Mainevent or WWE/World heavweight champion or bust.

[Jay Sherman]

So going threw the topics in WWE/TNA an amidst the obvious themes such as "Ryder being buried!", 'CM Punk promo thread 200!", ''Cena Sucks post 100", and the oh so beloved "Ending the PG Era?" there is a somewhat less noticed recurrence. The notion of "Mainevent or bust". For those who do not pick up on the obvious, allow me to explain. The train of thought that unless one superstar is WWE/World champion or is competing for a title, or in a mainevent he is being "buried". The idea that being in the Midcard is something to be ashamed of. This more often then not is applied to stars whom were before there current burying World Champions. Look at both brands for solid examples.

On Smackdown, we have Christian whom lost his first World title only days after winning it which greatly upset the IWC (myself included). With out even knowing what this could lead to people claimed he was going to be buried, even months later after being in the Mainevent of 3 straight pay-per views and being one of the main attractions on Smackdown people are still proclaiming him to be buried (a word I am growing very tired of) and that after this he will be back to the Midcard. Midcard was bold typed for a reason that will be touched on very soon.

On Raw we have The Miz a young Man who completely made the IWC pull a 180 on the opinion of him. The Miz would eventually get to cash in his Money In the Bank contract and embark on his first WWE champion reign. This title reign would go down as very strong one which would see The Miz become the face of the company. All great things must eventually come to an end and after a lengthy 7 month run he dropped the title to John Cena at Extreme Rules. Almost immediately the "B" word was being dropped, his rematch with Cena came and went and it was clear he would not be regaining the WWE championship from Cena. Almost rite away he began a feud with his apprentice Alex Riley. So far this feud has seen him on the loosing end on any 1 on 1 encounters. This has effectively dropped him down to sharing the Midcard in his feud with Alex Riley. Effectively in the eyes of the less intelligent IWC members making him ...."buried". Which leads me to my point.

Is being a Midcarder now a bad thing?

While I feel both Miz and Christian are capable of being permanent main event fixtures, it begs the question that is if they, or anyone for that matter are not main eventing or competing for a title are they really that bad off, or "being buried"? Can they all of a sudden not make a name for themselves and go down as one of the best and provide memorable moments? Are Mid Card feuds, or feuds that do not take the main stage suddenly not noteworthy.

Look at people such Roddy Piper, a man who has never been WWE champion, yet is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and been involved in some of the biggest feuds, and wrestling moments ever that were not in the mainevent or over the title. Always able to compete thought to be a legit threat to win the big one, and was always able to transition to the mainevent. A Hall of Famer, yet never won the big one and yet is one of the best, but this is a different age.

It is sometimes possible in this day an age to have a memorable feud without the world title, or have it featured in the mainevent aka Shawn Micheal's vs. Chris Jericho, but then again they are 2 of the greatest of all time. These moments are so few and far between though.

So am I wrong thinking that the Midcard is suddenly a bad place to be in this day and age.

Do you really need to mainevent or own a World/WWE title to have a memorable career in this age or am I over thinking it?

 

[ahoyhoy]

You are over-thinking it.

Santino is possibly the most over guy in WWE right now. Is he ever going to win the title? Hell no. Is he going to make it into the HOF? Well... he just might! But then when it comes to guys like Santino and ZR, these are the kind of gimmicks that won't make it out of the midcard.

So what about main event guys dropping down? Was Jericho a failure for mixing between the IC scene, the tag title scene and the WHC title scene? No. Is Miz still selling his nametag shirts and getting the crowd to boo him? Sure, just watch Raw. But really, with these guys it comes down to momentum. With all wrestlers it comes down to momentum.

Look at Sheamus. 2 time title winner. Lost it. Drifted. Won KOTR but got a stupid gimmick the fans didn't care for. Never looked convincing with the US title. Going from the guy messing with Cena to losing to small guys like Bourne. No longer a 'celtic monster'. Got drafted to Smackdown and while supposedly still in the main event picture, is behind Mark Henry in the runnings. No-one cares now. He lost momentum. He's just the Irish guy. It can't be long until he's doing skits with Hornswaggle.

Christian is using his 'fear of the midcard' promos to keep up momentum. Miz is blaming Riley for making him lose the title - for momentum. To keep them on television, to keep them fighting, to keep them going. Occasionally dropping to the midcard isn't a problem. Getting stuck there once you fall is.

 

[mrpops]

I just pointed this out in another thread but it applys here too...

Basically i pointed out that the WWE only focuses on 1 feud/storyline at a time. They have grown lazy. They are slowly getting better but its still not good enough.

Years ago we would see actual storylines between kane/chris benoit/jericho/angle(other midcarders at the time) while main eventers like rock/austin/Taker would be going for the WWE title. Then we had Low carders like jamie noble having storylines with the cruiserweight gold while tag team wrestling was amazing with APA/E&C/Hardys/Dudleys.

Also thoughout the years we got amazing midcard wrestlers that got huge success like Owen Hart, The british bulldog etc.

We are simply in a shitty era with 1 storyline per show. Its either the cena show, the orton show and before that it was the HHH show. Smackdown was great but then it lost kurt, brock, jericho, eddie, benoit and became the turd it is today.

Point is that none of the young wrestlers are getting over because they have no story lines and WWE doesnt want to try.

Generic X wrestler Kofi fights generic Teb diabose or ziggler or whoever. But why? Can they talk? Like at all? Its like WWE just creates a song, a entrance video but every guy on the roster has the same gimmick....which is nothing. Its just...im a wres....i mean superstar love me.

Wheres the story? Wheres the entertainment?

 

[iwinulose]

interesting statement, the thing with mid-card is that some guys should be only mid-card cause noteveryone is cut out for main event, look at jerry lawler and (like you said) rowdy roddy piper, they had great careers, lots of great matches, very popular with the crowd, etc despite not ever holding the wwe/WHC belt. other guys like trent barreta, primo and zack ryder should be mid-cards getting IC and US, maybe even getting the tag team belts numerous times cause thats the level they are at.

-in theory being mid-card is sorta rotten cause you dont get to be the face, but you still get to have big or memorable matches and moments (for some guys anyways). mid-carders really are important whether anyone admits it or not, cause without mid carders, the guys who arent cut out for main event wouldnt get to be around at all, and we would miss out on potentially great matches.

 

[Jay Sherman]

You are over-thinking it.

Santino is possibly the most over guy in WWE right now. Is he ever going to win the title? Hell no. Is he going to make it into the HOF? Well... he just might! But then when it comes to guys like Santino and ZR, these are the kind of gimmicks that won't make it out of the midcard.

So what about main event guys dropping down? Was Jericho a failure for mixing between the IC scene, the tag title scene and the WHC title scene? No. Is Miz still selling his nametag shirts and getting the crowd to boo him? Sure, just watch Raw. But really, with these guys it comes down to momentum. With all wrestlers it comes down to momentum.

Look at Sheamus. 2 time title winner. Lost it. Drifted. Won KOTR but got a stupid gimmick the fans didn't care for. Never looked convincing with the US title. Going from the guy messing with Cena to losing to small guys like Bourne. No longer a 'celtic monster'. Got drafted to Smackdown and while supposedly still in the main event picture, is behind Mark Henry in the runnings. No-one cares now. He lost momentum. He's just the Irish guy. It can't be long until he's doing skits with Hornswaggle.

Christian is using his 'fear of the midcard' promos to keep up momentum. Miz is blaming Riley for making him lose the title - for momentum. To keep them on television, to keep them fighting, to keep them going. Occasionally dropping to the midcard isn't a problem. Getting stuck there once you fall is.

Your more or less supporting what I am saying, with statements like "getting stuck there once you fall". Thats what I mean what is wrong with midcard status, it value is being lost. Actually Sheamus is dominating the midcard currently and looking like he may be thrown into the mix for the World title at MITB, yet "no-one cares now" because is no longer the world champ.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

Not every one can be a main eventer. That is very true. The problem is the industry is not one that takes care of every one, it takes care of those who make the company the most money. Even though those big names couldn't get there without the aid of those on the bottom of the roster. How many big name guys would say they would have been just as content to be a midcarder rather than be the main eventer ? You couldn't find one. There is a reason for that. Midcarders have to fight more to get paid, have to work more dates, take more risks just to get noticed. Add to that the ridiculous backstage politics and then you really feel it as a midcarder.

Piper and Lawler never got the major paydays and still have to continue to work indy shows or for other promotions just to make a living. They're not alone. There are some main eventers who are in the same position, but you'll find more midcarders than anything else. So while they are necessary the fact is every one wants to be a main eventer or at the very least the ability to earn enough in the business to live and retire with some dignity after a long career and sometimes a career as a midcarder doesn't allow for that.

 

[sycro]

No, there is nothing wrong with being midcard. In most months, there are 4 main eventers (the 2 champs and their competitors), so the midcards make up the majority of the matches and time on a PPV or TV show.

I just pointed this out in another thread but it applys here too...

Basically i pointed out that the WWE only focuses on 1 feud/storyline at a time. They have grown lazy. They are slowly getting better but its still not good enough.

Years ago we would see actual storylines between kane/chris benoit/jericho/angle(other midcarders at the time) while main eventers like rock/austin/Taker would be going for the WWE title. Then we had Low carders like jamie noble having storylines with the cruiserweight gold while tag team wrestling was amazing with APA/E&C/Hardys/Dudleys.

What are you talking about? I guess I haven't seen anything between Miz/Riley, Sin Cara/Bryan/Rhodes/Dibiase, Del Rio/Show/Henry or Zeke/Barrett in recent weeks. Must have imagined all of those feuds getting pretty solid time in the midcard.

 

[Toroc102]

I agree, I feel like the mid-card doesn't shine anymore. I don't watch SD but on Raw, it seems like if you're not somehow related to the World Title then you're not getting a real good storyline.

I mean, there are feuds, but they're kind've boring, it just isn't the same. I can't put my finger on it. Honestly I can't put my finger on it but maybe its just the atmosphere or something. I mean the crowds really suck nowadays for most things except the Main-Event. Mid-Carders don't really get much match time. Most of the guys suck at promos compared to mid-carders of the past. I feel like with WWE becoming PG and somehow wanting to become more realistic at the same time no one has any character anymore. Everyone comes in with a dumb first and last name, no managers anymore, Tag and US Championship titles devalued, no stables, but the guys that stick out have something different.

Barrett obviously came in with Nexus. Being black and fun loving I think is enough for Kofi(I know that sounds racist but I don't mean it that way). Sin Cara is a high flier and wears a cool mask.

I think most of us and the fans are just tired of what the WWE usually trots out lately, generic mostly white guys(mostly second generation guys). Michael McGuillicutty, Ted Dibiase, Heath Slater, Cody Rhodes before he became Dashing, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel's entire character is a 450 splash.

The worst is Daniel Bryan, you can't start off with a worse name, ring enterence, ring attire.

 

[RManske2]

-in theory being mid-card is sorta rotten cause you dont get to be the face, but you still get to have big or memorable matches and moments (for some guys anyways). mid-carders really are important whether anyone admits it or not, cause without mid carders, the guys who arent cut out for main event wouldnt get to be around at all, and we would miss out on potentially great matches.

This is a good point in my opinion and while this might sound stupid but if you don't have mid-carders and jobbers, how do you know who the "main event" wrestlers are since you don't have anything to compare to. Plus as I believe someone mentioned, don't remember who, but some of the "mid-card" matches tend to be much better than the main event matches.

I suppose in my mind it's like a pyramid, you have a few guys on the top in the main event, more in the mid-card, and some as the token jobbers to let the other guys squash to look good. It just a matter of utilizing the pieces you have in the alloted television time there is to try to build what they can.

 

[Dalek Rising]

I agree. There's nothing wrong with being mid-card. Upper mid-card, that is. I think what a lot of the people you're talking about that say buried, they probably mean lower mid-card status. There is a big difference. It's the difference of being in the hunt for the I.C. belt or U.S. championship compared to being in skits with Hornswaggle or used as jobber fodder. Miz and Christian are upper-mid card/near title hunt and are in no way being buried. Neither is Shemus. Now, Bourne, Swagger, Chavo, etc... that's a different story.

 

[Da Solo]

Good point, brah. A damn good point.
I find it almost humorous that the same people who blast Cena and Orton for hogging the title scene are the same people who think that Miz should be in the title hunt forever because he'll "lose momentum" feuding with Riley. If WWE operated that way, how would there be any chance at elevating new stars? Alex Riley went from a b!tch to a badass because he was elevated by Miz, who, guess what? Is STILL a main eventer. It's just that he's taking the time to build up another superstar. You don't have to be the champion or the #1 contender all the time to be considered a main eventer. Case in point: Roddy Piper.

 

[The Champ]

So going threw the topics in WWE/TNA an amidst the obvious themes such as "Ryder being buried!", 'CM Punk promo thread 200!", ''Cena Sucks post 100", and the oh so beloved "Ending the PG Era?" there is a somewhat less noticed recurrence. The notion of "Mainevent or bust". For those who do not pick up on the obvious, allow me to explain. The train of thought that unless one superstar is WWE/World champion or is competing for a title, or in a mainevent he is being "buried". The idea that being in the Midcard is something to be ashamed of. This more often then not is applied to stars whom were before there current burying World Champions. Look at both brands for solid examples.

On Smackdown, we have Christian whom lost his first World title only days after winning it which greatly upset the IWC (myself included). With out even knowing what this could lead to people claimed he was going to be buried, even months later after being in the Mainevent of 3 straight pay-per views and being one of the main attractions on Smackdown people are still proclaiming him to be buried (a word I am growing very tired of) and that after this he will be back to the Midcard. Midcard was bold typed for a reason that will be touched on very soon.

On Raw we have The Miz a young Man who completely made the IWC pull a 180 on the opinion of him. The Miz would eventually get to cash in his Money In the Bank contract and embark on his first WWE champion reign. This title reign would go down as very strong one which would see The Miz become the face of the company. All great things must eventually come to an end and after a lengthy 7 month run he dropped the title to John Cena at Extreme Rules. Almost immediately the "B" word was being dropped, his rematch with Cena came and went and it was clear he would not be regaining the WWE championship from Cena. Almost rite away he began a feud with his apprentice Alex Riley. So far this feud has seen him on the loosing end on any 1 on 1 encounters. This has effectively dropped him down to sharing the Midcard in his feud with Alex Riley. Effectively in the eyes of the less intelligent IWC members making him ...."buried". Which leads me to my point.

Is being a Midcarder now a bad thing?

While I feel both Miz and Christian are capable of being permanent main event fixtures, it begs the question that is if they, or anyone for that matter are not main eventing or competing for a title are they really that bad off, or "being buried"? Can they all of a sudden not make a name for themselves and go down as one of the best and provide memorable moments? Are Mid Card feuds, or feuds that do not take the main stage suddenly not noteworthy.

Look at people such Roddy Piper, a man who has never been WWE champion, yet is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and been involved in some of the biggest feuds, and wrestling moments ever that were not in the mainevent or over the title. Always able to compete thought to be a legit threat to win the big one, and was always able to transition to the mainevent. A Hall of Famer, yet never won the big one and yet is one of the best, but this is a different age.

It is sometimes possible in this day an age to have a memorable feud without the world title, or have it featured in the mainevent aka Shawn Micheal's vs. Chris Jericho, but then again they are 2 of the greatest of all time. These moments are so few and far between though.

So am I wrong thinking that the Midcard is suddenly a bad place to be in this day and age.

Do you really need to mainevent or own a World/WWE title to have a memorable career in this age or am I over thinking it?

Phenomenal post, man. Agreed on almost all counts.

I've been around forums for a long time, not just this one, and one thing that rings true everywhere is that wrestling fans do not know what the term "buried" means, and use it incorrectly on an extremely regular basis. I'll give a proper example of a burial: the Spirit Squad in 2006. DX packed them in a box, shipped them to OVW, and four out of five never recovered. What is happening to Miz, Christian, and whoever else right now is not a "burial" by any means. Because they still get heat, and they can recover very easily. In fact, I think both men will still be main event players for a while.

But yeah, as far as the midcard thing goes. I'm also not sure where wrestling fans got the idea that wrestling organizations don't need midcarders. Not everyone can be a main eventer, obviously, and when you have a pair of two-hour shows that you need to fill each week, you need capable midcarders who can keep your audience captivated. Also, when you have a guy like a Chris Jericho or a Kane who can move between the midcard and the main event very easily, I would consider a strength of the performer rather than a failure of the booking team.

It's funny to me that the same people who praised Punk's promo so much last week are complaining about Miz being buried. Well, guess who's in the spot that he was in a few months ago? And when Miz was in that spot, and Punk lost to Orton three times in a row, who was being buried then? Oh, but that guy is in one of the biggest matches of the year now. So obviously the so-called "burial" by Orton didn't actually affect him all that much. There was also a report out a while ago, which can be found here, stating that WWE has been telling business partners that Miz is to be a top superstar for years to come. So obviously they're not planning on ruining the guy's career.

 

[Welsh_Wrestling_Fan501]

So going threw the topics in WWE/TNA an amidst the obvious themes such as "Ryder being buried!", 'CM Punk promo thread 200!", ''Cena Sucks post 100", and the oh so beloved "Ending the PG Era?" there is a somewhat less noticed recurrence. The notion of "Mainevent or bust". For those who do not pick up on the obvious, allow me to explain. The train of thought that unless one superstar is WWE/World champion or is competing for a title, or in a mainevent he is being "buried". The idea that being in the Midcard is something to be ashamed of. This more often then not is applied to stars whom were before there current burying World Champions. Look at both brands for solid examples.

On Smackdown, we have Christian whom lost his first World title only days after winning it which greatly upset the IWC (myself included). With out even knowing what this could lead to people claimed he was going to be buried, even months later after being in the Mainevent of 3 straight pay-per views and being one of the main attractions on Smackdown people are still proclaiming him to be buried (a word I am growing very tired of) and that after this he will be back to the Midcard. Midcard was bold typed for a reason that will be touched on very soon.

On Raw we have The Miz a young Man who completely made the IWC pull a 180 on the opinion of him. The Miz would eventually get to cash in his Money In the Bank contract and embark on his first WWE champion reign. This title reign would go down as very strong one which would see The Miz become the face of the company. All great things must eventually come to an end and after a lengthy 7 month run he dropped the title to John Cena at Extreme Rules. Almost immediately the "B" word was being dropped, his rematch with Cena came and went and it was clear he would not be regaining the WWE championship from Cena. Almost rite away he began a feud with his apprentice Alex Riley. So far this feud has seen him on the loosing end on any 1 on 1 encounters. This has effectively dropped him down to sharing the Midcard in his feud with Alex Riley. Effectively in the eyes of the less intelligent IWC members making him ...."buried". Which leads me to my point.

Is being a Midcarder now a bad thing?

While I feel both Miz and Christian are capable of being permanent main event fixtures, it begs the question that is if they, or anyone for that matter are not main eventing or competing for a title are they really that bad off, or "being buried"? Can they all of a sudden not make a name for themselves and go down as one of the best and provide memorable moments? Are Mid Card feuds, or feuds that do not take the main stage suddenly not noteworthy.

Look at people such Roddy Piper, a man who has never been WWE champion, yet is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and been involved in some of the biggest feuds, and wrestling moments ever that were not in the mainevent or over the title. Always able to compete thought to be a legit threat to win the big one, and was always able to transition to the mainevent. A Hall of Famer, yet never won the big one and yet is one of the best, but this is a different age.

It is sometimes possible in this day an age to have a memorable feud without the world title, or have it featured in the mainevent aka Shawn Micheal's vs. Chris Jericho, but then again they are 2 of the greatest of all time. These moments are so few and far between though.

So am I wrong thinking that the Midcard is suddenly a bad place to be in this day and age.

Do you really need to mainevent or own a World/WWE title to have a memorable career in this age or am I over thinking it?

I think you are correct in thinking the mid card is a bad place to be (hear me out), not because it is, but because everyone and his pet greyhound seems to think that EVERY single superstar needs to go onto the main event. However this is simply wrong and impossible. WWE and all other wrestling organisations produce shows which need some logic, some build. Every show has a lower card, mid card and main even (well duh, that is flipping obvious). Certain wrestlers will never advance past the lower card, some past the mid card, but some will make it all the way to the main even, for various reasons (draw, ability etc). The point I am trying to make here is this, Wrestling needs the non main eventers just as much as the main eventers, or each show would consist of 1 or 2 matches and nearly 2 hours of promos by the guys who are wrestling (which some smartarse will say it does, it doesn't!!). And having had a quick look at another post the analogy used was it is like a pyramid, wrestling shows need to be built from the ground up, from jobbers to WWE Champion, not everyone will reach the top, just because they don't doesn't mean they are buried or any less worthy of a position on the card (another annoyance of mine: Kofi (or X mid card wrestler) hasn't won the WWE title and main evented a PPV, sack him now, please explain why)