9 Ugliest Belts In WWE History
The 24/7 strap isn't the first time WWE have dropped their trousers when it comes to belt design.
WWE excitedly announced during this Sunday's Money in the Bank that Hall of Famer and hardcore legend Mick Foley would alight on Raw the following night to unveil yet another belt in the company's burgeoning cupboard of ceintures.
Fans were a little muted at first about the prospect of further precious metal clogging the airwaves as a convenient and lazy substitute for actual angles or sequential storytelling, but once news leaked that the new title was to be a 24/7 deal, nostalgic minds connected the dots to Mankind, and began eagerly anticipating the reintroduction of the Hardcore Championship.
Well, part of that turned out to be correct. The multi-branded belt certainly is to be defended round the clock, but it has none of the trappings of the ragtag no-rules relic which caused so much chaos during the Attitude Era. Instead, this was very much the geeks' domain - and arrived with a dreadfully crap belt to boot.
The 24/7 Championship has the look of an ersatz luxury car manufacturer trying to swizz upmarket fanciers of more limited means, basically a showy brushed gold logo on a racing green strap. It is, in a word, sh*te. But it's far from the first time WWE have dropped their trousers when it comes to belts.
9. Intercontinental Championship (1999)
Not only does the Intercontinental Championship redesign introduced in 1999 look like a squashed penny from a midway amusements arcade, but it also committed the heinous sin of replacing one of the most beloved belts in the history of the business.
Truth is, WWE had no choice. Reggie Parks, who had created the original strap, refused to sign over his artwork to the company in 1998, forcing Vince and co. to devise a brand new look for their mid-tier title. Unfortunately, the one they came up with looked cheap as chips, barely discernible from a plastic replica littering the aisles of Toys 'R Us.
In 2011, Cody Rhodes thankfully 'reintroduced' the classic Intercontinental Championship - though (winged) eagle-eyed fans will have noticed its slight lawyer-becalming modifications.