New ROH World Championship

[Jack-Hammer]

At ROH's Final Battle ippv, a new ROH World Championship belt was unveiled. I'd forgotten about it and just happened to run across a picture of the new title:

http://www.wrestling-news.net/photo-roh-world-heavyweight-championship/20382/

It's only been a few years ago, maybe 2 at the most, that ROH introduced a design they've been using up until Final Battle:

http://allstarchampionshipbelts.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=128519320

This is a pic of the original title design:

http://ringofhonor.wikia.com/wiki/File:ROH_World_Championship.jpg

I'm not a fan at all of the main plate design for the new title. The secondary plates representing different continental views are well done but I think the main plate looks like crap.

The title they were using feels like a nice mix of contemporary & old school stylings. The eagle in the center plate has a more "modern" styling to it I guess and the flattened globe at the bottom has an old school feel about it. The lettering of "World Champion" is in the same styling of the winged eagle WWE Championship that was used from the late 80s to the late 90s. The secondary plates took inspiration from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, albeit with a much more modern look, in using the flag stylings of countries with strong pro wrestling scenes.

The original title reminds me a lot of the old UWF Heavyweight Championship that Cowboy Bill Watts used when he renamed Mid-South Wrestling the Universal Wrestling Federation in an attempt to go national to take on WWE. They aren't exactly alike, but there's a definite resemblance:

http://www.davemillicanbelts.com/uwfworld.htm

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Its based off Lou Thesz's World Heavyweight Championship, that's all I know.

Personally I don't mind. They had to drop the last one because the old logo was still on it, but personally compare these to say the new ROH World Tag Team Championship belts and I'll take the tag team belts any day. In-fact the new tag belts look better than WWE's (which isn't hard, they look like giant pennies) and TNA's. It's an old-school design, but again, at least it shows they want to continually improve. That belt must be worth $10,000 or so; so much for going out of business, eh Mark Madden?

I will say though, I laughed at Final Battle as Kevin Steen entered the ring. He tossed away the old belt like it was worthless, literally just turfed it to the outside and entered the ring.

 

[Papa Pillman]

First, Yes its been a relatively short amount of time since they changed to the last belt, but with the SBG ownership the logo was changed, and that belt had the old logo. With the tag title switch, and with them switching the TV title at the last tapings, now all three belts are updated with the new logo.

Many in the fanbase seem to dislike the new design, I actually dig it myself. I think the biggest problem for many fans is the inclusion of "heavyweight" on the main plate, as the title had never been known as that, but simply rather as the ROH World Championship.

But the reason for the plate is a simple homage...

Its based off Lou Thesz's World Heavyweight Championship, that's all I know.

Dragon Saga hit the nail.

 

[SYKOVA]

It doesn't really look anything like that Lou belt.

Am I the only one that doesn't really care for the new design?

 

[This Is My Name Thank You]

^ Yes it does. Look at it closely.

It's alright. I don't really like both belts that Papa posted. Since I just started getting into ROH I guess I have time to get used to it.

 

[Martin Gabriel]

I really dig this new design, actually. I think the description does it justice -- a combination of classic and contemporary styles. I love the brown backing too. My only complaint is that I don't get what's going on with the bronze and/or orange. There looks to be an orange-ish border around the middle, but the leaves on the outside look inconsistent as far as the patterns of bronze coloring. Maybe it's just the lighting or some discoloration in the picture, but it looks sloppy. Hell, the middle of the very right part of the center plate is like gray, whereas on the other side it's copper-colored all the way through. The design itself is fine, it's just the color that's throwing me off a bit.

 

[Lowdown]

The new belt looks better than the previous one. But I like the original design. They have to keep up with the times; I just hope they don't change the logo again.