10 UGLIEST Wrestling Championships Ever

What artistry is conjured upon the uttering of the phrase, "What is professional wrestling's most beautiful championship?"

The jutting golden wings of the WWE title's Winged Eagle design. The opulent white strap of the nostalgic WWE Intercontinental title. The historical splendour of the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title. The jewelled gentility of the IWGP Heavyweight title's latest design pre-IWGP World Heavyweight title inauguration.

The ingenious aristocracy of the NXT United Kingdom title. Even Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar title, with its upscale and striking sovereignty, is a scarce example of a distinguished championship fabricated specifically for one talent.

Each of these sumptuous designs follows a series of golden rules; a clean white or, typically, black strap that provides the archetypal backdrop for the belt's resplendent, usually-golden centralisation, the given promotion's own marketing ideally being modest rather than egotistic, and an observable key element, such as the aforementioned golden wings or assorted multinational flags embellished across the belt's foreground, providing the championship with its self-identity.

With umpteen championships across umpteen promotions across umpteen countries though, chances are every pro wrestling promotion has at least one frankly grotesque design. From ghastly belt layouts to dubious colour choices, the Winged Eagle WWE title these titles are most certainly not...

Indeed the stimulus for such a list, WWE's new World Heavyweight title is gross.

It illustrates the "Can I copy your homework?" meme flawlessly, "flawlessly" in this case being a pessimistic assertion. Reports of Paul 'Triple H' Levesque's eagerness to introduce a new World title were accompanied by rumours of the Big Gold World Heavyweight title being earmarked for a potential comeback, itself having been made redundant in December 2013 when Randy Orton unified it with his WWE title and the physical strap fading from existence the following August in favour of a new solitary WWE World Heavyweight title belt. Instead, WWE's beltmakers took the Big Gold title, strapped a gargantuan 'W' in the middle, and called it a day, all but cheapening the merit the once-cherished title embodied.

The formulation of this new title was necessitated; Roman Reigns' part-timer status while Undisputed WWE Universal Champion has steadily grown laborious. His matches, too, have gradually become strenuous thirty-minute stall-fests with the same uninteresting interference spots. The idea of this new World Heavyweight title being a championship for the workhorses of WWE, as designated by a fierce Seth Rollins promo on Raw, will carry significant weight if this is indeed the case.

Until then though, the World Heavyweight title carries the same sordid allure as the originally-red Universal title.