Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams spring to mind, part of a long line of dead wrestlers to hold a Millican championship belt. the Freebirds and the white-hot feud that defined Texas wrestling in the 1980s. Five thousand fans packed the place every week to get a glimpse of their heroes. The dirty, sweltering Dallas Sportatorium springs to mind.
Of course, it’s small compared to the copies of the Big Gold belt and the Mid-South North American championship poised next to it. The belt looks in good enough shape that it could be on TV next week. I pick up one of the old World Class tag team championships, its nickel plating still lustrous more than 30 years after the territory closed. On another wall? The first WCW TV title–again, the real deal–worn by wrestlers like Scott Steiner, Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, and Steve Austin, back when he was simply "Stunning." The first WCW TV title holds a place of honor in Dave Millican’s den. It’s the real thing worn by Ron Simmons, Vader, Lex Luger, and retired by Ric Flair. On one wall is the 1991 WCW world championship belt.
We’re surrounded by championship belts that span half a century in the wrestling business, and the sense of history and reverence for wrestling’s past is a nearly tangible thing. Everywhere I turn, there’s an unexpected treasure. I’m standing in the den of Dave Millican, experiencing sensory overload. It was worth it! Close detail of a Mulkavitch-style cast Photo/Bobby Mathews for A Walk Through the Treasure-filled Den of Championship Belt Maker Dave Millican He’s graciously opened his home to me for an interview, and I fought Birmingham traffic and slow-moving 18-wheelers on I-65 for two hours to find his home here in rural Tennessee, a hard baseball throw from the Alabama state line.
Name a famous professional wrestler, and the odds are that Millican - or his mentor, Reggie Parks - has made one of the titles you’ve seen that wrestler wear on TV. Dave Millican is the premier championship belt maker in the world.