World Championships, what they mean and how they should be treated.

[WrestlingHistorian]

A huge reason why I stopped watching WWF in 2002 was because of how they treated their World Heavyweight Championship throughout the "Attitude Era", same with TNA when they had the NWA Title. Too many title changes and too many champions water down the title and make it seem like anyone could be champion, it has always urked me in the sport of wrestling. A World Championship should be elusive, it should be a career achievement and a pinnicle within the sport just like when the NWA and WWF titles were revered in the 70's and 80's. A World Title should be given to very few in the sport who can earn money and put on amazing matches, champions should be honored and looked at in a different light than the other competitors, but all that is hard to attain when you have 20 ex-champions running around and everyone has held the title multiple times each. I blame the fans. New school (1990-current) are fickle and complain and moan when a champion has the title longer than a few months, they get bored and then ratings drop and new champions are crowned. I remember in the early 80's in the NWA there was no music, there was no major gimmicks, there was no flashy lights and pyro and 20 minute in ring mic segments to get wrestlers "over", all there was were a bunch of guys who worked hard in the ring and won the crowd over with their matches alone. Today, if you have a cool catch phrase or if you have a hot finisher or can pop a crowd with your words then you have a shot at winning the title it seems. Maybe I just miss the old days of wrestling and maybe I am spoiled by ROH and their long reigning champions and awesome matches, or maybe I am jaded because I dont watch Wrestling for storylines and I watch it purly for the in ring competition, I view it as a sport rather than a performance. I don't know, I just needed to get it off of my chest. Back then the belt meant more than being a prop and the champions meant something special, what does everyone think?

And please, if your some 16 y/o kid who knows nothing besides WW/E please don't respond saying how John Cena is the best ever, because this is more for the well rounded fan to discuss, those who have been a student of the sport for many, many years.

 

[jmt225]

And please, if your some 16 y/o kid who knows nothing besides WW/E please don't respond saying how John Cena is the best ever, because this is more for the well rounded fan to discuss, those who have been a student of the sport for many, many years.

I'm 23 and been watching pro wrestling before I could even remember, and I must say that John Cena is BY FAR the best long-term champion WWE has had in a VERY long time. Thank God he came along, because even though his belt was absolutely ridiculous, he actually became a champion where it actually meant something if someone beat him and took the title away from him. I'm talking about his year long reign, of course. For the first time in what seemed like forever, WWE had a champion who people tuned in to either see lose the belt, or keep it. But people were tuning in to watch his World Title Matches. And it was because he brought prestige back to the WWE Title. No one knew when the fucker would lose it, and when he did, it shocked everyone. WWE, in my opinion, made a HUGE mistake by having him losing the title recently, instead of giving him another year long reign.

What I'm getting at here, with the exception of the silly design, Cena's year long reign was EXACTLY how the World Title should be treated, because every match he was in after the like, I would say, four month mark, actually meant something. Cena, single handily, made people care about his belt. He deserves a lot of credit for that. You could tell he loved being champion, and you could tell that the people in attendance, with their reactions and what not, all paid their money to see him either retain or lose that championship belt. He made the belt a draw again, instead of a prop.

So, basically, what I'm trying to say is that the answer to your question is simple. Just look at what Cena did during his one year reign with the title. Look at what Bryan Danielson did with his run with the ROH Title. Look at what Hogan did in the eighties with his run as Champion. These guys made the belt a draw. And that's how the World Title should be treated: as a draw, not a prop.

 

[Alex(Killer Of Dreams & Legends)]

Ok i have been watching wrestling for about 10-15 years and while i agree that sometimes wwe just uses the belt as a prop nowadays , they have had credible champions since 2002 like Cena who did hold the title for over a year. Like the Undertaker the classic underdog who always seems to be hanging around the world title hell even lesnar and jbl where treated like this (clasic world champion) but needless to say every ones got to understand is this hobby of ours is changing and though we may not like the product there are millions of others who like it and they will satisfy them before they satisfy us.

 

[WrestlingHistorian]

I am just sick of all of these 2 month title reigns and the fact that everyone is an ex-world champion these days, it is getting pretty crazy with how many people get belts these days. Titles are no longer an acheivement and an honor, it's a prop and a way to please people to calm them down so they wont complain or go wrestle elsewhere. They seem to have no prestige left and it is getting somewhat better these days, but it has ways to go before the titles are what they once were in this sport. I do have faith though.....

 

[Slyfox696]

I am just sick of all of these 2 month title reigns and the fact that everyone is an ex-world champion these days, it is getting pretty crazy with how many people get belts these days. Titles are no longer an acheivement and an honor, it's a prop and a way to please people to calm them down so they wont complain or go wrestle elsewhere. They seem to have no prestige left and it is getting somewhat better these days, but it has ways to go before the titles are what they once were in this sport. I do have faith though.....

It's not really as bad as you are making it out to be though. First of all, there are now 3 World Championships, and so, at any one time, you are going to have three World Champions. Second, these guys are on TV EVERY week, and on PPV EVERY month. Thus, they get many more chances to be shown these days than they did back 20 years ago, when you'd see the champion on TV only every so often. Finally, the storyline of "being champion" isn't interesting to fans anymore. They'd rather have HBK be a servant to JBL than see Jeff Hardy's quest to be a World Champion.

So, it's really not that big deal.