All Elite Wrestling had an unusual problem when it launched in 2019. It needed a world championship that looked established on day one, without any of the history that normally does that work. What it produced is one of the better-designed belts of the modern era, and it got there by ignoring most of what WWE was doing at the time.

The design decisions that worked

The AEW World Championship is built around a single large gold centre plate on black leather. It is a deliberately traditional shape — closer to the world titles of the 1980s than to anything on television when it was introduced — and that was the point. A new promotion claiming to be a serious alternative could not afford a belt that looked like a toy.

Two details do most of the work. The plate is genuinely large, so it reads clearly at distance and on camera. And the finish is warm rather than bright, which keeps it from looking like costume jewellery under arena lighting.

Chris Jericho was the first AEW World Champion, which mattered commercially as well as creatively: putting the belt on a wrestler audiences already took seriously helped the new title borrow credibility it had not yet earned.

The side plates

The most-discussed feature is the side plates. AEW lets its champions replace them with plates carrying their own imagery, so the belt visibly changes between reigns.

Fans generally like this. Collectors have a more complicated relationship with it, because it means there is no single correct version of the belt. A replica sold with the standard side plates represents the title rather than any particular champion's run, and if you have a specific reign in mind, the side plates are the thing to look at in the photographs. The AEW World Championship replica in brass is the standard configuration and the usual first purchase.

The rest of the AEW title picture

AEW built out its championships quickly, and several of them are worth knowing about if you are collecting the promotion rather than just its main title.

Women's World Championship. AEW's top women's title, with its own design rather than a scaled-down version of the men's belt. The AEW Women's World Championship replica is the one to look for.

International Championship. Introduced as the All-Atlantic Championship and renamed International in 2023. It has had an unusually strong run of champions for a secondary title, which is why it sells better than most people expect. The All-Atlantic CNC belt is the machined version of that design, for anyone who wants the deepest relief available.

TNT and TBS Championships. Both named after the networks AEW broadcasts on, which is a piece of television history baked into a belt and will read oddly in twenty years. Both are distinctive designs.

Tag team, trios and Continental. The tag titles are a conventional pair. The trios championships are unusual simply because very few promotions have ever run a three-person title, which makes them a curiosity for collectors.

Buying an AEW belt

One thing separates AEW replicas from the classics: almost everyone buying one watched the reign they are buying. These are not nostalgia purchases yet. That changes what matters — accuracy to the current design counts for more than it does on a 1980s belt, where fans are often working from memory and tape.

On construction the choice is the same as anywhere. Zinc plates keep the weight and cost down and are the sensible entry point. Brass gives a large plate like this one the heft it needs, and is the tier most AEW collectors settle on. Machined plates cost the most and get closest to what is on television.

The full range, including the secondary titles and the name plates, is in the AEW belts collection.