• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Queen 2 Album Cover

      QUEEN's catalogue, from bottom to top

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 1, 2018
      Music
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • article placeholder

      Will Bray Wyatt Be in WWE 2K23?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Why Did WWE Ignore Umaga?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Why Did Rikishi Leave WWE?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Who Is the Rock’s Cousin in WWE?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Who Has the Longest Winning Streak in WWE History?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which WWE Is Best on Xbox 360?

      By Coder
      | September 27, 2023
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Will Bray Wyatt Be in WWE 2K23?
    • Why Did WWE Ignore Umaga?
    • Why Did Rikishi Leave WWE?
    • Who Is the Rock's Cousin in WWE?
    • Who Has the Longest Winning Streak in WWE History?
    • Which WWE Is Best on Xbox 360?

    WWE Intercontinental Title Belts: A Guide to the Gold

    By The Beltster
    | February 19, 2011
    WWE Blogs

    After the great feedback I received for my last championship belt related article almost four years ago about the WWF/WWE championship belt, I thought it was time to put something together about the WWF/WWE Intercontinental title belt.

    As many of you will know I’ve been a huge fan of championship belts since I first started watching the World Wrestling Federation in 1983. All the belts throughout the years have grabbed my attention in one way or another.  Obviously, the heavyweight championship is most memorable due to its status however the Intercontinental title has had an illustrious history of its own.

    Held by superstars such as Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Ric Flair and more, the Intercontinental title has had a significant impact.  What may come as a surprise to you is that in its 30+ year history there have only really been 4 distinct designs that have represented the Intercontinental title.

    Back in 1979, before I was a fan, Pat Patterson was booked to ‘win’ the newly created WWWF Intercontinental championship in a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro. The original belt was made of trophy shop metal, very thin and flimsy much like all belts at that time. It was attached to the leather by rivets which were the standard of the time. The belt was on a red strap:

    WWWF Intercontinental Title Belt

    This specific title belt lasted for over 5 years and was held by Patterson, Ken Patera, Pedro Morales and Don Muraco. Once the championship was won by Tito Santana, it was replaced. Once again, the new championship belt was constructed using trophy shop thin metal as this was still the standard of the era, but the new acid-etched belts were slowly creeping in and this would be the last trophy shop metal belt used in the WWF and it also wouldn’t last long.

    This belt was only held by Tito Santana and Greg Valentine:

    Tito Santana With The WWF Intercontinental Green Strap Title Belt

    WWF Intercontinental Green Strap Title Belt

    In 1986, the Intercontinental title belt was replaced by probably the most memorable version of the belt ever used. Made using the acid etching process, the belt was made by Reggie Parks who had taken over making the belts for all the major promotions in North America. It was a gold plated belt, 5 plates on hand-tooled black leather. More commonly referred to as the ‘Reggie IC’ among collectors and belt enthusiasts, this belt is likely the 2nd most popular belt of all time behind the WWF ‘Winged Eagle’ title belt. Reggie Parks and Dave Millican probably get more orders from belt collectors for these two belts than any other.

    The original Reggie IC had no tooling pattern on the strap, all 4 side plates were the same size and the WWF logo on the main plate was etched and filled with red paint:

    Macho Man Randy Savage With The WWF Reggie IC Intercontinental Title Belt

    Once Randy Savage won the strap from Tito, he used Brasso polish on the belt which removed all the gold plating and ruined the belt. The belt looked awful with horribly tarnished plates. This was switched in 1988 with a new version of the same design.

    In 1988, while the Honky Tonk Man was in the midst of his record-setting reign with the strap, it was replaced. It was still the Reggie IC but there were some minor differences. The strap now had a sea shell tooling pattern on it, the outer side plates were slightly smaller than the inner side plates, it had a thin logo plate at one end and the WWF logo on the main plate was no longer etched, but was now raised and no longer red. Also during this time, a gold tip was added to the end of the strap to match the WWF world and tag titles of the time

    WWF Reggie IC 1988 Intercontinental Title Belt

    This belt was used during the Hulkamania golden age of the World Wrestling Federation and this was when it enjoyed its most success, classed as the ‘workers title’, many great matches were fought over this championship. Holding the Intercontinental title at that time really meant something.

    Throughout its run, the Reggie IC was presented on TV on various colour straps. The Ultimate Warrior was the first superstar to have it on a different colour when he debuted it in yellow during late 1989, this lasted until WrestleMania VI in April 1990 when he unified the WWF World and Intercontinental titles and was subsequently stripped of the Intercontinental title, which soon reverted to black.

    Here is the yellow version:

    WWF Reggie IC Yellow Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    As different guys held the belt, it was shown on more colour straps, here are all of them in the order they were presented on TV:

    Shawn Michaels With The WWF Reggie IC Blue Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    Shawn Michaels With The WWF Reggie IC White Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    Goldust With The WWF Reggie IC Gold Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    Goldust With The WWF Reggie IC Gold Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    In March 1998, the night after WrestleMania 14 on RAW, the Rock debuted the new Intercontinental title belt. After 12 years on TV, the Reggie IC was retired; the new belt was made by J-Mar after Vince ended his agreement with Reggie Parks to make him his belts.

    The WWF wanted to own the rights to their title belt designs, Reggie owned the artwork for the ones they had been using and refused to sign the rights over to Vince McMahon. The WWF then began designing belts in-house with the help of J-Mar.

    The new Intercontinental title belt was rounder in shape, still with the WWF block logo. It had a logo plate, purple strap and no gold tip:

    WWF 1998 J-Mar Purple Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    The Rock With The WWF 1998 J-Mar Black Strap Intercontinental Title Belt

    At some point in late 1998, the strap had turned black from all the sweat, blood, baby oil and other gunge wrestlers had covered it in and when the WWF changed their logo from the block logo to the scratch logo they replaced the Intercontinental belt. The overall design was the same except the logo plate was different and the strap was black and the belt had the new WWF scratch logo:

    WWF J-Mar Intercontinental Title Belt Update

    This belt has been held by many superstars over the last 13 years and is also the longest-running belt design in WWF/WWE history. Superstars such as The Rock, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Edge and others held the WWF logo version.

    In 2002 when the WWF was forced to change its company name to World Wrestling Entertainment and slightly alter its logo, the belt again underwent small changes. The main plate was made bigger, the banners were changed to fit a removable nameplate on it and the WWF logos were replaced with WWE logos. The logo plate was also removed.

    WWE 2002's J-Mar Intercontinental Title Belt

    The belts were continued to be made by J-Mar until 2010 when Dave Millican took over. The belt is still the same but with better quality plates and leather. The leather on the J Mar belts also featured WWF and WWE logo tooling whereas on the Dave Millican belts they have sea shell tooling.

    WWE 2010's Dave Millican Intercontinental Title Belt

    In October 2011 during a WWE PPV, then-current Intercontinental champion Cody Rhodes debuted a modified version of the classic Reggie Parks Intercontinental belt that was used from 1986 – 1998. It was on white leather and featured several differences from the original. This is due to the fact it wasn’t made by Reggie Parks or Dave Millican (from the original artwork), but by Joe Marshall of J-Mar belts using his own version of the artwork. Instead of the WWF block logo it now featured the WWE scratch logo, it had no logo plate or gold tip, the leather cut was different and the side plates were the wrong sizes. The main plate artwork errors included the wrong style globe, stars, font, banner style and the side plates featured different wrestler artwork. This along with a textured design on all the plates made it much different than it should have looked. Below is a picture of J-Mar’s version of the belt.

    2011's Modified Version Of The Classic Reggie Parks Intercontinental Title Belt

    After seeing their copyrighted artwork being used on WWE TV, Midwest Belts (Reggie Parks) contacted WWE and had the belt removed from TV (although it is still used at house shows and in promo pictures) and they made and sent in a replacement made from the original artwork with the only alteration being the WWE scratch logo in place of the old WWF block logos.

    Here is a picture of the belt made from the correct artwork and currently used on TV as the Intercontinental title.

    WWE Reggie Park's White Strap Intercontinental Belt With Scratch Logo

    It is great to see a classic design with an updated twist on TV again. Here’s hoping we eventually see a return of the Winged Eagle to pair back up with the classic Intercontinental belt!

    Article updated Sunday 10th June 2012

    Tags

    intercontinental championshipTitle Beltswrestling beltswwe beltswwf beltswwf titles

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    16 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Peacekeeper
    Peacekeeper
    5 years ago

    Well Don Muraco changed the red intercontinental belt to an all new green belt after beating Pedro Morales. Tito Santana however changed it to a different green belt.

    0
    Reply
    The Enforcer
    The Enforcer
    7 years ago

    Thats the first thing I noticed when Cody unveiled the new belt that there were a lot of differences, like the belt being textured as opposed to smooth, but I figured it was just a variation they did intentionally(I actually didn’t mind the textured look but it wasn’t the same). But as a fan of that style of belt I am glad it’s back, I didn’t care for the 1998-2011 style

    0
    Reply
    tbb033
    tbb033
    7 years ago

    Cool article, GREAT pics, just needs an update to include the “network” logo now on the belt.

    0
    Reply
    Daniel Almeida
    Daniel Almeida
    8 years ago

    Nice piece of history!

    0
    Reply
    spet67
    spet67
    10 years ago

    I think my favorite is the one Savage is pictured with.

    0
    Reply
    jake hensley
    jake hensley
    10 years ago

    Did The Rock make the purple one?

    0
    Reply
    wpm131
    wpm131
    10 years ago

    I think these guide to the gold articles are great would like to see one on the tag belts.

    0
    Reply
    Jace
    Jace
    10 years ago

    Nice article, but you left out one of the green belts that only Muraco held.

    0
    Reply
    Bill
    Bill
    9 years ago
    Reply to  Jace

    Ditto.

    0
    Reply
    Kendall Sky
    Kendall Sky
    10 years ago

    I liked the cyan blue one Michaels had.

    0
    Reply
    Krazy Hitman310
    Krazy Hitman310
    11 years ago

    It was odd to see that belt cody had ones it was presented again. it just didnt look right and now i know why

    0
    Reply
    1 2 Next »

    You might also like

    • WWE Title Belts: A Guide to the Gold

      By The Beltster
      | September 19, 2007
    • The History of the Intercontinental Championship Review

      By Henry Higgins
      | January 11, 2009
    • Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s Book Review

      By Tony Cottam
      | January 4, 2007

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Wrestling Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
    • Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
    • The Curse of the WWE Royal Rumble

      By John Hancock
      | January 27, 2012
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2023 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz