Triple H discussed WWE’s tradition of sending customized WWE title belts to the winning teams of major sporting tournaments across the world.
TRIPLE H DISCUSSED THE CUSTOM
Speaking to Tony Maglio of The Wrap, Triple H discussed this interesting custom. WWE recently sent a Championship to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the winning team of the 2021 edition of Super Bowl.
Rob Gronkowski is an important member of the winning team, and he has long been associated with WWE. Gronkowski first made a cameo appearance during the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. He hosted WrestleMania 36 and won the WWE 24/7 Championship on the second day of the event. He went on to become the longest reigning holder of the Championship before losing it to R-Truth.Later that year he won a Slammy Award as Celebrity of the Year in WWE.
IT ALL BEGAN IN 2013
“The King Of Kings” noted that the custom of sending belts has been running for eight years. However, the idea of such a tradition had been planted long back. The first such belt WWE sent was to Boston Red Sox in 2013, the victorious team in that year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series.
David Ortiz was, and still is, a huge fan of pro wrestling. Therefore, when Red Sox won the World Series that year, WWE sent him a belt. He wore it nonstop and put it over.
“David Ortiz — Big Papi — was a huge fan. Still is. Here’s a guy with all this bling, he’s got the earnings and the giant chains and everything. It’s part of who he is. When they won the World Series, he was such a big fan and was so into them, we sent him a title. He wore it nonstop and just put it over like a million bucks,” He said.
Later, WWE sent Lebron James a custom title belt when Miami Heat won the NBA Championship. James went on to purchase customized belts for other members of the squad. After the event, WWE started getting more requests.
Triple H noted that such belts cost WWE a few thousands of dollars. Especially for Super Bowl, WWE orders side plates for both finalists, so that whichever team wins can wear the belt as soon as they can. This rush process, according to him, is the most expensive part of the tradition.
