WWF/E Intercontinental belt

[endo]

In early 1979, after Vince McMahon Sr. decided to add a secondary title in the WWF, Ted DiBiase was brought in as the WW(W)F North American champion. No explanation was given, he just showed up on TV as the NA champ.





Pat Patterson had recently joined the WWF and was booked to win the title from DiBiase.



At some point in mid 1979, McMahon Sr. found out that Bill Watts was using a North American title as his main belt in the Mid South wrestling promotion, and he didn't want the same thing for the WWF.
So, he sent Patterson to a fictitious tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to unify the North and South American titles.
Patterson "won" the tournament and when he got back to the WWF he discarded the NA belt saying that the new Intercontinental title was far more prestigious than just a North American title, and the IC title was born.

The new belt was held by Patterson, Ken Patera, Pedro Morales and Don "Magnificent" Muraco.







At some point during his second IC title reign, Muraco was given a new IC belt on green leather.



When Tito Santana won the belt from Muraco he was given a slightly different belt, also on green leather, which he would lose to Greg Valentine and then regain.









When Santana won the title back from Valentine in a cage match, Valentine became enraged and slammed the belt repeatedly into the posts of the cage destroying it.
Until then, the belts had been made by unknown belt makers using trophy shop parts.

The WWF then talked with Reggie Parks, and what most people consider the "classic" IC belt was born.







Tons of guys held this belt, and it was used into the 90's until it was replaced with a new belt made by J-Mar, or Joe Marshall.
The reason a new belt was made was that Vince Jr wanted exclusive rights the Reggie Parks made belt design, basically so the same design couldn't be used in other promotions or made for collectors.
Reggie said no, and they parted ways.

The new belt was a WWF/E design, and was made J-Mar.





This was used until recently, when the WWE decided to bring back the "classic" IC belt again.
The first incarnation was made by J-Mar, and I guess there were enough slight differences in it from Reggie's original design, that no one got sued.



You can the rough texture on the main plate, slightly different stars, and slightly different banners.

Now, enter Dave Millican, great and respected belt maker in his own right and a protege of Reggie Parks.
Millican made a closer copy to the original classic IC, and updated it to have the WWE logo among other things.



And, I believe it's Millican who makes all of their belts exclusively now, but going off of WWE's creative teams artwork, like the "Penny" tag belts that have the Roman look and feel to them.

[NDX]

Second greatest belt in history, behind only this:

[endo]

The Winged Eagle is one of the best designed belts ever made, and is probably the pinnacle of most collectors collections.
And rightfully so, it's a great looking belt. Reggie hit the perfect one two punch with these. When they brought back the classic IC I was sure the WE or something really close was coming back as the belt to replace the spinner.

I keep hoping the leaked pick of the "shovel" belt is just to throw people off and they'll swerve us, but I don't think Vince cares much about the belts.
Of course, I don't know who got the ball rolling on the classic IC coming back, so I could be wrong. That would be nice.

[NDX]

I have no idea why they brought it back outside of the storyline, but I'm glad they did. They updated it well without taking what made it look good in the first place out of the belt.

[endo]

Yeah, and I'm glad Dave Millican is making their belts now. J-Mar makes nice belts, and I think he's the only one out there with the 3-D etching machine that he used to make the spinner.
Problem with him is if you aren't WWE or some other high profile promotion, it's very hard to get what you ordered from him and paid for.
I know several people who have waited for over 5 years for their belts from him and nothing. And, if anything, they paid more for their belts than WWE as they probably get several at a time.

Now that WWE no longer uses him, he says he's trying to catch up. Sounds like someone else I know.

[NDX]

[endo]

That would be him, lol.

Of the major belt makers out there, Dave and Reggie are the most in the public eye that I've never heard a negative word about.
Reggie is getting older and only really does belts for collectors now, so I'm happy for Dave that he got the gig.

Love to see an updated WE as Dave learned from Reggie and would just tweak what was needed like the IC.

[NDX]

Well, remember, WWF did do an updated WE back during the Attitude Era.

[endo]

That's the "Big Eagle" and was a J-Mar. I liked it a lot, but I don't consider it an updated WE, I look at that one as it's own entity.
I'd like to see a Millican made WE with the minimal tweaks done to the classic IC. Same design as the WE over all, just with the WWE logo and some other small tweaks.
Who knows what they'll end up using. I just hope it's not the leaked pic, but judging by them using the spinner for so long, it probably will be. Again, I'd really like to be wrong about that.

[NDX]

But you can see how a lot of the WE is in that belt. It shows an evolution of the times. Shame we don't get that anymore.

[endo]

Oh yeah. Still has the bars on the side and the eagle, and it was a great belt. I marked out big time when Vince presented it to Austin.
I wouldn't be upset with something like this being the new belt.

J-Mars art is and was always sub par to Reggies or now Daves, IMO. But he nailed this one. The Smoking Skull Austin had was great too, but too gimmicky for my tastes. Was a great looking belt for him though.

[NDX]

Yeah, for Austin it was fitting. I think this belt would do well today, especially considering the Tag Team Penny-onships.

[endo]

I think it would too. Those tags suck though IMO. Just like I didn't care for the new ECW belt they had. The old classic tag belts were great, the ones the Bulldogs and Money Inc. had. Loved that design.

[NDX]

The late 80s/early 90s was the pinnacle of WWF titles, wasn't it?

[endo]

It definitely was. When they had Parks start making their belts for them, they hit the jack pot. That guy knows how to design a sweet belt.