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WWE: Rumored New Championship Has Design Leaked, Is Very Ugly

By Bryan Heaton

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For several weeks, it has been rumored that WWE is introducing a new championship to 205 Live. After seeing a potential design for the belt, maybe they should hold off a bit.

Despite having approximately eleventy billion championships at the moment, WWE is looking to add more titles to its ranks. Thankfully, it’s only main roster adjacent – rumors indicate that 205 Live will be getting the new hardware after WrestleMania. In addition to the Cruiserweight Championship being defended on the brand, it seems that Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships are on tap.

Earlier this week, though, an alleged design for the new championship made its rounds online. TMZ reported that WWE filed legal documents aimed at stopping bootleggers from selling unauthorized merchandise during WrestleMania weekend.

But Pro Wrestling Sheet did some further digging in the documents and found this:

Oof. The word “fugly” doesn’t even begin to describe this monstrosity.

Of course, it’s a mock up, so this may not be the final design. But it seems like it’s legit, if only because a very similar design leaked a few weeks back, and – well, you be the judge:

So what’s wrong with this? Why don’t we start with bad geometry? To me, a cruiserweight is supposed to be the epitome of smooth – no wasted movement in the ring, fly around free and easy, things like that. And tag teams? Cohesive units should be all about blending. Looking at this design, it’s completely wrong for what it’s supposed to represent. An octagon? That’s the international symbol for “stop right now,” and all the angles suggest choppy, non-flowing imagery.

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How about the main plate? It’s simultaneously too big and too small for the octagonal shape. The round portion looks like a charger you’d find on the table at a fancy restaurant – you know, the plate that sits in front of you that no food goes on, but all the other plates with the food sit on top of? It’s joined by a rectangle that’s only there to make room for more oddly-shaped globes.

And those globes, ugh. The graphic designer looks like he or she played around with the resize tool in the image manipulation software. The center globe is waaaaaay too tall and has no land masses on it, and the ones off to the side look like a toddler tried to draw a circle freehand. That’s a hell of a way to “honor” some of your most athletic competitors.

To be fair, I’m actually okay with the purple on the strap. It’s not my favorite color, but there’s no harm in doing something different. Plus, the cohesion amongst brands from title to title is nice, if a little obnoxious. What is really bad about the purple, though, is that it’s not the only color on the strap. Remember how awful it looked when the old World Heavyweight Championship had the red strap on the inside, making the belt a two-toned mess? Now, that mess is front and center.

I won’t just hate on the design, though. There’s two saving graces – the side plates and their arrow shape, and the font on the main plate. As much as the octagon shape represents a lack of motion, the arrow-like side plates indicate moving quickly. Very fitting for the cruiserweight division. The font is just cool – to me, at least. We don’t need no stinking serifs!

Praise aside, the title is a gigantic mess. Over the past few years, WWE has been pretty good about having championships that, if underwhelming or too similar to each other, weren’t blatantly ugly. The UK Championship? Gorgeous. And all of the NXT Championships look good – both the original versions and the updated ones from the past year.

Next: 15 Underrated WrestleMania Matches

But now? This is like the butterfly Divas Championship all over again. What do you think of the rumored design?

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