Jeff Hardy Ressurected: New TNA World Champion & New Title Belt

[The Eighties]

As the crowd response showed, booking your product by what the 12 year olds buy from your website does not regularly correlate with what the older fans buying the event tickets like. Wrestling hasn't been cool for years, no fan but a kid is going to walk around in merch, but they will go to the shows when they are in town.

Hardy's "redemption is a bad joke given he's fucked up several times and it's all his own fault, just a huge slap in the face to the hard working professionals in the company like Aries, Roode, Storm and Bully. The stupid thing is Hardy marks would continue to buy his stuff and watch the show whether he had the belt or not.

As for ratings being down, instead of blaming Aries badly booked title reign maybe they should look at the fact lots of Impact airtime is taken up by two penioners feuding with a biker gang that consists of faceless nobodies.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Tha match itself was a little... lackluster? I dunno it just didn't feel like a BFG main event. But yeah they did some neat stuff. I don't know what they will do next. I think a rematch with Aries. I think he'll beat him again, and Hardy will eventually drop the belt to...Bully Ray? Yeah I'm really not sure.

 

[jpickens]

One more time time mkay it pays in spades to be in Hogans cool book for the following.
No matter how many times you screw up if he likes you he'll find a way to get a belt around your waist in other words if Hogan weren't in TNA Jeff Hardy would have either been released or demoted to the TV championship or X division championship or be in a tag team.
RVD looks heavier than the 223 limit and last time I check he wasn't even competing in the X division they should've gave Kenny King another shot.
And you can bet grannies false teeth that it won't be long before Anderson has another belt around his waist after all he to came in with Hogan and it won't be long before Brooke is the knockouts champion.

 

[Uncle Sam]

It was a bitter pill to swallow. I'd all but resigned myself to Hardy winning the championship, but that last bit of hope being extinguished was more painful than I'd expected it to be.

Yeah, Jeff, we all believe in second chances - and, let's face it, third and fourth chances in your case. There's a lovely redemption story to be pulled off that there, even if I do think you're a cunt. But I don't think that story was pulled off. Aries wasn't really the heel here, particularly not to the crowd in attendance.

I don't know - I've only just watched it and I'm still getting my thoughts in order. Nice to know I'm not the only one pissing on the parade.

 

[3drinks]

I am so glad to know I am not the only one that feels this way about Hardy. He's untrustworthy. I you'll fuck up on a Pay-Per-View main event once, statistics show you'll do it again. Hardy has shown he shouldn't be put in that position. I do predict that next month we will see Victory Road 2.0; it's all I can predict tbh, because that is what his whole career has been.

Not to mention what this does to Aries, who really got shafted after giving up the X-Division title for one title defense with the world belt.

I'll say this though; this at least wasn't as colossal of a fuck up as the Aces n' Eights revelation...I think one would have to actively try to top that. Because Devon as the leader? C'mon now, that's just asinine. Can Devon even handle a major heel role like that? Just give it to one of the guys from the India tour, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner(who I know has fired verbal shots at the company via Twitter, but would make fantastic sense to be trying to take over) or, my personal preference, give this role to the American Adonis(Chris Mordetzsky) and finally get him back on TV.

 

[SpecialFNK]

the Aces and Eights story line has been a whole lot more entertaining than anything Austin Aries has done recently. you're making a TV show, entertainment matters.

Hardy is also more entertaining than Aries, and certainly much more popular.

as for Aries I think it would have been better if he went from the X division into the mid card, rather than straight into a world title match and winning this first time there.

 

[SpecialFNK]

Jeff Hardy has a new world title belt, looks just like the title he had with Immortal that was purple, except this one is black.

I do think Hardy should be champion, but there was nothing wrong with the title belt they've been using.

 

[SpecialFNK]

here is a better picture of Hardy's belt.

this write up

For those that noticed during tonight's live Impact Wrestling telecast, Jeff Hardy debut a new belt custom World Heavyweight title today. The belt is actually a different design from his original purple colored enigmatic belt. This version is actually a variation of his Omega enigmatic belt which was previously not seen on television. The belt, created by Top Rope belts features a black strap, black colored accents, Swarovski crystals and actually has the ability for the lights to sync to music.

no TNA name anywhere, no wording of world heavyweight champion.
just a wrestler with his own made up belt, that apparently is being used as the TNA world heavyweight championship.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm surprised that TNA are trying this again. I don't like it. It could be worse though. At least this belt isn't as bad as the Immortal design from two years ago, that thing was absolutely hideous. There is really no reason to use such weird belt designs for Hardy while he is the TNA World Champion. That belt doesn't look like a heavyweight title. Much like the Immortal belt it looks more like a strange toy. People give the WWE Championship's current design a hard time, but at least that looks like a championship. The same cannot be said for this new belt design.

Jeff Hardy held both the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship when he was on Smackdown and they did not give weird designs to either one. He looked like a champion holding those belts, and he would have with the previous TNA Championship as well. This thing though? It's a small step up from the Immortal design yet it still does not look like the top prize of a wrestling federation. Making Aries lose the belt was one thing, but I am completely against the decision to make the belt look like that. Just bring back the old design from before the Immortal design, THAT looked like a top prize worth fighting for!

 

[SpecialFNK]

for comparison here is the old purple title belt.

the design on the new one looks better than this, this one looked like a kid came up with the face.

 

[akathelaw]

I'm not sure why the "Vanity Belt" thing is being done in TNA. They are honestly devaluing the championship in my eyes because it just makes every guy who held a previous TNA World Title that much less interesting because their belt was "plain." The belt used for the past year or so that Sting introduced is a great belt design for TNA, it's definitely not the best belt I've ever seen but I liked it. Man, when Anderson won the TNA Title from Jeff and had to carry around that purple monstrosity I was embarrassed for him. Granted the new design is a lot better and the syncing colored lights with the theme music sounds f*cking incredible. I think the belt was introduced to represent a long title reign by Hardy,so I don't expect anyone to take it off of him for a while. In a sane world Aries would get 2 more rematches at PPV's because Hardy and Aries have chemistry. I think TNA needs to pull the trigger on babyface champion Hardy, and build up the heels in the company for him to run over.

 

[UFOcalling]

Yeah, the newest personalized belt for Jeff Hardy looks better than the "Immortal" design; but that's not surprising in the least. It would be pretty hard to make the Immortal belt look worse, unless you smeared it with feces or something.

This new personalized Hardy belt still looks worse to me than the "real" TNA/IW World Heavyweight Championship belt. When Hardy first came out with the "real" belt on Impact earlier tonight, I thought to myself "good, he's not using a personalized belt this time". Then the camera panned away from Hardy for a second or two, while it looked like Hardy was lifting his shirt or something - and then Hardy revealed his new personalized belt (I'm guessing it was under his shirt, around his waist). Since the camera was off Hardy for that brief second while he was switching the belts, I don't know what he did with the "real" Championship belt. I'm guessing he just handed it to a TNA stagehand or something, and they took it to the backstage area while Hardy was in the ring holding his personalized belt high in the air. That was the last time we'll see that title design, at least until Hardy loses the belt again.

I hope that TNA doesn't start treating Hardy's new personalized "Egyptian" belt as the WHC again. Remember when Hardy was still with Immortal, when Anderson won the WHC belt and was walking around with that purple monstrosity? Then Hardy won it back - if I'm not mistaken, and was finally beaten for the title by Sting (and then Sting debuted the "real" WHC the very next week on Impact; again - if I'm not mistaken). When Hardy finally loses the title again, I hope the next Champ uses the "real" design again. Even if the wrestler that beats Hardy only keeps the belt for a month or so (like Anderson did), and then drops it back to Hardy, I hope that the "old" (or "real") design belt is what they carry around with them. When Hardy is finally defeated for the title, it would be kind of silly to debut yet another new title design...but TNA just might do that when Hardy finally drops the belt again.

I actually like the idea of having Jeff Hardy as the Champion again. As it's been said many times before, TNA didn't let him just waltz back into the company and jump right back into the title hunt after the debacle at Victory Road 2011. TNA made him pay his dues for a while, culminating with his recent win at BfG (after winning the tournament). Jeff seems to be on track again, sober and with a great work ethic. As far as I remember, Jeff's only other WHC win in TNA was at BFG 2010 (10/10/10) - when Immortal was formed and Jeff turned heel. Even though Jeff's current title reign is his second as TNA Champ, it's his first run with the TNA title as a babyface.

Putting the title back on their number one face was really a no-brainer for TNA/IW, and it's easy to see why they decided to do so. Aries was doing well as the Champ, and had a great run...but turning Aries back into a heel was an easy decision as well. Since Aries' heel-turn happened so fast (it only happened last week, at the very end of the "go-home" episode of Impact before the BfG PPV), I seriously doubt that the Hardy/Aries feud is anywhere near being over. Obviously tonight's exchange on Impact between Hardy & Aries confirmed that as well (during Hardy's "celebration", when Aries brought him cookies! LOL). Aries will probably invoke his rematch clause at Turning Point next month, and then there will probably be at least one more Hardy/Aries match (maybe even a triple threat with another Impact "superstar") at Final Resolution in December.

I do see Hardy holding the title for a while (at least into early 2013, maybe dropping it in February or March at the earliest), and I don't see Aries winning the title again in his rematch against Hardy; especially now that Aries is a heel again. Also since Hardy debuted his personalized belt again, I doubt that TNA would let him carry that thing around (as opposed to the "real" belt) if they were just gonna take the belt off him again by the next PPV. I'd expect to see Hardy as the TNA Champ well into 2013.

I didn't really think about this until Aries said it on Impact tonight, but Aries had been on quite a long winning streak for over a year now. He hadn't been beaten in a singles match (at least I think) since winning the X-Division title, as far as I remember. Aries might have been pinned in one or two tag matches since his X Division title win back in 2011, but obviously he had been X Division Champ since No Surrender 2011 (that took place in Sep of '11). If he did lose any matches since then, they must have been non-title matches (and I can't remember any singles matches that he lost, unless maybe I'm forgetting one or two that he may have lost by DQ).

Obviously Aries never lost the X Division title, he just traded it in for a shot at Bobby Roode's WHC (back in July, 2012). That means that Aries had held TNA singles gold for over a year (September 2011, when he won the XD title until July 2012, when he won the WHC, then losing the WHC in October 2012). 13 consecutive months holding TNA singles gold is nuts, and something I hadn't really thought about until earlier tonight (when Aries congratulated Hardy for being the first to beat him at a PPV, or whatever he said). It might be a while yet until Aries captures more TNA singles gold, but he really had a great run over the past year.

 

[Spinebreaker]

BFG was a great event. Until the end.

I get the 'redemption' storyline for Hardy, I get that 12 year old girls buy loads of merchandise with his face on. I get that he's popular. I get that he's a legendary Tag-Team wrestler.

I'm bored of his MATCH.

Aries was a phenomenal champion. A superb performer. Classic moves, new moves, variations on moves, innovative stuff. The ONLY reason BFG's main event was a good match was Aries.

Jeff Hardy wrestles the same match, week in, week out. Has done for years.

4 clotheslines
6 kicks
Front Suplex (Usually badly delivered)
Whisper in the Wind
Twist of Fate (Usually about 4 times)
Sometimes a Swanton.

Wow. It takes some reall skill to regularly put on matches more boring than RVD... But Jeff achieves it EVERY time.

There's a show over here in the UK called TNA's greatest Matches (Dunno if you guys over the pond get it.) It shows themed groups of good matches. The other day I saw a Jeff Hardy themed one. 3 matches. In complete seriousness, I saw the Twist of Fate 10 times. Plus 3 or 4 failed attempts...

Aries is 30 times the wrestler Hardy is. Having Jeff employed at all, let alone champion is a bad joke. I'd sooner see the belt on Robbie E.

The rumour is, that Jeff was considering a return to WWE. Tna should have let him.

 

[waylon p]

Hey, SpineBreaker? Just because you are jaded, and therefore bored, does not mean hardy has boring matches. I mean, I am SO with you on this-we have seen his match too many times, and are tired of it. It is still a good match, we are just jaded. Been there, saw that.

I have a buddy who has the same problem with Tara's theme song. "I get it, lady...you broke your neck. Kane west is not still coming out to 'through the wire!' get a new song."
I know for a fact he used to think that song rocked. (makes me wonder...how not young do the girls from tatu look these days, anyway?)

But yeah, me too. I do not want to see too many more "vintage" Jeff Hardy matches any time soon. I would prefer a longer Aries run (I mean, how "old school meets new school" is the "last chancery?") but bottom line and all.....$ is $.

And Johnny Savage? The feces on that belt would be a lateral move.

 

[mr.wrestling iv]

People making a big deal about Hardy's custom made title? Yep. Didn't see this coming?

Doesn't bother me. He had his custom belt when he was in Immortal, if he didn't have his custom made title this time it would had been odd. Heck. If we are going to complain about belts, the belt they are using for the current IW Heavyweight title? Now that title is bad. Wish they would go back to the World title Eric Young was parading around with when he was TV Champion.

Anyone. I have better things to focus then Hardy's vanity championship..

Moving on...

 

[Alex]

Hardy's new belt isn't bad at all. The design itself is quite good, heck you change the face to a more traditional design, make the plates gold and you have a good looking world title belt.

Saying that I find it strange that they're giving him a custom belt (again). In Immortal it made sense somewhat, now it just seems odd, unless they're going to further the storyline with Aries about how Hardy gets everything he asks for.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

I'm fine with the design, I'm not fine with what it does to the actual value of the Championship.

Now I know that for some the belts are only props, but for me they mean something. They're a symbol of how good the holder is. Some of the value is in the name, some depends on who holds it, some depends on how it was won, some depends on how it was carried and a small tiny part depends on the ACTUAL, physical belt itself.

To me, once you switch the designs temporarily, the belt loses some of its power. It's a visual thing for me. I used to associate the original design with Aries, Roode and Storm who had memorable title reigns and proved to be some damn good Champions. Naturally this expectation and value of the championship trickles down to the next Champion. You get flash backs of who held it before and now that SAME belt is in the hands of this new champion.

Remember back in the day when Rocky would hold the WWF title for a while and you'd get so used to him being with it? Then Austin would win it, for example, and now you have to get used to Austin having THAT belt and you can't help but think of how the belt itself carries parts of both Rock and Austin. I remember how disgusted I was with Jericho winning the Undisputed title, and as everyone knows the old WWF belt was one of the two he was parading around with. The main reason why was because I hated Jericho and I associated THAT design with both Rock and Austin who I fucking adored. Every time Jericho would kiss the belt or something like that I'd be so sickened with him because that belt represented all those great heroes like Austin and Rock and now THAT assclown has his lips all over it. That's also why I could never EVER cope with the actual Undisputed title belt. The one JBL carried. I hated that. I could never take it seriously.

Hardy kills that for me. It's completely gone. Now he has his OWN little design which no one else will have. Whoopdeefuckingdoodledoo! Thanks for ruining that little fraction of a chunk of charm that belts have for me.

Not to mention that whoever beats Hardy will have to raise up Hardy's custom belt and then switch to the old one. Title wins are supposed to be so memorable. They constantly show clips from someone's title win and now they'll show clips of (let's say) AJ celebratign with Hardy's love child. It looks freaking wrong.

Remember when Anderson won his first TNA World Title? It was supposed to be a big deal because Anderson was semi-hot back then and people really wanted it. For me it wasn't that special even those I wanted to see Anderson take that belt. It's because of that pink shitfuck of a belt Hardy had. It looked absolutely ridiculious. Imagine of HBK's first title win over Bret involved Earl Hebner strapping a pink and black belt around his waist. Just ... no.

Belt looks fine, it's just fucking it up for me as a fan. Come on, dude, you don't have to turn EVERYTHING into a Jeff Hardy design. The stoner face paint was enough. Good luck convincing people you don't use drugs again when your face looks like Doink the Clown puked on you.

 

[SpecialFNK]

BFG was a great event. Until the end.

I get the 'redemption' storyline for Hardy, I get that 12 year old girls buy loads of merchandise with his face on. I get that he's popular. I get that he's a legendary Tag-Team wrestler.

I'm bored of his MATCH.

Aries was a phenomenal champion. A superb performer. Classic moves, new moves, variations on moves, innovative stuff. The ONLY reason BFG's main event was a good match was Aries.

Jeff Hardy wrestles the same match, week in, week out. Has done for years.

4 clotheslines
6 kicks
Front Suplex (Usually badly delivered)
Whisper in the Wind
Twist of Fate (Usually about 4 times)
Sometimes a Swanton.

Wow. It takes some reall skill to regularly put on matches more boring than RVD... But Jeff achieves it EVERY time.

There's a show over here in the UK called TNA's greatest Matches (Dunno if you guys over the pond get it.) It shows themed groups of good matches. The other day I saw a Jeff Hardy themed one. 3 matches. In complete seriousness, I saw the Twist of Fate 10 times. Plus 3 or 4 failed attempts...

Aries is 30 times the wrestler Hardy is. Having Jeff employed at all, let alone champion is a bad joke. I'd sooner see the belt on Robbie E.

The rumour is, that Jeff was considering a return to WWE. Tna should have let him.

reality is that this is all that he needs. Hogan only had a certain number of moves you knew were going to happen, but it worked. you also have to remember what wrestling is, it's a TV show, it's entertainment. what Hardy does is exciting for a majority of your audience.

but this new title belt is a joke. it's funny that Aries spit on Hardy's belt, because that is basically what Hardy is doing to all the heavyweight champions before him that used a real world heavyweight title belt, like Roode, Storm, Angle, Sting.

I have no problem at all with Hardy being champion, but I never thought he would again be using a custom belt that doesn't even have a connection to TNA.

 

[Spinebreaker]

Hey, SpineBreaker? Just because you are jaded, and therefore bored, does not mean hardy has boring matches. I mean, I am SO with you on this-we have seen his match too many times, and are tired of it. It is still a good match, we are just jaded. Been there, saw that.

I don't think it's a problem with me being jaded... (I'll happily admit, I'm as cynical as they come) but I LOVED the Sting/Bully Ray match. I've seen literally hundreds of Sting's matches, and hundreds of Ray's. Neither of them are the best wrestler in the business, but both can still entertain.

With Hardy you get the same moves, in the same order, every time. Half of them badly timed or performed. You put Hardy in a match with someone good... (Aries, Styles, Angle, Roode...) You get a good match. You put him in a match with someone like Robbie T, or Gunner. You get a match that's below awful. Hardy cannot carry a match. He's about as skilled in the Ring as Disco Inferno, and deserves to be Heavyweight champ just as much.

Hardy has a job because 12 year old girls pay TNA for posters and T-shirts. He won the belt because he was thinking of jumping to WWE, and he got the shiny custom belt to keep him sweet. Meanwhile Aries, who did all the work, MADE the match, loses the belt. Again. A joke.

SpecialFNK. I don't think Hardy is exciting to the majority of viewers. Most wrestling viewers are big wrestling geeks, and appreciate a guy like austin, or whoever. Hardy is exciting for the casual fans, and the teenaged merchandise buyers... That's why TNA need him. It's not for his in-ring skills.

I don't think there's a single person on the roster who deserves the belt less than Hardy...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I honestly don't see how people can like the new title design.

The only significant difference is that the leather strap is black rather than purple. There are a few alterations in the design of the belt plates but, it's still very similar. The main plate is another freaky face obviously inspired by the Immortal title. The side plates still have something of a star shaped design, just without Hardy's face on them.

If it's the title they want to use that's fine but it's still ugly as shit in my opinion. I'd rather have the spinner belt design than this piece of crap.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It's not as bad as the old purple belt Hardy used during his heel turn, but still I don't like it. The purple belt was beyond cartoonish. The design for the new belt isn't so outrageous, but personally, I still think it's an ugly piece of shit. Plus, as with every other promotion, the World Heavyweight Championship is your top title. It's the reason why every man in the locker wrestles. The belt is supposed to represent prestige, but Hardy's title is too ridiculous.

As far as Hardy's title win at Bound For Glory goes, we'll just have to wait and see how everything develops. It's way too early to start passing judgement now. Keeping Hardy as a face this time around is a good move. Heel Hardy STRUGGLED to get any heat from the live crowds during his title runs, because the fans didn't want to hate him. Aries is a much better choice the egoistical dick heel, and both men could produce an entertaining feud.

 

[Ovaltine]

THAT- is one of the dumbest belt designs I have ever seen. It looks almost as bad as his last cutom belt which was worse than the Diva's title. I hope after hardy's dumb title reign (and it will be a dumb reign since he can't talk and is a boring worker IMO) Impact will get a proper looking belt. They haven't had a good design since the original TNA title that was first held by Kurt Angle (I think) which was then tarnished by that talentless hack Eric Young.

 

[JJYanks121]

I'm fine with the design, I'm not fine with what it does to the actual value of the Championship.

Now I know that for some the belts are only props, but for me they mean something. They're a symbol of how good the holder is. Some of the value is in the name, some depends on who holds it, some depends on how it was won, some depends on how it was carried and a small tiny part depends on the ACTUAL, physical belt itself.

To me, once you switch the designs temporarily, the belt loses some of its power. It's a visual thing for me. I used to associate the original design with Aries, Roode and Storm who had memorable title reigns and proved to be some damn good Champions. Naturally this expectation and value of the championship trickles down to the next Champion. You get flash backs of who held it before and now that SAME belt is in the hands of this new champion.

Remember back in the day when Rocky would hold the WWF title for a while and you'd get so used to him being with it? Then Austin would win it, for example, and now you have to get used to Austin having THAT belt and you can't help but think of how the belt itself carries parts of both Rock and Austin. I remember how disgusted I was with Jericho winning the Undisputed title, and as everyone knows the old WWF belt was one of the two he was parading around with. The main reason why was because I hated Jericho and I associated THAT design with both Rock and Austin who I fucking adored. Every time Jericho would kiss the belt or something like that I'd be so sickened with him because that belt represented all those great heroes like Austin and Rock and now THAT assclown has his lips all over it. That's also why I could never EVER cope with the actual Undisputed title belt. The one JBL carried. I hated that. I could never take it seriously.

Hardy kills that for me. It's completely gone. Now he has his OWN little design which no one else will have. Whoopdeefuckingdoodledoo! Thanks for ruining that little fraction of a chunk of charm that belts have for me.

Not to mention that whoever beats Hardy will have to raise up Hardy's custom belt and then switch to the old one. Title wins are supposed to be so memorable. They constantly show clips from someone's title win and now they'll show clips of (let's say) AJ celebratign with Hardy's love child. It looks freaking wrong.

Remember when Anderson won his first TNA World Title? It was supposed to be a big deal because Anderson was semi-hot back then and people really wanted it. For me it wasn't that special even those I wanted to see Anderson take that belt. It's because of that pink shitfuck of a belt Hardy had. It looked absolutely ridiculious. Imagine of HBK's first title win over Bret involved Earl Hebner strapping a pink and black belt around his waist. Just ... no.

Belt looks fine, it's just fucking it up for me as a fan. Come on, dude, you don't have to turn EVERYTHING into a Jeff Hardy design. The stoner face paint was enough. Good luck convincing people you don't use drugs again when your face looks like Doink the Clown puked on you.

Good thing we can associate the prestige of the WWF title belt to guys like Rock and Austin who always carried around that belt and never once changed it to a belt of their own design. Oh wait...........

I guess the top star of that era DID change the belt, thus giving the belt of that era no prestige right?

Here's the thing. I'm ok with wrestlers having a belt for themselves as long as when they lose it, the next guy gets the regular belt back. With that said, I just wish Jeff's designs weren't so damn ugly. I get that he's "artistic" and such, but at least make it look like a title belt. Austin's did, even Cena's did. They still looked like title belts that represented the personality of the wrestler. Jeff's is a face and doesn't say TNA anywhere on it. Do an artistic belt, but make it look like a wrestling belt and we're fine here.

 

[Ovaltine]

Good thing we can associate the prestige of the WWF title belt to guys like Rock and Austin who always carried around that belt and never once changed it to a belt of their own design. Oh wait...........

I guess the top star of that era DID change the belt, thus giving the belt of that era no prestige right?

Here's the thing. I'm ok with wrestlers having a belt for themselves as long as when they lose it, the next guy gets the regular belt back. With that said, I just wish Jeff's designs weren't so damn ugly. I get that he's "artistic" and such, but at least make it look like a title belt. Austin's did, even Cena's did. They still looked like title belts that represented the personality of the wrestler. Jeff's is a face and doesn't say TNA anywhere on it. Do an artistic belt, but make it look like a wrestling belt and we're fine here.

No, that was dumb too! What was even dumber was when SCSA was the WWF champion, but had to fight Rock for his smoking skull championship I honestly liked both of thoes guys, but I clearly remember talking to many friends (remember wrestling was cool back then) about how dumb that storyline was.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Good thing we can associate the prestige of the WWF title belt to guys like Rock and Austin who always carried around that belt and never once changed it to a belt of their own design. Oh wait...........

I guess the top star of that era DID change the belt, thus giving the belt of that era no prestige right?

Here's the thing. I'm ok with wrestlers having a belt for themselves as long as when they lose it, the next guy gets the regular belt back. With that said, I just wish Jeff's designs weren't so damn ugly. I get that he's "artistic" and such, but at least make it look like a title belt. Austin's did, even Cena's did. They still looked like title belts that represented the personality of the wrestler. Jeff's is a face and doesn't say TNA anywhere on it. Do an artistic belt, but make it look like a wrestling belt and we're fine here.

Except Austin held the WWF/E title like six times, few of which were customized. I think about two if I'm not mistaken. The others involved the traditional Championship (whether it was the eagle belt, the Attitude Era WWF Championship and so on is irrelevant, it wasn't custom). Austin is associated with the eagle/attitude era WWF title. Hardy is not associated with either of the TNA title designs. Hardy had it two times, customized it two times, devalued it two times.

While Austin's reason for changing it was badass, unlike Hardy's, it wasn't quite necessary. He didn't want a corporate belt around his waist? Then fuckin' stick with that for every Championship he holds. They didn't. But they did sell a shit load of replicas I'm sure.

And please try not to twist my words. I never said it strips it off its entire prestige. I said that it slightly devalues it due to the value of the design itself which is associated with a time in wrestling, an individual or an era (for better or for worse). You take the design away, you take away the symbolism. You bring it back - you bring back some of that value. Don't believe me? Ask Cody Rhodes and anyone who held the classic NWA title in NWA:TNA. It has its spot in the number of things that make a belt special. A change is only necessary when the design is associated with a bad era or a string of absolutely shitty Champions.