The Definitive Champions

[Nikkolas]

So this is something I've always liked to ponder. Every belt has passed through many hands and some held it for longer times than others or had more memorable reigns than others.

But if you had to pick a single person as "THE" champion for a belt, who would you pick?

For example, I've long been interested in the U.S. Championship. DDP was my favorite WCW guy back in the day and he was mostly known for having it. Of course I won't say he's the definitive US Champ as I've since learned there were so many greats who wore it. I've read people here and there who say Luger was the best US Champ but I dunno.

That's the point of this topic for me - to learn which title reigns older and wiser wrestling fans than myself think of as the best or more memorable.

You can do one belt or five or however many you want.

 

[TheICChampion]

Intercontinental Championship for some reason has always been my favourite. Back in the day, for me HBK was THE IC champion, but nowadays for me I'd like to see Christian or Jericho.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Intercontinental Title - Macho Man Randy Savage. Savage's reign was always the best. Honky Tonk Man held it the longest, but to me Savage was the better performer, and had the classic IC match of all time with Steamboat.

U.S. Title - Lex Luger. I don't know who had the record for longest reigns, but Luger would be up there on the list. From 1987 to 1990, he was almost synonymous with that title.

World Tag Team Champions - The Road Warriors (I'm really showing my age with these choices.) Hawk and Animal - Didn't matter if it was AWA, NWA, or WWF -- they won the straps. They maybe didn't hold them the longest, but that was largely because they were so massively over, they didn't really NEED the belts. This was the team of the 80s. The only ones that I'd put on par with them would be the Steiners.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

IC Champion - 9 Reigns says it all really, Chris Jericho is the definitive IC champ from where I sit with Curt Hennig 2nd and Razor Ramon 3rd.

US Champion - To me the definitive US champ would be Rick Rude by a country mile, however long Lex held it, Rude was the guy who feuded with Sting for over a year for it and made it as important as the World title.

Tag Team Titles - Most are gonna say Road Warriors, it's hard to argue... personally I have to split the honor between the Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs. Good as the Warriors were, those two teams WERE the best 2 teams of their era and their feud for the belt was a big part in "saving" Tag Wrestling in the 80's. Bulldogs would have had longer and better runs had Dynamite not gotten hurt.

 

[Reflection]

John Cena and the WWE Championship Carrying the company for the last 9 years, winning the title 10+ times in the process.. Gotta say, the title suits him. When you look at Cena you get that vision of a megastar or a celebrity (if I'm explaining it right)- the massive presence. He looks great with the title and the title gains from being around his waist.

Bobby Roode and James Storm for the TNA Tag Team Championship. We've had great tag teams in TNA like LAX, Team 3D, Motor City Machine Guns, Generation Me, Hardy Boyz, and James Gang, but when I think about these two belts and who suit them best, the images of Storm and Roode pop up in my mind. Whether together as a team in Beer Money, or with other teams (Team Canada and AMW), the history of the title wouldn't be so awesome without these two.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Since WCW adopted the titles from Mid-Atlantic, who's titles eventually had become the main NWA titles (even though for example, several territories had their own NWA US Champion)... I'm going with WCW/NWA champions.

WCW/NWA Champion - Ric Flair (no question about this one)
WCW/NWA US Champion - Magnum TA (I can't think of another US champ who's matches were as high profile as Magnum's, as frequently as his were)
WCW/NWA TV Champion - Booker T (I was going to say Tully Blanchard, but Booker's run as champ in the 90's was better)
WCW/NWA Tag Team Champions - The Steiner Brothers (could go Road Warriors, but honestly, they were rarely the actual champs... because they were so over they didn't need the titles. RNR Express or Midnight Express could easy fit in here too, but I like the Steiners run the best)

WWF Champion - Hulk Hogan
WWF IC Champ - Mr. Perfect (to me he embodied the IC belt when it was arguably the second biggest prize in North America)
WWF Tag Team Champions - Edge and Christian (could go with the Harts or Bulldogs, but E&C had such a great run and did so much to revitalize tag team wrestling in the Attitude Era)

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

WCW/NWA TV Champion - I love Booker T and Chris Benoit, but man....this is all Arn Anderson's in my book. I remember back in 89-90 the guy was on WCW Main Event every single week defending the title against a slew of dudes: Pillman, Eaton, Taylor, The Steiners, Rock N' Roll Express, Zenk. And I can't ever say that I saw a match that was just plain bad. Anderson was so fucking good in that ring...he'd play the bad ass heel when needed, but then sell his ass off and make his opponent look absolutely golden. That is not an easy trick to pull.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion - Ric Flair - Looking back over the course of the past 30 years, Ric Flair is probably viewed as THE definitive World Champion in the minds of most fans. While Lou Thesz ultimately held the title longer than anyone else, nobody else before Flair or after Flair had as dominant a run and he's one of the handfuls of World Champions against which every other champ is measured.

WWF/WWE Champion - Hulk Hogan - Hogan is one of those other champs that people compare it all others to. Hogan's 1st run as WWF Champion lasted just over 4 years and even when he wasn't champion for the next 5 years, he was still the biggest star in WWF and in wrestling period.

NWA World Television Champion - Tully Blanchard - Whenever I think of Tully Blanchard, I think of this title or vice versa. Even tough the TV title was essentially the secondary mid-card title, it truly felt like a major title when Blanchard was in the picture. His 1st run lasted almost a year and was the longest in the title's history. Arn Anderson had several strong runs with it as well, but Blanchard was really the one I always remembered.

WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion - Mr. Perfect - If you ask most people, Curt Hennig is probably in the top 2 or 3 candidates for the greatest IC champ in history. Hennig is one of a handful of guys that all other IC title runs are measured against and others include Savage, Hart, Warrior and Razor Ramon. These champs are so memorable that, via nostalgia, some people use them as an example of what the IC title has always been, even though that's not exactly the case. Regardless, Hennig is generally thought of as one of the best in WWE to have never been WWE Champion, but I'd say he's the best IC champ in the title's history.

 

[OudaBoss008]

You know this is a great question and there is a fan boy side that isn't going to allow me to probably answer this question as it was purposed but, maybe so. I think any title that Shawn Michaels held was important and he was the face of that title. Shawn wasn't the biggest WWE Champ by any means and certainly not the smallest one either but, his heart and charisma made me love Shawn but, him holding the IC belt is what I think of most it was a classic title, I always dreamed of being the IC champ when I was little, mean everyone wanted to be the World Champ but, the IC belt was it for me. World Champ I go with Stone Cold in my books, the European Title, Christian maybe D-Lo Brown but it's close, Hardcore Al Snow, and Tag Team Edge and Christian by far. WCW is a whole other story, Flair is obvious but I still like Sting as the champ better, the U.S. Title def. DDP and TV title Booker T and Benoit where both great champs, Cruiserweight champ Jericho was my favorite and Tag Team Stiener Bros. But all in all great champs have wore all those belts and each to their own right???

 

[Wolf Pac]

WWF Tag Team Championship - Edge & Christian: I agree with MrMojoRisin, they had a great run and did so much to revitalize tag team wrestling in the Attitude Era. Edge is the WWF's most successful individual tag team wrestler with 12 reigns, and both E&C went on to have great singles careers. Christian may not be on Edge's level as a star but he's most definitely bigger than Marty Jannetty, Jim Neidhart, Rick Steiner etc. and has had World Title reigns.

WWF European Championship - The British Bulldog: The first champion, and I don't know this for sure but I've always thought the belt was created for The Bulldog. I'm probably wrong though.

WWF Hardcore Championship - Crash Holly/Steve Blackman: The title was always a joke but I think that joke was at it's most fun when the 24/7 rule was introduced and everybody would chase Crash & Blackman around for the belt, only for them to escape with it in the end.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship - Taka Michinoku: After his first 3 months as champion, the belt was irrelevant and worthless. It became relevant again during Malenko's feud with Scotty 2 Hotty but after that feud was over, people stopped caring again and Malenko was stuck in the background for most of his time as champion.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship - Rey Mysterio Jr.: The man that made Lucha Libre so popular in the US and who's had the most reigns with the belt. Hell, his first win with the WWE's version of the belt was treated as a big deal on Smackdown.

ECW Tag Team Championship - The Dudley Boyz: They held the belts 8 times and would go on to hold the WWF, WCW, TNA & IWGP Tag Team Titles, becoming maybe the second greatest tag team of all time behind the LOD or in the top 5 along with them.

ECW Television Championship - Rob Van Dam: The greatest and most popular ECW wrestler to never have held the ECW World Title (in the original promotion) but at least he had the ECW TV Title, which he held for 700 days.

TNA X-Division Championship - AJ Styles: The X-Division is what put TNA on the map originally and when you think of the X-Division, the first guy that pops in your head, is the most popular guy in the history of the division and TNA, AJ Styles.

 

[FlairFan2003]

TV Title: Tullly Blanchard - Arn Anderson was very good, but Blanchard really made this almost like the #2 Title in the company, comparable to or even bigger than the US Title. His whole storyline where he would offer 10 grand to anyone who could beat him was classic, turning of course into the 100 grand vs TV Title Match with Dusty Rhodes. Blanchard not only wrestled big name guys like Rhodes & Nikita Kolloff for this title but he also elevated young talent, particularly with a long feud and several entertaining matches with Brad Armstrong, who no fault to Blanchard didn't capitalize on the huge boast.

US Title: Magnum TA - His battles with Wahoo McDaniel were good, his feud with Blanchard was iconic and culminated in arguably the greatest Starrcade Match and best ever "I Quit" Match in history, plus the best of 7 series with Kolloff when he was trying to save the title from becoming the "USSR" Championship, best run this belt ever had.

 

[FlairFan2003]

IC TIITLE: A two horse between Savage & Brett Hart. Both guys made huge career strides with the title and had major feuds near the top of the card, plus turned the success into making them World Title Contenders (and eventually champions). Savage had an awesome reign in 1986, highlighted by using the title to make him #1 Contender to Hulk Hogan and giving is the first (and maybe best) go around these two legendary rivals ever had. Hart had a great storyline to win the title vs Curt Henning, then wrestled seemingly everyone on the planet as champ, there was a brief period of interruption when he was upset by The Mountie (who he squashed in subsequent re matches) leading to one of the greatest matches in his career at WrestleMania VIII vs Roddy Piper. It's hard to think of two guys who were centerpieces of the company in the company as long as these two as champ and who elevated the titles' importance as well as their own careers as well as these two. HBK is a distant third.