Why the midcard sucks

[FromTheSouth]

The most common complaint about wrestling these days is that there is no development of mid card or tag team wrestling. While everyone blames HHH, creative, or any number of forces, I think the reason why is simple.

In the 80's and early 90's Saturday Night's Main Event was where you could see Hogan wrestle. It was where the Macho Man had his matches. Andre the Giant was featured prominently.

On Saturday mornings, one could view SuperStars and Wrestling Challenge. These shows were taped at house shows, and featured midcard wrestlers. These shows focused on Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, etc. There was no Savage, no Hogan, no Andre taking up most of the show. The biggest star you were liekly to see was Roddy Piper. The midcard battles were featured. Tito Santana would never main event Raw today, but it was common of SuperStars. This show is what made the IC belt feel legitimate, as it was the highest prize contested on these shows.

Now days, the IC belt feels like a prop, although, this last year it seems to have been elevated, as three former world champs have held it. (Jeff, Jericho, Punk) It is still not at the level it was at in the early 90's when it went from Warrior winning the WWF title to Bret Hart holding a death grip on that belt.

SS and Challenge also focused heavily on tag teams. The Bushwackers, Demolition, The Harts, The Rockers, and the Nasty Boys were on the show in some combination weekly. These shows did a great deal to elevate wrestlers in that after a couple of months focusing on one of these teams, all of a sudden they were announced to be on SNME, you suddenly felt like they were going somewhere. I grew up with the Rockers constant quest to win the tag belts, and was crushed when they never made it.

These two shows did more to further the midcard than any IC tournament or King of the Ring show ever could. Every week, the guys in the middle were featured. These shows had jobbers, clean finishes, and rehearsed promos that made the guys look strong, as opposed to a guy winning two weeks in a row, then having to lose to Edge to make Edge look strong, as happens now.

 

[Big Sexy]

The mid card sucks for two reasons.

1. There are too many titles. By having two heavyweight titles, that makes twice as many main eventers. The more main event guys there are, the less mid card superstars there's going to be. There are also three mid-card titles. You have the IC, US, and ECW titles. With this many mid card titles all of the mid card superstars are being spread out to all of the different brands.

2. A lot of the talented guys that the WWE has are starting to become jobbers. Back in the old WWE when a guy was getting pushed as a main event caliber guy he would go up against developmental guys, or local guys. In the current WWE they are taking guys like Helms, Carlito, and Hass and having these guys get crushed. If these guys can't even fight back in these matches then no one would take them seriously as mid carders so they become jobbers.

 

[ad21k]

This was part of the point of the thread I created the other week. Although I am in principle a fan of the brand split because there are 2 major titles there are twice as many main event feuds going on, WWE as hard as it is trying cannot produce enough main event wrestlers fast enough to fill the main event.

This creates 2 major problems:

1) Guys like CM Punk who are nowhere near ready get thrown in the title picture. Or guys like Khali, Mysterio or Umaga who arent main event material either have to be ultalised to give the top stars fresh feuds.

2)The mid-card is like a conveyer belt, one minute they are mid-card, 6 months down the line if they do even midly well they are shoved into a main event feud that either makes or breaks their career. This means that there are very few mid-carders who slowly make there way through the ranks and have good mid-card feuds. look at Kozlov he missed the entire mid-card feuds out got shoved into the main event picture as was a failure. You could argue that MVP is an exception, but he would likely be main eventing if he didnt have an attitude problem by now.

I think WWE needs to give talents especially the younger green ones more time to develop before putting them in main event picture.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Why does the midcard suck? You are still watching...are you not?


It's threads like these that just have me completely frustrated with the wrestling fan base at-large. Sure, you pay your cable bill, you buy the seats in the arenas, you purchased the latest Cena throwback T-shirt, so you have a right to voice your opinion.

But all I hear is complaint after complaint after complaint about the current WWE product from fanboys who are never EVER going to be pleased. The competition for these belts by up and comers is higher than it has been since the Attitude Era, IMO, as you have guys like Kofi Kingston, Punk (who though he was a world champ, he never elevated above mid-card), Mysterio (see Punk), and a crafty vet like William Regal to give the IC division some stability.

On the other brand, you have Shelton Benjamin, who the boyz generally love for his athleticism, and guys like MVP, R-Truth, Helms, and Kendrick constantly in the hunt for the US Belt (Hopefully Kennedy upon his return). These are all guys who aren't completely solid, proven entities, but they fit the mid-card billing perfectly.

And ECW...well, ECW is a brand revolving around mid-card talent. The ECW Title is not officially recognized by PWI as a World Championship, so it's hard to really look at it as such. But just look at how solid that brand has become. It's got Swagger as champ (who's only been around for what, 4 mos?), the returning Christian who has been getting fanfare from the IWC for months (particularly the city of Detroit, MI), Finlay, who is a solid guy to help guys like Swagger look good in the ring, a monster big guy in Mark Henry who, as much as I hate to say it, gives a glimmer of legitimacy to the roster, Tyson Kidd, who looked VERY solid in his debut and has the bonus of being a student of Bret Hart, and Evan Bourne, a guy who I expect to be with WWE for a long time.

Now, if you are upset because Santino was IC champ for a great bit, then that's understandable. The guy is booked as a joke. I'm sure the guy has some sort of in-ring talent or he would have never been discovered. But they really need to revisit Santino's future with the company, as the comedy routine is seemingly getting stale even for the biggest Santino marks.

 

[FromTheSouth]

OK, you're right. I should have named it Why the midcard is getting buried. Using the word sucks, I think, will drive traffic to the post. I want to discuss this with people. It was a ploy to get people to read the post.

You'll notice in the post that no where do I demonize Kofi or Regal. I just yearn for Tito Santana.

I do agree that the wrestling on ECW is good. I enjoy Jack Swagger. I marked out for Christian. I like the midcard guys. It's the booking that I have trouble with.

I just hope this WGN show will breathe some new life into it.

 

[Starchild]

I don't agree that the midcard sucks, at least not the wrestlers anyway. There are a bunch of talented midcarders that can put on solid matches and programs, they just aren't always given the opportunity and they aren't focuesed on nearly enough (particularly the midcard titles and champions). The IC and US titles have had some of the best feuds ever between guys who went on to be main eventers, and even some that never really got that far but were always solid midcard performers. Those titles get too boiled down now and don't have enough quality feuds, not to mention the lack of ppv matches to keep them in the spotlight.

Raw has guys like Punk, Regal, Dibiase, Rhodes, Kofi, Rey, Knox, and Santino who are all pretty good and if they would actually try could have some good programs based around the IC title.
Same goes for Smackdown with Shelton, Matt, MVP, Kennedy, R-Truth, TBK, and Umaga.
And since the ECW title is basically a midcard title you can also include Swagger, Finlay, Miz, Morrison, Bourne, and now Christian to that list.

With this plethora of guys, you could have them go between shows as they already do so we could see some fresh and quality feuds. They could even have 3 or 4-way type programs to include more guys in the title chase. The talent is clearly there. The problem is WWE needs to stop sending guys to the main event so quickly, and they need to focus on these guys storyline-wise aside from just random matches, and the biggest thing is put an emphasis on these midcard titles. Have legit programs and have the titles defended on ppv every couple months, and boom you have a great midcard again.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

So, are you instead referring to the way that midcarders rarely get PPV time? If that is the case, then I would agree with you. I wish we were getting some IC Title matches on PPVs. But the bottom line is that we are still getting IC title matches pretty regularly on Raw these days.

The midcard is the midcard for a reason. On supershows, there's not enough room for the midcard belts to be fought for all the time. And at the moment, they can't have brand-exclusive pay per views because ECW isn't strong enough to fill out its own (nor is WWE in the economic situation where it could afford putting them on). And let's be honest, 10 weeks of buildup in between Judgment Day and GAB is just a tad ridiculous.

I'm sure you miss Tito Santana, but you gotta give these guys a chance.

 

[Shocky]

I have no problem with this. You're talking about the company being split into three different brands. Those three brands along with their world titles have to have the lions share of air time on those pay per views. In the long run, the mid card titles and the tag titles get the bounce off of the pay per view. Now I don't know about you, but I would rather watch Jeff Hardy and Edge duel for the WWE title then R-Truth facing off against Shelton Benjamin for the US title. No disrespect to the latter two, but I just dropped forty bucks on a pay per view in a tough economic time, I expect high quality, and the former two are guaranteed to give mea good match.

Now the only reasonable way to bring back value to said titles would be to end the brand extension, unify all of the titles once again, and then you are faced with massive roster cuts. Instead of Edge vs. Jeff Hardy for the WWE championship, you would have those two facing off for the IC title, while Benjamin and Truth struggle to make a former additon of Sunday Night Heat. The Mid card titles are now Television titles, and they fit perfectly for the role they are intended to now.

 

[ad21k]

Why does the midcard suck? You are still watching...are you not?

I don't know about other people but I switch off when there are mid-card matches on. Just because people are watching doesn't mean they are interested, the majority of people tune in to see the upper card talent, and to see storylines. They do not tune in to see fucking Kofi Kingston or Rey Mysterio hit his stupid spots, despite what the IWC believes. There is also an issue with the lack of storylines/booking in the mid-card, but if there was enough talent in the mid-card the talent would shine through and be entertaining without good booking. If you look at Raw its made up of complete failures as main eventers- Kane, CM Punk, Rey mysterio. Then who else is there? Kofi and Regal. That's it, thats there entire mid-card, and quite frankly it's pittiful. Nobody really cares about seeing these guys, they have average matches, they all lack any sort of charisma or mic skills which basically means they are boring and crap wrestlers. On Smackdown the situation is slightly better MVP at least can be entertaing. ECW is work in progress and Swagger is entertaining and promising. There is a definate weakness in the Raw mid-card, and if I think they will consider bringing another main eventer in from smackdown, so that a couple of the upper card guys can freshen up the mid-card by feuding with some guys lower down the card. I think we will also see Rhodes and Dibiase move up through the card because they seem to be the only 2 with the right look, and charisma to bring some entertainment to the frankly boring mid-card.

 

[Doberden17]

How about only having one world title. Put that title on Raw and move the IC title to Smackdown as that shows main title. Since Smackdown is the B show anyway, why not put the secondary title there? As for ECW, get rid of the ECW title and replace it with the US title (so we still have a shread of the WCW days) or keep the ECW title there. But keep the rosters the way they are, I dont mean move all of the "main eventers" to Raw and all the mid card to Smackdown and the lower card to ECW (your Haas, Snuckas, Manu's, Wang Yangs). But maybe that isnt a bad idea. Moving IC title to Smackdown as the one and only title there would bring back the prestige it should have. So you could do this and keep the rosters as they are, or move the "main world title guys to Raw" and move the mid card guys to Smackdown to chase the IC title where they would be given a chance to establish themselves and reestablish the IC title on their own show. As for the lower card and tag team, make ECW two hours and move them there so they can build their skills. For example a person could start in ECW (lower card) accomplish everything (win tag, US, ECW whichever) then move them to the next level of Smackdown and the IC and then eventually to Raw and the world title. Some roster examples are as follows.

Raw
HHH
HBK
Y2J
Dibiase
Orton
Cena
Edge
Christian
Jeff Hardy
Taker
etc.

Smackdown
Rhodes
Kofi
Kane
Punk
Kennedy
Truth
TBK
Matt Hardy
Chavo
MVP
Big Show
Regal
etc.

ECW
Swagga
Ortiz
Snucka
Haas
Manu
Bourne
Wang Yang
Tyson Kidd
etc.

Hey it could work. Maybe a stupid idea, who knows.

Another idea would be keep things the way they are. But have the main event guys who are not after the world title go after the IC title and mix things up with the mid carders to make people want to watch the mid carders. For example you have Cena v. Orton for world title so why not have HBK go after CM punk or Regal for the IC title? Maybe throw in Kofi and Dibiase and Jericho in just to mix it up and give credibility to the IC titles and the mid card guys.

How about this? Instead of MITB matches, go back to the ladder matches featuring the IC title. You can still do 8 guys, but have them go for the IC title instead of a fucking empty brief case. Then the winner is the new IC champ and number one contender for the world title. I always thought the IC champion should be number one contender for the world title. This way the IC champ could chase the world title while others were still chasing him for his IC title. But it could be argued that is too much focus on IC and not WHC. Either way, they need to get things down to just three levels of titles like they use to. WHC, IC, Tag period end of story.

 

[Hacksaw Highway]

I'd say the midcard is just fine. SD's is very strong, with Shelton, Kennedy, Umaga, MVP, Kendrick, Helms, R-Truth, Chavo, and Matt as an upper-midcarder/lower-main eventer (If that makes any scence). ECW's got Henry, Finlay, Swagger, Christian, Miz, Morrison, Kidd, Bourne, Noble, Ortiz, Boogeyman etc. It IS a mid-card show, as I only see one of those guys as a legit main eventer (Christian). Raw's is the weakest, but they got Kofi, Knox, Rey, Punk, Regal, so they're decent for midcard. Just my 2 censt.

 

[WinstonDeckard]

I don't mind the US title and IC title not being on the PPV but they're not made to look even remotely important on TV either. The US title is never defended while the IC title gets maybe 2 to 4 minutes for a match. To me they could be used to elevate midcarders and give the midcarders something to fight for but they need to be given some adequate television time especially if the US and IC titles are television titles after all. For instance, when Regal and CM Punk faught for ten minutes and Punk came out the victor, that was a great bout that got the fans into it. However, this week they gave them what? Maybe two minutes. I do believe these titles can be very useful even if they're not on PPV but the fans have to be given a reason to get behind the secondary titles, they simply haven't been programmed to care. As a developmental tool I think the WWE is wasting the midcard championships and I also think that if fans care for the titles and for the superstars contending for them that those championships could also end up being a pretty good ratings draw for the company (much like the cruiserweights in the glory days of WCW).

 

[Christian Battlez]

I agree that time given to these midcard talents is a large part of the issue.That NO DQ match between Punk and Regal in Chicago was great. But if you give them 2 minutes the match will suck. Why did it take him 10 minutes one week and two minutes 2 weeks later. What the midcard needs is not more talent but more time to show their talents during matches and more attention placed on them on ppv etc. Instead of putting Punk in the MITB match this year why not have him defend the IC belt. We haven't had an Intercontinental title defense at Wrestlemania since Mania 18. Thats what 7 years ago??! Morrison could win MITB and the two could have another classic feud going back to their ECW days over the briefcase and the belt having both been Intercontinental Champions and MITB winners. The belt could start to mean something again. The ECW title feels like an uppermidcard title to me bc more importance is put on it than the other midcard belts but its still contended for by midcarders.

 

[Doberden17]

They should have the IC and US titles defended every wrestlemania. The MITB match should decide who is the number one contender for NOT the WHC or world title but for the IC and US titles. Think about it. It is a match full of mid card guys. The match should be about mid card belts. Say the winner was from Raw, then he should be number one contender for the IC title and likewise a winner from Smackdown would go after the US title and a winner from ECW after the ECW title. That makes good sense to me. Lets stop having these stupid ass over the top rope battle royals on Raw and Smackdown for the number one contender spot for these titles, they are always more predictable than the MITB. MITB should be about the midcard titles and not the WHC. My opinion.

 

[Crush1]

The Midcard sucks? I disagree. The midcard has improved a lot. Remember 2006-2007 a frikkin horrible year for the midcard. People were going nowhere in storylines and getting fired left and right. In 2008 the WWE finaly got it in their heads that the midcard is the future of the company and that they cant rely on Cena or the legends forever. There are so many stars in the midcard that can make the transition to the main event in this year why? you can thank the WWE for that. The WWE has gotten a little smarter and came to the conclusion that they have 40+ seniors main eventing. Now they have put faith in others like Morrison MVP Punk Miz etc you get the drift

 

[klunderbunker]

Have to agree that the midcard does kind of suck right now. This can be traced to a few things. Number one is that there's almost no major long term mid card feuds. This can be traced back to the decline of the mid card titles. Think back to the classic midcard feuds. There's very few that aren't over the IC or US belts. Right now those champions rarely defend their titles. With only a handful of people a year getting title matches, what incentive would there be to have feuds between people to challenge for that title?

Second, there's way too much usage of midcarders as jobbers. There aren't any true jobbers in the company anymore, just lower midcarders that get beaten up. Why not put some FCW guys out there and let them get beaten up by some midcard guys? It worked before and it'll work now.

Finally, there's a lot of focus on the main event angles. Every show is centered around about two shows, with segments thrown in to build each one. How many times do we spend up to three minutes at a time on a backstage segment to further hype what's happening at the end of the shwo? At least 3 a show. Put those 10 or so minutes into a match or two and the midcard gets on tv more.

 

[varowrestling777]

It´s very important this topic because i think this is one of the main problems that the WWE has these day. The problem is that the writers of the WWE are only thinking storylines between the main event material, an they forgot the majority of the time about the mid-card, so they use them only to complete the spaces that the main event angles have left, they put them to brawl each other every week without sence,so here are the solutions:
-Add some storyline to their matches,they would be very interesting, maybe make more tag team matches and backstage segments so at least when a match would begin we could see what happened between the both and it will make the people react to those matches for the fact of see them fight one on one for first time.
-Make the matches longer, because it doesnt care how good or just interesting is the storyline if the match finish in 4 or 5 minutes.It makes the looser look weak and the winner cant show his real potencial so both lost credibility, in the other hand if they had a 10 minutes match( i know that maybe is too much time for tv and maybe there wont be many matches but the few would be very solids) it would help both wrestlers because it make them look strong no matter who wins and if is a hard fought match it would be logical to have one or two rematches ( maybe a ppv match if it is so good)
so we could have real mid-card feuds.
-Like i said before with this plan there would be a few of mid-card matches but they would have sence instead of tryng to make many short matches,and the people that doesnt get a match could have a backstage segment to build up a future feud.
-With the people that the wwe dont find any storyline now they could pair them and help the tag division while they think what to do with them.
-At last i know that in the ppvs is very difficult to see a us,ic championship matches but with this plan i think these matches would work without a ppv match and the former us, ic would be almost ready to fight al least with the lower main eventers and then would be up in the card, it sounds realistic because they would have built up.

 

[truk24]

"It´s very important this topic because i think this is one of the main problems that the WWE has these day. The problem is that the writers of the WWE are only thinking storylines between the main event material, an they forgot the majority of the time about the mid-card, so they use them only to complete the spaces that the main event angles have left, they put them to brawl each other every week without sence,so here are the solutions:
-Add some storyline to their matches,they would be very interesting, maybe make more tag team matches and backstage segments so at least when a match would begin we could see what happened between the both and it will make the people react to those matches for the fact of see them fight one on one for first time.
-Make the matches longer, because it doesnt care how good or just interesting is the storyline if the match finish in 4 or 5 minutes.It makes the looser look weak and the winner cant show his real potencial so both lost credibility, in the other hand if they had a 10 minutes match( i know that maybe is too much time for tv and maybe there wont be many matches but the few would be very solids) it would help both wrestlers because it make them look strong no matter who wins and if is a hard fought match it would be logical to have one or two rematches ( maybe a ppv match if it is so good)
so we could have real mid-card feuds.
-Like i said before with this plan there would be a few of mid-card matches but they would have sence instead of tryng to make many short matches,and the people that doesnt get a match could have a backstage segment to build up a future feud.
-With the people that the wwe dont find any storyline now they could pair them and help the tag division while they think what to do with them.
-At last i know that in the ppvs is very difficult to see a us,ic championship matches but with this plan i think these matches would work without a ppv match and the former us, ic would be almost ready to fight al least with the lower main eventers and then would be up in the card, it sounds realistic because"- varowrestling777

First I would just like to say that this was pure brilliance, and it is great to see someone who feels practically the same as I do, almost word for word. Great post!

All I can add to this is this. Perhaps the WWE should also consider making the IC title noteworthy. How? For one make the main event of the first hour always for either mid card titles. It stresses importance, and carries into the next hour of the show. Also just announcing two main events everynight has more of a profound impact than just announcing one usually for the world title or two main event stars. Seriously those change in words always spark higher ratings that is a fact. Whenever the WWE announces two main events they always have higher ratings. It is just a play of words.

Perhaps giving the mid card titles some benefits. Benefits? Yes, Perhaps if you defend the title 4 times a month for 6 months you would receive some perks. Maybe a world title contenders match, or even a spot in the MITB. If you hold the mid card title for more than a year you would get a match against the champion whenever you wanted. Maybe as mid card champion you automatically get the 30th entrance in the Royal Rumble? Thus, with these "perks" it makes sense as to exactly how this mid card title can be a stepping stone to the World title, or even just being a legitimate title. The WWE is lackng this fundamental theme. With these perks it becomes clear as to why such stars like Edge, Cena, or Batista might want to jump in the division.

Maybe if the WWE allowed its wrestlers to acutally wrestle would have quality matches that take our breath away. So many wrestlers are restricted to moves that they have broken down to a science. Let those who feel comfortable with certain moves do them. Wrestling is losing the "wrestling", and turning in to just a soap opera. There is a way to blend the two with some kind of balance. Right now I feel like is just a bunch of highlights, 7 minute matches, backstage segments, and talking, too much.

 

[MikeZnox]

1. There are too many titles. As said before, 3 major heavyweight belts doesn't help the mid-card, as there isn't enough talent to go around.

2. The reign's are too short/the belt is not defended frequently enough. When the hell was the last time Shelton defended the US belt? Finally it will happen against MVP. Having all of these non-title matches involving him wasn't good either. Isn't a champion supposed to be just that, a champion? Then there was the dreaded Santino reign on Raw. Wow. I love Santino (no homo), but in no way should he have had that belt. Finally, I was really hoping Regal's IC reign would be a longer one, and it was nice to see him defend it a few times, on back to back to back RAWs (even though they were cheap wins). Hopefully Punk's reign is a long one with lots of defenses.

3. No PPV matches. Simple enough, not enough hype for these belts. No more special matches anymore for them either. No more Ladder or no DQ matches or anymore grudge matches based on "having the title stolen from me, I want it back", and when it is played up that way, it is done very weakly.

Those are probably the 3 main reasons, in my opinion.

 

[Vaen Makenshi]

The issue is not with too manny titles its with no storylines. You have all these great mid carers who could be feuding but with no storylines and weekly development it MAKES the ic and us titles irrelevant.

Argualy the LAST great storyline was Val Venis and the cut off yoru pee arc.

after thats it's been kinda lame. i mean look at gregor helms who went a year with no real competiotion or story other than crying about no story comeptition but held the belt longer than honky tonk man.

same thing with the tag ttitiles. you had london and kendrick onstantly facing cade and murdock. occasionaly MM or CT

now in recent times it was entertaining atchingcryme tyme and miz morrison fed. buut they never built on it.

erytime one person or team ggts good going and you get interested thes no counter balance.

 

[Rusty]

The mid-card doesn't suck. Sure it's not great and it can improve a great deal, but it doesn't suck. People need to stop comparing wrestling from now, to wrestling 20 years ago. Things have changed a lot since then. For starters, the WWE has a lot of main event talent who all usually get plenty of air time. Because after all, they are the ones who sell out arenas. To be fair, as of late I think the WWE is slowly and gradually improving their mid-card division. The Intercontiental and United States Championships can both be utilized much better, but they aren't terrible. CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin are the current champions, and they aren't terrible by any means.

Sure, people say how we used to get nice long mid-card feuds back in the day, but I ask this: When was the last time we received a really, really long feud in any division? Undertaker vs Edge was my personal feud of the year in 2008, and that last 4 months with a break in between. Though they did have a few encounters before Wrestlemania 24. MVP vs Matt Hardy in 2007 was a superb mid-card feud. Punk vs Regal was fairly decent from this year. The WWE has a lot of mid-carders right now, some are in the tag team division, some hang out with the main eventers occasionally, and most of them do nothing for a majority of the time.

Here are some of the names of mid-carders in the WWE at the present moment: Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy, MVP, Mr Kennedy, CM Punk, William Regal, R-Truth, The Brian Kendrick, Carlito, Primo, John Morrison, The Miz, I could go on and on for days here, but the point is that there is a shitload of mid-carders right now. Because of this, not all of them will receive a push or even a feud at certain times. Remember, the WWE balances it's shows with main eventers, mid-carders, tag teams and the womens division. There isn't a real lot of time for the mid-carders to shine, though Smackdown and Raw have been putting on decent mid-card matches as of late, which brings me to my next topic.

ECW. The show is basically made for mid-carders. It's consistantly main evented by mid-carders. All the mid-card feuds happen here. Sure, there are also a lot of rookies on the show who aren't even worthy of mid-card status yet, but give it time and they will be up there. The fact remains, the WWE is doing a fair bit to improve their mid-card division. Sure, we might not get classic feuds anymore for the IC Title, but we still get decent champions and decent mid-card pushes and superstars. See MVP and CM Punk for examples. The WWE is slowly improving it's mid-card division, nothing is great or perfect but after all, there is always room for improvement.

 

[FromTheSouth]

The mid-card doesn't suck. Sure it's not great and it can improve a great deal, but it doesn't suck. People need to stop comparing wrestling from now, to wrestling 20 years ago. Things have changed a lot since then.

For one, there is no show focusing on the midcard. The whole purpose of this post is that there used to be a show that focuses on the midcard, but now, not so much.

For starters, the WWE has a lot of main event talent who all usually get plenty of air time.

But these guys all seem to be involved in title feuds. Feuds are never between two people. Every title match has three, four, or this month, six guys in it. Why can't Edge fight for the US title and then get on TV saying that because he holds the number two belt, therefore he is the number two guy. That's not good enough for him, he could add, and then use that belt as the justification for a title match. No one has to say, "The US title is the number one contender." It could just be kind of understood.

Because after all, they are the ones who sell out arenas.

Then, let's have two matches every PPV, and then shut the place down.

To be fair, as of late I think the WWE is slowly and gradually improving their mid-card division.

I think they tried last year, putting the IC belt on Jericho and Hardy for most of the year. The problem is that most of their matches didn't involve the belt. Why? They can still win matches with their belt on the line. It's not like either of them are losing very much. Just putting the belt on the line makes it seem important.

The Intercontiental and United States Championships can both be utilized much better, but they aren't terrible. CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin are the current champions, and they aren't terrible by any means.

In the ring, no, but on the mic, yes. Punk sounds like a wisecracking heel that would have been at home in Rated RKO, but somehow is lauded for his honor. Benjamin shouldn't even talk when he's not in character. And there are two other belts that belong in the big two midcard. The tag belts. Miz and Morrison are awesome. The Colons are fun to watch, however, they never seem to have storylines about the belts. They spend more time reminding you that they are smashing the Bellas than they do reminding you they are champs.

Sure, people say how we used to get nice long mid-card feuds back in the day, but I ask this: When was the last time we received a really, really long feud in any division?

Jeff Hardy and HHH had respect feud for the entire year. HBK and Jericho feuded from March until October. With so many midcarders without a serious creative plan, it seems like you could throw a few in some feuds, see what sticks, and then rotate the others.

Undertaker vs Edge was my personal feud of the year in 2008, and that last 4 months with a break in between. Though they did have a few encounters before Wrestlemania 24. MVP vs Matt Hardy in 2007 was a superb mid-card feud.

But that's one midcard feud. Jericho and HBK started as one, but ended up a title match. All I'm saying is that CM Punk and The Miz could antagonize each other for a year. Not every match has to be between the two, but a few run ins in the back, a few DQ's in matches, some pranks, anything. This is the kind of thing that builds anticipation. If they have a year of history against each other, and CM Punk wins the Rumble, and Morrison wins MitB, then you have a match a year in the building, with history and rivalry built in. Th Rock and Stone Cold's WM title matches were that much better because of the history they had. Right now, every promo is guy 1 telling guy 2 he's gonna get his ass kicked. Guy 2 responds with nuh-uh. And then Guy one says uh-huh. When two guys have a history of working together, the promos get better. And it is the promos that build matches.

Punk vs Regal was fairly decent from this year. The WWE has a lot of mid-carders right now, some are in the tag team division, some hang out with the main eventers occasionally, and most of them do nothing for a majority of the time.

See above. Give them something to do. If you build three mini-feuds, one will go over. Reward those guys with some TV time.

Here are some of the names of mid-carders in the WWE at the present moment: Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy, MVP, Mr Kennedy, CM Punk, William Regal, R-Truth, The Brian Kendrick, Carlito, Primo, John Morrison, The Miz, I could go on and on for days here, but the point is that there is a shitload of mid-carders right now. Because of this, not all of them will receive a push or even a feud at certain times.

Why not? Why can't Kane and Kofi Kingston cut a couple of promos on each other? Why not give them three weeks to see if somoene gets interested. Kofi saves a damsel from Kane, they fight, she helps Kofi. Next week, she gets hurt and Kane wins. Next week, she turns on Kofi, and joins Kane, and now three people have something to do.

Remember, the WWE balances it's shows with main eventers, mid-carders, tag teams and the womens division. There isn't a real lot of time for the mid-carders to shine, though Smackdown and Raw have been putting on decent mid-card matches as of late, which brings me to my next topic.

If you call that balance, then you would say that Russia is truly democratic. A ten minute HHH promo that is answered by an 8 minute Edge backstage promo. Then they have a 15 minute match, with four minutes of activity after the bell. After commercials, this is a third of the show. Then Jeff Hardy, amin eventer, gets fiften minutes. Then the Undertaker, main eventer, gets 12. How is this balance?

ECW. The show is basically made for mid-carders. It's consistantly main evented by mid-carders. All the mid-card feuds happen here. Sure, there are also a lot of rookies on the show who aren't even worthy of mid-card status yet, but give it time and they will be up there. The fact remains, the WWE is doing a fair bit to improve their mid-card division. Sure, we might not get classic feuds anymore for the IC Title, but we still get decent champions and decent mid-card pushes and superstars. See MVP and CM Punk for examples. The WWE is slowly improving it's mid-card division, nothing is great or perfect but after all, there is always room for improvement.

I like what ECW is doing. I think it should be abolished though. I think that that hous could be better used for pushing big 2 show mid card feuds. Much like SuperStars. See how that came full circle?

Good luck WGN. I hope that their new show helps this problem.