Supposedly he had a hole put in the strap and chains the belt to the table so no one will steal it. Bockwinkel was given the belt when it was returned to Gagne and he had it restored as best it could be, and he still takes it to fan conventions to this day. It was fairly new to have a plate, and then a "relief plate" attached over it at the time.Īlso, the belt closed with velcro rather than snaps. You can tell in the picture of Hansen with the Inmate that he had already beaten it up some.Īside from the fact that it was made by inmates, there are some other unique features on the belt.įor one, the stacked plates. Many call this the Lawler belt, but it also goes by the Hennig belt or the Zybyszko belt depending on the leather cut and various different details. The Inmate was replaced by a version incorporating old artwork from Gagnes original belt and new artwork. When Gagne threatened legal action against him to have the belt returned, Hansen ran it over with his pick up truck and mailed it back. We offer all kinds of TV authentic replica and customized championship belts. The reason a new belt had to be made for Bockwinkel was that Hansen had taken the Inmate to Japan with him. Get your dream championship belt today here at Zees Belts. I recently acquired license to use original J-Mar WCW, XPW. This belt replaced the belt Gagne had been using as champion in 1974 I believe, and was used until 1986 when Bockwinkel was awarded the title after Stan Hansen was stripped for no showing a title defense against Bockwinkel. On a side note, the size, shape and hand carved elements of the inmate belt was purportedly the inspiration for the big gold belt. I have license to use Big Gold and AWA Inmate artwork made by Christian Lons of BeltPerformance. Mostly associated with Nick Bockwinkel, this belt was also held by Verne Gagne, Otto Wanz, Jumbo Tsuruta, Rick Martel, and Stan Hansen.Ĭoined "The Inmate Belt" because it was made at Denver Penitentiary in 1973 by actual inmates incarcerated there.
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