Posted on September 23rd, 2013 by BeltFanDan

As many of you know, I am not a fan of Figures Toy Company/Fig Inc/Wrestling SuperStore/WSS. I have been saying for years that they are misrepresenting their products, know nothing about belts, and at times defrauding their customers. I could write a whole article regarding those specifics, but I won’t. After 12 years, the partnership between Fig Inc and WWE has come to an end. I would like to take a quick glance back at some of the specifics, that built up to the latest news regarding the split, reasons why, and the lawsuit.

Back in the days when belt collectors were few and far between, we congregated on the Yahoo groups dedicated to belts. In the late 90′s, when the WCW and ECW replica belts came out, it caused a huge boom in the community. The obvious question was constantly brought up: “When would they make WWF belts?”. It would come a few years later.

Part of the agreement between then WWF and Figures Toy Company, was that they had to be exclusive. Figures Inc could no longer produce replica belts for other companies, only the WWF licensed companies. This is why the NWA, WCW and ECW belts stopped being made until WWF/WWE owned them. The MMA belts were never cleared up. One source told me Figs were not supposed to continue making belts for King of the Cage and UFC, yet to this day KOTC still gives Fig made replicas to their champions, and UFC belts were made with 2004 manufacturing dates.

This exclusivity agreement is why other replicas from “Premier” and “Premium” were released through AJ’s Belts, including the NWA:TNA belts, TNA and assortment of independent designs designed by Wildcat belts.

The other part of the agreement between WWF and Fig Inc, was regarding the licensing of real handmade belts. At the time, I spoke to both J-Mar, and Ed Chuman who handled orders for Midwest. It was explained to me that Fig Inc was the go-between, and got in before a direct agreement between WWF and the beltmakers could be reached. WWF/E’s license fee is a flat 25% of MSRP. Ed said they bumped up to an even $1,000 due to the rush priority associated with the orders. J-Mar bumped that up to an even higher cost ($2,000-$3,000 over MSRP). WWF was keeping him so busy that he did not want to take on additional work unless it was financially worth it. To those who know, J-Mar already has a extended wait time. If the hand made WWF belts were made available at a “normal” cost, it would only shift those wait times further. As it was told to me, WSS would handle the orders, and pay WWF/E the license fee from that money. They also took their cut, and the beltmakers would be paid their price as well.

So WWE wants replica belts made to sell. They contact Fig Inc, who then has them manufactured in China.

Customers/collectors want real WWE/WWF belts. They have to go through Fig Inc, who then contacts J-Mar, Dave Millican or Reggie Parks to manufacture.

Fig Inc/WSS is the middleman in both cases, and gets paid as such.

It seems like WWE has been unhappy over the last 2 years, and has finally made the decision to terminate the agreement with Fig Inc/WSS.

Figures Toy Company claims this breach of contract is not warranted and has sued WWE. Details of the case can be read here:

http://ia601903.us.archive.org/24/items/gov.uscourts.ctd.101903/gov.uscourts.ctd.101903.1.0.pdf

There are many interesting pieces of information from that document.

In 2012, WWE informed FTC that the spinner belts would no longer be shown on television beginning in August 2012, and were being replaced by another belt.

This is the same time that pictures of the new “Big Logo” belt were leaked here on BeltTalk.com and started making headlines on websites worldwide.

During the spring and early summer, Ms. Jack and FTC communicated about Licensed Products delivered under the Agreement. Ms. Jack was unhappy with the Second Amendment to the Agreement that had been reached a year earlier between FTC and WWE because she believed that the WWE could obtain the Licensed Products directly from a Chinese manufacturer at a lower price than WWE was paying FTC for the products. Ms. Jack repeatedly expressed this sentiment in her dealings with FTC. On information and belief, in an effort to eliminate its long time business partner FTC and to steal the license back from FTC so that it could reap additional profits, Defendant devised pre-texts for terminating the Agreement and eliminating FTC from the equation.

Later on

Because of the unprecedented magnitude of the order, which was both unplanned and unexpected, there were some quality issues with the belts that were delivered in March 2013. FTC used its best efforts to acclimate to handling this unprecedented volume of orders for a handmade piece that required the placement by hand of more than 100 different jewels.

The new “Big Logo” replica belts introduced earlier in 2013 had numerous issues. The 2 largest problems being the failure to cut out the center space between each “W” on the main plate, and the failure to reproduce the tooling detail on the strap behind the cut out pieces of the “W”. The later released, less expensive, lower quality “commemorative” edition included straps with the tooling detail.

In May 2013, Ms. Jack determined that going forward, each of the championship belts would be examined for quality, which was an entirely new procedure. Based on subjective determinations made by WWE staff – applying alleged standards of “defectiveness” never provided to FTC and never applied in the past – WWE rejected some of the belts that were delivered in May and June 2013. Many of these rejections were not in good faith and were merely a pre-text to make a claim for termination.

The document referenced only speaks in specifics about the “Big Logo”, but the other huge mistake made was regarding the new “next generation”, Winged Eagle classic championship belt.

Many fans were eager to see this new belt, hoping it would match the unprecedented quality of the new Intercontinental championship. Wrestling SuperStore posted the pictures on their Facebook, and within a few minutes they were gone.

Was it because the side bars were still not attached to the main plate?

Was it because the belt now had the WW legends logo, not the classic WWF block logo?

No, it was because of a quality control issue that somehow slipped by EVERYONE at WSS/Fig Inc, until it was mentioned on Facebook.

That is exactly what it looks like; “Ghampion”

Photoshopped pictures were re-uploaded to WSS Facebook page within the hour showing “Champion” instead. The pictures clearly showed the real, physical item stating “Ghampion”.

Weeks later, upon the release of the actual replica belts, sure enough, it looks like the G was grinded off, and painted over, yet the outline still remained.

That mistake in my opinion, is even bigger than the mistakes made on the “Big Logo”. After these past 2 releases, it is understandable how WWE would want to question the quality control of the manufacturer.

WWE made the decision that Zuffa made regarding their belts back in 2008: Eliminate the middleman. Get them made from the same Chinese factory and keep the quality control, and extra profit, in house.

WWE is simply going to undertake the belt portion of merchandising themselves. WSS believes this is a breach of their agreement, and was unjustly terminated. WWE has until September 26th to respond to this claim.

I don’t see this working out favorably in Fig Inc’s favor.

What does this mean for the future of WWE replicas? Very little. Prices will likely be the same. The belts will likely be made in the same place. All I can see changing, is that WWE will hold them to stricter standards and quality control.

It is likely this dispute that is causing the massive reduction in prices on WSS website for many of the older WWF/WWE belts.

Keep checking the forum regarding updates to this case.

After 12 years of sub-par duty, I would NOT like to wish Figures Toy Company the best of luck on their future endeavors.

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