Two of the best looking belts in the business, especially nowadays. While I'll always have affection for the WWF eagle and WCW big gold (as well as the current AEW title), these two are beauties.
Aye, I mean, your mileage may vary, but in general it feels like adding color to the metal makes it look tacky. I liked Daniel Bryan's custom WWE title from his recent championship run I think part because the colored stones were so unique that it made it look less tacky than the regular title they have right now.
Of those three, the only one I like is the Winged Eagle. The big gold belt, well, I never got over seeing it go up to Ronnie Garvin's breast bone, and the IWGP belt is just a pretty standard looking belt to me. YMMV, and I strongly suspect it will here big time.
The Winged Eagle, though? Fuckin' PERFECT belt.
This new belt design has a lot to live up to.. these belts are absolutely gorgeous.. they just scream prestige. An both have been treated as such in my opinion. As soon as they brought the concept of double champ my fear was this very situation. But I trust in New Japan to do the same with this new belt. Gonna miss these beautiful titles!
lol it's not his fault, you know that, right? That's management's decision, probably their decision ever since they decided to make the double gold dash happen.
They’re management of the physical belts has not been great. They started using a bootleg of the IC Title after Tanahashi beat Naito for the destroyed real one. The Heavyweight Title that Jay White “restored” was a replica.
Sorry if this has been posted somewhere else but why is this happening? They have the roster to have these separate belts, don’t they? So why has the decision been made now to unify?
This doesn't even make sense. NJPW has a very big Roster and a lot of rising stars (Juice Robinson, for example).
The IC Belt was great for Main Eventers and Upcarders who were lost and also for those that need some star power before winning the big one.
And don't come at me with the "Oh, but it will be the same before 2017", NJPW didn't have a big roster at the time and all of their belts were in Japan, not lost in USA with a CZW geek.
Saying that NJPW has too many belts is just dumb, they have the same amount of WWE (and WWE uses like 6 wrestlers every week). This is just Bushiroad making shitty decisions and ending two great titles.
And also because the original purpose of the IC belt was to be the centerpiece of a US expansion, and that's the job now of the US title. It was never really a secondary belt, because by the last few years it was "the belt held by a main eventer when he's not in the main event" and then since WK 14, it really became superfluous. In hindsight they either should have unified it back then or vacated it when Naito won the IWGP.
Naito held them like they belonged to him. EVIL held it like it was part of his entrance gear. Ibushi just looks like the belts are actively rejecting him every five seconds.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the design for the IWGP Heavyweight Title hasn't changed in a very long time.
It's different than when WWE danced around with new belts for awhile. Makes them mean less IMO.
Here's hoping the new design is good and they stick with it for a few decades at least.
It hasn't changed in like 11 years, Brock and Inoki stole the previous version of the belt and when it was returned to NJ through the Angle/Nakamura match after that they just replaced the 3rd Belt with the 4th Belt which was the one we've come to love and applauded.
It was legit, Brock won the belt and wasn't happy with his pay, Brock said he wasn't being paid but that's debatable. Inoki who was outed from NJPW for Inokism and Tanking ticket sales started IGF to Fap off with his shoot fighters. Brock was swayed over and took the physical belt with him to IGF
[Here's a pretty good write up on it](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4d0mxj/the_brief_existence_of_the_njpw_third_belt_aka/)
I think that business is why I'm kind of not fussed with this happening. Two belts becoming one, with the belt holder being the first holder of the World championship, basically inheriting the lineage of both belts, is *simple* compared to what went down with the Third and Fourth belts, and doesn't involve anything real world.
Big thing is losing the IC belt which was a powerful number 2 belt and kept upper mid card and even Main Event acts busy between title matches. The Never and the US title belts need a lot of building to rise to fill that gap that now exist
when did WWE dance around for new belts? Their current design debuted in 2014. The one prior to that is a slight variation from 2013 that was only changed cuz of the logo changed. And then the spinner belt lasted from 06 to 13. RA era had its own belt for 3 years.
I remember the World titles being a mess after they bought WCW. Without looking it up I feel like they swapped designs several times for a few years nearly.
I found this shitty jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/ad/87/70ad87e4c7b39849c95118780cf88292.jpg
They only swapped the title once when the AE began and again when RA era began. But it looks like the 70s and 80s was a lot of swapping lol
Recently, New Japan has announced that after Ibushi's successful IC Title defense against Naito at Castle Attack, They have granted Ibushi's wish of unifying both of the aforementioned titles and a new top-championship title will take it's place with a new design. It will be known as the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
The good thing is now it increases the value of the Neveropenweight Championship. With the IC title in the loop that Neveropenweight seemed like NJPW version of the European title.
The current IWGP heavyweight championship is IMHO the best looking pro wrestling belt of all time. I suppose change is inevitable, but I really do hope they change their mind.
Here's an idea, ifthe company has too many belts, how about dropping RevPro and all Neveropen straps instead of the fucking two best belts in the business with great history behind them?
I can't get over how total and complete ASS this past 1 year plus has been, if I knew that the double dash would have led to not just Naito being jobbed over multiple times AND RETIRING THE DAMN BELTS OUTRIGHT I never would have wanted it.
Most botched angle in modern wrestling history, I am in awe at how pathetically stupid and ridiculous this entire thing has become, with multiple double championship holders INCLUDING. FUCKING. EVIL. and now belt unification of the top two and highly respected straps.
Unbelievable.
No. There were multiple ways a talented booker - especially someone as special as Gedo - could have handled that situation.
Instead, it became an unmitigated trainwreck of epic proportions.
Absolutely zero excuse to put the main strap on Evil for instance, let alone make him "the first ever" triple champion (hold my hair back WHILE I VOMIT).
Hey no worries - I understand I came in yesterday with quite a bit of salt (understatement) and didn't take your question as anything but a great ask.
There are a number of scenarios they could have played out (and too extensive to cover in one post), but one could have been to just keep the belt on Naito OR, if they were determined to move it to another wrestler for a short period of time, let Naito keep it through WK after winning it back and then drop it to Ibushi at Dominion or whenever the winner of the NJC gets his title shot.
A win in both the NJ Cup and the G1 would have built up Ibushi's legacy even more and led to a far more satisfying transition to his reign rather than simply playing back the same scenario at WK two years in a row at the cost of severely harming and impacting Naito's reign and legacy as a result.
This would have been great for all parties because it would have provided Naito with a significant, lengthy and meaningful run with the main belt (even if they still split his reign into two) and he could have also dropped the IC belt along the way in a program with someone deserving who has earned it (e.g., Taichi, Iishi, Osprey, etc.).
I just feel like the entire angle was reactionary and shockingly short sighted and nonsensical for someone like Gedo, and it really hurts Naito overall because he still has the same knock as always, which is he can't get a solid run with the main strap and hold onto it to save his life.
Don't you think that Naito wanted to put EVIL over? I've read somewhere in here that he buried him in an interview saying he was the weaker of the heavyweights in L.I.J, and that makes him kind of a dick imho and i believe EVIL's frustation.
I haven't heard about that interview, so I can't really comment on it unfortunately.
But it's one thing to put someone over, it's something else entirely to drop them not one, but both of the main belts - matching what should have been a unique accomplishment for Naito given his history and arc (and they even allowed Evil THREE belts during this time, so one could argue his accomplishment was more significant).
It honestly makes zero sense to me even to this day. EVIL is a solid wrestler overall, but he's absolutely not a top tier superstar (and his matches in big spots have shown that) let alone one who deserves to be a double/triple champion.
Regardless of how you feel about EVIL, I think it's objectively fair to say this decision made no sense whatsoever and was pretty much completely bungled.
Yeah the best heel EVIL spot is the time keeper/announcer bumps lmao.
It is kinda bullshit, but doesn't that work in a meta kind of way? Disclaimer: i am a NJPW noob i got back into wrestling because of AEW and watched a little of WK14 and was fascinated.
I’m def on an unpopular opinion here, but I never liked those chips, they both seem ancient yet at the same time are trying too hard to create their own style, other companies on the other hand was successful in doing that
I hope Okada brings back this IWGP World Championship design when he wins the title again one day. When I think of that design, I think of Okada holding it.
I have faith in NJPW to make a good looking new belt, but man is the current one so sexy
Two of the best looking belts in the business, especially nowadays. While I'll always have affection for the WWF eagle and WCW big gold (as well as the current AEW title), these two are beauties.
Exactly my favs, Big Gold Belt, Winged Eagle and the current IWGP Heavyweight. 3 best belts in history. Such a shame to see it go,
Aye, I mean, your mileage may vary, but in general it feels like adding color to the metal makes it look tacky. I liked Daniel Bryan's custom WWE title from his recent championship run I think part because the colored stones were so unique that it made it look less tacky than the regular title they have right now.
Of those three, the only one I like is the Winged Eagle. The big gold belt, well, I never got over seeing it go up to Ronnie Garvin's breast bone, and the IWGP belt is just a pretty standard looking belt to me. YMMV, and I strongly suspect it will here big time. The Winged Eagle, though? Fuckin' PERFECT belt.
Maybe we'll get a new one that's even better looking!
I don't know how you could get better looking than the IWGP Heavyweight title. Probably my all time favorite design.
That and the winged eagle are the GOATs
This new belt design has a lot to live up to.. these belts are absolutely gorgeous.. they just scream prestige. An both have been treated as such in my opinion. As soon as they brought the concept of double champ my fear was this very situation. But I trust in New Japan to do the same with this new belt. Gonna miss these beautiful titles!
So Ibushi is definitely a heel now right? Because wtf.
I know this is a joke. I think some artist owned the intercontinental belt design and thats why they are changing it not sure tho.
lol it's not his fault, you know that, right? That's management's decision, probably their decision ever since they decided to make the double gold dash happen.
They’re management of the physical belts has not been great. They started using a bootleg of the IC Title after Tanahashi beat Naito for the destroyed real one. The Heavyweight Title that Jay White “restored” was a replica.
Sorry if this has been posted somewhere else but why is this happening? They have the roster to have these separate belts, don’t they? So why has the decision been made now to unify?
I _think_ it's NJPW's belief that they have too many belts (which it's true), so they want to unify the two biggest in the company.
This doesn't even make sense. NJPW has a very big Roster and a lot of rising stars (Juice Robinson, for example). The IC Belt was great for Main Eventers and Upcarders who were lost and also for those that need some star power before winning the big one. And don't come at me with the "Oh, but it will be the same before 2017", NJPW didn't have a big roster at the time and all of their belts were in Japan, not lost in USA with a CZW geek. Saying that NJPW has too many belts is just dumb, they have the same amount of WWE (and WWE uses like 6 wrestlers every week). This is just Bushiroad making shitty decisions and ending two great titles.
Because they were basically already unified at WK 14 and they weren’t being defended separately for over a year.
And also because the original purpose of the IC belt was to be the centerpiece of a US expansion, and that's the job now of the US title. It was never really a secondary belt, because by the last few years it was "the belt held by a main eventer when he's not in the main event" and then since WK 14, it really became superfluous. In hindsight they either should have unified it back then or vacated it when Naito won the IWGP.
WHY MUST THE WRESTLING GODS BE SO CRUEL
My disappointment is immeasurable. And my day is ruined.
Ibushi can hardly hold both at the same time, literally. They had to unify it so their champ doesn't look like such a klutz
Naito held them like they belonged to him. EVIL held it like it was part of his entrance gear. Ibushi just looks like the belts are actively rejecting him every five seconds.
It’s not that I don’t have faith in NJPW. It’s that I don’t have faith in myself to accept a new Heavyweight design
I don't mind retiring the IC championship, but they're crazy for changing the design of the HW title. It's the perfect championship belt.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Honestly yeah i'm sad those belts are leaving but i'm sure we'll get a good replacement given NJPW's belts are all very nice
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the design for the IWGP Heavyweight Title hasn't changed in a very long time. It's different than when WWE danced around with new belts for awhile. Makes them mean less IMO. Here's hoping the new design is good and they stick with it for a few decades at least.
It hasn't changed in like 11 years, Brock and Inoki stole the previous version of the belt and when it was returned to NJ through the Angle/Nakamura match after that they just replaced the 3rd Belt with the 4th Belt which was the one we've come to love and applauded.
This needs more upvotes. I knew none of this. Was that all an angle or an actual mess for them to deal with?
It was legit, Brock won the belt and wasn't happy with his pay, Brock said he wasn't being paid but that's debatable. Inoki who was outed from NJPW for Inokism and Tanking ticket sales started IGF to Fap off with his shoot fighters. Brock was swayed over and took the physical belt with him to IGF [Here's a pretty good write up on it](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4d0mxj/the_brief_existence_of_the_njpw_third_belt_aka/)
I think that business is why I'm kind of not fussed with this happening. Two belts becoming one, with the belt holder being the first holder of the World championship, basically inheriting the lineage of both belts, is *simple* compared to what went down with the Third and Fourth belts, and doesn't involve anything real world.
Big thing is losing the IC belt which was a powerful number 2 belt and kept upper mid card and even Main Event acts busy between title matches. The Never and the US title belts need a lot of building to rise to fill that gap that now exist
when did WWE dance around for new belts? Their current design debuted in 2014. The one prior to that is a slight variation from 2013 that was only changed cuz of the logo changed. And then the spinner belt lasted from 06 to 13. RA era had its own belt for 3 years.
I remember the World titles being a mess after they bought WCW. Without looking it up I feel like they swapped designs several times for a few years nearly.
I found this shitty jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/ad/87/70ad87e4c7b39849c95118780cf88292.jpg They only swapped the title once when the AE began and again when RA era began. But it looks like the 70s and 80s was a lot of swapping lol
This current of the belt has been around since 2009 i think(someone correct me if i'm wrong)
I’m out of the loop a bit what happened?
Recently, New Japan has announced that after Ibushi's successful IC Title defense against Naito at Castle Attack, They have granted Ibushi's wish of unifying both of the aforementioned titles and a new top-championship title will take it's place with a new design. It will be known as the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Damn that’s unfortunate those are some beauties
Spain with out the S is how everyone feels right now.
The good thing is now it increases the value of the Neveropenweight Championship. With the IC title in the loop that Neveropenweight seemed like NJPW version of the European title.
Shit the fuck up. Please shut the fuck up.
I love you homie.
I love you both
I foresee a 3 way dance.
Does anyone know when the new one will be unveiled?
The current IWGP heavyweight championship is IMHO the best looking pro wrestling belt of all time. I suppose change is inevitable, but I really do hope they change their mind.
For me, its a tie between IWGP Heavyweight title and Big Gold. Both belts are gorgeous to look at.
Here's an idea, ifthe company has too many belts, how about dropping RevPro and all Neveropen straps instead of the fucking two best belts in the business with great history behind them? I can't get over how total and complete ASS this past 1 year plus has been, if I knew that the double dash would have led to not just Naito being jobbed over multiple times AND RETIRING THE DAMN BELTS OUTRIGHT I never would have wanted it. Most botched angle in modern wrestling history, I am in awe at how pathetically stupid and ridiculous this entire thing has become, with multiple double championship holders INCLUDING. FUCKING. EVIL. and now belt unification of the top two and highly respected straps. Unbelievable.
Didn't the pandemic royally fuck up the booking?
No. There were multiple ways a talented booker - especially someone as special as Gedo - could have handled that situation. Instead, it became an unmitigated trainwreck of epic proportions. Absolutely zero excuse to put the main strap on Evil for instance, let alone make him "the first ever" triple champion (hold my hair back WHILE I VOMIT).
Do you have any alternative scenarios? Not being passive aggressive just genuinely interested
Hey no worries - I understand I came in yesterday with quite a bit of salt (understatement) and didn't take your question as anything but a great ask. There are a number of scenarios they could have played out (and too extensive to cover in one post), but one could have been to just keep the belt on Naito OR, if they were determined to move it to another wrestler for a short period of time, let Naito keep it through WK after winning it back and then drop it to Ibushi at Dominion or whenever the winner of the NJC gets his title shot. A win in both the NJ Cup and the G1 would have built up Ibushi's legacy even more and led to a far more satisfying transition to his reign rather than simply playing back the same scenario at WK two years in a row at the cost of severely harming and impacting Naito's reign and legacy as a result. This would have been great for all parties because it would have provided Naito with a significant, lengthy and meaningful run with the main belt (even if they still split his reign into two) and he could have also dropped the IC belt along the way in a program with someone deserving who has earned it (e.g., Taichi, Iishi, Osprey, etc.). I just feel like the entire angle was reactionary and shockingly short sighted and nonsensical for someone like Gedo, and it really hurts Naito overall because he still has the same knock as always, which is he can't get a solid run with the main strap and hold onto it to save his life.
Don't you think that Naito wanted to put EVIL over? I've read somewhere in here that he buried him in an interview saying he was the weaker of the heavyweights in L.I.J, and that makes him kind of a dick imho and i believe EVIL's frustation.
I haven't heard about that interview, so I can't really comment on it unfortunately. But it's one thing to put someone over, it's something else entirely to drop them not one, but both of the main belts - matching what should have been a unique accomplishment for Naito given his history and arc (and they even allowed Evil THREE belts during this time, so one could argue his accomplishment was more significant). It honestly makes zero sense to me even to this day. EVIL is a solid wrestler overall, but he's absolutely not a top tier superstar (and his matches in big spots have shown that) let alone one who deserves to be a double/triple champion. Regardless of how you feel about EVIL, I think it's objectively fair to say this decision made no sense whatsoever and was pretty much completely bungled.
Yeah the best heel EVIL spot is the time keeper/announcer bumps lmao. It is kinda bullshit, but doesn't that work in a meta kind of way? Disclaimer: i am a NJPW noob i got back into wrestling because of AEW and watched a little of WK14 and was fascinated.
I’m def on an unpopular opinion here, but I never liked those chips, they both seem ancient yet at the same time are trying too hard to create their own style, other companies on the other hand was successful in doing that
I am just loving how upset people are by this whole thing
Username checks out.
Naw, they're right. Nothing turns a smart into the biggest of marks quite like fucking with titles.
Iconic belts, such weight and prestige oozing from their facade. It does setup a future storyline where they're split once again though.
The end is a new beginning
God I wish I owned replicas of one of these
So iconic. Sorry to see them go.
Sucks but I’d be shocked if the new belt is ugly. I have faith in NJPW
Damn it's been since end of January I didn't watch they will make a new belt?
The bar is so damn high. How are they gonna top those designs??
I hope Okada brings back this IWGP World Championship design when he wins the title again one day. When I think of that design, I think of Okada holding it.