The Penrith Panthers have joined NBA, NFL and Premier League heavyweights after being presented with a custom WWE Undisputed Universal Championship to honour the team’s historic grand final win.
A Nathan Cleary-inspired Panthers side came back from a 24-8 deficit to stun the Brisbane Broncos 26-24 in the decider, winning their third-straight premiership in the process.
Penrith had already celebrated the victory by presenting Cleary with a WWE championship belt in the sheds following the win, drawing on the team’s “undisputed” theme this season.
But now the premiers have a new belt to add to their collection, complete with bespoke Penrith Panthers side-plates which the WWE said cemented “their position as true champions”.
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Australian WWE superstar Grayson Waller presented the belt to the team on social media, admitting it was “painful” to do as a “diehard Roosters fan”.
“But on behalf of the WWE I felt I had to reach out and say congratulations to the Penrith Panthers, once again winning the NRL premiership — that’s three in a row,” Waller added.
“The three peat is complete. You are the undisputed champion of the NRL. With such a historic achievement, myself and the WWE were talking and we thought, ‘We need to do something really special for such a historic team’.
“So what we’ve done is we’ve gone out and got the first-ever, custom-plated NRL WWE championship specifically for the boys. It’s on the ways to you lads now.”
Waller then challenged the Panthers players to show off their new championship in Perth early next year, when the WWE returns to Australia for the Elimination Chamber in February.
Previous recipients of custom WWE Championships include NBA Champions the Golden State Warriors, Premier League Champions Manchester City FC, Champions League winners Real Madrid, WNBA Champions Seattle Storm, World Series Champions the Boston Red Sox, and Superbowl Champions the Philadelphia Eagles.
Panthers halfback Cleary opened up on coach and father Ivan’s thinking behind the ‘Undisputed’ theme after Penrith’s grand final win.
“We have a theme each year and this year it‘s the ‘Undisputed’ theme,” Cleary told NCA Newswire.
“I think Dad might’ve come up with it. From the outside looking in people might think it’s a bit lame but for us it gives us a purpose.
“(He doesn’t follow wrestling) so I don’t know how he came up with it. I think he was just looking at different athletes and teams from all sorts of different sports … just champions, teams that keep winning.
“It‘s been the one belt throughout the finals series and each game we won, we put another plaque on it.”