Dave Millican Talks Designing The AEW Title Belt, Which Belt Design Is His All-Time Favorite
Dave Millican has been making wrestling belts for decades and made many of the most famous in pro wrestling history. He was asked recently which belt is his all-time favorite when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"It's like asking me which one of my kids is my favorite," said Millican. "If I nail it down to one, probably the belt that got me into it which is the Southern Heavyweight Championship from Memphis which is where I grew up.
"As far as things I'm connected to, the Winged Eagle belt. That's a big part of our history. Then, I'm a classics guy so the Domed Gold Belt and the Big Gold Belt. But saying one, that's tough."
Millican also recently worked with AEW and helped design some of their titles. He talked about coming up with the design for the AEW Women's Championship which came down to the last minute.
"I did the finishing touches in my hotel room. I finished the last one about 3-4 hours before I got on the plane to deliver it," said Millican.
Bret Hart unveiled the AEW Championship at Double or Nothing but many people think he didn't display it enough for the TV cameras. Millican was asked about that opinion.
"I didn't think much of it. It was so cool and that was the second time Bret's debuted championship belts that I've made. Bret's an awesome guy that's connected to us through my friend. So, I didn't think much of [him not displaying it] as I knew it would get plenty of TV time. I was just glad to have Bret bring it out," Millican said before adding that Hart also debuted the copper WWE tag titles and The Rock once even debuted one of his belts.
Shortly after All Out, the AEW Championship was stolen from Chris Jericho while he was traveling. Millican was asked if he was worried when that news first broke.
"We were already working on a backup belt so I wasn't too worried. When they do something like that, it's kind of job security," revealed Millican. "But I was glad that it turned back up as soon as it did."
The AEW Women's Championship has a much different design than the AEW World Title and Millican discussed the process that went into the women's belt.
"It was dealing with Brandi and the people involved with creative. We sent some designs that married it to the Heavyweight Championship belt, but they wanted to get away from that and have something completely different. So, it was more of their call to go with their version of the art," stated Millican.
He also added that he didn't design the AEW tag titles, but it's just business and he doesn't have a problem with not being involved.
Many have wondered if there is a secondary title on the way for AEW and Millican was coy when asked if he's designing any more AEW belts at the moment.
"There is nothing new on the table, right now," responded Millican.
You can learn more about Dave Millican, or purchase one of his belts, by visiting davemillicanbelts.com. His full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.
Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.