Do Championships Even Matter?

[HiddenInPlainView]

Of course the WWE and Heavyweight Championships are the apex of the business. But what about the other titles in WWE? Tonight at SummerSlam, one of the Big 4 pay per views, Only two titles were challenged. (I realize that the Divas title was on the line, but we all know that that title became meaningless years ago) There were no Tag Team, Intercontinental, or United States title matches at one of the biggest events of the year. I remember a time when those titles were important, sometimes even eclipsing the bigger title. And it usually ended up being a springboard to the big time. With the exception of The Miz, i can't think of anyone that it has really helped recently. IMO having two main championship belts has tarnished the importance of the Intercontinental and United States Championships. What do you guys think?

 

[Adalam]

I honestly don't know. I mean the belts have had their legacies and have their histories, but the prestige of each belt is strengthened or weakend by whether or not the current champ loses the belt then goes on to win the Big One (WWE, WHC.) The tag team division is set to be in reboot mode thanks to Paul Levesque (Triple H) so that's a bright hope for the future. Goldust is running the Divas pretty much, so any Divas match we see is pieced together by him. The only problem is with creative and the fact that they really don't know what to do in terms of not pissing off VKM. Vince is the key to this whole thing after all.

 

[therockiswwf]

Before I start, the IC title meant zero in 1999 and the Womens title meant even less than it does today too. They mean way more now than back then.

They have been this way for a long time and really its more of the brand split and combine ppvs that are the problem. With the split they don't have a wealth of people to go after midcard titles. The combined PPVs make it so that putting and devoting time to both titles hard. They just don't have as much time as they used to. Both the brand split and combined ppvs are necessary evils right now (End brand split = Too many superstars/End combined ppvs = Lack of star power and interesting matches). The titles themeselves do matter, but they just don't matter a whole lot.

The tag titles are irrelevant because of a lack of tag teams. The titles don't matter because there are not enough teams to make them matter. But Jerri-Show did make the titles matter for awhile (along with DX and Sho-Miz but fizzled out after the Hart Dynasty). The tag titles wont matter until more teams come.

The Divas title doesn't matter because they don't give them any actual feuds, which hurts it. The few real feuds that they have given them (like Piggy James) were actually good, but they never follow those feuds with another good one. The title does matter for the divas because if you have it, you will actually be on tv every week. But the title means very little and has for a long time.

 

[Pedigree1]

Yes i agree!! The IC title has become meaningless yrs and yrs ago!!! Having two championship matches recently has really crippled the WWE!! We all know there is no tag titles to speak of no IC title The divas title=piss break or beer time!! I miss when all the titles had some prestige to it!! Meaning you know like holy shit the IC title is up for grabs tonight not today when the majority could care less!! Im happy that cody rhodes has the Ic title he needs to have a good long reign with that one!! The tag title division to me is dead until Beer Money comes over along with MCMG!! Then maybe that divison can stand a chance to be what is once was!! Screw the divas their barbie dolls with little to no talent no buildup in their stories no one freaking cares!! End the brand extension have one true championo have a tag team champion IC title champion crusierweight title and thats about it! Do away with the US title no one cares no TV champion no one cares!! Those days are dead and buried!!!

 

[Gman35]

I remember when it was if you were the intercontinental champion, you were the number 1 contender to the Heavyweight champion, but obviously, those days are over. The U.S. Title was huge back in the day also, but now, it has lost it's touch as well. I can only hope that we get the tag-team division back here soon.

 

[SickJames]

you know that right there is the problem with you ppl in the IWC. you start your thread with oh well the Divas title is meaningless after mentioning the World titles were defended. It's not meaningless, it's new, just as the tag titles are. Your opinions suck not WWE's belts. The ECW title wasnt meaningless under WWE it's you all bashing the belts that's ridiculous. YOU treat them as if it means nothing in the way you talk about it. Acting as if its not worth bringing up as if it doesnt exist. It's total garbage spewing from the mouths of the IWC

Just like you can sit there and complain about the tag and Divas division, you dont truly support either getting better (and i'm talking IWC in general) you just say it sucks. That isnt support. It also isnt support or concern to trash every other belt thats not the two major ones

You cant say "Do titles matter?" then go on to say well this belt is meaningless, there's no logic there. It's not showing any want from you to have them be more prestigious by trashing one or two

It doesnt even matter since ppl complain about this as well, that the titles change so much. Instead of complaining about it changing so much realize the true issue is it's not changing between enough stars to balance out the "hot potato effect"


I just cant take you guys seriously though. Any of you. Most threads will complain about something, but bash it hard as if you dont WANT it to even have a chance at a rejuvination.

bashing stars, bashing minor shows like NXT and Superstars. The funny one to me is that there are ppl who complain there isnt enough wrestling then you get a show like Superstars thats ALL wrestling, but then it's too boring

IWC sucks it!

 

[Honkey_Kong]

The Intercontinental championship hasn't meant anything since Wrestlemania 6. Before that champion vs champion match, the IC title was a prestigious title nearly at the WWF championship and when Warrior had that second run as the IC champion, it was bumped up as being on par with the WWE championship.

After the warrior beat hogan though, they had that tournament to crown Mr. Perfect the new IC title. And from that moment on it was just mid-carders to hold the belt. I mean you could argue that the guys before that tournament weren't main eventers, but Ken Patera, Honky tonk Man, Randy Savage, Steamboat, etc etc. Were top tier wrestlers.

From that point on it was just a mid card trophy that although had many epic matches fought over it, had no prestige.

 

[BananaSplitziffy]

I think that the midcard titles would mean more if the champion got a push to the main event while holding the belt instead of just dominating the whole midcard. Look at boxing. In boxing if you win a Lonsdale/European belt,you're a threat to the World Champion. If they do this in WWE,then I think that would make their lower belts mean more.

 

[EdgeLives_4evr]

You know for me I felt like back in 05, 06, 07 the womens title actually did have a meaning. Then Trish, Lita, Mickie James in wwe, beth pheonix was making her debut, melina was first starting to have matches instead of being a manager. To me the begining of the end was when Candice Michelle won the title in either 07 or 08. The IC title I think started to get its importance back in around 04, 05 but lost it pretty quick in 07 when Santino won it. After that you had your occasional champion that you thought was cool like hardy & punk but what completely ended its importance to me was the jbl mysterio match at WM 25. The united states championship i think lost its credibility during the mvp matt hardy rivalry and except for Miz & Sheamus has never seemed important again. I really think that they should start pushing those titles more becaz some of my favorite matches used to be ic & us championship matches like the old nitro vs. hardy matches and benoit and booker t.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

They mean something. They don't mean as much, but that's not really WWE's fault, I don't think the people in general take guys fighting over the US title as the sole purpose of their feud as seriously.

I do think that the WWE tries every once in a while to bump up the titles. I see people on here "thinking back to 2004" when in 2004, before Orton and Edge's feud, people were talking about how they don't mean anything. They go through spurts.

The only titles that don't go through spurts of "meanfulness" are the top titles because that's always the main program.

I don't see how the Divas title is "meaningless". Why? Just because someone who doesn't do a bunch of moves has the belt? The divas division has ALWAYS had a mix of girls who are technically skilled and girls who are beautiful, once in a blue moon you get both. The sad thing is, you can teach a beautiful girl to wrestle (trish) but you can't really teach a skilled girl to be beautiful. So you have to book them differently. However, the face of the divas is typically the one who is going to be on the covers of Maxim and shit. I really hated Kelly Kelly for a while but after she worked her ass off at Summerslam, I respect her.

The other titles aren't in main feuds but they still do mean something, they just don't mean as much. I think that's almost as much the fault of the performers for not getting over enough while having the belts.

 

[jackson-lowe]

The Intercontinental championship hasn't meant anything since Wrestlemania 6.

Summerslam 1992, the Intercontinental title is defended in the MAIN EVENT, in one of the most memorable matches of all time.
Summerslam 1995, Intercontinental title ladder match between Shawn Micheal's and Scott Hall, undoubtedly was a great match and is very well remembered.

The mid-card titles are cornerstones for the company, they help them launch talents, as seen on many occasions in the business and rendering them meaningful.

E.g. Randy Orton held the Intercontinental title for 210 days and a few months later, headlined Summerslam to win the WH title.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Summerslam 1992, the Intercontinental title is defended in the MAIN EVENT, in one of the most memorable matches of all time.
Summerslam 1995, Intercontinental title ladder match between Shawn Micheal's and Scott Hall, undoubtedly was a great match and is very well remembered.

The mid-card titles are cornerstones for the company, they help them launch talents, as seen on many occasions in the business and rendering them meaningful.

E.g. Randy Orton held the Intercontinental title for 210 days and a few months later, headlined Summerslam to win the WH title.

Some people let nostalgia get the best of them. The IC title wasn't as important as he thought it was. Just like when people say "The US champ used to be the number 1 contender" which really never happened either. I mean it did, but it was more something the commentators said to put over the title than anything else. If the US Champ was the number 1 contender for real, then wouldn't every match be title for title?

 

[DD7]

Its because they are having people that are really boring winning the title's. You see Kofi Kingston winning the IC championship then obviously you're gonna think its useless... If they really wanna bring them back to life they will have to have somebody really popular win one of the titles and defend them from huge competition. (I know he isn't too popular) but have somebody like Jack Swagger win the US title and then try to defend it from everyone that isnt from the US. So you have foreigners who hate the US try to win the US title and the all american jack swagger has to protect it. Like a Sgt. Slaughter sort of thing. And then you could have something like Sin cara win the intercontinental title and defend it in a fatal 4 way with big show, kane, and rey mysterio involved. So not only do you have exciting storylines, but you also have matches that are enjoyable. Its all to show how competitive it can get for these 2 titles that will make them much more popular.

(plus the US title needs to change its look)

 

[This Is My Name Thank You]

I think the titles mean something there just not devoted to and people get lost in the effect of hey WWE don't push this title and that title. SO the titles that barley get showcased now suck??

Dolph is a credible person to bring more meaning to the US Championship but the guy is only on t.v for limited time. WHY? Becuase this hole CMP story line is all the WWE can focus on due to Vince leaving the company soon. So my guess on it is, is why rush more storelines into the show and fizzle out the main storyline while the powers at be are changing hands? Let them focus on the main title and when triple h takes over im sure all the titles will have even more mean an value again.

Another thing too is how can you say the IC title is meaning less now. A majority of people wanted Cody Rhodes to win an he did and it still sucks??!!!
I am a fan of CR and I think him holding the title is better then Zeke because Cody will win and its his first run with it and that gives the belt Value!?!?!

Its just if you X amount of time to see the titles and to wrestle with the titles then i can see how you can think they suck. Just this isn't true and what the E should do is let one guy hold the belts and give them an good 6 to 8 month reign and then maybe we'll finally here that they have meaning an value.

Oh an a belt with no value or anything at all and really is a joke TNA TV TITLE!!!!

 

[SteelRevenge]

I`m not going to get in to how it was decades ago but the titles have been lacking for the last year minimum thanks to the debut of nexus and 100 other superstars. Creative thinks make an impact, give this guy a title cause god knows we don`t know how to make an impact with a guy otherwise, then the newbie doesn`t come up to par, he gets sent to superstars while the title looses prestige for the uptenth time.

there have been other threads about this so I`m not going to get to much further into it than that.

I will say though that summerslam is the PPV before NoC where very title goes on the line so I guess they figured they`ll save those title matches for later to make NoC mean more.

One title in particular I think they dropped the ball with recently is the IC title. meat heads like barrett and zeke devalued it to the extreme, but I`m going to focus on the new champ Rhodes. Why did they make the guy wait so long, even several weeks to a month since WWE announced a match they then canceled, to have the match just days before the big PPV. Then I thought maybe we`ll at least see a rematch and the early vic was just to make it seem less predictable. But no, no rhodes, no zeke, no nothing.

Epic fail on summerslam all around, and monumental fail on creative for how they`ve treated all titles in the wwe. They mideswel just amke new ones at this point and retire the old.

 

[rokuma]

I think the problem with titles is a deeper problem in the WWE. You see, all of the top-tier wrestlers today (Cena, Punk, Orton, Christian, Rey, Kane, R-Truth, Miz, even Morrison) have all been in the public eye for several years. The only exception is Alberto Del Rio. Why are these guys the top guys? Because they've been in the public eye.

I was thinking about this the other day. When WCW had talents like Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, Malenko, and Saturn and they jumped to the WWF, it was a huge deal because these guys wrestled in epic mid-card feuds and eventually made it to the main event. Well, we don't have that in wrestling now. The mid-card is diluted with wrestlers from Florida and guys we've never heard of. It's hard to just become a fan of a wrestler when you see them the first time...the guys I mentioned before? We followed them for years, we cheered for them in the midcard, and then they got their big push and we loved it! There isn't that effect any more. They are just guys that are thrust at us to supposedly cheer for, but we don't care. We need to give these mid-card guys some more exposure before pushing them and to restore credibility to the title, give it to a veteran who can pass it on to one of the younger guys. We need a reason to care about the mid-card and right now, we don't.

 

[martymcfly]

I remember a time when those titles were important, sometimes even eclipsing the bigger title. And it usually ended up being a springboard to the big time. ?

Agreed. I miss those days as well, and based on other posts in this thread, so do many others.

I remember when it was if you were the intercontinental champion, you were the number 1 contender to the Heavyweight champion, but obviously, those days are over. The U.S. Title was huge back in the day also, but now, it has lost it's touch as well. I can only hope that we get the tag-team division back here soon.

As much nostalgia as I have for lots of emphasis and interesting feuds revolving around the intercontinental title, I don't recall it ever creating automatic "#1 contender" status. Sure, there were a few times when the intercontinental champ would go after the main title, but honestly, those were few and far between and hardly a given.

IMO having two main championship belts has tarnished the importance of the Intercontinental and United States Championships. What do you guys think?

I would have to disagree with this. I think having 2 midcard titles (and 2 heavyweight titles) makes sense as long as there are 2 shows. I think the problem is not having a US title and an intercontinental title. The problem is that the WWE--for whatever reasons--has chosen not to surround these midcard titles with interesting feuds or storylines. These days, it seems that those titels have become consolation prizes for folks who have been pushed to the moon, stagnated, and then resettled in midcard status, and the titles themselves now more or less receive "hot potato" treatment.

 

[Workrate]

I remember when WWE would have those In Your House pay-per-views and almost every event had a new person challenging for the WWE Championship. I don't particularly recall the storylines, so maybe they were rushed and/or terrible, but remember Faarooq challenging the Undertaker? That one always stands out to me. Faarooq wasn't a main eventer then, but he got a legitimate title opportunity on a pay-per-view. I think they need to get back into that a little more.

Now that you've got a heel Del Rio as champ, why not have someone like Kofi Kingston step up into a four-week feud with him over the belt? They were just feuding anyway. Why would it now not include the WWE Championship? The benefit is that once these challengers lose in their opportunity, they're in a much better position to be taken seriously vying for "lesser" titles. Yes, sometimes losing can be beneficial. You then have guys trying to win these alternate championships as a means of proving they're "gold-worthy" or however you want to spin it.

I just think the reason the lower titles aren't prestigious is because such a point is made to separate everyone into tiers. I get why it's done, but it's a stupid practice. Let the main eventers and the mid-carders mingle once in a while. You really think Randy Orton having to stoop to defend his title against Mark Henry one time ever is going to drag him down? I don't.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The tag team, midcard, and divas titles all do not matter much. They are a way to see what someone is like as a champion, but as soon as they lose the belt they either get moved up the card or are never heard from again. The belts do matter some but not as much as they used to because of bad and lazy booking. They might mean something again if they would just book the champions better and give them better challengers. Or in the divas case the entire division needs fixing not just the title.

 

[Ketchup]

You used to have people like Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, etc. work their way up and feud for the lesser titles like the European, IC, etc. and now they don't. People hold the title the maybe one month and then get promoted to main eventer or just remain scrubs like Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Ahmed Johnson 2.0 (I forgot what his name is but he was part of the Corre)

Tag Team doesn't even exist anymore and it's absolutely disgusting. Some of the best matches in WWE history were the tag team matches. I honestly don't even know who the champs are of if the belt is even around anymore. I don't know who the IC champion is, the US champion either.

No belt means anything anymore, not even the WWE belt. Hopefully Paul can turn things around quickly because as of right now, WWE PPVs aren't even worth buying because no other fight except for the main event is even worth watching. There are no feuds for the lower/mid cards and the diva matches are just atrocious. I think we all grew up so fake tits and a nice smile don't give us boners anymore like they used to back in 99. When Trish/Lita and that era of divas were around the diva matches were actually worth watching because they could actually wrestle while also looking sexy.

 

[clarkw22]

I believe they really dropped the ball at Wrestlemania with the Intercontinental championship. If you're already going to have a match between Cody and Rey why not make it for the gold. They could have put the belt on Rey thus giving it to at top flight guy. If they have Cody defeat him for the title what a great way to push him by beating a legit superstar on the biggest stage possible for the Intercontinental belt.