Feyth
New Member
In early January 1988 President Reagan was looking at his last year in the White House. The Winter Olympics had been in Calgary Canada and the Summer Games were held in Soul. Summer blockbusters had been Big, Coming to America and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the film was the first of it’s kind. The hit parade was dominated by Joan Jett’s I hate myself for loving you, Jon Bon Jovi’s Bad Medicine and Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison.
Vince McMahon at the W.W.F had spent the 80s searching for the right look for his Heavy Weight World title belt. From 1984 when Hulk Hogan had won a green strapped belt made by an unknown trophy maker. The title had changed to Hogan’s 84 belt and then to the briefly used 85 which looked a lot like the previous iteration the major difference being that the center plate had a fair amount of red on it. It’s unknown what happened to this version of the title, No one knows if it went missing in some anonymous dinner or a busy airport between venues. The only proof of its existence seems to be photographic. The title changed designs once again in 1986, This example would stay until after WrestleMania 3.
At the January 1988 Saturday Nights Main Event, A new world wrestling belt had been introduced at the Wreslemania 3 rematch between Hogan and Andre the French giant. It would become known as the Winged Eagle, Vince had found the style he had been searching for. Over the course of the next decade It would be the title of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna, Ric Flair and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to name a few.
Fast forward to 2017 Mattel had released its own toy version of the WWF Winged Eagle belt. Released to some acclaim, this wasn’t the first toy that tried to emulate the popular championship. Just a decade before Jakks released the Classic Winged Eagle WWE Championship Belt. The Major differences being the strap on this version wasn’t vinyl as on the Mattel belt but in fact foam as the versions available in the late 80s early 90s had been, also the globe had been cut in relief, so as to lay blue plastic under the globe. Hasbro had also made a version of the winged eagle; this 1990 release is a foam strap featuring an artwork sticker for the center plate.
It’s now November 2019 and Mattel’s versions can still be found in Bargain bins and flea markets, Ebay, Amazon to name a few. Which as exactly where I purchased mine as a 9-year-old was playing with a visa Debit. The 2017 has a lot of room for improvement. There are only three plates on it when the actual one has five it’s missing a gold tip and the WWF champion plate. Altering these features to get it to look like the Television counter part would admittedly alter the price point these are sold for. Other changes could be made at no or little addition charge such as re-working the strap to more closely resemble the televised counterpart.
That’s it, that’s my challenge make this toy more accurately imitate the belt I had first seen Hulk Hogan with in January of 88. I'll keep you updated here as this project develops
Vince McMahon at the W.W.F had spent the 80s searching for the right look for his Heavy Weight World title belt. From 1984 when Hulk Hogan had won a green strapped belt made by an unknown trophy maker. The title had changed to Hogan’s 84 belt and then to the briefly used 85 which looked a lot like the previous iteration the major difference being that the center plate had a fair amount of red on it. It’s unknown what happened to this version of the title, No one knows if it went missing in some anonymous dinner or a busy airport between venues. The only proof of its existence seems to be photographic. The title changed designs once again in 1986, This example would stay until after WrestleMania 3.
At the January 1988 Saturday Nights Main Event, A new world wrestling belt had been introduced at the Wreslemania 3 rematch between Hogan and Andre the French giant. It would become known as the Winged Eagle, Vince had found the style he had been searching for. Over the course of the next decade It would be the title of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna, Ric Flair and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to name a few.
Fast forward to 2017 Mattel had released its own toy version of the WWF Winged Eagle belt. Released to some acclaim, this wasn’t the first toy that tried to emulate the popular championship. Just a decade before Jakks released the Classic Winged Eagle WWE Championship Belt. The Major differences being the strap on this version wasn’t vinyl as on the Mattel belt but in fact foam as the versions available in the late 80s early 90s had been, also the globe had been cut in relief, so as to lay blue plastic under the globe. Hasbro had also made a version of the winged eagle; this 1990 release is a foam strap featuring an artwork sticker for the center plate.
It’s now November 2019 and Mattel’s versions can still be found in Bargain bins and flea markets, Ebay, Amazon to name a few. Which as exactly where I purchased mine as a 9-year-old was playing with a visa Debit. The 2017 has a lot of room for improvement. There are only three plates on it when the actual one has five it’s missing a gold tip and the WWF champion plate. Altering these features to get it to look like the Television counter part would admittedly alter the price point these are sold for. Other changes could be made at no or little addition charge such as re-working the strap to more closely resemble the televised counterpart.
That’s it, that’s my challenge make this toy more accurately imitate the belt I had first seen Hulk Hogan with in January of 88. I'll keep you updated here as this project develops
