ONE element of Old School Wrestling would benefit today's wrestling the most?

[THTRobtaylor]

I voted for Other... there is one thing that todays WWE desperately needs...

Less Reliance On Titles!

In the 80's and 1990s there were just 3 belts (4 if you counted the Million Dollar Title) Only one guy could be champion at the time, one IC and everyone else's careers were not defined by titles they'd won.

Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, Big Bossman, Brutus Beefcake, Earthquake, Mr. Perfect... all were considered main event level talent yet never got close to even one World title in the WWF... did it diminish their careers, not one jot.. Some eventually got an IC title reign as a "thank you" like Piper but on the whole you could go a whole career in the old WWF, never holding anything but a tag title and still be considered a main eventer or "legend". Those talents mentioned were not crap, they didn't not get a belt for that reason... but nbecause you could put them together and underpin a show with great work and stories, without the need for the belt as a mcguffin... Think back to Jake vs Earthquake, Damien was all that was needed to get that feud over... It didn't need a belt added to the mix to put it over the top...

The IC title was considered the "Pure Wrestling" title... so those who had it were the best worker of the time, spotlighted as such... Many great IC titleholders never moved up to the World title but their legacies were not tarnished by this... Tito Santana, Greg Valentine, Jacques Rougeau, Ricky Steamboat, Honky Tonk man... their IC title reigns meant more to them in terms of career than 1 World title reign ever could...

Today it's ridiculous how belts are used... They are no longer meaningful to any wrestler, its just about numbers... Randy Orton with 7 World Title runs, Edge with 9 or 10, Trips pushing 16... All it really shows is they lost the belt one less time than they won it... It's a meaningless situation to have Seamus already a 2 time champion...

These days If a young talent doesn't get a World title by 30 they are failing... if they hold the IC title and don't "move up" within 6 months to a year the fans start asking why... Guys like Kofi, JoMo, Christian all have had fans saying its their turn... yet in the old days none of them would have gotten the belt... It's almost like now it's "let's share the titles around...everyone gets a hold at least once..."

On Night of Champions we had "every WWE title defended". So on a show we have 6 title matches... thats 6 matches that couldn't get over without a belt as a prop...

This is what really needs to change...

 

[TheAssassin]

I'd say less PPVs. I understand they do it because of the extra money it brings in, but it kind of takes away from the impact of the matches on the PPV. A lot of PPV cards feel so sloppy and forced because they only have 2-4 weeks to build up to that show. I think what they should do is have 1 PPV every other month instead. In WWEs' case keep Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and use another two, perhaps King of the Ring and Elimination Chamber.

 

[byrnside]

I started to vote for the "less pay per views" selection, but then I remembered a column that [I think?] Mark Madden wrote recently that briefly compares UFC and WWE and their pay per views. To touch, he said that UFC has more PPVs a year, almost 2-3 times as many, than the WWE. His argument roughly was that if people want to see it, they'll pay for it. I couldn't help but agree with it.

So, I went with bringing back managers and valets. Point in case in my opinion, Bobby the M'FN Brain Heenan. This guy could make any heel without any shred of mic skill and turn them into a monster.. or at least a semi-main eventer. Because the Brain had the chops. He could talk his way out of a paper bag. Jimmy Hart could do it. Slick wasn't bad either in the 80s. Even in later [or more televised, depending on how you look at it]years, Jim Cornette, Paul Heyman or The Jackal [for some reason his name in ECW, where he really shined, is escaping me.] Don't know what I'm talking about, go check some interviews on YouTube.