"Stone Cold" Steve Austin Blog: BSR Championship Belt
BSR Championship Belt
Well…Little time on my hands so I thought I
would write about the BSR Championship Belt…What is it? What’s it for?
And why? So…Here’ s the scoop…
I was in the business of professional wrestling for give or take 15
years…I actually don’t know the exact number of days, years, months, or
whatever, so I always round it off to 15 years because it’s pretty damn
close, and it sounds good. Anyway, during that time I won several
championship belts. The first belt I ever held was the NWA World
Television Championship. I won that belt from Beautiful Bobby Eaton, one
half of the Midnight Express, one of the greatest Tag Teams of all
time. Bobby Eaton is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in the
wrestling business and I absolutely love his work in the ring…The guy
was just awesome. And when you talk about the Midnight’s, you gotta
talk about their manager, Jim Cornette. Jim was tremendous…He could
talk a mile a minute and was one of my favorite managers. Back before I
was in the business, I hated the guy…Because he was great at his job.
Total heat seeking missile. Anyway…Back to the story…
I’m not going to list every championship belt I’ve held, but I will say
that being the WWE World Champion was my favorite title of all of them.
So now that I’m out of the wrestling business, but still so deeply in
love with it, AND my ranch…I figured a BSR Championship Belt would be a
super cool conversation piece and a good way to represent all of the
hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and pride that go into this place…
So I start doing some research, and making some phone calls…If I’m going
to have a BSR belt made, it has to be bad ass. Long story, short…I
hook up with Dave Millican….The Ace of Belts…Dave is a true craftsman
and you can learn more about him and his work by going to davemillicanbelts.com.
Dave hooked me up with master designer Rico Mann. Rico and I traded
phone calls and emails and collaborated intensively to come up with a
belt that was meaningful and symbolic to what myself and the Broken
Skull Ranch represent. This belt is a five plate belt…Let me break down
the plates and artwork for you…
First off, I wanted the shape of the belt to pay homage to the old WWF
Intercontinental Championship. The old IC belt is one of the coolest
belts of all time and some of the greatest workers in the history of
professional wrestling have held this title. I have the IC title I won
from Owen Hart in Meadowlands NJ in my safe. It is one of my prize
possessions. Anyway…that’s how the belt got its shape. The main plate
features the BSR, of course, and the skull in a barb wire circle artwork
was created by artist and friend Joe Romero. The state of Texas
features three towns–Austin, my birth place…Victoria, my former home
town, and where I was from as Stone Cold Steve Austin…And Tilden, where
the BSR is located. The plate with the whitetail buck is a deer taken
by me in 2010 here at the ranch. His name was Stomper and he scored 181
gross B and C points. He was the first trophy buck taken here at the
ranch and was the one of the cornerstones of our deer management
program. He also represents my passion for hunting. The other plate is
a Texas plate with the same three towns on it. I’m proud to be from
the great state of Texas. The belt tip is obviously my signature, and is
a nice finishing touch to a super belt. Rico knocked this one out of
the park. Great job.
So that’s the story on the BSR belt. I have always been fascinated with
championship belts and their history. Now you know the story of how
this belt came to be. Rico and Dave did a helluva job in bringing this
thing to life.
Thanks for stopping by.
Steve
In : Superstar Blogs