Too Many Main Event Stars Not Enough Titles

[Navi]

I got this idea from a couple of things on two different threads I was reading earlier. Someone mentioned that there is one hell of a bottleneck at the top of the roster, and it's a problem for wrestler's to get through it.

At the same time there is only one title left now the WWE Title, for them to feud over. And since fans don't like to see the title changing hands all the time, which it shouldn't, even if these wrestlers do break through, what would they be breaking through for.

When we had the two titles it opened up much more possibilities for wrestlers to get a hold of the brass ring, so to speak. Now we're stuck with these guys, going on in what seems to be neverending feuds, losing momentum, and not really getting anywhere. Reigns is a perfect example of that. He's been poking around the main event scene for months now, and got nowhere. Why, because there is always someone more important in the pecking order.

And just think about it. In the next few months Reigns should be back, so will Danial Bryan. You have Ambrose up there, he's this year's Daniel Bryan. John Cena, and if the rumours are true, a new face in Cesaro. Oh and don't forget Sting.

The heels are represented by Brock Lesnar, a part timer are best. Randy Orton, stale as Cena is right now. Kane who should have hung up the boots already. Bray Wyatt, is he still around, Rollins and the King of Kings HHH.

That makes a total of 12 wrestlers and only one can hold the belt at a time, and hopefully longer than a couple of weeks. When you have this many people, you can't have someone holding it for months on end. If you do what the hell does everyone else do, well other than wrestle of course.

So my question is this. Did they make a mistake unifying the two titles? Or should they have made the World Championship Title a stepping stone to the WWE Title? Although I would have changed the name of it, cause it seems rather stupid to have two world champions.

Or should they take the IC or US titles and make them stepping stones to the top belt? In other words the person holding the IC title is the number one contender to the WWE Title?

I know I asked more than one question, but maybe it would give the wrestlers in line for these titles and creative, something to work for and work with.

Or is the idea just a stupid one altogether?

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I don't think the problem is a lack of belts, it's a lack of creativity on WWE's part.

There was a roster of comparable size throughout much of the '80s and '90s with the same number of belts, and it seemed to work okay.

I think the problem is that WWE first needs to make the IC title feel WAY more important, so that it feels like the stepping stone to WHC. More importantly though, they need to have every character feel important and have a story line. This was one of the few concepts I think the Attitude Era really excelled at (whether they were always good or not is another discussion) but obviously you can't always be holding or chasing a belt, but that doesn't mean you can't still be involved in meaningful feuds. Unfortunately nowadays if you've reached main event status and aren't holding/chasing the belt, you pretty much fall in to no mans land until you're ready to be elevated again, kind of like where guys like Kane, Orton, Big Show, etc. find themselves at the moment. If I was booking, those guys would all be vying for the IC belt, until they were ready for the WHC again. The belts need to feel valuable, there should never be a belt that is beneath a performer, it should be viewed as an honor to hold any of the belts at any time in your career.

I definitely don't think there needs to be more belts though, the writing just needs to improve a lot.

 

[TheICChampion]

Well, to be honest, for me it's not about who holds the title (except for Cena and Orton, those two have pretty much just traded the belt back and forth for years, and even if they aren't holding the title, it's all but guaranteed at least one of them is in the main event of the show) but who can finally break through and be in the main event. For years I've wanted fresh faces in a main-event match, and not with Cena or Orton as their opponent. Hopefully we get this at Hell in a Cell with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, but it doesn't seem likely. Think about it, though. I have some ideas for fresh main event matches (even if they don't ever hold the WWE title) such as

Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston

Cesaro vs. Roman Reigns

Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins

Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett


And the list goes on. I agree that there may be too many main-event stars right now, but hopefully they eventually make way for this new generation and some new blood in that spot

 

[L@RISANO]

I got this idea from a couple of things on two different threads I was reading earlier. Someone mentioned that there is one hell of a bottleneck at the top of the roster, and it's a problem for wrestler's to get through it.

At the same time there is only one title left now the WWE Title, for them to feud over. And since fans don't like to see the title changing hands all the time, which it shouldn't, even if these wrestlers do break through, what would they be breaking through for.

When we had the two titles it opened up much more possibilities for wrestlers to get a hold of the brass ring, so to speak. Now we're stuck with these guys, going on in what seems to be neverending feuds, losing momentum, and not really getting anywhere. Reigns is a perfect example of that. He's been poking around the main event scene for months now, and got nowhere. Why, because there is always someone more important in the pecking order.

And just think about it. In the next few months Reigns should be back, so will Danial Bryan. You have Ambrose up there, he's this year's Daniel Bryan. John Cena, and if the rumours are true, a new face in Cesaro. Oh and don't forget Sting.

The heels are represented by Brock Lesnar, a part timer are best. Randy Orton, stale as Cena is right now. Kane who should have hung up the boots already. Bray Wyatt, is he still around, Rollins and the King of Kings HHH.

That makes a total of 12 wrestlers and only one can hold the belt at a time, and hopefully longer than a couple of weeks. When you have this many people, you can't have someone holding it for months on end. If you do what the hell does everyone else do, well other than wrestle of course.

So my question is this. Did they make a mistake unifying the two titles? Or should they have made the World Championship Title a stepping stone to the WWE Title? Although I would have changed the name of it, cause it seems rather stupid to have two world champions.

Or should they take the IC or US titles and make them stepping stones to the top belt? In other words the person holding the IC title is the number one contender to the WWE Title?

I know I asked more than one question, but maybe it would give the wrestlers in line for these titles and creative, something to work for and work with.

Or is the idea just a stupid one altogether?

Atm, the Main Event is very light on true Top Guys.
However, as you have mentioned, hopefully, by Mania 31, the Shield trio will be truly established from a year long push and will be looking forward to post-Mania 31 as the new flag bearers of the Main Event scene alongwith the current established guys.


My main gripe is with the list of Top Heels in the Main Event scene.
It is very possible, there might be no Kane or Brock Lesnar post-Mania 31, whilst HHH might also be a peripheral figure given the Authority has run its course for now.

Bray Wyatt has lost a ton of momentum since the Cena feud and Creative have made no effort to explore his character and make sure he can take over as the Top Heel when the likes of Brock, Kane and HHH leave. Also, Randy Orton is stale as has been mentioned.

Seth Rollins then, is the only Heel with any momentum whatsoever, and I can see more calls for That Cena Heel turn as time goes on, and it might be needed given the lack of credible Top Heels or even credible Top Future Heels besides Rollins, whilst the babyface ranks could contain Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Cesaro alongwith John Cena.


All that said;
Charismatic Enigma hit the nail on the head, in terms of the problem even now being, that WWE is too lazy to write well-thought out storylines outside of the WWE title story(and anything involving Cena).

Most of the stuff seems rushed. It is a wonder that they have handled the Ambrose-Rollins story so well, whilst Roman Reigns has fluttered in no-man's land and lost some momentum because of poor-writing on the part of Creative(such that this injury will definitely be a much needed blessing in disguise for his long-term Main Event chances).

Bray Wyatt is the prime example of how lack of creativity has hurt some of its stars and their momentum whilst programming has been lacking in quality big-time for that reason also.

 

[mlp420]

WWE had way more stars during the 98-2000 period then they do today with only one main event title and everyone on the roster had direction:

WWE title - Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, Mankind, Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, and toward the end Kurt Angle.

IC title - Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chyna, Rikishi, among others.

Tag Team titles - Edge and Christian, The Hardys, The Dudleys, Faarooq and Bradshaw, New Age Outlaws, etc.

European title - X-Pac, D-lo Brown, William Regal, Val Venis, Mark Henry, etc.

Hardcore title - Everybody else.

That roster had way more star power than the current one and there was only one main title but a lot of that roster still had memorable runs we remember to this day. The lack of WHC is not the problem. I wish people would just stop using that as an excuse for all the people on the roster that are going nowhere.

 

[OYDK]

Remember when Kurt Angle and HHH had that epic feud over Stephanie? Or when Shawn Michaels and HHH had that epic feud over "YOU CAN'T CUT IT ANYMORE"? Or when Undertaker and Kane had their first epic feud over Taker nearly killing little Kane all those years ago? I could go on, but the the point I'm trying to make is none of those feuds included the WWE title, yet all were some of the greatest rivalries of all time.

As others have pointed out, the lack of championships have nothing to do with why these current stars can't break out, it has everything to do with the lazy booking and Creative not properly building either the feud or the superstars correctly. Look at the Ambrose-Rollins feud, pure gold, and all because we have an actual reason to care about this feud and who's involved in it. Why? Because it makes sense! A lot of shit WWE does now makes no sense, which is why fans have a hard time connecting to so many superstars. This is always said but its the truth, lazy and irrational booking is the reason these guys are so complacent.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

There are enough belts and enough wrestler. It's just that creative somehow lost the ability to actually "build up" wrestlers, they keep them a bit in the midcards then BAM they send them in the main event and bury them when they do not get a cena-like reaction (and sometimes even when they get it). On one hand they want another Cena right now without the patience to build him up (Cena fought for the us title for years, let's remember this), on the other they don't want to have Cena in the shadow of anyone. It's a bizarre situation, and yeah, probably is the Vince v HHH conflict.

On a bright side, it seems that they are actually pacing themselves, and handling quite good both Ambrose and Rollins (although I think Rollins is a year too early to get the MITB, their feud could have been over the IC belt and it would have been glorious) which makes me happy.

 

[MC_Live]

The last few months of the World Heavyweight Championship were terrible. The only memorable moment that title had in the last few years was Dolph cashing in. Other than that, it was treated as a second tier title. You can;t have a second tier World Title. That defeats the purpose of it. They don't need more championships. They need to make what they have now more meaningful. They need good story lines. They need to not turn out a crappy product. If they took the time to care about everyone and everything they put on TV, it wouldn't matter how many championships they have. The championships will only be one part of a great show overall. They can have just one world title, and make the IC and US Titles that much more important. If a talent climbed the ladder, such as win the tag titles, then the IC/US titles, and finally the WWE Championship, it would make everything seem more important. People could buy into the characters, and when the championships lead to success, people will take notice of the champions. They don't need more quantity, just better quality.

 

[Kayfabe]

It's more like "too many main event stars, not enough feuds".

You don't need a title to carry a feud. In fact, it says a helluva lot more when wrestlers can pull off a great feud without needing a title as a source of contention. You just require a wee bit of logic as to why a feud is taking place. Ambrose v. Rollins is a perfect example as of current. They aren't feuding over a title. It's a simple story of revenge, as Ambrose seeks retribution against Rollins over betraying the Shield. And it's still a fairly hot feud that the WWE has managed to keep rolling for a few months now. And, most importantly, it's LOGICAL.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

There was a roster of comparable size throughout much of the '80s and '90s with the same number of belts, and it seemed to work okay.

The 80's and 90's had WCW. If a guy felt like he wasn't making it in one company, he would jump ship to be in the main events. Guys can't do that anymore so they're just stuck playing second-fiddle to whoever is the flavor of the year. When WCW was bought out, WWE made another brand to account for this problem, but for some reason, they've now decided to give up on that.

 

[MERPER]

I think they are severely lacking "main event/A-List" talent right now....

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Rusev is ready for the US title but I think they may hol,d off on that until Wrestlemania. When he gets that belt it's gonna be a big deal. That's the guy you build that championship around.

And Rollins, I can't wait for him to get the big belt, they're building him up beautifully. Everybody has it out for this guy and he doesn't even have the belt yet. Ambrose, Reigns. Cena hates him now, Heyman warned him. Orton and Kane think he's a spoiled brat. He's going to be a great heel champion.

It isn't as easy to feature a face champion as the focal point of his division. Ziggler has the IC belt but he doesn't do anything for me, maybe because he doesn't have any credible threats. Cesaro bouncing back between the US title and IC title doesn't help anybody.