WWE’s Million Dollar Championship: The $200K Prop Only Six Wrestlers Ever Used

Dan Lalonde
Mar 27, 2025
2 min read

Who was your favorite wrestler growing up? Hulk Hogan? Bret Hart? Macho Man Randy Savage? Or is it The Rock? In the theatrical world of WWE, spectacle often trumps practicality—but few props embody that philosophy more than the Million Dollar Championship. Originally crafted for villainous legend Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase, this custom belt was never officially sanctioned yet remains one of the most luxurious and expensive props in wrestling history.

Back in the late 1980s, Vince McMahon needed a way to elevate DiBiase’s arrogant persona after his failed bid to claim the WWE Championship. The solution? Build him his own title. WWE partnered with Betteridge Jewellers in Greenwich, Connecticut, to design a belt that screamed opulence. Featuring over 700 hand-set cubic zirconias, five pounds of sterling silver, and 24-carat gold plating, the belt cost an eye-watering $40,000 to produce at the time—an amount that would now equate to over $200,000 in value.

Jeweler Terry Betteridge, who oversaw the painstaking month-long creation process, called it “the single greatest commission” of his career, even more elaborate than the multi-million-dollar pieces his shop typically creates.

Despite its grandeur, the title’s actual use was shockingly limited. Only six wrestlers ever held the Million Dollar Championship: Ted DiBiase, Virgil, The Ringmaster (later known as Stone Cold Steve Austin), Ted DiBiase Jr., LA Knight, and Cameron Grimes. It was retired, revived, and mothballed repeatedly over the decades, surfacing briefly in the early ‘90s, mid-‘90s, and again in the 2010s and 2020s as a nostalgic storytelling tool.

Its legacy is less about competition and more about symbolism. For WWE, it showcased the lengths they’d go for character authenticity. For fans, it became a symbol of wrestling excess, a golden reminder that in WWE, the line between storyline and spectacle is often paved with literal gold.