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Credit: WWE.com

Even while Seth Rollins and Finn Balor laid their guts on the mat at SummerSlam in a match that left The Demon King with a torn labrum, much of the focus was on the design of the championship belt they fought over.

WWE unveiled the new Universal Championship that night, only to have the Twizzler-colored prize panned in the arena and online. Fans inside Barclays Center chanted snarky comments like "That looks ugly." Twitter had a field day with the belt.

Rollins was unhappy with the criticism. He tweeted, "More important than a title's appearance is what it represents for the men fighting over it. You really let me down tonight, Brooklyn."

The Architect is right about a championship's prestige overcoming its look, but the Universal Championship is still a flop visually. The execution failed. Raw's top title became the butt of jokes because it features one of the worst designs WWE has come up with.

The universal title looks like a toy compared to the Intercontinental Championship and the old "winged eagle" WWF Championship. Those belts are majestic, handsomely designed, fitting trophies for the gladiators who earn them.

WWE's best titles have had the right balance of showiness and elegance. They saluted both the over-the-top nature of pro wrestling yet felt like something that belonged in the sports world, too.

The Universal Championship didn't accomplish any of that. It joins the current tag team titles as some of WWE's biggest design stumbles.

However, WWE can always take comfort in the fact that nothing it has crafted comes close to Jeff Hardy's TNA World Heavyweight Championship in awfulness.