A Shift In Title Changes?

[klunderbunker]

As many of you know, Cena and Orton spent a lot of the second half of 2009 exchanging the Raw world title. 2010 wasn't much better as a revolving door of champions held the belt. On Fridays it wasn't much better. Starting at Wrestlemania 23 (2007) when Undertaker beat Batista, the longest title reign in three and a half years was Undertaker at about four and a half months.

Then we hit the end of 2010 and saw Kane and Miz both win the world titles. Kane held his for five months and Miz held his for about the same amount of time. Both reigns were the longest for those titles in over three years (five in Kane's case).

What I want to know is is this the new norm? With Edge it seemed like he was heading for a longer run with the title, having held it nearly 4 months (not counting the about 8 minute reign of Ziggler). It looks as if Cena is going to hold the title for a good many months as well. Is this the new norm, or just a brief change?

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

I hope so in Cena's case but not so much for Orton as I can't stand him. I want Cena to have another year long reign, I miss the days of long title reigns, and I think he is the perfect one to bring them back. Orton I hope he loses the title today, I hate him and definitely do not want to see him as champ for another second. I would have loved for Christian to have had a nice long title reign on Smackdown but I guess that is no longer in the cards.

 

[darbare]

Not necessarily. Are you referring to only world titles or midcard titles too? 3 has always seemed like the average to me. Orton held the title 3 months last year, as did Sheamus. Cena held it 3 months last year. I think Miz held it for 5 because WWE wants to solidify him as a true main eventer. If he only held it for 1 month people would still be on the fence about him. Now we can accept him especially after headlining Mania. Edge would have held it around 5 months, but there was really no one else to hold it. Kane deserved a good long run because he earned it. everyone else last year held that title for 2 months (Undertaker, Jericho, Rey, Swagger) With the midcard titles I can see where might be coming from because they have lost considerable prestige recently. McIntyre held the IC title 5 months last year. Ziggler held it for 5. Kofi had a combined 5 month reign while on SD last year. Barretts closing in on 2 already. Daniel Bryan held the US for 6. Miz held the US title for like 8 last year. I think the midcard titles are being held longer, with the exclusion of Sheamus who has seemed to piss someone off backstage

 

[Cookie14]

I can see Cena dropping the title again fairly soon. I just don't see the need to make Cena vs Rock a title match. We all know Rock won't be around for long afterwards, and if it's going to be a title match, then it gives away the result of the match before it starts as they won't give Rock the title just to have him leave.

I think Orton might have a longer title reign on SD though, simply because it is going to take a few months to build anyone up as a realistic challenger to him. Think about it, who is there on SD?

Christian? He's lucky to have had the reign he's just had. Vince doesn't see him as main event, and he's right.
Sheamus? could be a good challenger, but not until he's finished his run as US champ.
Kane? Mark Henry? Khali? Can't see any of those winning the strap?
Ezekiel Jackson? Wade Barrett? Not until they have finished breaking up the Corre.

See what I mean, there really isn't anyone else on SD that can challenge Orton, so I think he will be the champ for a while. (and I don't think that's a bad thing)

 

[Danny84]

i think cena will lose the title to alberto del rio at summerslam and win it back by the rumble and lose it to the rock at wrestlemania rock will vacate the title at raw the next night then there will be a fatal four way at extreme rules between cena,del rio,miz and jomo

plus im pissed wright off with the wwe for making christian lose the title to orton already its not fair the blokes a good performer and should have been given the chance by vkm to hold the title for at least 4 to 5 month,s

 

[deadtaker]

There are a couple factors at work for both Championships that may mean longer runs. On Smackdown Randy Orton may hold the title for a while but anything longer than 6 months may be a stretch. He will feud with Christian for a couple months while they build a few new stars. There is such few main eventers on smackdown that Orton running through them all with wear thin soon. He needs to drop the title to add intrigue into the show.

Cena has more competition and WWE has been building Del Rio for the title for months that if he doesn't win it soon he may lose all the steam his has gained so far. Then there is the fact that Cena-Rock build up for the next Wrestlemania and having it main event for the title will be huge. If you don't have the title involved and have it on someone like Del Rio then it will be overshadowed on Raw and the big event. Like the Edge-Del Rio match was push down with more air time going to HHH-Undertaker on Smackdown.

I can see the title changing hands at Summerslam for Cena will him winning it again a couple months later. Then holding it until Wrestlemania giving him nearly 6 months worth of a reign for a Match vs. the Rock.

On Smackdown you have to build someone or a couple people up to main event status to make a compelling Championship match at Wrestlemania. That is the key to that brands success. You can get by with Christian, Kane, Sheamus, and Mark Henry at the smaller pay per views but you need a top notch guy for the big show.

 

[rkosweetie237]

I personally hope that Cena does not keep the title for very long. I am very bored of his character always having these long title runs and being "Super Cena" throughout his reign. With Miz as champion, it was entertaining and even the media was interested with him as champion. I like Orton being champion over on Smackdown and hope he keeps it for a while because no one else on Smackdown really deserves to hold it except for Christian.

 

[BK Styles]

Sheamus? could be a good challenger, but not until he's finished his run as US champ.

Dude, you do know the results of Extreme Rules, right? I.E. Kofi vs Sheamus, US Title tables match? Just checking...

Anyway, the titles seem to be held for a length of time more often nowdays. Is it a good thing? Yes. Can you have too much of a good thing? Yes. WWE need to find the balance of long title reigns as opposed to quick changes. At the moment, WWE have it spot on; Orton won the belt just days after Christian won the title, but before that Edge held onto it for ages. Cena is champ after Miz's decent length reign, but Miz beat Orton who I believe hadn't held it for that long.

Neither long reigns or short reigns are right; its the balance that is important. And, at the moment, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the current balance.

 

[mudvayne1221]

I hope so in Cena's case but not so much for Orton as I can't stand him. I want Cena to have another year long reign, I miss the days of long title reigns, and I think he is the perfect one to bring them back. Orton I hope he loses the title today, I hate him and definitely do not want to see him as champ for another second. I would have loved for Christian to have had a nice long title reign on Smackdown but I guess that is no longer in the cards.

Well I hope Orton's is the longer title run, because I think Cena sucks. His character is old and stale. I hope he loses it to Del Rio or R-Truth in the very near future.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

While I wouldn't be surprised to see Cena hold on to the WWE Championship until Wrestlemania 28, I don't think it'll happen. Someone will win the Raw MITB briefcase, and we all know MITB winners usually capture the gold. Although, I can see Cena winning the WWE Championship back. WWE is putting a lot of faith in The Rock VS Cena at Wrestlemania, so they're going to want do everything they can to make that match seem huge and epic.

I also could see the same type of scenario for Orton. There's a chance Christian could win the World Heavyweight Championship again, but Orton has become "the guy" on the blue brand. It's Orton's show now, so I could see him holding onto to the WHC for quite some time. He'll probably lose his WHC to the Smackdown MITB winner, but I have no doubt he will regain the gold again. In the coming months, Sheamus could be pushed as a top heel again, because who else is ready to step in to that role now?

There's a good chance we'll see some other wrestlers hold the WWE's two World Titles this year, but I expect Orton and Cena to dominate the championship picture as champions this year. Cena is the #1 guy on Raw, and Smackdown has quickly become Orton's show, so we're going to see a lot of these two in 2011.

 

[rko91]

Though I hope the new norm is for WWE superstars to get longer title runs that give them the chance to showcase their main event status and why they belong there (for example, Miz's title run from mid-November to the start of May this year), I don't know if it's necessarily a good thing to have lengthly title runs with guys who have long since established themselves in the main event (Orton and Cena for example). My one problem with WWE these days is that I feel like we're heading back to that trend of giving the top guys on each brand the belt, and never letting anyone new step up to the plate and wear the strap. As much as I think both Orton and Cena make great world champions (Yes, I said Cena too), it's getting stale and I think that is where people are going to start complaining. It was a breath of fresh air seeing Miz's title run (even with his annoying fan club of Alex Riley and Michael Cole), and I'm really hoping that trend might continue. But with Cena now having the belt back on RAW, as well as cutting that promo to Rocky where he claims he will be champion until next year's Wrestlemania (God, I really hope not...), I have a bad feeling we're going to see another crazy long John Cena title run like he had from Unforgiven 2006 all the way to a week before No Mercy 2007 when he had to drop the belt due to injury. Don't get me wrong, it's great if WWE wants to build up a guy to be a fighter, a survivor and someone who always manages to get the job done and stay the top dog, but Cena doesn't need that because he's already at the top of RAW's food chain, and even when he isn't champion isn't he always in the spotlight anyway? And as for Orton, I'm not so much against him being World Heavyweight Champion for awhile because I think this will give him a chance to really make SmackDown bigger than it's ever been before.

 

[kidmetal24]

I say that Cena drops it at survivor series and picks it back up at elimination chamber. After WM28, rock is done. We'd be dumb to think he'd hang around. Orton will have a longer run. He will drop it to younger talent like Rhodes or Bryan.

 

[JJ15776]

It always goes in cycles. Look at the WWE title. Miz's 160 reign was the longest since Triple H in 2008. He won the title from Randy Orton, who had it for 203 days. He won it after Cena vacated it after a 380 day reign. And before short reigns by Edge and RVD, Cena had it for 280 days after ending JBL's 280 day reign. That was following 133 and 152 day reigns by Eddie G and Brock respectively, and that reign by Lesnar was the longest in almost 3 years. 3 years of short reigns, 4 years of long reigns, and 3 years of short reigns.

So, like I said, it goes in cycles. That means, yes, we are very likely seeing a shift in title changes.