The Winged Eagle championship belt is one of the most popular belt designs in WWF/E history. It was used from 1987 with Hulk Hogan all the way to 1998 with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Since 2014, the WWE Shop has manufactured three different versions of the Winged Eagle belt: the original V1, the dual plated version, and the updated V2. The V1 is available to purchase with a black or blue strap, the dual plated version is only available on a black strap, and the V2 is available to purchase with a black, white, light blue, or purple strap.
The first version of the winged eagle from the WWE Shop is mostly based off of the WWF Winged Eagle replica belt from the older manufacturer, Figures Toy Company. However, the WWE Shop’s plates are a darker, orange gold compared to Figures Toy Company’s lighter, white gold.
Years later in 2021, the WWE shop released a dual plated version of the Winged Eagle. This was based off of the design from WrestleMania 4 when a tournament was held to crown a new champion. The dual plated winged eagle added a curve to the main plate, extended the wings of the eagle on the main plate, added an extra relief piece for the WORLD banner on the top of the main plate, removed the black paint from the HEAVYWEIGHT banner near the bottom of the main plate, attached the twisted side bars to the main plate, centered the WWE logos on each plate, changed the color of the blue in the large globe on the main plate, added black paint within the smaller globes on the bottom of the main plate, and completely changed the strap. The new strap is a different shape than the V1, much more flexible and soft, covers all screws on the back, and has imprinted designs on the snap boxes as opposed to stitched-on pieces.
In 2023, a version two of the all gold winged eagle was released, even though it was the third winged eagle replica belt. The version 2 winged eagle is much more similar to the dual plated version than the v1. The version 2 added a curve to the main plate, extended the wings of the eagle on the main plate, added an extra relief piece for the WOLRD banner on the top of the main plate, attached the twisted side bars to the main plate, centered the WWE logos on each plate, and changed the strap. The new strap is a different shape than the V1, much more flexible and soft, covers all screws on the back, and has imprinted designs on the snap boxes as opposed to stitched-on pieces.
All three versions can still be purchased brand new off of the WWE Shop. The older winged eagle replica belts with the WWF logos were only produced for a short time by the Figures Toy Company. They used a lighter gold and shallow etching for faint details. These can only be purchased used in either standard, deluxe, or ultra deluxe versions.
The only real flaw is the blue paint from the globe on the main plate goes into the beak of the eagle on the WWE Shop V1 and V2. The dual plated and figs toy co versions do not have this issue. See all four versions compared to each other in 4K on my YouTube Channel, Hector The Collector.