Mid Card Presitge

[FromTheSouth]

There is a lot bitching and complaining on here. Too much if you ask me. One of the more common complaints is that the midcard is bullshit. I disagree. The last three or four months of WWE programming has completely remade the midcard, and it is now home of some of the most compelling WWE television.


1. The tag titles. Tag team wrestling will never be exactly what it used to be. Demolition, The Harts, The Rockers, and The Nasty Boys are not walking through that door. What we have now, and for the foreseeable future, is a bunch of thrown together teams. We have what we have, and I think the WWE is doing pretty well with it. Jerishow is putting on good matches, delivering solid mic work, and making some other guys look good. Their work with Cryme Tyme elevated the WWE's last tag team a bit. Cryme Tyme put on good singles matches and good tag matches with Jerishow. Now, MVP and Mark Henry are likely both going to be elevated toward the main event through this feud. The good thing about putting two main eventers into a tag team is that when they feud with another set of wrestlers, there are myriad opportunities for everyone to advance. I am willing to bet Mark henry main events a PPV within six months. This is step two. (Step one was pinning Orton)

2. The US Title. Kofi Kingston defends that title like his life is tied to the back. Every match he defends it in, he does something amazing, and looks like he will not quit. Often times titles make wrestlers prestigious. In this case, Kofi makes the title prestigious. He makes it look like he wants it and defends it with honor. For months, that title bounced around, and it sat on the back burner. The more people that creative puts into the match, the harder Kofi tries. He has been providing Raw's "Holy Shit" moments. His athleticism suits him well in the midcard. He might not have the mic skills, yet, to be at the top of the card. His charisma does not come through as well in vignettes as it does in suicide dives. In the midcard, he gives less and shorter promos, so his ring work is what will get him over.

3. The IC title. Rey Mysterio, like Kofi, has been working hard to defend the title. His matches with Jericho were amazing. Jericho, for his credit, defended the belt with honor as well. The belt has finally been involved in stories. Dolph Ziggler, who I imagine will win the belt at SD! (and who I would have thought would have won it at the PPV anyway), has been working hard in these matches. I have never been the biggest fan of Rey, but I think his work with Ziggler has been good for both of them. Ziggler has gotten the experience of working with a veteran, and Mysterio has benefited from seeing who is coming to replace him. It has made him work harder. Too bad he's suspended, I was just starting to like him again.

These three midcard belts have all been elevated through the hard work of the title holders. I think creative has found a nice niche for the guys involved in the scene, and has found a way to elevate the titles and the contenders through the title holders.

With all the bitching about the midcard, I think it is time to recognize its direction.

 

[Suneeboy]

I know you are mentioning the mid card titles, but I just want to throw in a little extra about the titles in general. They are reshaping the Titles. All of them. Looks like all of the titles are going to gain some extra prestige and/or be restored again.

The US Title was looking great tonight, all guys worked well together, and Kofi is amazing in the ring. The IC Title has been built back up, and the Tag Titles are important again. Cena and Taker are going to go home with the straps at Breaking Point, so it looks like they are going to build the world titles back up again as just an insane mountain to climb. Christian is the champ over on ECW, and Mickie and Beth had a great match on RAW this Monday.

Midcard is not SOLID yet, but they have a good foundation. The level of prestige isn't fully there because they have main event guys working the midcard to build it up. Let's see what happens when they eventually pass the torch to a midcarder and see how the division fairs then.

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

You're right FTS.

I completely agree with you. The mid card titles have gotten much better this year compared to where we were at last year.

The only problem is I'd prefer Kofi to have a solid feud for the title rather than constantly being put in random thrown together match's for it. But, that is a small gripe compared to how impressed I am with both Kofi and Rey's title reigns. For me personally I have enjoyed Rey's feud's with both Jericho and Ziggler more than I have the Orton/Cena/HHH WWE Title scene. Same goes for Kofi. Last year they had the US championship on Shelton for God knows how long and he hardly defended it. Now, you have Kofi defending it at least once a month and against more than 1 guy. It's great to watch and very fulfiling to see someone do something of worth with the championship.

The tag titles are great now and I'm actually loving the Jericho/Big Show combination. At first I was sceptical about them together but now I'm loving it. Jericho has been gold (as usual) on the mic and Big Show hasn't been too shabby either. They made Cryme Tyme look great and now they're going to elevate Henry and MVP, it's fucking fantastic!

Christian has also made the ECW title look worth obtaining. He did a great job with Swagger and Dreamer and is now looking to build Regal and co. up with him. Christian has pretty much saved ECW for me and made it worth watching again.

The Diva's still need a bit of work but it's ok. Better than last year anyways.

All in all the mid card is looking damn fine and I'm keen to see it continue in this fasion. I think WWE has realised they need to start building their future stars with all the main event injuries going on (Edge, Batista etc.)

It's good to see the mid card being built. Well that might do it for me, bit of a ramble... my bad

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Hmmm. I don't know if it has been the last 3-4 months, but I can definitely say that I have seen a noticeable improvement in the past month. And where as I don't compliment WWE very often as it is very difficult to actually find things to compliment them for, I do give them credit and kudos for refocusing on the midcard as well as ALL of their titles. We know have every single title holder involved in a program. That is just mind-boggling compared to the past several years. I can't believe this is actually WWE we are talking about.

Someone finally woke Vince up to this rather serious problem he has had for years now in his company with his warped philosophy that "only the Main Event matters". That philosophy has put WWE so far back and behind the 8-Ball in developing and grooming superstars, it isn't funny.

 

[JBK2008]

The mid card is sure looking better this year and after Raw last night, it's just getting better and better with each passing week. It does look like Cena and Undertaker will walk out of Breaking Point with the World titles and that's fine with me if they get built up like the mid card titles. Kudos go out to Jericho, Big Show, Rey, and Kofi for the work they've put in restoring prestige to those titles.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I was actually thinking the exact same thing. I sometimes take a liking to mid card over the main event, because in the past couple years, it seems that some of the mid carders are better than some of the main eventers. In order for the WWE to be even close as good as they once were they need to restore what they did in the past. Add depth to every aspect of the WWE, including the main event, the mid card, the tag team division, the womens and divas division. Also adding depth to storylines.

The United States Championship is actually relevant again. Kofi Kingston as the United States Champion is one of the best decisions WWE has made in recent times. The fact that it seems like Kingston will do whatever it takes to keep his coveted title tells you something. The title being defended as often as it has is always a plus. A fighting champion is what Kofi Kingston is, and what WWE needs to do with all their champions. I don't see a problem with Kofi Kingston not being in a set fued, and defending against random opponents, but that is not the case. Carlito has a pinfall victory over the U.S. Champion, The Miz vows to become the next U.S. Champion, while Swagger is the "All-American American". All of them belong in the title scene is doing nothing but elevating the champion, the title, and the challengers.

The fact that the Intercontinental Champion only has a chaser makes me less interested. A lot of people may disagree, but I prefer to see a champion defend against a series of opponents, as opposed to seeing them defend against the same person over and over again. I mean, since the IC Title went to Smackdown, the challengers have been Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and Dolph Ziggler. Compared to the U.S. Title, you've had endless challengers, with M.V.P., Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, William Regal, Jack Swagger, Primo, The Big Show, The Miz, Carlito, among others. I just have a liking to champions being more of a target with a variety of opponents, than just one.

What the U.S. Title lacks in actual storyline, the IC Title makes up for. What the IC Title lacks in the variety of challengers, the U.S. Title makes up for. Despite all that, the bottom line is... the mid card is pretty much the best we've seen it in quite a while.

 

[The BRock Samson]

I'm in the minority being that I tend to prefer the mid-card to the main event. There's just so many great wrestlers within the mid-card that we haven't seen in at least a decade.

I liked how WWE creative paired up Jericho with Big Show being that both were the biggest names within the business and strapped the tag team titles on them. Of course this wouldn't have happened with Edge tearing his ACL, but still. I like this a lot because it not only gives MVP the push that we've all been waiting for, but it gives Mark Henry a good push considering that he just turned face. Now I don't know about Taker being the WHC as soon as Breaking Point because John Morrison is becoming main-event material, but I do think that after Jerishow loses (latest being Armageddon), Jericho will face Edge at RR. This feud carries over for a couple of months to NWO, then Jericho will build up a great match with Taker before WM 26 (Jericho and Taker have never faced each other in a match from what I've heard). That way, MVP and Henry get their main event pushes, John Morrison and CM Punk can start an actual feud, and Jericho and Taker can have a quality feud going into WM 26.

The Intercontinental Championship picture actually benefits from Rey Mysterio's suspension in Dolph Ziggler's case because they can basically strap it onto Dolph Ziggler ASAP (Which was supposed to happen at SummerSlam). Dolph's good in the ring, but his mic skills are phenomonal. Dolph can get right to work on his push by feuding with Matt Hardy, a veteran mid-carder. Matt can put Dolph over and if they wanted to give Taker the WHC, then Morrison can start a feud with Dolph after.

I, like Cool Guy Jensen, laud what they've done with Kofi and giving him the U.S. title. The U.S. title change between MVP and Kofi couldn't have gone any better. Kofi has so much in-ring ability that he really doesn't need the mic skills. Also Kofi had a nice US title reign. Jack Swagger and not Miz (thank goodness) can win the belt at Breaking Point and begin his own push to the main event picture and can feud with Kofi for a few PPV's.

Overall, I like the mid-card more than the main event because it has so many talented, charismatic wrestlers ready to make successful pushes to the main-event level.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For me, I'm very pleased with the direction the mid-card has gone over the past several months. For the first time in a very long time, I'm excited about seeing an IC, US, or Tag Team title match in the WWE.

I definitely agree that there's simply too much bitching going on about the WWE in general. ECW is great for showcasing a lot of young talent, Smackdown is better than it's been in years, and I've found myself looking forward to Raw each week for most of the past few months. A big part of the problem is that too many just don't sit back and try to enjoy wrestling anymore, they're too focused on finding what's wrong with it and just nitpick at those problems to the point where they can't be convinced that the product as a whole doesn't suck.

Bottom line is, I find most of what the WWE is doing to be pretty entertaining. They have feuds and matches that I'm excited to see, they're restoring prestige to the mid-card and tag titles, and there's a lot of buzz about a lot of the young guys coming up in the WWE. One major problem the WWE has does apply to Smackdown, however. It's on the shittiest channel on tv right now. I think that MyNetworkTV is the 3rd lowest rated English speaking network on television right now, and a pretty sizable portion of the WWE's fans don't have access to it. A year ago, Smackdown was regularly flirting with 3's in the Nielsen ratings now it averages about a 1.9 despite the fact it's been better much of this year than it's been in years.

 

[shafe_41]

I'm personally very confused with the bitching of the mid-card in the WWE. As FTS said, the midcard in the WWE has been pretty damn strong over the last few months. I think after the crap-tastic Mania, Vince really took a look at the event and the shape of the WWE itself and said "holy hell, I better do something. So he did. Since around Backlash, the mid-card in the WWE has been pretty damn entertaining if you ask me. I will take the up the ladder, down the ladder approach as someone does on the main news page. I'm not going to do everybody in the mid-card as that would take for friggin ever. I'll hit the ones that I feel are the most important... and maybe one just because.. well... HE'S AWESOME.

Kofi- he has gone up the ladder. Kofi has always been over with the fans but something over the last 2-3 months has just made this guy almost super-human over with the fans. He went from being cheered, to people getting out of their seats and marking THE EFF OUT once his music hits. And who can blame them? The dude is solid week in and week out. His unique offense and pretty sweet finisher when he really hits it really make you look at Kofi and say "Damn, he just beat the piss out of... (enter name here.) Kofi is waaaaaay waaaaay over and like I said... his "super" over-ness has just been established in around the last 2-3 months or so. Good for Kofi because he's really young and possibly a future champion in the E and a huge asset for Vince and the company.

MVP- I may catch some flack for this, but he has gone down the ladder. The guy had gone from an amazing heel and arguably on the borderline of headlining some smaller time PPVs to test him out... to a face who half the time barely gets the crowd to make a peep. Super heat in a lot of cases does translate to being super-over with the fans... and vice versa when a face/heel heel/face turn is made. MVP's balloon of heat was huge and since he turned face and came to Raw, just seems like somebody is slowly letting the air out through a pinhole. It's rediculous. Plus his match with Swagger at SSlam... holy effing snooze. Why did MVP go over Swagger? I'm clueless too. Which brings me to.......

Jack Swaggah- This kid has shot up the ladder quicker than anybody in the E. I don't even need to say anything about him because everybody knows it. He's a freak of nature and is undoubtedly a future champion many times over. One of the most gifted young performers we've seen in a long time.

Ziggler- Obviously up the ladder. I mean he had 2 matches in a row in PPV fashion against Mysterio for the IC Title. Both great matches as well. And with Ziggler getting the 3rd (or the 3rd we may not see) on PPV at Breaking Point, it's pretty obvious the guy was going to get the IC Title. I mean 3 matches in a row agains the same opponent for the same prize... 3rd time's a charm for Ziggler. At least it would have been... or will be... or whatever. Anyway... Ziggler will be IC Champ within the next few weeks. He deserves it.

Evan Bourne- sadly... down the ladder. I mean what else can you say other than he's being thrown into the Hornswaggle/Chavo angle. Going over either of those guys means about as much as a win over Barry Horowitz in the mid-90s. Sorry Evan. Your new music is at least kinda cool.

And last but not least..............

THE MIZ- almost everybody thought the Miz would get shuffled into oblivion on Raw in mid-card hell once he split with Morrison. I did not. I have been a fan of the Miz since the beginning. The guy has it. I'm still not sure why he was thrown into the lion's den with Super-Cena... but he was thrown in with Cena. Not Chavo, or Kane, or Khali, or anybody somewhat irrelavent. He was destroyed... but destroyed by the biggest and baddest dog in the yard. His matches on Raw showed that the Miz has it in the ring and can tangle with Cena... but he does need more growing time without a doubt. Nobody thought Miz would shoot into the main event if he somehow got a win over Cena. That's redic. But the Miz showed us he can definately run with Cena on the mic. The Miz can run with anybody on the mic. His being fired from Raw and coming back as the Calgary Kid... amazing. His newfound look (sorta) and more aggressive nature in the ring is going to do nothing but help him. The Miz is taking a slower climb than others, but he's climbing at a consistant pace. Him being thrown into the US Title picture doesn't hurt either. Because he IS THE MIZ... AND HE IS..... AWESOME!!!

 

[gonszo]

Im pretty much in agreement with almost everything mentioned here. The mid card is looking great at the moment, in particular Ziggler, John Morrison and Swagger.

I just hope they don't rush anything, in particular, Morrison. I love this guy, he is an amazing wrestler, but they need to build his mic skills a bit before he should be a title holder (note: i know whats going to happen on smackdown with the IC title).

He still doesn't get that big a pop, even if the internet community is obsessed with him and he is amazing in the ring. Who knows, maybe getting the IC title will give him extra mic time. Still, I feel sorry for Ziggler, he deserved to win the IC off a main eventer, not Morrison, if he indeed does win it at BP. God damn Rey!

But yes, the WWE is improving.

 

[byrnside]

You're right FTS.

I completely agree with you. The mid card titles have gotten much better this year compared to where we were at last year.

The only problem is I'd prefer Kofi to have a solid feud for the title rather than constantly being put in random thrown together match's for it. But, that is a small gripe compared to how impressed I am with both Kofi and Rey's title reigns. For me personally I have enjoyed Rey's feud's with both Jericho and Ziggler more than I have the Orton/Cena/HHH WWE Title scene. Same goes for Kofi. Last year they had the US championship on Shelton for God knows how long and he hardly defended it. Now, you have Kofi defending it at least once a month and against more than 1 guy. It's great to watch and very fulfiling to see someone do something of worth with the championship.

The tag titles are great now and I'm actually loving the Jericho/Big Show combination. At first I was sceptical about them together but now I'm loving it. Jericho has been gold (as usual) on the mic and Big Show hasn't been too shabby either. They made Cryme Tyme look great and now they're going to elevate Henry and MVP, it's fucking fantastic!

Christian has also made the ECW title look worth obtaining. He did a great job with Swagger and Dreamer and is now looking to build Regal and co. up with him. Christian has pretty much saved ECW for me and made it worth watching again.

The Diva's still need a bit of work but it's ok. Better than last year anyways.

All in all the mid card is looking damn fine and I'm keen to see it continue in this fasion. I think WWE has realised they need to start building their future stars with all the main event injuries going on (Edge, Batista etc.)

It's good to see the mid card being built. Well that might do it for me, bit of a ramble... my bad

Is it just me, or is this all starting to sound like the past. Hogan was champion, the little kiddies loved him, and he wasn't a great wrestler, so what happened? Guys like, Rude, Perfect, Jake the Snake [anyone notice yet, I almost always find an excuse to talk about these three?] Bret Hart, etc. came out and were having great matches.

Even later in WCW when all the older guys weren't letting anyone else up. It was the guys like Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Rey Rey, etc. that were having the great wrestling matches, not Hogan or Savage, and that ended up being what killed WCW, they couldn't focus on the wrestling when push came to shove. Pretty soon we're gonna be left without guys like Cena, and then the guys like Morrison and Kofi will rise up.. Just like the guys I mentioned before. I just hope when they're at the top, some people will come along to keep the IC and US titles' prestige.