Actually, this doesn't follow at all.
I feel it does. But we'll follow through your point of view and see if we can come to any agreements.
ECW is less prestigious, obviously, but that by no means means that all titles on Raw are better than all titles on ECW. Compare it to awards. British film awards are, on the whole, less prestigious than American ones. You'd still rather have a Bafta than a North Delaware regional film society award, wouldn't you? The point is, is that the ECW belt is less prestigious than the Raw title, but it isn't less prestigious than the US title.
Hmmm. Really debatable.
Again, the problem is that ECW as a whole is a Developmental Brand. I know you somewhat disagree down below, but the Brand's primary purpose is just that.
Now, sure you can look at Veterans like Christian, William Regal, and Tommy Dreamer on the brand, but essentially they are the trainers and mentors of the entire ECW Brand. If you take a look at everybody else, they are all essentially either young and not ready for the main two Brands, or WWE simply feels that they are Green and need their skills worked on.
Believe me, I am a big proponent of ECW being a Brand on par with Raw and Smackdown, but it doesn't look like it is in the cards for McMahon. I think having solely a Developmental Brand on TV is such a waste for a third television outlet, and would prefer that all trainees be simply spread across all the Brands on the Undercard, since they get more exposure that way .... but it is what it is.
So keeping that in mind, don't look at Christian and assume that simply because he is a veteran, that the ECW Title today means as much as it did when the Brand debuted.
Fact is that the FCW Championship is not as prestigious as the ECW Championship and nor would it be as prestigious if ECW had a Mid-card title, because the entire Brand is not on the same level as ECW.
The same simply applies to ECW, and that is why there wasn't even an ECW Championship match at Wrestlemania.
Swagger had the ECW title, then when he went to Raw was in a feud in the region of the card above the US but below the main event with MVP. He was on Summerslam, the title wasn't. Matt Hardy stepped up to the ECW title from the US one. Shelton recently held the US, but isn't even in contention for the ECW title. The ECW title is on 90% of PPVs, the same isn't true of the other midcard belts.
I think that concept of the Midcard titles has just changed in the past few weeks. If you look at both Raw and Smackdown these past several weeks ... all of the titles, from the US Championship, to the Intercontinental Championship, to the Divas Championship, to the Women's Championship now have all the title holders made into a prominent part of the programs by being placed in feuds. Vince has finally got it that if he wants to grow talent, he has to use his Midcard titles properly and prominently display them on WWE television. What woke him up is anyone's guest. But at least he finally got it.
How many times has the ECW title match been on a PPV where it was a "record match time", just to get it out of the way?
The US Championship is the only title that can now remotely be considered near or on the same level as the ECW Championship. Why Miz vs Kofi Kingston didn't take place at SummerSlam, who knows? But the Intercontinental title match was on the card, and it was a lot longer than the match for the ECW title.
ECW is a development brand to an extent, certainly, but by no means is that its only purpose.
The only other purpose I see to the show, other than grooming and training talent, is to air segments from Raw the previous night.
How many of the developmental stars, that is ones that have been with the company for less than a year, been involved in an ECW title match? 2. Of which one has held it. The people who are contenders for that title now: Christian, Dreamer, Kozlov & Regal have all been with the company for years.
Kozlov is on ECW because he is still considered Green and McMahon has soured on him when he was feuding with Taker.
The others are there as trainers or mentors, as I mentioned .... and to groom the talent. That much has been reported in the Observer and various online news sites.
There are 4 people on the entire ECW roster that have not been on any other brand, and 7 out of 13 male wrestlers have held a title on another brand. To me, the developmental aspect of the brand is only half the story.
Developmental doesn't simply equate to "training young talent". There are people who have been with the company longer like Kozlov and Burchill who are also there to be "developed" as well ... since McMahon is evidently not happy with their ring work, and nor feels they should be displayed on his two main programs.
If you are in ECW, you are there as a trainer or mentor, or because you are a young talent just called up to the main roster, or because Vince is not happy with your ring work and are placed there to develop.
Christian is too good and too young to be the developmental champion, definitely, but I'm not sure that is what the title is. After all, developmental implies onwards to better things, and just a single ECW Champion since RVD has gone on to hold a bigger title.
I agree, and so do a lot of other people. That's why these people feel he is being wasted on ECW. I would rather see Christian as the Intercontinental champion on a prominent brand as opposed to being the ECW Champion ... the champion of a developmental brand.
Christian is probably in the best place for him to garner credibility with the company, he already has it with the fans. A long reign for him against the three heel wrestlers will serve him, and the title well.
It's a good feud, and nobody is denying that. However, something has to be put on the show to get people to watch the Developmental Wrestlers, and pairing up the Two Head trainers in a good feud is a good way to do it. I don't think they are necessarily trying to bring credibility to the ECW title with this feud. Rather, they are simply trying to give the people something else to get them to tune into the entire show.
The danger with the ECW title is to turn it into the can he hold a title title, which is stupid, because it completely detracts from the title as an entity. Keep it how its going, with veterans and upper midcarders and the title will forever remain a PPV staple. Start letting Sheamus have a pop at it, and people will start to see it as being on a par with the European Championship.
I absolutely despise the European Championship. It is the single most useless title in all of wrestling. So, let's hope not.
