According to the Wrestling Observer, Flair's original NWA belt will go up for auction on ebay next week. Evidently Highspots came into possession of the belt by fronting Flair a large sum of money. He has yet to pay the money back and there is also a debate over Highspots releasing Fanfest dvds featuring Flair without his permission. ???
For those of us who actually got to see and have our pictures taken with that belt this year it may have been the last time anybody ever sees it again.  
This really upsets me and is very unfortunate that Naitch has gotten himself in such financial trouble.  Hopefully the belt ends up in good hands and will be able to be viewed by fans for years.

Quote from Stylin61 on Sep 30^th, 2009, 11:13am:

 
 
What he said.

Any rumor on what the opening bid will be or if there is proof it is THE belt?

God Bless Mr. Flair.....

I say this is "the" belt to own. The only belt that comes close is the original Big Gold which Scott Steiner apparently has.
 
Both belts have near 20 years use and held by dozens of wrestling legends and defended in historic matches.
 
For comparison, WWF used over 30 Winged Eagle belts from 1988-1998. So it can be easy to pick up a Hulk Hogan or Bret Hart ring worn belt since there are so many.
 
That 1 NWA and 1 Big Gold were used consistently for near 20 years each. Big difference.
 
As for the politics of the belt, I will say that it was shopped around privately and if they wanted it sold, it would have sold by now. I see this auction as really just a way to get Flair to pay them back, because I don't even think Highspots wants any fan to have it. I believe they respect the business enough to know Flair should own that belt, but money talks, BS walks.
 
But for something this historic, eBay is a joke. They would get more money and more interest if it was set up at a proper, truly private auction house. Alot of people, especially in the collecting community are not too big on eBay and I don't blame them.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up in Japan. Japanese fans are die hard when it comes to NWA and WWF classic memoribilia. Yen is killing the dollar, so they would also be getting a big discount for it.
 
If someone bids that belt near $100,000, it will be sold.

For shits and giggles, I just called Highspots. I offered 36k and he said the two written offers were double that; Not Japs. It goes on sale on Highspots, not ebay, if it happens. He said 5pm EST tonight until next Monday.

Read the 10lbs of Gold book. Very good and can tell you about the the in-depth history of the belt.
 
This IS the belt. It was taken off the red velvet strap and put on black. Then releathered a few times and the side plates changed around over the years.
 
Harley and Dusty had copies made for themselves but were never ring used. Harley's belt doesn't have a dome. Dusty sold his copy on eBay like 6 years ago.
 
Like I said, they don't want this going to just anyone, otherwise it would have sold to those who made the serious offers. It is going to take $100,000 likely to get them to outright sell it to just anyone.

I hope Ric can get his belt back.. The 48 hours cease sounds like he could be very much on his way to getting it back.. I will be Seeing Flair saturday I will be sure to try and ask him what does he think about the belt and the issue with Highspots...

It's now listed for sale on their site.

Flair makes no sense to me , ever watch his shoot? How about Bret Hart? Amazing how these "evil promoters" show them no respect over the years as they run around on their wives and have shown the mothers of their children "no respect". I would suggest Mr. Flair stop getting married when he can't control his ways and ends up right back to writing a payoff to the new ex-wife. I blame Ric Flair for the way Ric Flair turned out....

Quote from JBLCENAFAN on Oct 7^th, 2009, 8:37pm:

 
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you.  
 
He had to live his gimmick though to be The Man and it only seems the Roma got out unscathed from being a Horseman. Except he has to be Paul Roma.

They should be able to sell the belt if they are owed money but the belt does not define Ric and that is what matters to me with or without the belt Ric Flair is the man....

Ric was doing a signing today at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston
Salem, NC promoting his lottery tickets. I got there 2 hours before
the signing and was about ten people back. We were told one autograph
and one pic per person. I had him sign a pic that was already signed
by Ricky The Dragon Steamboat and my Ten Pounds of Gold book. He was
super cool and chatted with me about how he was not losing his orginal
NWA title as the interwebs are saying. He said that title means more
to him than money. He said that that site is just using him and his
belt for hits