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The red letter WWE IC Championship belt that was most famously used for the Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky The Dragon Steamboat match from WrestleMania III sold for a record $716, 350 on auction at Heritage Auctions last weekend.
The final price of the auction of the belt, owned by podcaster Conrad Thompson, included a 22% buyer’s premium tacked on the final bid of $587,500. The final price set a record price for a wrestling belt surpassing the previ0us record of $414,800 for Hulk Hogan’s WrestleMania II belt that he wore while wrestling King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Tony Giese of Heritage Auctions told PWTorch columnsit Sean Radican in an interview last week on Radican Worldwide ahead of the final days of the auction that he felt the red letter WWF IC Championship had a good chance to set a record high for a title belt. “A lot of these belts, you know, they (WWF) would use them for a year, maybe a little longer,” said Giese. “This one, from 1985 through 1988. Because of how long it was used, I think that’s one of the factors that we’re all gonna really point to as to-why this thing could break the record. I think it’s got a very good chance. The style of it, again, you know, we talked about the Hogan belt. We talked about how, you know, it’s just, it’s nostalgia. We remember that belt. We remember seeing it.
“This one, I think what sets it apart from the Hogan belts, no offense to the Hogan belt at all, the longevity, and that it was, you know, won by Tito Santana, debuted by Tito Santana in 1985. Then he lost to The Macho Man, then Steamboat had it for a couple months, then The Honky Tonk Man had it. The guys who wore this belt, who owned this belt, it’s not like they had two different belts they used.”
