Yeah, that lasted what, two weeks? Despite my declaration that I wouldn’t get any more belts, I actually did happen to stumble upon the last belt that I was remotely interested in. And much like the Big Gold Belt, it was priced for more than I would be normally willing to pay for it, but it had the option for a Best Offer, and floated a lowball offer that required very little negotiating over ten bucks to come to a selling price. And here we stand: championship belt number nine.
It’s the ECW Television Championship belt, which was made famous when Rob Van Dam won it from Bam Bam Bigelow, and held it for just under two straight years. He never actually lost the belt, and it was stripped from him when he suffered a legitimate broken ankle, and it was apparent that the company couldn’t afford to keep the title off of television when there were storylines to be moved along. But it was 23 months of mostly excellent Rob Van Dam matches of him in his prime, having classic bouts with guys like Jerry Lynn, Lance Storm, Sabu and each of the Dudley Boyz, giving some good legitimacy to it.
But for reals, this is the last one. Despite my initial protests that I didn’t want to end with an odd number, I honestly for the life of me can’t really think of any other belts that I’d want. I’m not remotely interested in any of the belts in current WWE circulation, nor do I want any current, or previous generation of any particular belt that I currently have. The only belts out there that I would even consider are limited to titles such as WCW Cruiserweight, WWF Light-Heavyweight, ECW Tag, WCW Television or WWF/WCW Hardcore, and for a variety of reasons, I don’t want any of those. I also have zero interest in any TNA replica belts, or any boxing or MMA championship belts. The ONLY belt I would really be enthusiastic about getting my hands on would be this classic OVW World Championship Belt, but considering they were like the double-A low-budget minor league affiliates of the WWF for a spell, it’s hard to imagine any actual replicas of their belts were ever made.
So I’ve pretty much finished off my collection whether I like the number nine or not. But honestly at this point and with however many hundreds of dollars I’ve blown on expensive and useless replica wrestling belts, I can say that I’m okay with that.
