titles changing hands

[dstebbins]

The old man and I are having a bit of a squabble. Perhaps someone here can shed some light on it.

When a title changes hands in wrestling, is an entirely new belt created, and the old belt is given to the old champion as a "trophy," which becomes just as much their property as a trophy of a legit sport like bowling?

 

[J]

Nope...Don't work that way...Except for when some titles are retired...Some people get to keep them...Like Mic Foley with the Hardcore Championship...I think...

 

[Oasis]

No, I think the old Champions get replica belts, like i saw Chyna had an IC belt in her house, but they don't create a new belt with every champion. Although i'm not positive. And this is in the wrong section......

 

[Ra†ed-Я]

^^ What he said.

They get replica's probably at their own discretion. I doubt RVD has one.

 

[dstebbins]

And this is in the wrong section......

Well where the fuck should it go then, Miss know-it-all? There's no general wrestling section that applies to any company, is there? And isn't this board for ANYTHING?!

 

[★Chuck Zombie★]

Yeah, this thread is fine here.

This question is one that I've wondered about a lot. I know that when someone wins the title (for at least the first time) they have a belt to acknowledge it, but whether they have a professional copy made eash time or the former champion gets a replica is what I don't know.

 

[JJdaBuckeye]

well we know they keep the belt for as long as thier champ, but i dont know what happens when they lose. my guess is that they get a replica, and the real is handed to the next champ. and like someone said, i guess when the belt is retired the best/famous/last champ keeps it.

but wasn't their an incident that a former WWE superstar had one of the belts he won, and the WWE wanted it back since he was going to TNA but he refused to return it?

 

[The Outkast Kid]

I saw a rock promo and he was standing in front of a case with a bunch of old belts that he had won. So either they are made one as a trophy when they win it for the first time or a replica or something. I wonder if stone cold got his belt out of the river. lol

 

[JJdaBuckeye]

lol. come to think of it, i bet after Cena loses his title and they get rid of the spinner im almost 100% sure it will go to Cena, since after all he basically made the title.

 

[Beast Of Wrestling]

Hmmm interesting topic...I believe it depends on how well you held the title or something

 

[This Guy]

to answer your question, its what many have said. There are exceptions. the Hardcore Title was given to Mick Foley as a trophey, and Rhino kept the original ECW Title belt after ECW folded because well there was no one to give it back too. But for the most part if you watch most documentries from Bret Hart, and so on they mention in many of them that they buy replicas if they want to have a trophey case. Also to prove this point I believe it was when Eddie won the title the most common footage you see is him talking to vickie on the phone or hugging vince, dean or Chris or something like that backstage. There is exclusive footage on a DVD (I don't remember which where he is in the dressing room still holding the belt with Lesnars name on it, and someone comes in, takes it and you watch him remove the Lesnar name plate and put Eddie's name on it.

The reason why this is, as good as the replica belts are the originals cost a lot more to manufacture. It would be very expensive to make a new actual belt every time the title changed hands.

 

[dstebbins]

but wasn't their an incident that a former WWE superstar had one of the belts he won, and the WWE wanted it back since he was going to TNA but he refused to return it?

That would be Rhino and the ECW Title, and he didn't refuse to return it because "he was going to TNA." He was already in TNA when that happened. It was the time when he cremated the belt in the bag on TV (though he later admitted that it was just a chunk of alluminum since he still like having the belt as a trophy).

 

[This Guy]

The WWE did try to get the ECW belt back from Rhino when they decided to launch ECW again. There was never any sort of lawsuit or anything it was quite a peaceful chain of events. They never asked for it back earlier because like a lot of the stuff they had gotten from WCW over the years it just sits in a big warehouse collecting dust so it didn't mean much to them. When they decided to relaunch ECW they wanted it back so they asked for it. Technically though the WWE did not have any rights to it. When ECW went bankrupt, everything was sold off to pay of creditors. One of the Creditors was Vince McMahon. Vince took the ECW Video Library as compensasion and nothing else. The Title belts the sets, the licencing even of the name ECW was all sold to various collectors at auctions. Thats why when the WWE did the invasion angle they got sued at the begining, but they worked out and agreement to pay a royalty fee for it. They then later were able to purchase the rights to ECW later when it was up for licencing renewal as the guy who bought it originally couldn't aford to. Since the World Title never appeared at the auction it was never sold and technically belongs to the bank that forclosed on ECW originally. WWE knew that when they asked Rhino for it...so did Rhino so he said he wanted to keep it and the WWE told him no problem, and proceeded to place an order for a new one to be made.

 

[dstebbins]

The WWE did try to get the ECW belt back from Rhino when they decided to launch ECW again. There was never any sort of lawsuit or anything it was quite a peaceful chain of events. They never asked for it back earlier because like a lot of the stuff they had gotten from WCW over the years it just sits in a big warehouse collecting dust so it didn't mean much to them. When they decided to relaunch ECW they wanted it back so they asked for it. Technically though the WWE did not have any rights to it. When ECW went bankrupt, everything was sold off to pay of creditors. One of the Creditors was Vince McMahon. Vince took the ECW Video Library as compensasion and nothing else. The Title belts the sets, the licencing even of the name ECW was all sold to various collectors at auctions. Thats why when the WWE did the invasion angle they got sued at the begining, but they worked out and agreement to pay a royalty fee for it. They then later were able to purchase the rights to ECW later when it was up for licencing renewal as the guy who bought it originally couldn't aford to. Since the World Title never appeared at the auction it was never sold and technically belongs to the bank that forclosed on ECW originally. WWE knew that when they asked Rhino for it...so did Rhino so he said he wanted to keep it and the WWE told him no problem, and proceeded to place an order for a new one to be made.

Two flaws with that story:

1. Rhino said the name "ECW" several times in the cremation-of-the-belt promo, and I doubt Vince would be willing to lend that right to TNA -- their main competition -- for virtually any royalty.

2. Rhino didn't pull the "belt" out of the bag because Vince McMahon threatened legal action if he showed it or an exact duplicate. You can read about that here, so the belt's rights had to be owned by Vince, otherwise he couldn't make that threat.

Clear these problems up without creating more in the process and I'll have no further questions.

 

[This Guy]

Two flaws with that story:

1. Rhino said the name "ECW" several times in the cremation-of-the-belt promo, and I doubt Vince would be willing to lend that right to TNA -- their main competition -- for virtually any royalty.

2. Rhino didn't pull the "belt" out of the bag because Vince McMahon threatened legal action if he showed it or an exact duplicate. You can read about that here, so the belt's rights had to be owned by Vince, otherwise he couldn't make that threat.

Clear these problems up without creating more in the process and I'll have no further questions.

actually there are no flaws in my story. My story takes place before the cremation ceremony.

1) anyone can say ECW on television its not a violation of royalties, TNA mentions WWE by name all the time. The reason WWE was sued during the invasion was because they were promoting part of there own organization with the ECW name they didn't own. There is a difference..ask a lawyer, he'll tell you what I'm telling you is true.

2) that was after the fact that they already told Rhino he could keep it. they found out about the angle and tried to stop it. so yeah after the fact they threatened legal action but again as you should realize by Team 3D coming out with WWE, WCW & ECW Replica Belts as well as the WWE womens title being dumped in the garbage on Nitro years ago, it was really against the law to show the belts on TV, the WWE was more concerned with a repeat performance of Nitro. Even though they don't technically own the belt that Rhino owns, it still represents a company they do. And they could win an unfair buisness tactics suit against TNA if they had shown the belt actually thrown in the garbage. Think about it this way. If WWE actually ligit owned the ECW Belt, and were worried about the angle why sue if it appears? Why not sue Rhino for possesion of stolen merchandise? This would have caused authroities to cease the belt until it was settled in court. The reason, cause they didn't own the actual belt.