Kemo
12-22-2021, 07:48 PM
Jim Ross isn’t one to pick apart wrestling titles but he didn’t like the Smoking Skull gold.
During his second WWE Championship run in 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin was given a custom title. This featured a skull logo as well as rattlesnake logos. The title matched Austin’s persona but not everyone was a fan of it.
Jim Ross Dismisses Custom Titles
During an episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross explained why he wasn’t exactly gung-ho over Stone Cold’s custom piece of hardware.
“I didn’t like the rattlesnake belt. The reason for it — it was a great idea. Steve made a lot of money on his royalties because they sold a hell of a lot of those belts but God dang, man.
“It flew in the face of what the belt’s supposed to symbolize. So, it didn’t symbolize a world champion or whatever. It symbolized an individual and it’s strictly made for reselling.”
Ross also mentioned that he didn’t like John Cena‘s spinner belts either.
Cena introduced his first custom championship back in 2004 with the United States spinner belt. The following year, he had another spinner title but this time it was the WWE Championship.
JR isn’t the only commentator who takes issue with custom gold in wrestling. Back in 2019, Corey Graves admitted that while he thought the Smoking Skull belt was cool, he felt it devalued the meaning of the WWE Championship.
During his second WWE Championship run in 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin was given a custom title. This featured a skull logo as well as rattlesnake logos. The title matched Austin’s persona but not everyone was a fan of it.
Jim Ross Dismisses Custom Titles
During an episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross explained why he wasn’t exactly gung-ho over Stone Cold’s custom piece of hardware.
“I didn’t like the rattlesnake belt. The reason for it — it was a great idea. Steve made a lot of money on his royalties because they sold a hell of a lot of those belts but God dang, man.
“It flew in the face of what the belt’s supposed to symbolize. So, it didn’t symbolize a world champion or whatever. It symbolized an individual and it’s strictly made for reselling.”
Ross also mentioned that he didn’t like John Cena‘s spinner belts either.
Cena introduced his first custom championship back in 2004 with the United States spinner belt. The following year, he had another spinner title but this time it was the WWE Championship.
JR isn’t the only commentator who takes issue with custom gold in wrestling. Back in 2019, Corey Graves admitted that while he thought the Smoking Skull belt was cool, he felt it devalued the meaning of the WWE Championship.