The Booking of SD!'s Champions

[Kinsey144]

To start this thread off, i am only going to talk about the Intercontinental and the World Heavyweight Championship...

For a while now, maybe 2 months, Cody Rhodes has been in a fued with Ezekiel Jackson. Now i have nothing against this fued, i think its a both way to get both people over, and especially legitimise Cody, if he's able to take out this monster. And when Ted Dibiase started to become involved, again i had no problem - more TV time for some bright young stars.

But then the problem began to hit me... i can only remember one time off the top of my head in this fued that ezekiel jackson has won the match...and he is the champion! Don't get me wrong, i get it, there has been 2 vs 1 matches and ringside help from cody or ted. But ezekiel is meant to be a MONSTER, who can overcome odds like that. Its making him rapidly lose credibility in my eyes. It would be easy for the WWE to have him go over cody or ted, and then next week one of the two come and and beat him, making the rivalry back and forth; but alas, that doesn't happen.


Now onto something that has annoyed me recently. As some of you may know, i have been a Christian mark since the begining of his TNA career, and him winning the title was music to my ears. This isn't about his first 2 day title reign, its about his current reign. Christian won the belt at money in the bank via a kick to the nuts... this could have been booked better, but thats not what im here to whine about. Since money in the bank, Christian has curtain jerked EVERY Smackdown!. And guess what, Randy Orton has main evented EVERY Smackdown!. Surely, if the WWE is willing to give Christian the ball, let him run with it and be the main eventer whilst he has the belt. I get it, a lot of you guys will come in and say "but Orton is the draw". I get that, but that doesn't mean that Christian has to curtain jerk!! They could easily book him in a tag team match with another heel vs orton and another face, or something of a similar fashion.

So with that said:

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?
Do you think its hurting his credibility?

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?
Or am i being just being a Christian Mark

 

[The Future Rises]

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?

I wouldn't call it jobbing. Maybe it's just a way to make them look like top contenders for the IC title. I remember DiBiase losing to Zeke in an IC title match. But if Zeke just goes on to losing his title to Rhodes without beating him atleast once then I would actually consider it jobbing.

Do you think its hurting his credibility?

Kinda. Zeke isn't anything special to be honest. They built him up strong and gave him a big push beating Wade Barrett. But have you ever thought that giving Zeke the title was just a way of disbanding The Corre, giving Smackdown a midcard face, and making him drop it to a heel in Cody Rhodes? I mean they couldn't have possibly put Rhodes in a program with another heel Wade Barrett for the IC title. So maybe they figured Zeke should have a brief reign before dropping it to Rhodes.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?

That only happened about two times if I'm not mistaken. But maybe that's because Orton's matches are more main event worthy. Now don't get me wrong Christian is better than Orton in my opinion. But Christian Vs Ezekiel Jackson can't really be credible for a main event. And do you honestly think putting Zeke in the main event instead of Kane or Orton would draw more?

Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?

In a way yes. but like I said ever since winning the title his matches on Smackdown have been against mid carders. So it should be in the mid card.

 

[Kinsey144]

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?

I wouldn't call it jobbing. Maybe it's just a way to make them look like top contenders for the IC title. I remember DiBiase losing to Zeke in an IC title match. But if Zeke just goes on to losing his title to Rhodes without beating him atleast once then I would actually consider it jobbing.

I agree that they're being made to look like top contenders... but come on! they've beaten him for 2 months straight with the exception of Zeke beating Ted. Surely this means Cody should AT LEAST have had a title shot, or been given the belt? If not, make Zeke win some... make him credible

Do you think its hurting his credibility?

Kinda. Zeke isn't anything special to be honest. They built him up strong and gave him a big push beating Wade Barrett. But have you ever thought that giving Zeke the title was just a way of disbanding The Corre, giving Smackdown a midcard face, and making him drop it to a heel in Cody Rhodes? I mean they couldn't have possibly put Rhodes in a program with another heel Wade Barrett for the IC title. So maybe they figured Zeke should have a brief reign before dropping it to Rhodes.

I agree, im not Zeke's biggest fan. But i accept that he is going to get pushed because of the old "vince loves big men" theory. Sure i agree that Zeke was clearly going to be a break out face from the Corre and i think it was a good idea. But the very idea of "breakout" means that he must have some sort of push, not just a small blowoff fued with barrett (a good start to his push) and then a losing streak. IF what you said is the plan, there's no point in waiting around to put the belt on Cody, just have Zeke as a transitional champion.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?

That only happened about two times if I'm not mistaken. But maybe that's because Orton's matches are more main event worthy. Now don't get me wrong Christian is better than Orton in my opinion. But Christian Vs Ezekiel Jackson can't really be credible for a main event. And do you honestly think putting Zeke in the main event instead of Kane or Orton would draw more?

Yes two times.... two out of two since Christian has had the belt. While i agree with you that Orton/Kane was a great main event, they could have equally booked Christian/Zeke as Champion VS Champion... telling me that isn't a main event worthy match is crazy...

While i agree with you, Orton draws more than Christian, they don't have to have either/or in the main event, as i said, tag matches/triple threats, Orton on commentary during Christians main event or vice versa... But please, dont curtain jerk with your champion, it makes the belt seem even more worthless. Its essentially saying "It doesn't matter if you get the belt, Orton will always be our guy, and our main eventer"

Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?

In a way yes. but like I said ever since winning the title his matches on Smackdown have been against mid carders. So it should be in the mid card.

I disagree, how about looking at it from the other way. A mid-carder gets a title shot at the world heavyweight champion, why not give the mid-carder
1) some main event experience/exposure
2) make the belt seem like its worth something by having it headline every smackdown...

 

[mykeymayhem]

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?
No not really i look at this as zeke rising to the occasion type of deal he only lost when the ic belt wasn't on the line, it's kinda like saying when the stakes are high his game gets better. Also i don't remember Cody getting a clean win over Zeke, if it was a clean heel win or a squash I could see your point on jobbing.

Do you think its hurting his credibility?
I think i answered that, it really dose not matter how many dity wins Cody gets as long as Zeke rises to the occasion when the titles up for grabs, what your seeing is a feud, Zeke can't win all his matches with Cody what would the point be.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
As others have said Orton draws money, I also think wwe wants to give Christian a chance to draw major heat from the fans. Plus you can't very well have it be orton vs. christan every week than have that be the pay per view title match, it's kinda getting stale and i'm sure wwe knows that witch is why sheamus (forgive me if i miss spelled his name) is currently getting a push, after this feud is over either orton or christian will feud with him....christian will have his chance in the main event just let him draw more heat from the fans, he needs to prove he can pull off his heel persona before wwe lets him run with the ball for a while.

Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?
No, why should I care if he is or not, he's the champ as a mark thats enough for me that he gets a legit run, also he will be involved in one of the big matches at ss so who cares what match hes in on sd...first second,main event he has the belt if your a fan than roll with it and be happy wwe might not let him have it for long.

 

[The Future Rises]

I disagree, how about looking at it from the other way. A mid-carder gets a title shot at the world heavyweight champion, why not give the mid-carder
1) some main event experience/exposure
2) make the belt seem like its worth something by having it headline every smackdown...

A mid carder gets a world title shot and he should be put in the main event and get some exposure? Gotta agree on that. But when it's Ezekiel Jackson? Sorry. But I don't see why Big Zeke. Who in my opinion is just a transitional champion and won't amount to anything. Should be in the main event while there's a real main event worthy match in Kane Vs Randy Orton. About Orton drawing more than Christian that's actually untrue considering Smackdown began losing ratings when Orton won the title. And you're right about Christian deserving better. Maybe if they give him main event worthy opponents then he can actually main event Smackdown.

 

[SteelRevenge]

To start this thread off, i am only going to talk about the Intercontinental and the World Heavyweight Championship...

For a while now, maybe 2 months, Cody Rhodes has been in a fued with Ezekiel Jackson. Now i have nothing against this fued, i think its a both way to get both people over, and especially legitimise Cody, if he's able to take out this monster. And when Ted Dibiase started to become involved, again i had no problem - more TV time for some bright young stars.

But then the problem began to hit me... i can only remember one time off the top of my head in this fued that ezekiel jackson has won the match...and he is the champion! Don't get me wrong, i get it, there has been 2 vs 1 matches and ringside help from cody or ted. But ezekiel is meant to be a MONSTER, who can overcome odds like that. Its making him rapidly lose credibility in my eyes. It would be easy for the WWE to have him go over cody or ted, and then next week one of the two come and and beat him, making the rivalry back and forth; but alas, that doesn't happen.

Now onto something that has annoyed me recently. As some of you may know, i have been a Christian mark since the begining of his TNA career, and him winning the title was music to my ears. This isn't about his first 2 day title reign, its about his current reign. Christian won the belt at money in the bank via a kick to the nuts... this could have been booked better, but thats not what im here to whine about. Since money in the bank, Christian has curtain jerked EVERY Smackdown!. And guess what, Randy Orton has main evented EVERY Smackdown!. Surely, if the WWE is willing to give Christian the ball, let him run with it and be the main eventer whilst he has the belt. I get it, a lot of you guys will come in and say "but Orton is the draw". I get that, but that doesn't mean that Christian has to curtain jerk!! They could easily book him in a tag team match with another heel vs orton and another face, or something of a similar fashion.

So with that said:

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?
Do you think its hurting his credibility?

First off Zeke has already been pushed since january with his slamming of Kane and bigshow, everyone needs to take a break from being pushed eventually. Second I don`t think Zeke had much cred to begin with really, his moveset makes me want to cover my eyes, but having said that I think Cody is the one looking weak here. Rhodes is a guy who`s been on the fence between going for IC and WHC material, yet now he is being made to look like he can`t even handle the IC champ without help.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?
Or am i being just being a Christian Mark

Not really. I`m reminded of when Edge was champ some years ago and he opened the show. This is done bc both chars are that of cheating cowards, so it makes sense to have them fight in the lesser card. The diffrence is Edge fought jobbers while C has fought the ``Monster`` as you call him, and has taken out the upper midcard to ME talent Morrison. Orton is in no way being left out of the ME scene and we as viewers can only take so many tag matches week after week to end the show. Besides, I`m sure C isn`t complaining being a 2 time WC after all these years, he can`t wait a little longer to be in ME matches every week.

 

[SteelRevenge]

First off Zeke has already been pushed since january with his slamming of Kane and bigshow, everyone needs to take a break from being pushed eventually. Second I don`t think Zeke had much cred to begin with really, his moveset makes me want to cover my eyes, but having said that I think Cody is the one looking weak here. Rhodes is a guy who`s been on the fence between going for IC and WHC material, yet now he is being made to look like he can`t even handle the IC champ without help.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?
Or am i being just being a Christian Mark[/QUOTE]

Not really. I`m reminded of when Edge was champ some years ago and he opened the show. This is done bc both chars are that of cheating cowards, so it makes sense to have them fight in the lesser card. The diffrence is Edge fought jobbers while C has fought the ``Monster`` as you call him, and has taken out the upper midcard to ME talent Morrison. Orton is in no way being left out of the ME scene and we as viewers can only take so many tag matches week after week to end the show. Besides, I`m sure C isn`t complaining being a 2 time WC after all these years, he can`t wait a little longer to be in ME matches every week.

 

[Avitus25]

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?
I had noticed this, and I've noticed it with a few past champions. So Kofi Kingston before he lost the title to Wade Barrett was losing almost every match it was in. It's a silly idea. It doesn't get anyone over. If Jackson and Rhodes had a good, even feud, then whoever won in the end would get a real boost and the other people wouldnt' be hurt too much, but this kind of feud serves no purpose, it doesn't get either guy particularly over. The fact that there's little promo time for the people involved is just as damaging for the feud as well, they really need to press the reset button on this feud I think.

Do you think its hurting his credibility?
I do. I mean if he ends up going over and keeping the title then that'll go someway to regaining some of his credibility, but it wont' serve as much purpose as an even feud would. While I think it is hurting Zeke's credibility, I think that the real sufferer is the Intercontinental Title. It makes the title look weak as the champion keeps losing, and it makes people care less about the title. When Mysterio/Jericho and Mysterio/Ziggler (2 huge feuds over the IC title) were going on, the title meant something, there was storyline, there were promos, they were great matches, and it made the title look more valuable than it has in years. Now there's no great matches, there's no good promos or storyline and there's no meaning to the title. I know that Mysterio and Jericho and Ziggler are all arguably better than those currently involved, but for me, Rhodes and DiBiase are on a similar level to Ziggler, and there's no excuse for the title to be used so badly. I really hope WWE puts some effort into this title at some point.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
I had noticed this, but you have to think that quite often the opening match is almost as high profile as the Main Event. So for example, the WWE Championship tournament match opened last weeks RAW. That was a huge match. Several times Orton has been in the opening matches over the past few months, and I think it's not particularly a huge deal. They're basically opening and closing the show with their biggest stars, and that's a good thing for business, not a bad thing for Christian.

Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?
I can see what you mean, I would quite like to see Christian in some Main Events, but he's consistently been in the top two matches on PPV's this past few months, he's currently the World Champion, and he's on one of the biggest rolls of his career. I wouldn't worry about it being bad for him, he's really over at the minute anyway, and I think he'll beat Orton cleanly at Summerslam, and be even more over after that.

 

[hollowpoint]

Have you noticed that Ezekiel Jackson is almost jobbing to Rhodes/DiBiase?
yeah I have noticed this and it's kinda unsettling. No way a dude who is supposed to Dominated gets dominated week in and week out by two light weights

Do you think its hurting his credibility?I think it's hurting both HIS credibility AND the credibility of the IC title. As a secondary champion, they should book him alot stronger than what they are. There is plenty of talent in the back if they want to build Cody Rhodes. Challenge Zeke with promos and the occasional run in. Zeke shouldn't be left on the mat every week.

Had you noticed Christian being the opener, whilst Orton Main Events?
It's all about being the draw. As much as people don't want to hear that, Orton is the draw. He fills in the seats and right now, he's the most exciting thing going on SD!


Does it piss you off that Christian is the champion, but not Main Eventing?

Kinda, but im not really a Christian fan. I more dislike it because the champion, whoever it maybe should always close the show. If you don't want Christian to close the show, then he shouldn't be the Champion, plain and simple.

 

[H33LTurn]

As far as Christian goes, I'm not pissed that hes not on the main event. People usually pay attention to the beginning and the end of a show. I would consider it disrespect if he was in some midcard match. This past week on SD he had a match against John Morrison, its not like they gave him a bad opponent either. He still showed up at the end of SD and Christian is not a guy who has to have the last match of the night to get the fans behind/against him.

 

[Nate DaMac]

As it pertains to Zeke, how the hell can anyone realistically feud with him if he dominates them the whole way? He hasn't lost clean to anyone buy Christian who is and was at the time the World Heavyweight Champion. He beat Dibiase straight up, but Cody has the upper hand right now because he's the one who is actually feuding with Zeke. If Zeke just stomped him right out of the gate, what would be the point of feuding? This way whenever the title match occurs, Rhodes looks like he has a legit shot to win. Nothing wrong with the booking there.

As for the Christian thing, it's just silly. He opened the shows with matches because he pissed off Teddy and Triple H respectively. So they put him in matches with opponents without giving him any time to prepare as punishment. Guess what? He still won them. They're still booking him strong, so what's the big fucking deal? I swear, you people will cry about anything.

 

[CelticCorey]

I do wish the champion would close the show; but look, Christian's second title reign is so far, so good. Both times he put on the best match on Smackdown (Big surprise, when was the last time he didn't put on a good match?) and he got a clean pinfall over the bulked up IC champion while doing so in believable fashion. He also cleanly beat a guy who has spent the last year in the upper mid-card/main event and has mainevented PPV's and challenged for the WWE title.

While I wish he was higher on the card because he's the champ, I cannot deny that what he has done since getting the belt back is music to my ears.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've been pretty dissatisfied overall with how the last 2 Intercontinental Champions have been booked. Kofi's 3rd run was nothing, as was Barrett's first. Both of them lost more than they won. If I'm not mistaken, I think Barrett lost every match he had while he was IC champ. As far as Ezekiel Jackson goes, last night was the second time that Cody Rhodes has scored a pinfall victory over him. The first time was pretty close to clean as DiBiase jumped up on the apron. Zeke rammed him into a ringpost for his trouble, but he provided just enough distraction for Rhodes to rally himself. The second one, last night, was a handicap match after all and he was pinned as it pertains to the rules of the match. However, Cody Rhodes is really the one feuding with him rather than Ted DiBiase. Cody looks like a legit threat to the champ. I do think Zeke needs to win some more matches to balance things out pretty soon though.

As far as Christian goes, I've got no problem with him opening the show on occassion. After all, it's not like his matches with Ezekiel Jackson & John Morrison were for the title. Besides that, if anything, all these matches have done is bolster Christian's credibility. He owns a clean and decisive pinfall victory over the reigning Intercontinental Champion and, last night, does the same against a guy who has given some of the most memorable performances this year and has been a legit contender for the WWE Championship throughout 2011 until he was put on the injured list. These matches have made Christian look good and his opponents have looked pretty good as well. Doesn't matter to me if it happens at the beginning, in the middle or at the end as long as the end result keeps me interested in seeing the guy as World Heavyweight Champion.