Biggest Charity Belts?

[arttagboy]

It seems like the WWE occasionally gives belts out to Superstars who aren't necessarily "over," or to reward them for dedication to the company. Sometimes I agree with them, other times not so much. The question I'm posing to you guys is, what do you think the biggest instances of WWE doing this are? Here's my list

5. Wade Barrett wins Intercontinental Championship (2011) WWE knew they dropped the ball after having Wade Barrett lose his multiple Championship opportunities against Randy Orton. He was moved to Smackdown! shortly after, and beat Kingston for the title without much buildup or fanfare. In my opinion he was given the IC title as an apology for being screwed out of the WWE title picture.

4. The Rock wins WWE title from CM Punk (2013)
This one isn't particularly a knock. The Rock was certainly over with the crowd, but didn't need the title to become a bigger star. I'm not complaining that he took it from Punk (who I'm not too high on to begin with), but his transitional reign felt more like McMahon was giving it to him as a thank-you for returning to the 'E.

3. Chris Jericho wins Undisputed Championship against Rock and SCSA in the same night (2001)...
Technically, this is less of a charity belt, and more of the beginning of the trend of WWE giving titles to GET a superstar over. The fact is, although he had some high-profile feuds in WCW, Jericho was never "the man." The WWE gave him the belt because it was so unbelievable no one thought it would happen.

2. Mark Henry wins World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton (2011) Seems like the IWC is divided on this one. On the one hand, some say that Mark Henry was doing some of the best work of his career at that point in time, and absolutely deserved the belt. Others felt that after 15 years with the company he was given the championship as a thank-you, especially when it seemed like his retirement was imminent.

1. Christian wins Vacant World Heavyweight Championship (2011)
I like Christian. I really do. I think he's solid on the mic, and has a great ring presence. But after Edge's sudden retirement you can't argue that the man was just in the right place at the right time. That's not a knock on him, but his friendship with the Rated-R Superstar is what allowed him to capture the gold for the first time.


There you have it guys, my top 5 list. Have one of your own? Think mine's complete bullshit? Let me know, and let's have a good discussion.

 

[DarksideEric]

How is Mysterio winning the World Heavyweight Title not on your list?

The man literally won the belt because Eddie died. Like, literally.

 

[Redrum]

It seems like the WWE occasionally gives belts out to Superstars who aren't necessarily "over," or to reward them for dedication to the company. Sometimes I agree with them, other times not so much. The question I'm posing to you guys is, what do you think the biggest instances of WWE doing this are? Here's my list

5. Wade Barrett wins Intercontinental Championship (2011) WWE knew they dropped the ball after having Wade Barrett lose his multiple Championship opportunities against Randy Orton. He was moved to Smackdown! shortly after, and beat Kingston for the title without much buildup or fanfare. In my opinion he was given the IC title as an apology for being screwed out of the WWE title picture.

4. The Rock wins WWE title from CM Punk (2013)
This one isn't particularly a knock. The Rock was certainly over with the crowd, but didn't need the title to become a bigger star. I'm not complaining that he took it from Punk (who I'm not too high on to begin with), but his transitional reign felt more like McMahon was giving it to him as a thank-you for returning to the 'E.

3. Chris Jericho wins Undisputed Championship against Rock and SCSA in the same night (2001)...
Technically, this is less of a charity belt, and more of the beginning of the trend of WWE giving titles to GET a superstar over. The fact is, although he had some high-profile feuds in WCW, Jericho was never "the man." The WWE gave him the belt because it was so unbelievable no one thought it would happen.

2. Mark Henry wins World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton (2011) Seems like the IWC is divided on this one. On the one hand, some say that Mark Henry was doing some of the best work of his career at that point in time, and absolutely deserved the belt. Others felt that after 15 years with the company he was given the championship as a thank-you, especially when it seemed like his retirement was imminent.

1. Christian wins Vacant World Heavyweight Championship (2011)
I like Christian. I really do. I think he's solid on the mic, and has a great ring presence. But after Edge's sudden retirement you can't argue that the man was just in the right place at the right time. That's not a knock on him, but his friendship with the Rated-R Superstar is what allowed him to capture the gold for the first time.


There you have it guys, my top 5 list. Have one of your own? Think mine's complete bullshit? Let me know, and let's have a good discussion.

I agree with some on your list but i would say my definition of a charity belt is truely just to give it to a guy to say "Hey you paid your dews and your time is almost up here you go" or a you just had a good friend in the business who was over retire/die. So to that end i dont see Wade or Y2J as a charity belt situation.

They gave the Belts in the cases of Wade and Y2J to get them over and they thought they could carry it. In Y2J's case he proved them right he was a main eventer, maybe not THE guy but still a top guy who had already shown alot in the mid cards. As for Wade got it when he was on a upward trend but do to injury's and bad booking at times he never really got to make anything of it.

As for Henry i say it was kinda both at that time. He was very hot at the time as a monster heel and they wanted to reward him for his long standing loyalty. Its also not like the WHC was the flagship belt so they could take more risk with it. In the case of Christian and Rey they were full blown charity cases. The only reason they won their titles was do to Edge and Eddie respectively. If Edge isnt forced to retire do to a injury so suddenly then Christian never wins the title. He maybe has a program with Edge as a Heel but he wouldn't have won. The moment Eddie died i think we all knew Rey was gonna get the strap just a matter of if they would do it quick or wait for Mania. I think those stick out to me as TRUE charity belts.

As for the Rock i wouldn't say so much it was charity as full blown ass kissing. But for the sake of thread i will agree. We might have two more to the list soon as well Batista and maybe Brock. Both would only be given the belt as a reward for coming back for their part time gig and to make them happy ego wise.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

No..no...no

Let's get something clear, Vince may be a "decent guy" in the main, but he is not going to make one of the focal points of his company a "sympathy vote"... ever... that's not who he is or how he does business.

Take Henry, what you're forgetting is that he was signed FOR THAT role back in 1996, Vince wanted him to be World Champion and saw it in him to the tune of a 10 year, Million a year guaranteed deal.. That it took 15 to get Henry there wasn't a reward, it was a vindication on Vince... He was going to persevere until it did happen to justify his original call.

Christian - It was nothing about making things easy for Christian or even the fans... Edge was gone the moment his speech was done, but they needed a new champion and it made booking sense for it to be Christian as he was fresh...


The nearest you will ever get to a charity belt as you put it was Marty Jannetty in 1993... He was slated for the run anyway, but Shawn lied to Vince about him being drunk during their Rumble match, Marty was fired... When Shawn made the mistake of boasting to Hennig what he'd done, Mr. Perfect went straight to Vince and demanded Marty's reinstatement, which Vince did... He doesn't give charity but he does give the odd "billy martin" or do over... and he did in that case. Jannetty got completely reinstated to where he would have been had Shawn not lied... sadly he'd had 3 months away being bitter, hard done by and depressed and the damage was done...

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

How is Mysterio winning the World Heavyweight Title not on your list?

The man literally won the belt because Eddie died. Like, literally.

We don't know that for sure at the time Rey was extremely over and he did beat former World Champions in the past namely The Big Show, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle so he was credible. He also had a ton of momentum coming into 2006.

I think his 2nd title run was a charity run though, my understanding is that he was not happy and was thinking of leaving. I think giving him the World Title was a way to convince him to stay.

 

[Mecha Style]

It seems like the WWE occasionally gives belts out to Superstars who aren't necessarily "over," or to reward them for dedication to the company. Sometimes I agree with them, other times not so much. The question I'm posing to you guys is, what do you think the biggest instances of WWE doing this are? Here's my list

5. Wade Barrett wins Intercontinental Championship (2011) WWE knew they dropped the ball after having Wade Barrett lose his multiple Championship opportunities against Randy Orton. He was moved to Smackdown! shortly after, and beat Kingston for the title without much buildup or fanfare. In my opinion he was given the IC title as an apology for being screwed out of the WWE title picture.

4. The Rock wins WWE title from CM Punk (2013)
This one isn't particularly a knock. The Rock was certainly over with the crowd, but didn't need the title to become a bigger star. I'm not complaining that he took it from Punk (who I'm not too high on to begin with), but his transitional reign felt more like McMahon was giving it to him as a thank-you for returning to the 'E.

3. Chris Jericho wins Undisputed Championship against Rock and SCSA in the same night (2001)...
Technically, this is less of a charity belt, and more of the beginning of the trend of WWE giving titles to GET a superstar over. The fact is, although he had some high-profile feuds in WCW, Jericho was never "the man." The WWE gave him the belt because it was so unbelievable no one thought it would happen.

2. Mark Henry wins World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton (2011) Seems like the IWC is divided on this one. On the one hand, some say that Mark Henry was doing some of the best work of his career at that point in time, and absolutely deserved the belt. Others felt that after 15 years with the company he was given the championship as a thank-you, especially when it seemed like his retirement was imminent.

1. Christian wins Vacant World Heavyweight Championship (2011)
I like Christian. I really do. I think he's solid on the mic, and has a great ring presence. But after Edge's sudden retirement you can't argue that the man was just in the right place at the right time. That's not a knock on him, but his friendship with the Rated-R Superstar is what allowed him to capture the gold for the first time.


There you have it guys, my top 5 list. Have one of your own? Think mine's complete bullshit? Let me know, and let's have a good discussion.

Wade Barrett - Honestly, I think he was hot during that Nexus period, but just wasn't quite at that WWE Champion level. Until he gets a good, singles gimmick I think he'll just come off as upper-midcard material because so far, everything he's been doing has seemed to have limited potential character-wise.

Rock over CM Punk - I don't think it was a sympathy or favor towards The Rock. I think he was just simply a transitional champion. He transitioned the belt to a new style and Cena's waste while giving the company that guaranteed draw with Rock/Cena II.

Chris Jericho Undisputed - I think this is another transitional championship. This wasn't to get Jericho over, and in fact, his character was absolutely buried in the process of what his title was meant to do: Give HHH a chance to go over at Wrestlemania as a face and have his feud with his wife be the focal point of the WM buildup. This couldn't have been done against Rock or Stone Cold.

Mark Henry - I think he deserved it as much or more than anyone on this list, but honestly believe that if any, the intention of this one was a charity case. It was basically WWE's way of saying, "We know Doc called you a n*gger in the back. Our bad."

Christian - Completely agreed. I think the same thing about Rey Mysterio's first title win being more of a tribute to Eddie G. than anything else.

 

[Tenebrous]

Jeff Hardy's last WHC reign in WWE...Let me be clear, I'm not knocking Hardy; I was actually a huge fan of his work but truth be told he was booked over CM Punk at Night of Champions 2009 in efforts to get him to re-sign. Of course, he would go on to lose the title the followng month back to CM Punk in an epic TLC match at Summer Slam and leave the company a month later for good. Again, Hardy was probably the most over guy in WWE from 2008-09 but his final reign wasn't a reward for that; it was an attempt to get him to stay...

 

[closet_fan]

Royal Rumble '92 - Piper winning the IC title for all the years he had to play 2nd fiddle to Hogan?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

That wasn't why they gave Piper the belt and to say that would probably offend the guy. Remember plans were set long in advance back then but there was that phrase of "card subject to change"... with Hogan v Flair at the time likely to have ended with a Flair win they decided that they needed a "feelgood" moment/epic match earlier in the card, so decided to go with Bret chasing and beating Piper in a faces match.

Remember the two are distant cousins and had long wanted to work each other... this was borne out by Piper beating Jacques at the Rumble before Hogan was announced as facing Flair, and only after that did the WM8 main event picture change to what it ended up as, by then Piper had already gotten the belt. It was also designed for Bret to defeat a big star who wasn't a technician to stop him being pigeonholed as only working well with technicians... Piper was at the time plans were made the top star available who made sense on that score.

The reign did its job, it got Bret over big with the win, particularly as Piper almost "reverted" back to his old ways and showed that Bret could mix it up with brawlers as well as technicians like Perfect.

Also remember how good Piper was at the time... he had had his hip replaced so was pain-free for the first time in years, he was "on form" during the Flair feud and earned a big match at Mania. Considering a year earlier his career was in the balance and all he could manage was a crutches assisted manager role, for that 6 months from October to April 92 he was the most relevant as a wrestler he was since 1985... like I said, call it a sympathy vote to his face and I bet he'd kick it in...

The closest to it in recent years is Chris Jericho's renaissance/shock title win a few years ago at Elimination Chamber or Mark Henry.

 

[Jimmy Carter]

While we're throwing around charity cases here, why not address the elephant in the room, the blatant charity of HHH receiving the Undisputed Championship at Wrestlemania (2002). The man had it all but handed to him on a silver platter after steamrolling through the opposition from Royal Rumble to the aforementioned main event. And he did it all as a bland heroic non-entity before affecting his bad guy scowl again to fall down for Hulk Hogan a few weeks later.

Not only did this waste a Royal Rumble victory and a Wrestlemania main event on a guy who was railroaded back into the spotlight for no discernible reason over more able and deserving wrestlers, it also ultimately proved pointless when HHH did his character turn on a dime. Though Jericho's character during this period was a lame namby-pamby cretin, at least he had a richer history to build on with Hogan for a championship match. Jericho also had more to gain with a Wrestlemania victory over HHH, so that he could boast beating him along with Stone Cold and the Rock in consecutive main events.

It would not have hurt Hunter the slightest to enter a program with his nWo buddies to build up anticipation for his eventual return to the championship circuit. With so many other top contenders in 2002, that scene was doing well without him. Like many of his dominant runs, this one lacked true drama and necessity.

 

[chibet]

How is Mysterio winning the World Heavyweight Title not on your list?

The man literally won the belt because Eddie died. Like, literally.

How about at the Fatal 4 ppv ?? Rey won it and I MARKED OUT! Eddie was long gone at this point. BTW, look up the word 'literally'

That would mean the WWE had a moment where they handed him the belt announcing something along the lines of " and because eddie guerrero is now dead....your NEWWWWWWW WHC is REY MYSTERRRRIO !"..... thats what "like, literally" would be....

 

[Pedigree1]

Vince does not give charity belts to superstars! Simply at that moment in time,he sees who would best fit being champion at that particular time.. We all knew Rey Rey was gonna win the RR in 2006 then be the eventual WHC,it wasnt out of pity because eddie died it was out of hard ass work and dedication to his craft. Do you honestly think that wrestlers are stupid?? Hey I will give you a title reign out of pity?? No one would want that,they want to earn it the hard way!

 

[DarksideEric]

How about at the Fatal 4 ppv ?? Rey won it and I MARKED OUT! Eddie was long gone at this point. BTW, look up the word 'literally'

That would mean the WWE had a moment where they handed him the belt announcing something along the lines of " and because eddie guerrero is now dead....your NEWWWWWWW WHC is REY MYSTERRRRIO !"..... thats what "like, literally" would be....

TIL Vince has to announce, verbally, to everyone in the world that Rey won the WHC due to Eddie's death for it to mean "literally."

If you're going to try and be a smart ass, at least be smart about it.

Rey was no where near the World Heavyweight Title hunt in WWE prior to Eddie's death. There is no exaggeration in saying Rey's first WHC was because Eddie died.

 

[Aquaman6686]

It seems like the WWE occasionally gives belts out to Superstars who aren't necessarily "over," or to reward them for dedication to the company. Sometimes I agree with them, other times not so much. The question I'm posing to you guys is, what do you think the biggest instances of WWE doing this are? Here's my list

5. Wade Barrett wins Intercontinental Championship (2011) WWE knew they dropped the ball after having Wade Barrett lose his multiple Championship opportunities against Randy Orton. He was moved to Smackdown! shortly after, and beat Kingston for the title without much buildup or fanfare. In my opinion he was given the IC title as an apology for being screwed out of the WWE title picture.

4. The Rock wins WWE title from CM Punk (2013)
This one isn't particularly a knock. The Rock was certainly over with the crowd, but didn't need the title to become a bigger star. I'm not complaining that he took it from Punk (who I'm not too high on to begin with), but his transitional reign felt more like McMahon was giving it to him as a thank-you for returning to the 'E.

3. Chris Jericho wins Undisputed Championship against Rock and SCSA in the same night (2001)...
Technically, this is less of a charity belt, and more of the beginning of the trend of WWE giving titles to GET a superstar over. The fact is, although he had some high-profile feuds in WCW, Jericho was never "the man." The WWE gave him the belt because it was so unbelievable no one thought it would happen.

2. Mark Henry wins World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton (2011) Seems like the IWC is divided on this one. On the one hand, some say that Mark Henry was doing some of the best work of his career at that point in time, and absolutely deserved the belt. Others felt that after 15 years with the company he was given the championship as a thank-you, especially when it seemed like his retirement was imminent.

1. Christian wins Vacant World Heavyweight Championship (2011)
I like Christian. I really do. I think he's solid on the mic, and has a great ring presence. But after Edge's sudden retirement you can't argue that the man was just in the right place at the right time. That's not a knock on him, but his friendship with the Rated-R Superstar is what allowed him to capture the gold for the first time.


There you have it guys, my top 5 list. Have one of your own? Think mine's complete bullshit? Let me know, and let's have a good discussion.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with every single one of these.

5 - Wade Barrett being pushed into the WWE Championship picture immediately after his debut was a joke, and this is coming from a guy who's been a HUGE Barrett fan since day one. Nobody could take him seriously as a main event talent. Him winning the Intercontinental Championship was him settling into his natural place in the card.

4 - The Rock winning the WWE Championship from Punk had nothing to do with charity, WWE wanted a Rock/Cena rematch, and felt that having the WWE Championship on the line was the only way to make the second match feel bigger than the first (whether or not they succeeded is irrelevant).

3 - Chris Jericho was never a top guy in WCW. His feuds there were always entertaining, but he was never a main event talent. Putting the Undisputed Championship on him was a way to test how the WWE fans would react to him as a long-term champion, after the positive reaction his brief WCW Championship reign got. The fans responded to it, Vince didn't (Jericho even mentions in his book that the writers wanted to pull a swerve on the RAW before WrestleMania 18 and have Kevin Nash beat Jericho for the belt and face Triple H at WrestleMania, luckily that didn't happen). Jericho went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship three times and compete in two more WrestleMania main events (although unfortunately he never got to close the show again), so I'd say the experiment was a success.

2 - Mark Henry is the only one you posted that I think you could make an argument for "charity". Yes, his reign as World Heavyweight Champion was essentially a "thank you" for years of dedicated service and putting up with some of the most abysmal storylines ever. But on the other hand, putting on the title on him lit a fire under Henry that had never been there before, and his work has drastically improved since then.

1 - Other than Edge and part-timers like Undertaker and Triple H, Christian was THE most over babyface in the company in 2011. Besides the women and children, the audience reacted to him more than Cena, and he was light-years ahead of Randy Orton in popularity. With Edge forced to retire, Christian was the clear choice for champion. But Vince couldn't stand how over Christian was and had Randy Orton bury him in their feud, destroying Christian's main event career just as it got started.



Rey Mysterio's title reigns all belong in the "charity belt" category, especially the first. Listen to the crowd at WrestleMania 22. Rey was being booed out of the building the entire match. The crowd was fully supporting Kurt Angle, and even cheered Orton over Mysterio when they were in the ring without Angle. NOBODY wanted to see Rey Mysterio as World Heavyweight Champion. The title change got a nice pop, since a title change will almost always get a good reaction because it's a big moment, but there were still a ton of boos in that reaction.

My top pick that I don't think anyone else has mentioned is Santino Marella winning the United States Championship in 2012. Santino was super-over for a comedy act, and he was cheered over a lot of WWE's most popular stars. After he failed to win the Elimination Chamber, WWE let him beat Jack Swagger for the US title instead. Santino wound up doing nothing with the title and thankfully dropped it to Antonio Cesaro in the SummerSlam preshow. Santino's reign damaged the US title badly after a lot of people worked hard to make it an interesting title again.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

For me the biggest case of a "charity reign" or more appropriately labeled, the "loyalty run" is JBL.

JBL is one of those guys who was always loyal to Vince. He was big. Hard nosed. A company guy. He worked the style Vince likes. But he could never get over. At least as a singles star.

You could say that he just happened to be part of an era where there was a ton of main event depth. But not really. 1996 - 2004 had the attitude era right in the middle, but is bookended by some weaker main event depth. His run in 2004 came out of nowhere.

Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw wasn't over. Justin "Blackjack" Bradshaw wasn't over. He finally found success with the APA. But in 2002 when they split, he was right back into the undercard aka Hardcore division with the rest of the glorified jobbers. It seemed like he was destined to just be one half of the APA.

Bradshaw as a singles competitor, was never main event worthy. Then, out of nowhere, he's repackaged as "JBL" and wins the biggest prize in the industry, and then holds it for 9 months. There was no way, at the time, that he was a credible challenger to the WWE title. But then he WON it! And then he held it FOREVER!

Over time, it worked. The fact that they stuck by their decision to make him the guy eventually paid off. But it took 9 months and it came out of nowhere. But JBL is/was always a company man and Vince rewarded him handsomely for it. It rejuvenated his entire career, which back then seemed to be on it's death bed.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Bret Hart winning the United States Title

This was just done as a way to give Bret another chance to pose for the fans with a Championship belt, after finally ending his decade-plus long feud with Vince McMahon after the Montreal Screwjob. While it was a nice moment for the fans, and for Bret himself, it was a complete joke of a title reign as Bret vacated it immediately afterwards as he was in no physical state to wrestle a proper match.

Rey Mysterio winning the World Title

Blatantly done to cash in after the tragic passing of Eddie Guerrero, WWE used his death as a way of pushing Mysterio to the main event, with the goodwill of the fans behind him (although some found it distasteful, me included.) Mysterio was a great wrestler at the time but no way suitable for Heavyweight gold.

Trish Stratus's last Womens Title reign

Trish won the title on her last night in the company. She was never going to defend it, and it was given to her to give her one last hurrah in the WWE as a thank you for all her efforts over the years. Personally, I thought it was a great moment and well deserved for one of the top female wrestlers of all time who had worked so hard to improve her skills.

If you are looking for other loyalty reigns, then more great examples are Christian winning the WHC immediately after Edge retired (although I think that he more than deserved a top title in WWE) and Mark Henry eventually winning the World title after more than 15 years in the company.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

For me the biggest case of a "charity reign" or more appropriately labeled, the "loyalty run" is JBL.

JBL is one of those guys who was always loyal to Vince. He was big. Hard nosed. A company guy. He worked the style Vince likes. But he could never get over. At least as a singles star.

You could say that he just happened to be part of an era where there was a ton of main event depth. But not really. 1996 - 2004 had the attitude era right in the middle, but is bookended by some weaker main event depth. His run in 2004 came out of nowhere.

Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw wasn't over. Justin "Blackjack" Bradshaw wasn't over. He finally found success with the APA. But in 2002 when they split, he was right back into the undercard aka Hardcore division with the rest of the glorified jobbers. It seemed like he was destined to just be one half of the APA.

Bradshaw as a singles competitor, was never main event worthy. Then, out of nowhere, he's repackaged as "JBL" and wins the biggest prize in the industry, and then holds it for 9 months. There was no way, at the time, that he was a credible challenger to the WWE title. But then he WON it! And then he held it FOREVER!

Over time, it worked. The fact that they stuck by their decision to make him the guy eventually paid off. But it took 9 months and it came out of nowhere. But JBL is/was always a company man and Vince rewarded him handsomely for it. It rejuvenated his entire career, which back then seemed to be on it's death bed.

But that's not a loyalty/charity reign... that's a surprise reign for sure, but the "repackage/quick title reign" had been done many times before. Whatever your opinion in JBL at the time, all they did was let him be himself, rather than a Blackjack or APA member... he was already a major name on the financial shows and they just let him do that for his character... they also saw a chance for a shock win, much as Bret and Diesels were back in the day - no one saw it coming and even if he used poor choices like the Nazi salute in Germany to get heat... he got heat from the second he won it... That's not giving someone a loyalty run, that's trusting someone to run with the ball when you give them one chance with it...

The thing that it did most was turn expectations on their head, as everyone expected Ron Simmons to be the one to make another title tilt...

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I don't agree with the premise. There is no such thing as a charity belt in a scripted environment. It's all charity from that standpoint. If you want to see true charity, maybe something like Verne Gagne winning the belt from Nick Bockwinkel right before he retired just so he could say he retired as champion. Even in the case, is it charity when the owner of the company gives himself the title?

Regardless, the objective of the title and any title run is to draw crowds and manipulate their emotions (make em leave happy or mad). Christian winning the belt made sense at that point from a storyline perspective because of Edge's retirement. It certainly wasn't charity...it was an attempt to move forward from Edge's sudden departure, salvage the storyline, and get the fans jazzed a bit.

 

[thebarber]

It seems like the WWE occasionally gives belts out to Superstars who aren't necessarily "over," or to reward them for dedication to the company. Sometimes I agree with them, other times not so much. The question I'm posing to you guys is, what do you think the biggest instances of WWE doing this are? Here's my list

5. Wade Barrett wins Intercontinental Championship (2011) WWE knew they dropped the ball after having Wade Barrett lose his multiple Championship opportunities against Randy Orton. He was moved to Smackdown! shortly after, and beat Kingston for the title without much buildup or fanfare. In my opinion he was given the IC title as an apology for being screwed out of the WWE title picture.

4. The Rock wins WWE title from CM Punk (2013)
This one isn't particularly a knock. The Rock was certainly over with the crowd, but didn't need the title to become a bigger star. I'm not complaining that he took it from Punk (who I'm not too high on to begin with), but his transitional reign felt more like McMahon was giving it to him as a thank-you for returning to the 'E.

3. Chris Jericho wins Undisputed Championship against Rock and SCSA in the same night (2001)...
Technically, this is less of a charity belt, and more of the beginning of the trend of WWE giving titles to GET a superstar over. The fact is, although he had some high-profile feuds in WCW, Jericho was never "the man." The WWE gave him the belt because it was so unbelievable no one thought it would happen.

2. Mark Henry wins World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton (2011) Seems like the IWC is divided on this one. On the one hand, some say that Mark Henry was doing some of the best work of his career at that point in time, and absolutely deserved the belt. Others felt that after 15 years with the company he was given the championship as a thank-you, especially when it seemed like his retirement was imminent.

1. Christian wins Vacant World Heavyweight Championship (2011)
I like Christian. I really do. I think he's solid on the mic, and has a great ring presence. But after Edge's sudden retirement you can't argue that the man was just in the right place at the right time. That's not a knock on him, but his friendship with the Rated-R Superstar is what allowed him to capture the gold for the first time.


There you have it guys, my top 5 list. Have one of your own? Think mine's complete bullshit? Let me know, and let's have a good discussion.

5,4 and 3 are rubbish, in my opinion. Chris Jericho was alreadyw ell over in WWE, had a great rivalry going with The Rock and had already won the WCW World Title two months earlier from The Rock before dropping it back, so saying he was made Undisputed Champion to get him over.....sorry but that is an odd comment to make.
Wade Barrett getting the IC Title was a way to make people care about him, same as when they put the IC belt on Curtis Axel, Ezeikel Jackson, Test, Albert etc etc etc, this again happens all of the time.
The Rock had to win the championship, as WWE wanted Cena's return win to trump Rockl going over.

Now, Rey Mysetrio been hand gifted the World Heavyweight Title solely because Eddie Guerrero passed months before is quite easily the BIGGEST Charity belt you would ever see. Christioan being given the World Title after his best friend retirnmed weeks earlier is the serious runner up in this category, they are two fantastic examples of guys getting the title when they didnt rerally deserve it or do anything with it.
Matt Hardy getting gifted the ECW Title to me ranks highly also, individually he did nothing of note in WWE, his tag team career though cannot be questioned.