Using The Titles To Push Fresh Talent

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

One of my biggest complaints is that none of the WWE titles seem to matter anymore. They toss them around to random people and you end up with 12 Cena and Orton reigns in any given year, with a handful of transitional champions thrown in for good measure. But let's take a quick snap-shot of the title picture in the WWE right now. Let's freeze time and just take in this moment for a second...

World Champion: Randy Orton- Many are unhappy that Christian has yet again lost his World title so soon after winning it, but let's face facts. Randy is the face of Smackdown and his character has shown significant growth since taking over the blue brand and stepping out from under John Cena. He has elevated Christian to a main event talent, and seems to be headed towards a short run with Mark Henry. Orton may not be a fresh face, but with him as champion the whole of Smackdown is getting noticed.

WWE Champion: Alberto del Rio- I'm not as annoyed as many hardcore Punk fans that he lost the Undisputed title at SummerSlam. I think that Punk needs to stand on his own and prove his worth without the title in the picture, and del Rio has been patiently waiting in line for this title push all year. The guy has been a huge part of almost every PPV since his debut (representing Smackdown at Bragging Rights, Captain at Survivor Series, winning Royal Rumble, title match at Mania, MITB win, SummerSlam cash-in) and it's about time that he was allowed to show his worth as a champion. He carries himself as a champion, has a great gimmick with a great manager (who looks awesome holding the belt during matches), and has been consistent in the ring since his debut. A fresh champion on Raw. *exhale slowly...*

Tag Champions: Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne- Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of this idea, but Otunga and McChicken were NOT working out as champions. I wanted them to work, but were either never given enough time to build chemistry, or just don't have any charisma between the two of them. Drawing heel heat is the easiest thing in the business, and if they couldn't do that as champions, it's time to try something else. I hate throwing together random teams for the sake of change, but at the very least I'm happy for Bourne and his first title win. I think we can at least get a few fun matches out of this pairing, and who knows? Maybe they'll turn out to be a surprisingly great tag team!

Divas Champion: Kelly Kelly- I know it's really easy to hate her, but at least she's not a Belle. I'd like to think she's shown a little improvement, and at the very least she's the most beautiful woman on television right now. Soon she's going to have to GO, but I don't think having the title on a face that ISN'T Eve is necessarily a bad thing. She is the ideal model for what Beth and Nattie are attacking right now, so it actually works out perfectly.

Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes- So many people are high on this guy, and have been for the better part of 2011. And why not, he's an excellent talent with a lot of potential. Personally his slow and steady gimmick is wearing on me, but with the new title and a bit more intensity he could soon be on his way to greatness. He's at least got more charisma and in-ring ability than Ezekiel Jackson. I so wanted to like him, but he just left me no option...

United States Champion: Dolph Ziggler- Probably my favorite champion in the WWE right now, Dolph Ziggler. While many use the US title as toilet paper, and disregard it with their constant questing to the top, Ziggler has embraced his role as champion. Instead of talking about becoming WWE CHampion, he wears his suits and displays his belt proudly. He cuts promos about being the best, and points to the title like he deserves it. He's the first guy in a long time to actually make a midcard title seem like something important, and I'll be genuinely upset if they hand it off to Alex Riley or Jack Swagger.

So who is your favorite WWE Champion? What do you think about the current title picture?

 

[killer425]

I actually love all the Champs they have right now the WWE actually has it right again

WWE- Del Rio- Great Heel with potential to be huge in a feud with Cena

Heavy Weight Title- Orton- face of the company he's the big draw on Smackdown and they need him to hold that belt and draw the fans


US- Ziggler simply the most entertaining and talented mid carder way more interesting then Swagger or Koffi and at this point in time Alex Riley

IC- Cody- in my mind he makes that show and has for quite some time MY VOTE

TAG- Koffi and Evan there entertaining in the ring and the crowd loves them that's way more then you can say about Mike and Octunga

Divas- Kelly Kelly - lets face it not bad to look at and always a good time with Kelly Kelly on the show probably after Cody my next favorite champ at the moment why a Kelly Kelly title run took this long too happen is beyond me

 

[4LC]

More titles should be brought back, I say European, Hardcore, or make some kind of WWE TV title... The more titles you have the more accolades and stepping stones you can use to put superstars over. Look at guys like Benoit, Edge, Christian, Chris Jericho, Kurt angle, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and many other names i have left out. What makes their world title victories so meaningful is before their they became solid main eventers they had all won many other titles. They filled a nice resume of (example) before winning world title become like: 2 time IC champ, 3 time US champ, 3 time Tag champ, 2 time European champ, Hardcore champ, multiple time TV champ. just spitting random numbers and facts but i think it just means so much more if you win a bunch of different types of titles in different match types as opposed to just coming onto wwe tv and just winning the wwe or WHC title as your first title

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I can understand some of the furstration felt when it comes to the champioinship picture. There are always going to be times, however, in which a company does something with a title that some aren't going to like or agree with. It's inevitable. I'm personally not a fan of very brief title runs, just a pet peeve of mine. However, as long as they're able to continuously create interesting scenarios going on in those title pictures, then they're doing their most important job.

The days of reigns lasting years are over. However, even if it was still common to see a wrestler carry a championship for a year or more, there'd be just as many complaints about wanting to see someone new with the title among the IWC as there are currently regarding title changes happening too often. Look at John Cena, for instance. He's had several very long runs with the WWE Championship, one that lasted more than a year in fact, and all you constantly heard was pissing and moaning about putting the title onto someone else. It'd be the same thing if they gave CM Punk a year long run with the WWE Championship or Christian a year run with the WHC.

As far as the WHC picture goes, I would have preferred to see Christian have a long run with the title. Orton doesn't need the title to be a huge mega star after all. But, their feud over the course of this summer has been extremely entertaining. It's produced some of the best matches of the year, with both men doing some of the best work of their careers, and it's finally elevated Christian to the main event picture where he's belonged for years. Prior to this, Edge had a good last run as WHC with some great matches against Kane and Dolph Ziggler. While the whole thing with Dolph Ziggler's WHC "reign" did irritate the shit out of me, it's really the only significant blemish I see with the WHC over the course of the past 12-14 months or so.

When it comes to the WWE Championship, again, it's been consistently producing interesting television since The Miz cashed in his MITB briefcase last November. While Miz may not have been the badass, shitkicking heel champion that some internet fans believe all heels should be, he generated tons of interest and debate about the WWE Championship. The Miz had more people interested in the title than I'd seen since Sheamus won it the first time. As far as CM Punk & John Cena, it's a similar situation as with Orton & Christian. Cena & Punk have produced, quite possibly, the two best wrestling matches of any company in 2011 thus far, people have been watching to see what happens next and CM Punk has finally reached that next level. I might be wrong but Punk's program with Kevin Nash looks like it's part of a bigger angle with Punk generally taking on the WWE establishment. Look what such an angle did for Stone Cold Steve Austin 13 years ago and people are already buzzing about it. There's talk of Austin possibly facing Punk at WM, there's talk of him maybe going up against Triple H. The WWE is cementing CM Punk as a huge star right now and while it would have been nice to see him have a long run as WWE Champion, I can't argue with the overall result. There's been some chaos revolving around the WWE Championship and, quite frankly, it's been entertaining as hell. It's been chaos with a purpose rather than unexpected things happening just for the same of them being unexpected. As far as Alberto Del Rio goes, the man's got the goods. From the minute I first saw him come out on SmackDown!, I knew he'd be a World Champion within a year. He's got the goods in the ring and on the mic, he's got the charisma and the personality. Also, he's already been built as a very strong heel champion. Over the course of the past week, he's wrestled 3 highly entertaining and competitive matches against Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan & John Morrison and has won all of them cleanly. When you look at the results, for me, it's just hard to really complain too much. Then again, I know I'm not going to get EVERYTHING that I'd personally love to see happen go down.

As far as the tag team title scene goes, the WWE has been making some small steps in the right direction for the past few months. The Usos are coming across now as a young, dynamic and energetic tag team that stands out. Otunga & McGuillicutty were, when you look at the grand scheme of things, doing an ok job. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne winning the titles last night feels like a good thing, at least right now. Both of them are over with the fans and fans can seriously rally behind them. The Kings of Wrestling are expected to be coming as a tag team, there's talk that the WWE has possibly contacted some well known tag teams out there. There's a lot of work to do, no doubt about that. But, it at least appears that they're moving in the right direction.

As far as the WWE Divas Championship goes, Kelly Kelly is the best choice, or has been, for a long while. She's easily the most over female on the roster and she always gets a reaction from the crowds during her matches. The storyline with Beth Phoenix & Natalya is an interesting one and it's one of the few times we've actually seen an honest to goodness storyline in the Divas picture.

As far as the United States Championship goes, they've taken a different route with Dolph Ziggler here. While I do hope they have him defend the title a little more, they've devoted a good amount of his time as champion to developing him as a character and as a presence on the mic. That's something that the WWE really hasn't done with their mid-card champions in quite a while. Ziggler's had a couple of promo segments inside the ring that's given him some mic time, he's done a good job on commentary a couple of times. I'm not really sure exactly what this thing with Vickie is leading to. Maybe a face turn for Ziggler to feud with Swagger or vice versa. As far as the United States Championship itself goes, it's had a pretty decent treatment for a while. Miz won the title back in October 2009 and spent the rest of that year and the majority of 2010 with the title. Even though the WWE did lose focus on Daniel Bryan and allowed him to get lost in the schuffle during WrestleMania time, he did have a respectable run that lasted almost 6 months. The title did go through an awkward month or so with Kofi & Sheamus but Ziggler has done alright with it.

As far as the Intercontinental Championship goes, 2011 has not been a good year. Kofi's 3rd reign just flat out sucked, Wade Barrett's 1st run and his first title run in WWE period was mediocre and Ezekiel Jackson just wasn't ready for it. All three of these guys lost most of the matches they had while they were champs. In 2010, the title was in really good shape. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler each held the title almost 6 months. Ziggler's run was quite good in fact, probably the best I've seen with the title in a very long time. I have faith that Cody Rhodes can get things back on track. He's beaten Big Zeke decisively and is ready to move on.

 

[Captain Mike]

I love Ziggler as US Champion and the way he has carried himself with the title has been awesome to watch. It is great to see someone as the upper mid card champion of a show actually care about his place and the title he holds instead of chasing the top guy still. This is a send back to the old days where it was a rare thing for the Upper Mid Card Champion and the Main Event Champion to clash or face off. Ziggler will make a great champion at this point in time but I still feel he was robbed early in the year. I really would have loved to have seen WWE roll with him being WHC a lot longer and in a better fashion... but Del Rio won the Rumble so it wasn't meant to be!

 

[snowblind56]

I think most of the champs right now are pretty lame.

WWE- Del Rio- I can't stand the guy(I guess that's what they are going for) He looks like a waiter from a Mexican restaurant. He does not fit the submission machine who injures people gimmick that they seem to be going for.

Heavy Weight Title- Orton- face of the company. I guess I agree. The match with Mark Henry should be interesting, especially if Mark Henry wins and goes on a run with the belt.


US- Ziggler - I really have no opinion on Dolph except that WWE needs to fire Vicki. She generates heat, but the though of her as "cougar" repulses me. Jack Swagger can wrestle, but looks/acts like a tool.

IC- Cody- Why is he even a wrestler? He doesn't even look like one, let alone a champ. He looks like the kids that we beat up in junior high school. Ezekial Jackson looked the part, but he was set up to fail, having him lose like every match after he won the belt.

TAG- Koffi and Evan - A step in the right direction.

Divas- Kelly Kelly - They might as well cancel the division. It sucks. The butterfly belt is ******ed and shows the division as what it is, Lame.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I'm not exactly sure what the title has to do with the thread but my favorite champion right now is Randy Orton. Although I believe Christian should be getting a nice long run (with Sheamus, Orton, and eventually Daniel Bryan chasing) Orton is also a solid choice because he's unquestionably the biggest star that SD has to offer. He literally is better than everyone else so why not make him champ? I wish he'd shave his beard and either become ruthless or merciful instead of straddling the fence all the time but he's still talented regardless and putting him in the main event is exactly where he needs to be. He's the only person that could have 6 straight ppv main events with Christian yet not be boring

 

[The Future Rises]

I would say Dolph Ziggler is my favorite but all the others are great too.. Yes even Kelly Kelly. I know a lot of people just love to hate her because "she can't wrestle". But I think she's the most over WWE Diva right now and you can't judge a wrestler's in ring skills with 3 minute matches.

Now Dolph Ziggler is hands down the most talented champion in the WWE right now. He's phenomenal in the ring. He's good on the mic. And he's slowly getting himself more over with the fans. Dolph has been my second favorite wrestler ever since his feud with Mysterio back in 2009.

Alberto Del Rio is a classic heel with great in ring ability. He's been very impressive as of late. His in ring style is great. And he defended his title successfully against Rey Mysterio in his home town thus making him look like a fighting champion from day one. Del Rio is gonna go on to big things in the future.

Kofi and Bourne are a great tag team. And it was a good call putting them both as a team and giving them the titles. They're single careers weren't going anywhere and they're a good tag team so I'm happy to not see them job out anymore. I'm really starting to like Triple H's recent talent changes. And I hope he keeps up the good work.

 

[I_Am_Electro_Boy]

Right now my favourite champion is Dolph. He has everything, I say it in a few of my posts but he does. He has charisma, mic skills, he's good in the ring and he's got a good look. The only thing is he doesn't defend the title as much as he should. He would make a great champion if he defended it atleast at every PPV.

 

[Taskmasta]

Ziggler got my vote. the guy is greatness in the making.

For some reason I'm just not feeling Berto, and Orton bores the hell out of me.

I'm a fan of Cody Rhodes but actually preferred his dashing gimmick because his promos were more interesting. Putting the belts on Evan and Kofi was a step in the right direction too.

 

[SteelRevenge]

this is not what I was expecting based on the title of this thread, but I`ll give my opinion of the current champs anyway.

Tag titles: Soooo happy. Sorry but whats his face and that other guy are not superstars and its about time the tag division was revived. Some will say these guys were thrown together bc they are high flyers and while that may be the case I`ve been for this pairing since last year. It gives Bourne a MUCH deserved title reign, takes kingston out of the secondary title pic at long last, and like I said beefs up the tag division with creditable superstars. It also could set up a heel turn for kofi to see if that gets him to break into ME bc if it doesn`t I`d say its time to let that guy go unless he is comfortable with jobbing for the rest of his career.

US Title: dolph really is pefection. He was a great Ic champ, and is a great us champ. never fails to entertain in the ring, looking forward to him being an ME, etc. The only downside about his being the US champ is that they moves him from SD and since then the Ic title has suffered until 2 weeks ago.

IC title: spat, on, dirt covered, etc. 2011 has been a horrible year for the title. Kofi we all expected to be a transitional champ, but who would`ve guessed they shuld`ve let him hold onto it for several months. Sure not a big name, but he`s at least somewhat good in the ring unlike the roid abusers they slapped it on since. I don`t care how big you are, if your entire arsenal consists of clotheslines, a big boot, and a frieman`s carry variation you are not going to put on IC creditable matches. the sad thing is those moves sum up BOTH superstars. In any case I have every confidence in the new IC champ. I wish it had happen back in february or march, but nether the less Cody is great and hopefully will go for the WC after reviving the IC title.

WWE Champ: probobly my least fave at the moment but even this guy I like. He is new but he`s done this for the last ten years and can actually pull of a few good moves in the ring(enzuguri anyone). Plus he`s got a fresh heel persona that isn`t all constapated face if you know what I mean. Mostly, its about the mexican tour and their whole outreach prog, but still, he`s better than most.

WC: I admit I would have prefered to see christan hold on to it longer but I understand the whole good for buisness that gets in the way. Still expect him to make a comeback though given their in Canada and he has a rematch clause.

So all round I am actually impressed with the current champions of the WWE. Something I haven`t been since. . . . hmmm ..... yeah. . .

Given that I hope they all stay champions for a long time, especially Rhodes who just one his first singles title.

 

[JustinGabrielZackRyderFTW]

well then snowblind you might as well go fuck yourself becasue it appears that nothing can make you happy exept what you want and as far as everyone is concerned no one gives a fuck what you want. seriously that pisses me off i bet youve siad or thought that exact same champs are lame sentence forever. can nothing make you happy? if you dont like it GTFO

 

[HorsemenNo4]

I voted Ziggler. He's entertaining to watch and deserves to be at the top of the mid-card in my opinion. Strangely, it looks like he's entertaining a feud with another heel. Guess he'll be loosing the title in the near future and trying to win it back as a face.

I don't watch Smackdown often but I hear great things about Cody Rhodes. I really need to check him out.

 

[Bear3209]

Right now my favourite champion is Dolph. He has everything, I say it in a few of my posts but he does. He has charisma, mic skills, he's good in the ring and he's got a good look. The only thing is he doesn't defend the title as much as he should. He would make a great champion if he defended it atleast at every PPV.

I have liked Dolph since his debut except for the fact, hi Im Dolph Ziggler, REALLY!!! He so needs to kick Vicki to the curb, I honestly cant see him with a manager.

BUT - the tag team division im sorry Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston .. both high flyers but i dont see the connection with them, i could be wrong but taking the titles from Mcgillicuty and Otunga a big mistake.

 

[Headman]

I find Alberto Del Rio to be very boring. And talk about people who are pushed down our throats? Del Rio takes the taco on that one. And Orton? Please understand this WWE, Orton has never and will never be a good baby face. It's heel or nothing with Orton.

My pick was Cody Rhodes. It was a tough call between him and Ziggler, both are great imo for reasons that have been stated by others.