When was the WWE championship the Most prestigious?

[pepentorresHHH]

so to continue the threads about the importance of the titles, first we had the WHC, now we go to the biggest championship in the history of the business....
the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP!

easy question.... in which period of time was this title the most prestigious?

was it the 70s? was it on the Hogan Era? the New Generation Era? the Attitude Era? the ruthless agression era or the PG era?

we´ve seen bruno sanmartino wear it for years.... we saw hogan become the biggest thing in the 80s while holding on to the title, we saw bret and shawn fight for it cause it was their dream to be world champions, weve seen austin monopolize the belt, we saw triple h claim the title meant more than life to him, and now weve seen the champ gather 11 world titles.....

when was this title the most prestigious....

Discuss.....

 

[titan83]

In my opinion, the WWE title has always been the greatest most prestigious prize in the biz.. there's only one time frame in which it probably hasn’t, and that's probably the years 2002 through 2012.

for ten years now, the WWE has had two World titles which straight away will spectral one in comparison to the other depending on who's holding it.

In the beginning when we had Lesnar hold the WWE title, and Triple H hold the WHC, it seemed dead even. Two of the biggest stars in the company, completely on par, both monster heels, absolutely no competition. And then as the years go on, we find that some WHC title runs meant a whole lot more than some of the WWE title runs and so on and vice versa.

When Triple H was holding the WHC throughout 2004/05, interest in the WWE title started to disintegrate slowly. At the end of JBL's WWE title run, it had almost completely decomposed, until Cena freshened it up.

The WWE title was THEE title throughout all those era's you first mentioned, purely because it was a World Championship on it's own with only the Intercontinental Title second to it. It just doesn't mean as much as it once did!

 

[relentless1]

i think the world title meant the most during the pre hoga era, when superstar billy graham, bruno sammartino, bob backlund held the belt because back then it was still treated as a sport, those guys could really go and if need be really hurt u, that brings a air of legitimacy to it that was put to the backseat for entertainment when hogans reign began, the closest the WWF title ever got back to that time period was when bret hart held the belt, taking on all comers, he made it feel real again.

 

[Wald]

I would say the New Generation era was the most prestigious. By that stage the NWA had been pushed to the sidelines and WCW had yet to really take off, so the WWF title was the undisputed number one prize you could hold in the business. The added competition from WCW, and the memories of the NWA, meant that it actually had to hold off challengers to the throne to remain so, so gave it an even greater feel.

 

[Krossbreed]

i think when bret won it ...he made it the most prestigious thing to achieve in wrestling...when cm punk won it he made it prestigious as well...so i think of all titles in wwe this title kept its prestige...if they made guys like jack swagger, dolph ziggler, mark henry, big show or other guys win it it wouldnt be as highly regarded.

Alberto Del Rio to me didnt hurt the wwe title because alberto looks good with the belt and has been winning none the less.

But when Bret wins the title and raised it over the turn buckle...it looked so epic...shaun wining the title from bret kneeling in the center of the rin crying also made it prestigious so as to be the highest most coveting achievement in wrestling and in a wrestlers life.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

The only time the the WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship could be considered THE most prestigious World Title was from January 1999 through August 2002 when it was the only title that could claim to being a "World" Championship that actually meant anything.

In the '60s and '70s and into the early '80s it was just a regional title, and was at times an NWA Territory championship, and the NWA and AWA Championships were seen as far more prestigious in those eras. During the Hogan era The NWA Championship was still a very prestigious championship, and in many areas was still THE World Championship that mattered. Int the '90s, especially during the height of the Monday Night Wars, the WCW Championship was still pretty prestigious... until Hulk Hogan won it with a finger poke.

When Shawn and Hunter did that with the European Championship it didn't matter, because that championship didn't matter. When Kevin Nash just laid down for Hogan it put a man above the Title and didn't even offer a real motive beyond Hulk Hogan wanted it. At least when Andre the Giant "sold" the WWF Championship to the Million Dollar Man there was a clear and understandable reason, He got a shit load of money. It was just business, and even then the Title "change" wasn't recognized anyways.

Then they had then long string of champions who never actually lost the title. From September 1999 through April 2000 there were SIX different title reigns and no one actually lost the title to the next guy to hold it. Think about that. Then in the span of 43 days, between April 16 and May 29, there were 9 title changes and one vancancy. and one of those "Champions" was David Arquette, AND HE HAD THE LONGEST REIGN DURING THAT TIME!

Meanwhile in WWE you had Mick Foley and the Rock nearly killing each other over the WWE Championship, The Undertaker "selling his soul" to get it, Steve Austin being Steve Austin, Triple H recreating himself into one of the best heel champions in the history of the business (say what you want about him now, but during his early run with the title that wasn't him screwing the bosses daughter, that was him just being very good at his job) and doing anything that he had to do to keep the title. Eventually during the Invasion Storyline the WWE Championship was even more prestigious than the "WCW Championship" to the "Owner of WCW" himslef.

but then WWE decided that Raw and Smackdown each needed their own World Champion and thus we have two world champions of one company... oh well, maybe someday they were reunify them and make the one title mean something again.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

The only time the the WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship could be considered THE most prestigious World Title was from January 1999 through August 2002 when it was the only title that could claim to being a "World" Championship that actually meant anything.

1999 had the most title changes in one year for the WWE Championship. I thought hot shotting the title was a bad thing? They certainly hot shotted it with Mankind and Rock and later in the year with Triple H.

The WWE title was the most prestigious during the mid to late 80s with Hogan. He had that 4 year run and made WWE #1.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

1999 had the most title changes in one year for the WWE Championship. I thought hot shotting the title was a bad thing? They certainly hot shotted it with Mankind and Rock and later in the year with Triple H.

I agree, they could have done without the second and third Foley reigns (especially the third because I believe that Austin should have dropped the title to Triple H himself) and the reigns of Vince McMahon and Big Show should have never happened, and Triple H's first reign should have lasted until WrestleMania the next year... but, it doesn't change the fact that even with the 12 title changes that year, the WWE Championship was still more prestigious than the WCW Championship at that time, which was the only other major "World Championship" around.

 

[MattRhys20]

I personally think it was when it first became the 'Undisputed Championship' back when Chris Jericho beat Rock and Austin at Vengeance 2001. When it became the one and only title again. When the WHC was brought in, and assigned to each show, it lost it because. let's face it you essentially became one of two world champions if you won either of them. I remember somebody made on a comkment on a thread a few weeks ago that we should just have the one title again as the brand divide is non-existent, and I agree with them

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

The only time the the WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship could be considered THE most prestigious World Title was from January 1999 through August 2002 when it was the only title that could claim to being a "World" Championship that actually meant anything.

Are you talking about the same title where the owner of the promotion, Vince McMahon, put the belt on himself? Yeah Hogan winning with a fingerpoke was horrible but hilarious and rumor had it that this was to setup Goldberg's rallying back to the World Title (I can't confirm this as being the truth but I heard Nash mention it once, he could be lying, but he'd have a better idea about this than you or I), you justified the Ted DiBiase purchase of the WWF Title by saying there were "reasons" he did it, which is true, he was the Million Dollar Man he wanted to take a shortcut to the World Title and he did that. Well Hulk Hogan was the tyrant of WCW when he formed the nWo with Hall and Nash, he made a plan with Nash to bring the nWo back together, hence the idea of the Fingerpoke of Doom. So yeah for as tacky as that might have seemed, there was a justification for how Hogan "won" the belt from Nash.

Now I don't deny that David Arquette and Vince Russo's title wins were farcical (Those title reigns were far more damaging than anything Hogan could have done) but the hot potatoing of the WWF World Title was just plain ridiculous during that time. Thankfully, the WWF Attitude Era had more than just the WWF Title to rely on during that time or else things would have gotten boring, very fast in my opinion.

And also not to be an anal retentive douche, but during the period you were describing the rise of Triple H, the feud between Rock and Mankind, Taker selling his soul and Austin being Austin, it was called the WWF. In my opinion, referring to that company as the WWE in the context of anything pre-May 6, 2002 is an insult to its history. Oh and about Shawn Michaels and Triple H's WWF European Title match, you're right the European Title didn't matter, but that was a farce as well, the European Title never should have existed in the first place.

Anyway my vote for the most prestigious time for the WWE Championship is when it was still the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, and this was when Hulk Hogan first won it, while I was and still am a fan of Hulk Hogan's other reigns. It was his first one that mattered the most, just because he was constantly wrestling from 1984-1988 (but we can even add his second one in 1989-1990 was an honorable mention too) and his variety of opponents was just amazing. I mean Hogan ran the gamut, yes some wrestlers were better than others but Hogan had one of the longest lists of challengers and yes there were many that were in very similar molds but at the same time, people came to watch it and it worked. Granted I loved guys like The Rock and Austin, but by comparison the variety just wasn't there in my view. Anyway, let me continue...

Greg Valentine
Don Muraco
Brutus Beefcake
"Ravishing" Rick Rude
Adrian Adonis
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
"Dr. D" David Schultz
Iron Sheik
Nikolai Volkoff
"Cowboy" Bob Orton
Killer Khan
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff
Big John Studd
Roddy Piper
Kamala
One Man Gang
Ted DiBiase
Andre The Giant
King Kong Bundy
Terry Funk
Harley Race
Jake "The Snake" Roberts

And then of course if we look at Hogan's second reign, he had a few more opponents to add to that list of the gamut of challengers.

Mr. Perfect
Honky Tonk Man
Big Boss Man
The Ultimate Warrior

As we all know the only man in that list during the "Hulkamania" era to beat Hogan cleanly was The Ultimate Warrior, but during that time that Hogan had those first two WWF Title reigns, I felt the title was most prestigious, despite the same guy retaining everytime, the whole idea of who Hogan was going to take on next was just plain intriguing to me, and as you can see millions of others or else Hogan never would have been the champion for as long as he had been.

It's sad that wrestling can't have that same dynamic anymore.

But for an honorable mention I do want to bring up Bret Hart's WWF Title reigns as well...during a time that the WWF needed a new face to carry a title division that was lacking star power, Bret Hart stepped up to the plate and had great matches. Bret's 1992 Survivor Series title defense, his first PPV title defense which happened to be against Shawn Michaels is an overlooked match that never gets the same regard that the Iron Man Match and Screwjob do, for obvious reasons, its storyline importance is not as significant but man that was a wild match, I loved it. I also enjoyed Bret's matches against Diesel, Bob Backlund, Razor Ramon, Yokozuna and to be honest I think my favorite Bret Hart WWF Title match was the Steel Cage match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1994.

Just my two cents though.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

Are you talking about the same title where the owner of the promotion, Vince McMahon, put the belt on himself? Yeah Hogan winning with a fingerpoke was horrible but rumor had it that this was to setup Goldberg's rallying back to the World Title (I can't confirm this as being the truth but I heard Nash mention it once, he could be lying, but he'd have a better idea about this than you or I), you justified the Ted DiBiase purchase of the WWF Title by saying there were "reasons" he did it, which is true, he was the Million Dollar Man he wanted to take a shortcut to the World Title and he did that. Well Hulk Hogan was the tyrant of WCW when he formed the nWo with Hall and Nash, he made a plan with Nash to bring the nWo back together, hence the idea of the Fingerpoke of Doom. So yeah for as tacky as that might have seemed, there was a justification for how Hogan "won" the belt from Nash.

I think I already addressed all of these issues... yes, McMahon should have never been a WWE Champion, I agree with you on that point. And The Million Dollar Man did want to take a shortcut to the championship, and he tried, but like I said in my original post, He DIDN'T do that. He failed. That title change isn't recognized, therefore the Million Dollar Man never was the champion. And why would Nash want to go back to being Hogan's lacky when just less than a year earlier he broke away from the nWo for that very reason? The whole storyline made no sense, and the fact that the title wasn't vacated (when it had been vacated for a lot less than that in the past) made even less sense.

I think that the Original poster needs to better explain what he meant by "Most Prestigious". Did he mean what era was the WWE Champion most prestigious in WWE History, or when was it the most Prestigious Championship in the business as a whole.

I think that its pretty hard to argue that in the '80s, during the Hogan Era, that the WWE Championship was more prestigious than the NWA Championship, because Hogan won a regional Northeast championship. The AWA Championship and the NWA championship were both still viewed as more meaningful and even as the AWA championship lost value quickly, The NWA Championship didn't. That is why I find it hard to agree that it was the most prestigious title in the business at that time.

 

[Headman]

While Hogan held the title there was this feeling that he was the only one worthy of beign champion and the belt would always find it's way back to him. Whatever the belt was before Hogan, he certainly made it more important in my eyes. So much that when he and Andre were eliminated from the tournament at Wrestlemania 4 I was in disbelief that someone else would wear the gold. I thought for sure it would be Ted Dibiase, but when Savage won I marked so unbelievably hard. I can't imagine feeling that way again today. Title reigns are far too common. It seems like everyone who is remotely popular gets one. As much as people hate long reigns I think the best title change of this current generation was after Edge ended a lengthy Cena title reign.

 

[Hurricanrana Radio]

Honestly it has to be during the Hogan era. WWF became a worldwide phenomenon during this time and back then Champions held on to the title for years at a time. Nowadays The belt changes hands so often and you have so many superstars having double digit title reigns. Randy Savages 2 or so title reigns are way more prestigious then Cena's 10 IMO.

 

[crippler]

The WWE title was most prestigious from the Hogan era and before back when guys had title reigns lasted for a while and there was not many title changes I liked the 1 year title reigns it was more unexpected when the championship changed hands and it build up the stars legacy more having long title reigns.

 

[The Idiot]

Have to agree...the Hogan era. Back when there were lengthy title reigns and the main event was always for the WWF championship.

Nowadays the title used as a prop to help get guys over....not for being the #1 guy in the company like it was back in the late 80's to mid 90's.

 

[Millennia]

imo it began during Bret's hard fought win over Diesel at survivor series ... and it lasted throughout the emotional HBK WM12 victory.. slowed down a little bit with vader then sid matches while bret vs austin meant much more @ both Survivor Series 96 & WM13 then the title matches..but imo based on having viewed WWF 1987-today along with tapes prior to 87... i loved the WWF Championship and FEEL it was most prestigious When Bret was fighting for it, def not his first win, but after that battle with big daddy cool which is an under-freakin-rated match.. then the win with Austin @ WM14 still had that same feeling... a lil less until ROCK turned @ SS98

basically i feel the prestigious vibe of the CHampionship lost its glory to me like every1 else mentions mostly ( one the 2 belts began, although i dont feel that should change...)

i must mention Here that the recent matches between Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk champion vs Champion have been UBER AMAZING ( like we all kne it would...)

im not saying i wanna see a unification, because as long as there is "2 brands" i feel there needs to be 2 "titles".. plus it does help with such a deep roster..

maybe a MIZ face turn is due slowly.. with talent like Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler and more the title can began to mean more to me.. (both of em) As long as u see a true competition battle like the champion would rather lose his wife than lose the title... thats the way BRET HART made me feel against Diesel at Surv.Ser.95 and thats the way Danielson & Punky made me feel recently...

get it.?!

even Macho Man's WM4 win is a good example of heart, triumph, as opposed to Jack Swagger and the whole Money in the Bank theory...i like the money in the bank, but it should just be used for a quicker transition.. MIZ had zero cred when he held the belt.. he had heat, but nothin like i mentioned previously.
thats what i wanna see...

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Most prestigious? Let's see:

- not the 60's-early 80's. The WW(W)F title was little more than a regional championship at this point. It was one of the biggest regionals in the country, but the only national title was the NWA championship, and that was always considered the most prestigious

- a case can be made for the mid 80's (Hogan era). The WWF was the first company to go national (the NWA was more of a governing body), and to the general public, the WWF was wrestling. In wrestling circles though, the NWA title still held tremendous weight this entire time, and if it wasn't considered the equal to the WWF title, was just a tiny step below it.

- early 90's (Flair's 1st WWF run). The NWA gave way to WCW at this point, and once Flair jumped to the WWF, their title just simply did not have the lusture it once did. Guys like Lex Lugar and Ron Simmons simply did not seem to be on the same level as the Hogan's, Flair's, Savage's and even Warrior's. WCW simply was not doing good business at this time, the NWA territories were mostly gone and everything about them felt second rate. The WCW title wouldn't start seeming valuable again until Big Van Vader won the title as the monster champion that no one could withstand.

- NWO/New Generation era - The WCW as a company gained a lot of ground on the WWF, but to me, it never really seemed like the wrestlers cared as much about the title itself, while in the WWF, the title was still the big deal with Bret Hart leading the way and Shawn Michaels boyhood dream putting the value of the WWF championship on full display. This was a trend throughout the Monday Night Wars, as in the WWF the hottest feuds were still based around the title (McMahon/Austin was all because McMahon didn't feel Austin fit the mold for a WWF champion), whereas the WCW's hottest feuds were about the NWO, with the NWO really just wanting the title to stick it to WCW. Sure this is the era that hotshotted title reigns first began, but the WWF was able to do that in a way that conveyed the prestige of their title, while the WCW did it in a way that conveyed the idea that their title was little more than a prop

- Post attitude - bah, it's only been the WW(F)E since then, and with their two "world" titles, they've just muddied the prestige of their main championship (what is the main championship? It should be the World title, but it seems the WWE title is more valuable right now... is the WWE bigger than the world?)

So I guess I'd say that the early 90's when Flair jumped and won the title at the Rumble was when the WWF's title first became the most prestigious, and while WCW pulled close to claiming that honor in the mid-90's, they were never able to.

 

[ECW Sandman]

I have to agree with the Hogan Era and The Bret Hart Era, those two eras were the best eras in WWF/E history they actually gave a damn about the title and who they wanted to carry the company for a while in both Era's

unlike today like someone else said the belt now is a prop and it don't mean shit when they turned it in to the Spinner belt and now the non spinner belt it devalued what the belt stood for.

Back in The Hogan /Hart Era they dropped the belt to guys who deserved it like Macho Man Randy Savage, Sgt Slaughter, Yokozuna.

Now it's like John Cena, CM Punk Back to John Cena ADR CM Punk Back To Cena it just gets boring seeing the same people win the title.

A few years ago when they gave the title to Jeff Hardy for a few minutes that was one of the greatest moments because you never saw that coming and when he won his second reign it still was a great moment,

unlike what they did last year when Rey won the title on RAW then dropped it to Cena that same night that was just pointless and It pissed a lot of fans off that they even did that angle me personally I thought they would let Rey keep the title for at lest a month or 2 not just an hour and a half.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

As far as prestige of the sport goes. The 1970's had more legit wrestling champions because the sport was perceived as real.

But where the WWE championship was at it's top was from January to March of 2002 during Jericho's reign where he unified the WCW and WWE titles. By this time, the NWA world title was a worthless indy belt and the only other recognized world heavyweight wrestling championship the IWGP title was vacant.