Will Titles in WWE Ever Be More Than "Props" Again?
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northwest443
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Will Titles in WWE Ever Be More Than "Props" Again? by Tristan Braithwaite via PWRShow.com
WWE, World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental, United States, Diva, and Tag Team Championship.
That's six championship titles in the WWE and I'm not sure if ANY of them mean a damn thing. The titles change hands at a ridiculous pace. Champions are made to look silly in non-title matches. Contenders pop up out of nowhere.
The biggest kiss of death recently seems to be winning the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. We have all watched the enormous slides of three recent main event champions-- Sheamus, Jack Swagger, and most recently The Miz-- after losing their respective titles. Sheamus was made into a comedy sideshow at times with Santino. Swagger was completely invisible until the Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler debacle. Currently we watch The Miz get beat down on a weekly basis by his former personal assistant, punked by Stone Cold Steve Austin, and pinned by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper!
Even looking at the reigns of these three lend little credibility or value to being either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. Sheamus' reign began with a win in a gimmick match while Swagger and Miz both cashed in their Money in the Bank contracts against injured champions. None of the three were made to look strong during their runs with very few pin fall victories recorded by them. The Miz in particular was made to look ridiculous having to defend the title against Jerry Lawler on multiple occasions.
The mid-card title scene is even more of a mess. Let me start by saying that not EVERY guy that is a credible IC or U.S. Champion is qualified to then be a WWE/WHC. There is nothing that says that holding one of the mid-card titles means that you have to be catapulted to the next level. There are plenty of examples of guys who have held the IC Title that never won the heavyweight championship but were still major stars. The recent holder of either belt has seemingly followed the same script-- have no one to feud with, lose a non-title match, lose the title either the next week on tv or at the following PPV, and get swept under the rug after one rematch. There is an opportunity for the WWE right now to bring some prestige back to the IC Title because of who currently holds it. If Wade Barrett is going to be a future star, which I believe, have him hold onto the belt for a bit of an extended period. Raise the value of the championship by NOT having it defended every week or two on tv and if it is defended on tv, make it the main event on Smackdown. The most important thing is MAKE BARRETT LOOK STRONG as the champion! Have some clean victories whether they are close calls or he dominates. Either way having his star on the rise in a credible title reign raises the meaning of the championship.
We all know that both the Tag Team and Divas Championships have become a complete joke, but the direction of those divisions has been lost for years so the fix for that is an article for a other time.
Part of the story in pro wrestling is what the championships mean. Maybe I'm being a little nostalgic wanting the days where title reigns routinely lasted 9-15 months. It looked like that's where they were going with Miz after he retained at WrestleMania, but that was quickly done in at Extreme Rules. Now, if they do that with Cena I won't complain as long as they make some of the challenges interesting. I know that would be a drastic change from the way things are done now, but to this fan it would bring some meaning to what the title means and a real investment into what a guy goes through in his chase for the title.
This can be done with all the titles, in particular the four single titles, to give me some reason to believe that the quest for these championships actually has real meaning. Not that they are just an inconvenience that the writers have to work into story lines or a prop that just gets passed around every month or so. Bring meaning back to the titles!!
WWE, World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental, United States, Diva, and Tag Team Championship.
That's six championship titles in the WWE and I'm not sure if ANY of them mean a damn thing. The titles change hands at a ridiculous pace. Champions are made to look silly in non-title matches. Contenders pop up out of nowhere.
The biggest kiss of death recently seems to be winning the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. We have all watched the enormous slides of three recent main event champions-- Sheamus, Jack Swagger, and most recently The Miz-- after losing their respective titles. Sheamus was made into a comedy sideshow at times with Santino. Swagger was completely invisible until the Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler debacle. Currently we watch The Miz get beat down on a weekly basis by his former personal assistant, punked by Stone Cold Steve Austin, and pinned by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper!
Even looking at the reigns of these three lend little credibility or value to being either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. Sheamus' reign began with a win in a gimmick match while Swagger and Miz both cashed in their Money in the Bank contracts against injured champions. None of the three were made to look strong during their runs with very few pin fall victories recorded by them. The Miz in particular was made to look ridiculous having to defend the title against Jerry Lawler on multiple occasions.
The mid-card title scene is even more of a mess. Let me start by saying that not EVERY guy that is a credible IC or U.S. Champion is qualified to then be a WWE/WHC. There is nothing that says that holding one of the mid-card titles means that you have to be catapulted to the next level. There are plenty of examples of guys who have held the IC Title that never won the heavyweight championship but were still major stars. The recent holder of either belt has seemingly followed the same script-- have no one to feud with, lose a non-title match, lose the title either the next week on tv or at the following PPV, and get swept under the rug after one rematch. There is an opportunity for the WWE right now to bring some prestige back to the IC Title because of who currently holds it. If Wade Barrett is going to be a future star, which I believe, have him hold onto the belt for a bit of an extended period. Raise the value of the championship by NOT having it defended every week or two on tv and if it is defended on tv, make it the main event on Smackdown. The most important thing is MAKE BARRETT LOOK STRONG as the champion! Have some clean victories whether they are close calls or he dominates. Either way having his star on the rise in a credible title reign raises the meaning of the championship.
We all know that both the Tag Team and Divas Championships have become a complete joke, but the direction of those divisions has been lost for years so the fix for that is an article for a other time.
Part of the story in pro wrestling is what the championships mean. Maybe I'm being a little nostalgic wanting the days where title reigns routinely lasted 9-15 months. It looked like that's where they were going with Miz after he retained at WrestleMania, but that was quickly done in at Extreme Rules. Now, if they do that with Cena I won't complain as long as they make some of the challenges interesting. I know that would be a drastic change from the way things are done now, but to this fan it would bring some meaning to what the title means and a real investment into what a guy goes through in his chase for the title.
This can be done with all the titles, in particular the four single titles, to give me some reason to believe that the quest for these championships actually has real meaning. Not that they are just an inconvenience that the writers have to work into story lines or a prop that just gets passed around every month or so. Bring meaning back to the titles!!
Comments
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never-? -mind SMH@myself
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You write these?
Na....PWRShow.com..
I read them sometime last week and just wanted to throw'em out there.
Thought it was a good read... -
It is a good read. I don't like the two world titles and two separate shows. I would like to see a merge once again and one world title. A tag team that actually means something and brings in good tag team chemistry like the Dudleys, Christian/Edge, Matt/Jeff Hardy etc. I want an IC title that holds barring, like the guy said about Barrett holding on to it. The United States needs more light, give it to Swagger and let him hold it for a long time. These characters though need work too. ? where is the ? title and why is it gone?
I never cared for any of the women matches or titles, always found them very boring. 90's/early 00's had that on lock, never again will that be the same, they should just drop that and have them as eye candy and fued them sorta like the Jarret/Karen v Angle beef type ? . TNA has better matches with their Knockouts. -
First off, even after the brands split, weren't ALL these title at one point "unified"?
Well, what the ? happened?
Second, if THIS isn't as good a reason as any to ? this "split", they'll never have one again. That split does more damage to the company. I know it's supposed to give wrestlers extra time to rest, but if they're all still doing shoots EVERY damn day, just not all televised, what's the ? difference?
Re-unite the roster
Simplify the schedule
Merge all the titles back where they should've been.
Problem solved. -
Good stuff. I liked Wade at first but now..not so much. He has to prove that he's strong enough to ride by himself (RKO did without Legacy)
Where the ? did the ? title go??
The midcard titles dont have any strength anymore. I think Swagger would be great as IC or US champion. They need to strengthen this division.
Don't sleep on Drew McIntyre or Sheamus. I like both. One midcard and one WHC. Sheamus is a ? beast.
Tag Teams? What a ? joke. Otunga & McGuilicutty? foh. Tag Team Division needs a bypass then a major overhaul. But exactly what they can do to make it better...I dont know yet. -
In all honestly if there is one thing i hated about the brand split is how much they cheapened the world titles and the amount of reigns (i'm looking at you Edge)
and it ? up the tag team team scene
I think a solution is to unify the world titles but not the brands
keep secondary titles separate
I'm pretty sure John Cena could do a lot to help Smackdowns ratings
and it opens the door for a a lot of fresh matchups
i have no idea why a lot of these guys that aint doin ? are not slapped together to create a new tag team (like the New Age Outlaws)
it can work
and i also think that booking is reall dropping the ball on the secondary titles
too much ppl on the midcard for the titles not be defended enough
US Title: Kofi, Dolph, McIntyre, Swagger, Truth, Morrison, Ryder, Bourne
IC Title: Barret, Jackson, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, Dibiase, Kidd
Theres no excuse for the bulllshit that they are putting out -
Titles in WWE haven't had any meaning since 2004 when Eddie and Benoit won at WM 20. After Cena & Batista won the WWE & World Titles in 2005 and they let Cena turn the belt into some spinner ? that's when the value of championships went down the toilet. I agree with everything said in the OP though.
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willhustle25 wrote: »Titles in WWE haven't had any meaning since 2004 when Eddie and Benoit won at WM 20. After Cena & Batista won the WWE & World Titles in 2005 and they let Cena turn the belt into some spinner ? that's when the value of championships went down the toilet. I agree with everything said in the OP though.
..........................co-sign -
Got a toy spinning belt as your main belt of course that ? gonna mean ?
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dalyricalbandit wrote: »Got a toy spinning belt as your main belt of course that ? gonna mean ?
word i always thought that ? was cheasy as hell... -
When everyone from "Tough Enough Contestants" to the "Green Bay Packers", Jimmy Fallon to the Dallas Mavericks and everyone in between can receive a WWE or World Title Belt then we have a problem....
I don't see Jay Leno or Ultimate Fighter Contestants walking around with UFC Championships... Nor WBC/WBA/WBO or even IBF Championships...
NBA/MLB/NFL/NHL no other organization does this... because it de-values your brand, company,current- champion, future-champions and the championship as a whole
