Obviously the ECW title means nothing.

[Khalifa]

Yes I said it. The ECW title means nothing as of what Matt Hardy said in his promo on Friday night with his promo against Jeff. What was exactly said I hear you say..."What was said?" Well Matt Hardy accused Jeff because he always got special attention ( didn't say it like that but that is what he meant). He said Jeff got sky rocketed to the top while Matt had his MEDIOCER career. Do you still not get what I am saying? "What are you saying Pippen?". Well if he said mediocer does that mean the ECW title is mediocer? It sure does. But don't WWE want it to be classed as a legit world title? Well obviously they are if they are saying Big show is the only man to hold every world championship controlled owned by WWE, by holding the WWE,WCW and ECW world titles, but Matt said he had a mediocer career. So this means that the ECW title is not a world championship because Matt also said Jeff has held a world championship even tho Matt was the better brother.

So what is your opinion on this story? Did WWE fuck up? Have your say.

 

[Richard]

I enjoyed the promo really, I thought it was good with Matt yelling at Jeff to fight him and hit him. If telling the truth means fucking up then so be it, because it was the truth. It really didn't matter for Matt to say that, the WWE has always shown that the ECW Championship isn't a serious world title. If it actually meant something and the WWE considered it a serious world championship, Chavo Guerrero wouldn't have been in the Royal Rumble when he was ECW Champion. What was he gonna do, pick himself so he was safe if he won? I don't think so. It just showed that Chavo was in there to earn the opportunity to challenge for a World Championship which shows that it isn't a world championship.

 

[Phoenix]

I think the fact they changed the look of it to Silver and Chrome is WWE's way of saying "ECW is the bottom show, this isn't a legit championship". Whenever i think of Championship matches I think of superstars and JR saying about "Winning the gold", I don't think Todd Grisham or Matt Striker dare say "Time to win the silver".

I think the true moment when the ECW Title lost it "World" status in WWE was after December to Dismember, because then it went on to Lashley not defending it at Wrestlemania and feuding with McMahon over it, that was his message to say "This is not a World Title because I won it"*

*Note: I am very aware Vince has held the WWE Title, but at least it was dropped 4 days later than in a 3 month feud!

 

[WrestlingHistorian]

I don't count it as a "world" championship, but nstead I see it as a regional title thats defended within WWE, a stepping stone of sorts.

 

[BeansOnToastUK]

I agree entirely with richard rude, how could you have the ECW champion in the royal rumble? that was the defining point in which this title lost its status. It might as well be another US title or Intercontinental Championship. These are championships which are used to bring up and coming talent the chance to hold gold and build there way up to the top. If the WWE Champion came out in the royal rumble then everyone would be like WTF?

But we also have to remember that the current ECW show is being used as a stepping stone for new talent (Ricky Ortiz, D J Gabriel, Tyson Kidd and Jack Swagger)

If they continue to use the show as a building point for young new talent then are you really going to have anyone hold the belt that looks like they are a major talent? I think they have realised this and thats why Christian has been added to the roster.

Your thoughts?

 

[DD84]

WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE SURPRISED? Vince hasn't ever cared about ECW, its just a way to disrespect the original ECW, by making it there minor league. Come on Mark Henry, Chavo, Matt Hardy and Vince all held this belt since ECW came into the WWE do you really think they care about it.

 

[jj34]

I think to say that the title means nothing is a little far fetched now obviously it doesn't have the same prestige as the WWE title and World title but it doesn't have to. I kinda consider the ECW title about the same as the IC title in the 80's and early 90's, and that's just fine with me. ECW is obviously not on the same level as far as star power with Raw and Smackdown so it wouldn't make sense for it's title to have the same prestige. The title is used now to give solid veterans who deserve more than just being stuck in the mid cards on Raw and Smackdown some where to shine (with the exception of Chavo), and also to help make the next crop of young stars into main eventers like Punk, Swagger, Hardy, and Morrison. I believe it will eventually be put on Christian and will help him be seen as a legit main eventer on Raw or Smackdown when he does in fact make the jump. That is why to mean it DOES NOT mean nothing.

 

[RatedRKO39]

The ECW title means just as much as the IC title does. Its just another reason to make the money on sales at the live events and over the internet. IMO they should have just kept the old ECW title

 

[Sean Valjean]

I'm surprised you didn't say the other the European, World Tag, Cruiserweight, and US belts meant nothing either, since Matt's won those too.

In any case, does it really matter? It sounds like you're making too much out of his promo. ECW is the C show, we all know that, and the ECW title is not a world title. You'll never see the Royal Rumble winner challenge for it, nor the MITB winner. It's just for up-and-comers to hold and test their ability to lead a show.

Besides, the ECW title means more than the US and IC belts. At least it's defended reguraly and has somewhat interesting fueds over it. Besides, Matt's career really hasn't been as good as Jeff's (sorry Matt fans), so Matt, and the WWE, were just keepin' it real.

 

[MisterRob]

Matt Hardy is a heel. You are not suppose to like what he says or agree with what he says, he's meant to push buttons and get a negative reaction from you the viewer. That's exactly what he did, obviously. Just because Matt Hardy, a heel, says that and implies the ECW title holds no value, doesn't mean thats actually meant to be the view of everyone. You're taking it far too literal. I thought it was a good promo, and I thought it emphasized the view of Matt Hardy who believes Jeff's been overshadowing him and getting the better end of things in their careers, despite him being undeserving of such. Of course he has to push the value of Jeff's accomplishments and devalue his own accomplishments to make that statement hold more weight.

But no, I personally don't think the ECW title is meaningless at all. I don't view it as a WORLD title, especially in the state its in now. But its purpose is to push upcoming talent and future talent, and thats exactly what it does and I think has been successful in doing.

 

[Nate DaMac]

the thing is i think the ecw championship could be meaningful. if beniot would have won it, i think it would have gone in a completely different direction. a punk/beniot feud would have been legit and interesting, but intstead they had to throw morrison in there and it pretty much went downhill from there. i think they missed out again when they put the strap on kane. if they put him in some legit feuds and had him drop it to someone people gave at least half a shit about, they could have attempted to turn it around. vince fuckered it all up.

 

[Omega]

yeah the ecw title is just effectivley a big midcard title, how long was Jack Swagger in WWE before he won the title? But it dosen't get talked about as much as when Lesnar won the title in under a year this is the thing that proves it to me.

Another clencher was the 2008 rumble when chavo competed even though he WAS a WORLD champion (obviously not if he's in the rumble).

Saying this though I still think it has a very very very important purpoise in the WWE just like ECW does, the whole brand is just like FCW on air, it'll be good to see how the WWE utilize ECW in the future im not sure if they'll just use it as a talent farm or they'll develop it into a full two hour brand and use the new WWE Superstars as a talent farm.

 

[johnnygoround360]

I consider the ECW Title as a world title, really. Although it's not as prestigious as the WWE Championship (since it started in the early 1990's, so no long history there), it's not really meaningless.

If ECW Title wasn't a world title, that's like saying the NWA World Title has been meaningless since Shane Douglas threw it down, so the early TNA world title reigns wouldn't have counted for the world title reigns. They wouldn't have put Matt Hardy in the same match with Jericho (who was the World Heavyweight Champion) and Triple H (WWE Champion) during the debut of Smackdown on MyNetwork Tv if it wasn't a world title.

I think everyone is just getting too caught up with this whole thing about whether or not the ECW Championship is a world title or not. And most of you probably rely too much on PWI, but let's be honest, there's really no way to tell. There's really no official universally accepted method to determine what constitutes a world title, so there is no way to determine who truly has world title status, and it's not like all these promotions acknowledge PWI.

 

[Rusty]

Hmmm, it was interesting. I think the prestige and rank of the ECW Championship changes whenever the holder of the belt changes. It was used as a 3rd World Championship when it was brought back in 2006. When John Morrison won the belt though, it changed to a mid-card title, but a credible one. The same went for CM Punk's reign. When Chavo Guerrero won the belt though, the value of the belt just sunk. Kane and Mark Henry brought it's value back up, while Matt Hardy was known as the 3rd World Champion in the company. Jack Swagger wins it, and it's back to being a mid-card title again. It's a never ending circle.

But it does mean something. Almost everyone who has held the belt seems to get a push during or after their Title reign. See Morrison, CM Punk, Kane, and Matt Hardy for examples. If Christian wins the title, it will change again. I think it's because the only people that hold the ECW Title are either mid-carders looking for a push, or a veteran who needs to put over a younger talent once they lose the ECW Title.

But the ECW Championship still means more than the United States and the Intercontinental Championships. A whole show is focused on it basically, it's regularly defended and always has a storyline involving it. It's not meant to be on par with the 2 World Titles, but it's meant to push a mid-carder so they can develop, improve and become closer to winning a real World Championship on either Raw or Smackdown.

 

[Crush1]

Hmmm, it was interesting. I think the prestige and rank of the ECW Championship changes whenever the holder of the belt changes. It was used as a 3rd World Championship when it was brought back in 2006. When John Morrison won the belt though, it changed to a mid-card title, but a credible one. The same went for CM Punk's reign. When Chavo Guerrero won the belt though, the value of the belt just sunk. Kane and Mark Henry brought it's value back up, while Matt Hardy was known as the 3rd World Champion in the company. Jack Swagger wins it, and it's back to being a mid-card title again. It's a never ending circle.

You my friend have said it all. The thing is that the ECW championship isn't a worthless title, oh no because it has a lot of meaning to it. People care about the title and it certainly elevates(ed) a lot of people form the lower and upper mid-card. Every time a new champion is crowned the ECW title flows with it. Like Rusty said when RVD had it it was a legit third world title. When Morrison had it, it became a legit mid-card title. And when Chavo had it, it became a jobber title. But now that Swagger has it the cycle has started again. Even though the title had crappy champions in the past, it has always meant waaaaaaay more the the US/IC/WWE TAG/WORLD TAG/ Championships.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

it has always meant waaaaaaay more the the US/IC/WWE TAG/WORLD TAG/ Championships.

This is the damn truth. No matter how you look at it, it's ranked as the third world belt. It's not as prestigious as the other two world belts, but it's still a world belt nevertheless. However, the last time the title was officially meaningful was when Rhyno held it and when ECW closed. Back then, this really was recognized as a legit world title, even by PWI.

 

[Leeds Guy]

However, the last time the title was officially meaningful was when Rhyno held it and when ECW closed. Back then, this really was recognized as a legit world title, even by PWI.

Of corse it would have been recognised as a world title. It was the World title for the 3rd biggest Wrestling Company. Having said that though, back in the ''day'' i would have always put the WWE title up there as being the most prestigious followed by the WCW title, the ECW title seems to have always been the last World title anybody would ever want.


Rusty summed it up perfectly, its classed as a World title when the WWE want it to be, but it will always mean more than the IC/US titles due to the history the title has. It will be interesting to see who they put it on next after Swagger to see what direction it swings again.

 

[TheTruNoLimit]

I think WWE should do something entirely unpredictable with Money In the Bank this year and have the winner challenge the ECW Champion. I think it works out. It gives the ECW title an instant rub and shows that, heck, it is important. Think about the competitor's involved this year, and it's really the perfect scenario.

I would think the most likely of everyone involved to hold a title is Kane, but fact is, Kane has made it known that he doesn't want the added pressure of holding one of the top two titles, hence his ECW title win last year. Kane has ties to ECW because of that and can go for the ECW gold and justify it by saying how important the title was to him, but because he was drafted to Raw right at the time he lost it, he was never given a second chance to get it back.

They always put over how Mark Henry is obsessed with regaining the ECW Title. Christian, at least according to storyline, came back to WWE specifically to test himself against the young "lions" of ECW and to take the ECW Title away from Swagger. Finlay would never be a champion on Raw or Smackdown!, but ECW is a possibility. That can also be said of Kofi Kingston, and how about giving somebody such as Shelton or MVP a test World Title run to see how it works out on ECW? As for Punk, why not return to where it all started, showing his "new" ECW roots.

Point is, you can make an argument that right now, only three guys can be champions on Raw or Smackdown!, and they are Punk, Christian, and Kane. Kane doesn't want the gold. Vince isn't very high on Christian. And I don't think you'll see another improbable run for Punk.

Have the winner face the ECW Champion. It adds unpredictability to things because no Royal Rumble or Money in the Bank winner has ever picked ECW as his championship of choice. It gives the ECW title a huge rub. It puts over the title and the entire ECW Brand. It puts over the current ECW champion because he looks like a more legit champion, and likely, the new ECW Champion. I really think it just does wonders for WWE's third brand.

 

[The Palace of Wisdom]

I think another telling point that makes the ECW title seem mediocre is that, since it was brought back, only ONE man has regained the title after losing it (Lashley). That says to me, "Hey, if you win this title, don't worry. You'll big back on a major show in no time." Because that's usually what happens. It's technically a World Title, so you can give it to veterans like Chavo, Mark Henry, Kane, guys who have cut their teeth on the road and deserve a run (but you don't trust them enough to draw on one of the big two shows). It's a World title you can give to a young guy, so when he graduates to a major show, you can book him as a former world champion. It's what they did with Punk, and will soon be doing with Morrison and Swagger.

 

[Andy Awesome]

I have to say that the ECW World title is being used so badly at this point. I mean, back when ECW was actually watchable, the ECW World title was treated like the World Heavyweight title or the WWE title with people like Rob Van Dam, Taz, Mike Awesome, The Sandman, and Steve Corino. Now, when WWE brought it back and "Kid" Rated it, they made it from a Highly Respected title to a "Ok, We need a belt for a bunch of mid-carders" belt. What thet need to do is bring in a mid carder belt like the ECW World T.V. Championship and take some tag teams from Raw and Smackdown and make a ECW World Tag Team Championship so it can add some kind of respect to the ECW Title. And, if ECW is meant for mid carders, then bring in some talent ones. I have no disrespect to Evan Broune, Christian, and Jack Swagger. But, have some talented mid carders to shine like Sim Snuka, D.H. Smith, The Brain Kendrick, Charile Haas, Hurrican Helms, Jimmy Wang Yang, and Jamie Noble. They really need to have the ECW Title more respectful than it is now.

 

[Theo Mays]

TheTruNoLimit makes a good point. And as far as I know it doesn't look like an ECW title match is going to make the WM card. So why not the winner of the MITB challenge Swagger later in the night and win the title. Would provide some credibility to the ECW title and then it gets a match at WM.

 

[nthomas504]

First off, for the MITB Winner challeging the ECW Champ, Y. Sure it would make the ECW Championship look great, but y. How would the ECW Champion get on the stage. They wont let Jack Swagger get on the stage to just cut a promo. The tradidtion of the MITB is to catch the opponent surprisingly, not invite him to the ring to fight him. If the winner of the MITB is Christian, then this has a possiblity of happaning, but it would make no sense and it would be wise for him to wait til he is drafted by either Smackdown or Raw then cash it in.

 

[nthomas504]

I feel that the ECW Title is the worst of the midcard. The IC is being defended and its on tha card, EC Title is not. Nice world title WWE

 

[TheTruNoLimit]

^ You also have to realize that there just isn't enough time to really build anything up on the ECW end. It became apparent that it likely wouldn't be defended as soon as Christian was put into Money In the Bank. I think Christian against Swagger really could've been built into a pretty high profile ECW Championship match at Wrestlemania. That being said, it's not the worst of the mid-card titles. It's regarded as the 3rd title in the company. It's looked at as more important than the mid-card titles, but not as important as the World Titles. Even in 2008, look at the pushes that the ECW Championship had with Kane, Mark Henry, and Matt Hardy. During their ECW title reigns, those 3 ECW Champions were put on a MUCH HIGHER pedestal than any of the mid-card champions during that stretch.

 

[ECWillRiseAgain]

Okay, I registered here for one thing, and that one thing is this I guess, I can say that I'm not surprised that a lot of people think that the ECW Title isn't a legit world title, I can't blame you guys. I can agree with a lot of people, that when Chavo joined the rumble last year, it went down the shit-can, it got buried

But I do agree that the status of the title would sometimes depend on the holder, like earlier in 2008, when Kane held it and had him face off with Taker (who was smackdown's champion), he was treated somewhat like his equal, or at some points during Hardy's ECW Title reign it was. But admittedly, I had no doubts about it being a world championship during its first three reigns since its incarnations, RVD was considered a double world-champ, The Big Show was in the "who's the best world champion" angle in Cyber Sunday, and lastly, The Undertaker threatened Lashley during ECW after the rumble.. I think that was the very last time I held the ECW Championship in high regard..

Also, I am disappointed in how modest Glenn Jacobs is, turning down World Title reigns and his preference to put over younger talent, being a Kane fan since '98, I wondered when Kane would win a world title again, definitely the ECW is one (just not as highly-regarded than its counterparts)

I've always wondered if he had taken the alleged world-title reign offers, or have not injured himself in early 2002 during what was like a coming big push, how would his character look like now..

anyway yeah, I hope to see the ECW Brand rise again from the ashes, and actually be put over for once like what it was during its re-launching in June 2006