Which is the most valuable title right now?

[Father:_Polley]

The Smackdown vs Raw debate has always been a hot one, with Smackdown always being viewed as 'The B Show'. Let's face it, a certain superstar or two have been reknowned as being loathe to go to Smackdown because they would see it as a demotion, Booker T even made a gimmick out of it.

But with the arrival of HHH on SD!, Edge's title reigns which gave the smarky fans chills, and the Undertaker always looming, has the balance of power shifted towards the WWE Title becoming the big one to obtain.

In my view, I think the World Heavyweight Title is the one to get now, being on Raw. Like it or not, Raw is still WWE's big show, and to be top of the 'A' Brand is still where you want to be. With a title picture of Y2J, HBK, Batista and the two injured superstars in Cena and Orton, you definately have the calibre to compete with.
HHH has done a lot to lend credibility to the Smackdown belt after some pretty weak champions in recent years, but the brand is still lagging behind in the star power to book it as credible.

That being said...the gap is closing.

Discuss and vote in the poll

 

[IrishCanadian25]

It's a simple equation.

World Heavyweight Title is on Raw. #1 Show.

WWE Championship is on Smackdown. #2 Show.

ECW Title is on, well, ECW. #14 show.

The title itself doesn't amount to a hill of beans here. It's the exposure of the TV show. A year ago, when Edge was the WHC on Smackdown and Cena was the WWE Champ on RAW, the roles were reversed. I hate to say it, but HHH's belt even played second fiddle to CM Punk's belt for the last few months, if only because Punk was the champ on RAW and HHH on SD.

Now, that doesn't mean Punk was a better champion that HHH - certainly not. It means the belt Punk had meant more than the belt HHH had. Plain and simple.

 

[MasterDebator]

It all depends on how you view the title and it's holder and most importantly, what show it's on. At first, I said to myself "HHH is the top dog right now in the WWE so I'd say the WWE title is #1." Then I raised this question: Would the ECW championship amount to the number one prize if HHH was it's owner? The answer is simply no, since a vast amount of WWE fans don't watch ECW. So my answer coincides with the above posts; Raw is the WWE's most watched program so right now, the number one prize is the WHC. Whether or not you believe Y2J>HHH is another story.

I will say this. If SD moved to Thursday nights and became a live program, I think it'd be very close to Raw in terms of viewers. I'll speak for myself here by saying that usually I can't control myself to not look at the spoilers so naturally, even though I love wrestling, if I see that nothing newsworthy or worthwhile occured on SD, I won't tune in. Also, I usually find myself out on Friday nights before the SD main event airs, so even if I did intend to watch I'd miss arguably the most important part of the show. So, in my opinion, a live SD would change this argument since I believe Raw would have a significant challenge from SD.

 

[Superstar4Life]

I would look at this in terms of the way creative is booking the champs right now and I feel that WHC is more important right, because creative is making that belt interesting to watch, as in the WWE title is just boring to watch because they are not testing Triple H's title reign with a true feud.

Hopefully they begin to do that shortly with Jeffy Hardy, Brian Kendrick, or someone worth watching..

 

[Vagrant]

I look at it in three different ways.

1. The brand they are on. Although I think that the WWE is trying to even the brands out, Raw still appears as the A show to me. In that regard, the WHC gains a point.

2. The champion holding it. Triple H, the twelve-time champion, is currently the top guy in the WWE and therefore was given the WWE championship and not the WHC. Point for WWE championship.

3. The contenders. I think it's quite fair to say that the contenders for the WHC are much more established than for the WWE championship. Batista, Kane, Mysterio, (injured Cena/Orton) win in this regard over Jeff Hardy, and anyone else who will chase the championship (if anyone even does, lol).

Close, but the WHC means more at the moment in my opinion.

 

[Davi323]

I am inclined to agree with Vagrant, although I think it is a mixture of the 3 reasons he lists. Its a combination of those. While HHH is currently the top dog in all of the WWE, the contenders for his belt don't quite match up for those contending for the WHC, although I will grant that injuries play a significant part in that, (or wrestlers selling fake injuries in storylines) Look at the contenders in each match. For the WWE title, we had HHH, MVP, Jeff Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, and The Brian Kendrick. Out of that entire match, only the current champion, HHH, had ever worn either the WWE or Heavyweight title before. The other four contenders have never gotten that far. Now, had Undertaker and Edge been in the match instead of Kendrick and Benjamin or something, it would have been a different issue...

Meanwhile, lets look at the World Heavyweight title scramble match. Y2J, JBL, Kane, Rey Misterio and Batista...EVERY participant in that belt has worn either the WWE, World, unified, or a combination of before. While the WWE title match had one established champion and four wannabes, the World title match had 5 established champions in it, even without CM Punk being in it. That makes me want to give an advantage to the World Heavyweight title.

As pointed out, RAW is still the top show, with more viewers than either Smackdown or ECW, which is another point in favor of the World title. Any argument over the relative importance of each belt is going to be completely subjective, we are all going to have our own criteria for what we look for in who wears a prop. While I think the World title is probably more "prestigious" right now, we cannot lose sight of the fact that regardless of which title we prefer, it is a prop, nothing more. As such, any value we assign to it is arbitrary, and symbolic only. Afterall, if they wanted to, they could give the belt to Jamie Noble. Debates like this are fine, as long as we remember to put the value of the belts in perspective.

 

[Lee]

OK so on WHC maineventer we have;
Batista, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Kane, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Randy Orton.

So WHC has 10 people that can easily be in the main event, of which ten are former champions. This is a great list of 'main event' guys, whther you like Batista, Cena or not, they're a heck of a lot better than those going for the WWE championship.

WWE championship we have;
Big Show, Edge, The Great Khali, Jeff Hardy, Triple H, The Undertaker, Umaga and Mr Kennedy.

At a push you can also go for;
Shelton Benjamin, The Brian Kendrick, Montel Vontavious Porter.

So if you class the last 3, that's 11 of which can be in the main event (8 easily) only 5 are former champions. This list is a lot more controversial than the raw one, I mean; Umaga, Kennedy, Shelton Benjamin, MVP and The Brian Kendrick are not proven main eventers really (I think Umaga is, but that's a different argument all together!).

So just looking at the rosters, the main event scene you will know that the World Heavyweight Championship is the most valuable RIGHT NOW. The argument's not about past or present, it's about right now...It's on the A brand, with a lot of A-listers...

 

[chrisgod]

So by what you are saying, I understand that if the ECW title was on raw, then IT would be the top title???

Let's supose something for a minute...
1. ECW title goes to Raw and it's holder is HHH
2. WWE title goes to ECW and it's holder is Edge
3. WHC goes back to SD! and belongs to Jeff Hardy

According to you, then:
Raw is the "A" show, so then the "A" title is this new ECW title that i guess doesn't even considers the previous holders...
The WWE title is the less important for being in the #14 show (that was a good one)
The WHC automatically loses the top spot for being again in SD...

Or now you are going to tell me that case is completly different, that the ECW title is shit and always be, even if it is on raw, and more if it's held by H, that the WHC has always been in the second place and always be, and more if the holder is a spot monkey-rainbow haired- 2 time striker like JH... and that the more prestigious, bigger, fancy and waaaaaaaaaaaaay better title is the WWE's held by Edge????

I guess right now all the "value" goes just because of the holders... if someone else besides HHH had the WWE title (and I mean before the Jericho title win), nobody would hesitate to say THAT is the top title...

The same thing with the WHC... You can see a zillion posts where people talks about the WHC being devaluated while CM Punk was champion... then out of nowhere people remembers that the title is on Raw and hence is the most important...

I personally think both titles are at the same level right now... regardless of the holder... and If you consider past then the WWE should be by far the one with more value, because the WHC is something new and has less history compared to the WWE title (the WHC is in no fucking way the one that existed in WCW or the old NWA heavyweight title, even if it's the same design)

 

[Lee]

So by what you are saying, I understand that if the ECW title was on raw, then IT would be the top title???

Let's supose something for a minute...
1. ECW title goes to Raw and it's holder is HHH
2. WWE title goes to ECW and it's holder is Edge
3. WHC goes back to SD! and belongs to Jeff Hardy

According to you, then:
Raw is the "A" show, so then the "A" title is this new ECW title that i guess doesn't even considers the previous holders...
The WWE title is the less important for being in the #14 show (that was a good one)
The WHC automatically loses the top spot for being again in SD...

Or now you are going to tell me that case is completly different, that the ECW title is shit and always be, even if it is on raw, and more if it's held by H, that the WHC has always been in the second place and always be, and more if the holder is a spot monkey-rainbow haired- 2 time striker like JH... and that the more prestigious, bigger, fancy and waaaaaaaaaaaaay better title is the WWE's held by Edge????

You seem to have missed the point of this thread, it's between WHC and WWE, ECW doesn't even come into play, it's like comparing US & IC belts and mentioning the Womens title.

I guess right now all the "value" goes just because of the holders... if someone else besides HHH had the WWE title (and I mean before the Jericho title win), nobody would hesitate to say THAT is the top title...

The same thing with the WHC... You can see a zillion posts where people talks about the WHC being devaluated while CM Punk was champion... then out of nowhere people remembers that the title is on Raw and hence is the most important...

I've never said CM Punk devalues the title, CM Punk v JBL is a heck of a lot more prestigious than HHH v The great Khali. You have to look at the people going for the title which is a lot more impressive for the WHC than it is for the WWE.

I personally think both titles are at the same level right now... regardless of the holder...

How so? It's quite obvious that they are not seen the same, and I don't think many people see them as the same.

and If you consider past then the WWE should be by far the one with more value, because the WHC is something new and has less history compared to the WWE title (the WHC is in no fucking way the one that existed in WCW or the old NWA heavyweight title, even if it's the same design)

Well the records have WHC the same as WCW, but lets not go into that. The point of this thread is right now, at this moment in time...which belt is the most valuable...it's not which belt has the most prestige, the best history, is Raw better than SD!, WWE better than WCW.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

It's pretty much tied, with a slight advantage to the WWE Championship. While I do not like Triple H retaining at Unforgiven, the SD! Scramble match was the best one. But that'll probably change if Chris Jericho does a fine job. Which he will. Basically, the World Heavyweight Champion while on CM Punk was just devalued a little too much to be better than the WWE Championship is right now. But Triple H could EASILY be bested by Chris Jericho. Let's see what happens.

 

[Showtime]

They are about even right now, HHH is, with Cena, WWE's biggest star, so instantly he makes the title great, even on SD. He does have strong competition in Edge and Undertaker, but beyond those too and Hardy and Big Show, the competition is thin. The only upside is alot of them have potential to be maineventers, but right now there all in that stage where they can't break through that glass ceiling to get to the mainevent. Alot of people say that Punk devalued the WHC, but I think he only devalued it in how he won it, cashing in when Edge was hurt, I thought it was great but he did sneak it, otherwise I thought he was a great champion. Now that Jericho is champion I think the WHC will only improve its value. And there is far more mainevent competition on RAW than SD, Jericho, Batista, Punk, Orton, Kane, Rey, JBL, and they even have Cena and Micheals too when they get back from injury. Lord help SD if anymore of their wrestler get hurt, especially if it's one of their big four. So I'm going to give the slight edge to the WHC.

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

I'd have to say the WWE title is more valuable, it has longer reigns than the World title, making it more prestigious. In the last 3 years Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, Edge, and RVD we're the only guys to hold this title, and Jericho, Batista, CM Punk, Edge, Taker, Khali, King Booker, Rey Mysterio, and Kurt Angle all held the World title. It is evident that the World title is the "experimental" belt, whereas the WWE title is mostly for the real deals. At this point, anybody could win the World title, even Santino, so I don't see how it can be any more valuable than the WWE title, just because it is on RAW doesn't mean shit. What would make the bigger impact: Somebody beating Triple H for the WWE title, or somebody beating Jericho for the World title? In one hand you have Triple H, who is proving to be a very dominant champion, and whoever beats him will get loads of praise, and on the other hand you have Jericho, who won the World title without lifting a finger, pretty easy choice IMO.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Look at who is holding which belt. HHH gives instant credibility to any title. That is the title that The Undertaker has been fighting for.

The WHC was on a fluke champion who couldn't get himself over as a credible champ. It was won in a match in which the champ did not even compete. I love Jericho as champ, as he closes the gap in importance by his mere presence. But one title situation is firmly set, while the other appears to be some kind of mess. The WWE title is obviously more valued by Vince and creative, and therefore is more important. They decide, not us, the fans.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I've always seen the WWE Championship as THE top belt in all of WWE. It is after all, the WWE Championship. Historically speaking, it has longer lineage and whatnot. Many greats have held it and some recent Champions have embedded more prestige to it. John Cena is my primary example of this. He defended it against everyone that challenged him and retained for many months, making the title that much more challenging to win. Look at the World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels had a short reign, Randy Orton had a short reign, The Great Khali had a short reign, Undertaker had a short reign, Edge had a short reign all while the title only had 7 years of existence? Comparatively, I can't put this title over the WWE title. And just because it's on the father show RAW doesn't make it the top title. That would be like the Diva's belt going over to RAW in exchange for the Women's belt and all of a sudden, becoming superior. I just don't see it that way. To me, it's all about history and the prestige built around the title through frequent and legitimate competition.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

In my personal opinion, the World Heavyweight Championship just went up in stock. Chris Jericho might not be a perfect option as Champion, but the guy is by far the best heel they have on the entire brand right now.

Triple H. in all honesty hasn't done a lot as W.W.E. Champion since going to Smackdown. And the sad thing is, he has a lot more opportunity and opponents to do things with.. yet in his reign on Smackdown, he's defended against Edge, and The Great Khali. The Scramble could count, but if you're a Heavyweight Champion.. would you really wanna say you felt proud of defending your title in a hard fought contest against Shelton Benjamin and Brian Kendrick? I doubt it.

Chris Jericho as World Heavyweight Champion will likely put on 5 star matches. He will likely and instantly make Punk look solid inside the Steel Cage next Monday, and assuming he gets beyond that, sooner or later he'll take on Batista and even Cena, and I'm sure they'll all have solid Main Event matches a lot more than Punk could give against either of those two.

Finally, you're as it stands, looking at Chris Jericho against Shawn Michaels, possibly for the World Heavyweight Championship, in yet another 5-star classic that's sure to be had when H.B.K. recovers from injuries. I for one am very excited about Jericho being Champion this time around.