Who was it that did the original WWF lineup of championships? Reggie Parks, right? Every damn belt just looked so good, its astonishing the talent that man had. And Big Gold was originally done by a silversmith in Atlanta, so I heard.
Its difficult to mesh and blend athletic accomplishment, historical prestige, aesthetics, corporate demands and brand name recognition, status, instant recognizability, desirable design, and accomplishment of winning it all into modern sensibilities. Its not impossible of course, its just not easy to please everyone either. That too, isn't as impossible as it sounds, because their past designs have unamiously aggreed upon to have been great and desire to be seen again.
