Darren Hall - Championship Gold
Professional wrestling is a truly unique form of entertainment where competitors fight to claim ownership over large, ornate belts. In Australia, one man paved the way for championship belt makers locally by seeing a void in the market & stepping up to fill that void. That man was Darren Hall from Championship Gold, who recognised there was an opening for a more affordable, local belt maker in a burgeoning Australian wrestling scene.
Speaking to Pario recently Darren ran us through how he developed a love for championship belts & how his belt-making process has evolved over the years.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS
Reflecting on his childhood Darren told Pario how he came to fall in love, firstly with wrestling in general & then developing an admiration for the belt-making craft.
"I grew up as a child in the 70s that adored Jim Barnett's World Championship Wrestling," recalled Darren. "I used to watch that religiously with my father & brother on a Saturday afternoon & that simply stuck in my mind as I grew older."
Alongside this passion for World Championship Wrestling, there was also an adoration for the wrestling belts themselves & the craftsmanship that went into them. So once Darren was a little older & had money of his own to spend he purchased his first wrestling belts in the mid-90s.
First up was a WWF Intercontinental Championship from Joe Marshall, which took two & half years to arrive. Then Darren got 2 more belts from another esteemed belt maker, Reggie Parks, that set Darren back almost $6000. It was at this moment that "light bulb went off" in Darren's mind.
"I thought, 'maybe there might be a better option for those people/promotions that can't afford these top-end belts. There could be a more affordable alternative locally."
From then on Darren set about on a year-long process of researching how he would go about making affordable championship belts locally in Australia.
EVOLVING PROCESS
Setting out as a belt maker with no prior metal or leather working experience Darren had to first learn the requisite skills. From there he had to contemplate materials & manufacturing processes. Eventually, he would settle on "centrifugal casting using zinc alloy".
Making belts in this way required a mould to be made initially, which would be the bulk of the cost. Then zinc alloy would be poured into the mould, spun, removed & then plated with nickel/gold & painted before being attached to leather.
"The biggest drawback to this process was that if the customer wanted a different design from the mould I already had then a new mould would need to be made & thus the price would jump drastically."
To overcome this Darren transitioned to "acid etching on brass". While this was a more flexible & still relatively cheap option it again came with drawbacks.
"The trouble with brass is that it's quite a dense metal and when you're acid etching, you can't get a deep bite from the acid because of its hardness. So you'd get quite a shallow etching that then made painting difficult."
So once again Darren evolved his process & gambled with slightly higher prices by moving to acid etching on zinc. This proved to be a successful gamble with Darren sticking with this process for roughly 15 years.
In recent years Darren has again evolved & begun to create belts using CNC engraving. A process that allows for highly detailed designs, deep engraving on both zinc & brass, plus fast turnaround times.
"Using CNC engraving I can have a belt completed & sent out to the customer within 7-10 days," explained Darren excitedly.
GROWING POPULARITY OF CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS
While the main focus for Championship Gold has been wrestling belts there has been a drastic uptick in requests for belts from other avenues over recent years.
"We're not only doing wrestling belts anymore. Now we're doing belts for boxing, MMA, golf, racing, baseball & even dance or callisthenics clubs. You name it, we've done it," said Darren proudly. "Where you used to get trophies made people are now turning to championship belts to be able to have something a little different or more prestigious."
To close out our interview we asked Darren about the joy he gets from seeing former holders of his belts going on to achieve global fame.
"We've made a lot of belts for a lot of Australian companies such as PCW in Melbourne, World Series Wrestling, Oceania Pro Wrestling, PWA in Sydney, & Riot City Wrestling in Adelaide... So it's always fun flicking through old photos on social media & seeing my belts on champions who have gone on to greater success. For example, current WWE Women's Champion Rhea Ripley is a former Riot City Wrestling champion where she held one of my belts, so that's pretty special."
Follow Darren's Creative Journey with Championship Gold at: www.championshipgold.com.au
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