake of consistency, the WWWF made after-the-fact photos with Rogers holding the updated championship belt for promotional photos.
1965-1971
Bruno’s second championship belt is a refinement on the previous design. The sideplate on the left reads “Bruno Sammartino World Wide Wrestling Federation Champion,” and the right sideplate reads “Defeated Buddy Rogers May 17, 1963 Madison Square Garden.” I’ve seen versions with the plates seemingly cast in silver or nickel instead of gold, but I’m going to presume that’s due to the photographs originally being in black-and-white.
Sammartino was defeated by Ivan Koloff on January 18, 1971 at Madison Square Garden. Allegedly, it was so unbelievable that the crowd went silent. Less than a month later, Koloff was defeated by Pedro Morales.
1971-1972
This belt was only ever held by Pedro Morales, for around a year. It was replaced during his reign. It’s 50+ years old, it wasn’t around for very long, and there aren’t a lot of good photographs of it.
1972-1973
During Pedro Morales’ reign, the WWWF re-joined the National Wrestling Alliance. The WWWF World’s Heavyweight Championship was re-named the WWWF Heavyweight Champion, removing the “World.” The Eagle on this one looks awkward, with a long neck, and cast in nickel on a gold-plated belt.
1973-1983*
A refinement of the above design; The Eagle is now swooping, with two wrestlers grappling above it, indicating that this is, in fact, a wrestling championship. This belt was held by Pedro Morales, Stan Stasiak, Bruno Sammartino, “Superstar” Billy Graham, and Bob Backlund. The general design of this belt would maintain for around a decade, although some champions put their own spin on it:
1977-1978
“Superstar” Billy Graham took the previous design, and replaced the black strap with a bright red one.
1978
Bob Backlund replaced Graham’s red strap with a blue one, and the background of the plates have been cleaned up significantly. The top two jewels on the center plate are also clear instead of blue. There is possibly a silver or nickel-plated version of this particular belt. But that may just be old, unreliable photography catching the reflection.
In March of 1979, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was re-named the World Wrestling Federation, and the name of the championship was changed accordingly.
1979-1983
Backlund later replaced the blue strap with a lighter blue, almost lavender strap. The jewels were also replaced.
On 30 November 1979, Backlund lost this championship to Japanese wrestling star, Antonio Inoki in Tokushima, Japan. The title was vacated less than a week later, and re-won by Backlund. These matches never aired on American television, and went unrecognized by WWE until a brief mention on a 2022 episode of Smackdown, where Inoki’s win was acknowledged, but it was clarified that “due to the controversial nature of the championship match, his reign was never officially recognized.” Backlund re-gained the title on 17 December 1979 by defeating Bobby Duncum in a Texas Deathmatch.
The New York Athletic Commission vacated the championship after a controversial match between Bob Backlund and Greg Valentine in Madison Square Garden on 19 October 1981. Backlund won a rematch in MSG on 21 November 1981.
WWE officially do not recognize either of Backlund’s losses during this time, and consider the whole period as one uninterrupted reign.
In 1983, “Superstar” Billy Graham destroyed this particular championship belt. It was replaced the following week with…
The WWF & HULKAMANIA
1983-1984
…this new title belt, with a green strap and large, gold plates. The side plates recognize the previous seven championship reigns, featuring the wrestler’s name, the day the title was won, and the day the title was lost. The last plate reads “Bob Backlund, February 20, 1978” with no date lost, as he was the current champion.
On 26 December 1983, the Iron Sheik had Bob Backlund trapped in his signature Camel Clutch submission hold. Backlund never gave up, but his manager threw in a towel. WWF recognized this as a submission, and awarded the match and the championship to the Iron Sheik. On 23 January 1984, the Iron Sheik was defeated by Hulk Hogan.
1984-1985
Designed by Reggie Parks, this belt is featured on the poster for Wrestlemania 1. The sideplates feature the names and reigns of the previous champions, and the bottom of the center plate reads “WORLD WRESTLING [Hulk Hogan January 23, 1984] FEDERATION”.
The general design of this belt is also shared with the NWA National Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Television Championship, which were also designed by Reggie Parks.
1985
A revised, more defined version of the previous belt, also by Reggie Parks. The banners on the center plate are now recessed with embossed lettering instead of embossed banners with recessed lettering. The eagle’s talons are now more defined, and there’s black paint for better contrast between the various elements. The side plates are now colored to highlighted the previous champions more clearly.
While the previous design was on the Wrestlemania 1 poster, this belt was the one that appeared at the Wrestlemania event.
Oct 19, 1985 – Feb 05, 1988
A complete redesign came less than a year later, featuring two-toned nickel and gold plating, with black paint in the banners to contrast against the “HEAVYWEIGHT WRESTLING CHAMPION” lettering. The globe is painted blue. Side plates feature painted flags of Canada, Japan, USA, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, China, and Italy on the side plates.
This belt was only ever held buy Hulk Hogan, and appeared at both Wrestlemania 2 and 3.
October 1986
It’s unclear to me if this belt ever actually appeared on television. Apparently, it was only used by Hulk Hogan for a couple of weeks in 1986 before being replaced by the previous design. The oval in the center plate can have the champion’s photograph replaced, like the original WWWF Championship. The very tall centerplate harkens back to Bruno Sammartino’s championship belt designs, but updated for the mid-1980s. It’s an interesting design, but it didn’t last for very long.
16 March 1987
In preparation for Wrestlemania 3, this giant championship belt was designed by Reggie Parks, in case André the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan for the world title. While it appeared on TV a few times, it was never officially used on WWF television. A heavily-modified version of this belt was featured in the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 video game and used as the unified “Champion of Champions” belt, if the player defeated the world champions on Raw, Smackdown, and ECW.
05 February 1988 – 29 August 1989
Designed by Reggie Parks, the first version of the “Winged Eagle” belt is dual-plated Nickel & gold, with the “Heavyweight” banner across the eagle’s chest left unpainted.
On the episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event where this belt debuted, André the Giant cheated to defeat champion Hulk Hogan, and sold the Championship to “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase (amusingly, Hogan was wearing the 1985-1988 belt during the pre-taped backstage interview, and then walked out to the ring wearing this new championship). The title was then declared vacant by WWF President Jack Tunney. It was declared that Wrestlemania IV would feature a 14-wrestler tournament to determine the new WWF Champion, which was won by “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
29 August 1988 – 2 April 1989
The second iteration of the Winged Eagle debuted just a few months later, after the first one was damaged. Now, the “Heavyweight” banner was painted, and the belt fastened via velcro at champion Randy Savage’s request. This belt first appeared the night after Summerslam 1988, and was replaced the night after Wrestlemania V.
2 April 1989 – 25 November 1989
Because Hogan was much larger than Randy Savage, the “Winged Eagle” belt was replaced with a third version, now with a longer strap with proper brass fasteners. The “Heavyweight” banner was again left unpainted. This particular belt was destroyed by Mr. Perfect on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event.
26 November 1989 – 13 April 1990
The fourth iteration of the “Winged Eagle” belt is similar to the 2nd version, with the painted “Heavyweight” banner, but the curved side bars are longer. The above photo is actually the 2nd version, because I’m unable to find a clear photo of this short-lived variation.
ULTIMATE WARRIOR’S BELTS
Upon the Ultimate Warrior’s winning of the WWF Championship, he frequently replaced the strap of the “Winged Eagle” belt. The white strap came two weeks after he won the title at Wrestlemania VI. That was replaced with the baby blue version in July. In October, the title got a white strap with a red backing. In November, the black strap returned. And in January, a new, purple strap debuted.
None of these versions of the belt were dual-plated, and the Winged Eagle belt would only ever be gold-planet going forward. The belts pictured above are “WWE”-logo replicas, as WWE no longer has the rights to sell “WWF”-branded merchandise, and there were, as far as I can tell, never any studio photos taken of the actual re-strapped belts Warrior held in 1990-1991.
November 1990 – 30 March 1998
The black-strapped all-gold “Winged Eagle” belt debuted during Warrior’s reign, but disappeared for the early part of 1991. When Hogan won the purple-strapped version from Sgt. Slaughter at Wrestlemania VII, the black-strapped version was brought back into rotation, and remained THE WWF Championship for the next seven years. In 1992, part of one of the wings snapped off, and it was eventually replaced at Summerslam 1993. In 1997, the WWF logo bent back and eventually snapped off. Additionally, the belt was re-strapped a few times throughout the years. But the design didn’t change for the reigns of Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Yokozuna, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid, or the first 24 hours of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s first WWF Championship reign.
ATTITUDE
30 March 1998 – 28 July 1998
Debuting the night after Wrestlemania XIV, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was awarded this larger, blue-strapped WWF Championship belt designed by JMar. During the first four months of Austin’s holding the title, the strap would become so stained in sweat, oil, and beer that it turned black. Part of one of the side bars snapped off. Kane held this belt for 24 hours in June. The inner side plates feature the McMahon family crest.
28 July 1998
The “Smoking Skull” Belt was a custom championship designed by JMar for Stone Cold Steve Austin. The strap has a rattlesnake skin pattern on the back. Allegedly, Vince McMahon was unaware of the new title design until it debuted on TV, and disliked the change until fan feedback was overwhelmingly positive. This belt also became part of storylines in 1999 and was subsequently won and worn by both The Undertaker and The Rock.
15 November 1998 – 31 January 2000
Debuting at the 1998 Survivor Series, the new iteration of the “Big Eagle” belt began with a black strap, and had the block “WWF” logos replaced with the company’s new “scratch” logos. This belt was initially won by The Rock, who traded it back-and-forth with Mankind over the winter of 1998-1999. Steve Austin won it at Wrestlemania XV, subsequently lost it to the Undertaker in the spring, regained it, lost it to Mankind at Summerslam, who lost it to Triple H the next night on Raw. Vince McMahon himself won this belt in September of 1999, but vacated it immediately when it was won again by Triple H. Big Show won the title at Survivor Series 1999, losing it back to Triple H on the 03 January 2000 episode of Raw.
31 January 2000 – 01 April 2002
The third version of the “Big Eagle” Championship is identical tot he last, but the main WWF “Scratch” logo on the top-center of the belt is correctly proportioned and painted white. This version was held by Triple H, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho.
Unused
JMar designed this custom “Brahma Bull” Championship for The Rock, inspired by his bicep tattoo. This belt was never used on WWF Television, but has been depicted and merchandised enough that it warrants showcasing here.
01 April 2002 – 21 July 2002
After the WWF bought competitor World Championship Wrestling, they imported all of the WCW championships, including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The two titles were won by Chris Jericho at December 2001’s Vengeance Pay Per View. He paraded around with both the WWF and WCW Championship belts, dubbed the “Undisputed WWF Champion” until he was defeated by Triple H at Wrestlemania X8. A couple of weeks later, the two belts were replaced with this new, “Undisputed” Championship belt that features elements from both the WWF and WCW Championship belts, and retained the McMahon family crest on the inner side plates. Triple H lost the title to a returning Hulk Hogan in May, who lost it to The Undertaker in June.
On 06 May 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was re-named World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and all of its championships had their names changed accordingly.
GET THE “F” OUT
21 July 2002 – 05 Sept 2002
This is a significantly larger championship belt that was debuted the night that The Rock won the championship from The Undertaker in a triple-threat match that also included Kurt Angle at Vengeance 2002. Other than the size difference, the “WWF” logos were (finally) replaced with “WWE” logos, the banner in the center had the company’s name updated. The “WWF” logos etched into the leather strap were replaced with “WWE” logos.
The version photographed above is a WWE Shop replica version that had black paint applied amongst the filagree designs.
When Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock for the championship at Summerslam, it became exclusive to Smackdown. Brock also had the strap modified so that it would fit around his waist comfortably.
05 September 2002 – 14 April 2005
WWE finalized the Undisputed Championship belt design in the fall of 2002. This belt was smaller than the version that debuted in July, but larger than the “WWF” version of the belt from April. There was no black paint in the filigree, but the shield in the McMahon Family crest on the side plates were painted black. This belt was also held by The Big Show, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, JBL, and was last held by John Cena, who won it at Wrestlemania 21.
Around the time that this version of the belt was debuted, WWE slowly phased out the word “Undisputed” from the Championship’s name, just referring to it as the “WWE Championship,” as a new World Championship had debuted on Raw.
14 April 2005 – 08 August 2005
In 2004, at the height of spinning hubcap popularity in hip-hop culture, John Cena, who was running a white rapper gimmick at the time, temporarily replaced the WWE United States Championship with one that had a spinning center plate. Shortly after Cena won the WWE Championship from John “Bradshaw” Layfield at Wrestlemania 21, he debuted this new belt with a spinning “WWE” logo in the center.
The oval under the word “Champ” can be replaced with each champion’s name, denoting who the belt currently belongs to.
08 August 2005 – 13 February 2008
Shortly after John Cena was drafted from Smackdown to Raw, they had the side plate on the right, which had a “Smack Down!” design, replaced with one that read “MON•NITE RAW.” This belt was also held by Edge, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton, and Triple H.
21 August 2006 – 17 September 2006
For about a month in 2006, Edge held the WWE Championship and the spinning “WWE” logo was replaced with Edge’s “Rated R Superstar” logo. It still spun.
13 February 2008 – 18 February 2013
After nearly three years, WWE locked the spinning mechanism in place on the championship. They also replaced the brand-specific side plates with generic “WWE Champion” plates. This belt was won by Edge, Triple H, Randy Orton, Dave Batista, John Cena, Sheamus, The Miz, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, and The Rock.
22 November 2010 – 01 May 2011
During The Miz’s title reign as WWE Champion, he had the “WWE” logo in the center plate locked upside-down, as he often used an upside-down WWE logo as his official “Miz” Logo. When he was defeated by John Cena at Extreme Rules 2011, the logo was uprighted again.
18 February 2013 – 18 August 2014
A couple of weeks after The Rock ended CM Punk’s 434-day WWE Championship reign, The Rock debuted this brand-new design, crafted by the Orange County Choppers crew, and jeweled by renowned championship belt designer Dave McMillan. The circle parts of the side plates can be removed and replaced with custom logos for each champion.
The Rock was defeated for the title by John Cena at Wrestlemania 29. Cena lost the belt to Daniel Bryan at Summerslam 2013, who lost it to Randy Orton. Orton unified this belt with the World Heavyweight Championship, and was defeated for the unified titles by Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania XXX in a triple-threat match that also featured Batista. Bryan was forced to vacate the belt due to a neck injury, and it was won by John Cena who lost it to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014.
ROMAN EMPIRE
18 August 2014 – 02 June 2023
After Brock Lesnar beat Cena for the unified WWE and World Heavyweight Championships, he was awarded this new “WWE World Heavyweight Champion” title. Again, the circular section of the side plates can be customized for each wrestler. This version was also crafted by Orange County Choppers.
The list of who held this title over its nine-year run as the top belt in WWE is a who’s who of superstars, including Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Sheamus, Triple H, A.J. Styles, John Cena, Bray Wyatt, Jinder Mahal, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre, The Miz, Bobby Lashley, and Big E.
12 December 2017
Appearing on just one episode of Smackdown while being held by “The Phenomenal One” A.J. Styles (hence his custom logo side plates), this version of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship has the red “stripe” under the “WWE” logo cast in black. The leather texture is also slightly different than the previous version. The following week, the black stripe was painted red.
I’m unaware of why the change was made, but it seems that the previous version of the belt was restored shortly after. Unusual and a footnote in the history of the belt’s designs, but I think the black stripe looks kinda cool, hence its inclusion.
29 January 2019 – 07 April 2019
During Daniel Bryan’s reign as WWE champion, this version of the belt is made of 100% eco-friendly, sustainable materials. The strap is made of hemp, the plates are wood, and the “jewels” are all turquoise stones. This belt was won by Kofi Kingston at Wrestlemania 35, and replaced the next night with the regular leather-and-gold version of this design.
02 June 2023 – Current
At Wrestlemania 38, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, unifying the two top prizes in the company. 14 months later, Roman’s reign as Universal Champion reached 1000 days. The two belts were replaced with this new “Undisputed WWE Universal Championship” belt that featured gold behind the WWE logo and black stones in the logo itself. Presumably this belt was also crafted by Orange County Choppers.
A week after Cody Rhodes won the title at Wrestlemania XL in 2024, the name was shortened to just the “Undisputed WWE Champion,” though it is often just called the “WWE Championship” again.
HISTORY
So what happened to all of the previous championship belts?
Well, as noted, several of the belts were destroyed or broken over the years. But for the rest, as far as anyone knows, many of them are in Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s office at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
This photo from 2014, as Triple H is meeting with Jim “Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig before Warrior’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame at Wrestlemania XXX weekend, you can see the inaugural Buddy Rogers title above the TV. In the left cabinet there’s Bruno’s 1965-1971 belt, one of the 1973 belts that debuted during Pedro Morales’ reign, the “Big Green” Backlund/Sheik/Hogan belt from 1983-84, and the one of the 1988-1998 “Winged Eagle” titles. In the right cabinet is the 1998 “Big Eagle” Attitude Era belt, the 2002 Undisputed Championship, John Cena’s 2005 Spinner belt, and the 2013 “Big Scratch” belt.
So there’s a look at most of the variations of the WWE Championship over its 60-plus-year run as the pinnacle in Pro Wrestling. Which design is your favorite? Sound off in the comments below!