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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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ESPN will hand out some new hardware to deserving WWE superstars during the upcoming two-night SummerSlam 2026 premium live event.
These custom championship belts won't be considered actual championships, but more like trophies for the best "moment of the night." A moment-of-the-night championship belt will be awarded after each night of SummerSlam, suggesting two of these will be given out.
Based on images circulating on social media, these belts feature gold, red, and black. They also feature a large ESPN logo on the front and WWE's logo on top. An ESPN logo for "SportsCenter" appears, with the letters "SC" shown on the side straps.
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It marks an interesting addition to the collection of numerous championship belts already held within WWE, NXT, and TNA. However, these seem more like awards for a one-match achievement.
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Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp revealed the new-look belts on X, and fans expressed their frustration over the situation involving ESPN and WWE.
"Replicas will then be on sale on WWE Shop for the special low price $1,499.99," a fan commented.
Another said, "All this is doing is driving sports fans away from ESPN."
"There’s way too many belts now that it’s devaluing any of their meaning," someone said in an X commenter.
"Is this higher or lower on the pecking order than the Saudi Royal Rumble belt?" a fan asked in the replies.
Others said, "This could be the closest LA Knight ever gets to winning a title" and "Tacky AF, but that’s what I expect from WWE/TKO."
WWE has championships associated with both Raw and SmackDown programs, and it can often be confusing to keep track of who has which championship where. Sometimes, championships are won from other promotions, including the developmental WWE brand NXT or the Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide promotion that WWE often crosses over with.
At one point, WWE stars Chelsea Green and Dominik Mysterio had two championship belts, one from WWE and the other coming from a match they won in AAA.
WWE is owned by TKO Group Holdings, which also owns the UFC. The UFC awards performance-of-the-night bonuses to fighters after its events.
It should be interesting to see what the belt-winning moments will be for the two nights of SummerSlam, and how many of these belts are awarded beyond SummerSlam. Most likely, these will become a major talking point for ESPN's "SportsCenter" and other programs.
On the first night, Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar's steel cage match could bring the house, or the cage, down, resulting in a belt being awarded to one of those competitors. Paul "Triple H" Levesque has also hyped up Iyo Sky and Liv Morgan's match for Morgan's Women's World Championship as a potential show-stealer.
The second night's card includes Seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship and Penta versus Chad Gable for the Intercontinental Championship, among other intriguing matches.
WWE's SummerSlam 2026 is on Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, with the ESPN app live streaming both nights.
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