IrishCanadian25
Going on 10 years with WrestleZone
Here's a little study I just conducted in my office while asking myself the question - are World Title retentions at a promotion's major annual PPV anti-climactic?
Let's examine each:
World Wrestling Entertainment - Wrestlemania
1986 - Hogan retains vs Bundy
1987 - Hogan retains vs Andre
1988 - Savage wins tournament
1989 - Hogan wins title from Savage
1990 - Warrior wins title from Hogan
1991 - Hogan wins title from Slaughter
1992 - Savage wins title from Flair
1993 - Yokozuna wins title from Hart, Hogan wins title from Yokozuna
1994 - Hart wins title from Yokozuna
1995 - Diesel retains vs Michaels
1996 - Michaels wins title from Hart
1997 - Undertaker wins title from Sid
1998 - Austin wins title from Michaels
1999 - Austin wins title from The Rock
2000 - HHH retains vs Foley, Show, Rock
2001 - Austin wins title from The Rock
2002 - Triple H wins title from Jericho
2003 - Lesnar wins title from Angle
2004 - Benoit wins title vs Triple H and Michaels
2005 - Batista wins title from Triple H
2006 - Cena retains vs Triple H (Rey won WHC earlier)
2007 - Cena retains vs Michaels (Taker won WHC earlier)
2008 - Undertaker wins title from Edge
Total Nonstop Action - Bound for Glory
2005 - Rhino wins title from Jeff Jarrett
2006 - Sting wins title from Jeff Jarrett
2007 - Sting wins title from Kurt Angle
2008 - Sting wins title from Samoa Joe
World Championship Wrestling - Starcade
1983 - Flair beat Race for the title
1984 - Flair retains vs Rhodes
1985 - Rhodes beat Flair for the title
1986 - Flair and Koloff - double DQ
1987 - Flair beat Garvin for the title
1988 - Flair retains vs Luger
1989 - No Title Matches Occured
1990 - Sting retains vs The Black Scorpion
1991 - No Title Matches Occured
1992 - Simmons retains vs Williams
1993 - Flair beat Vader to win the title
1994 - Hogan retains vs The Butcher
1995 - Flair beat Savage to win the title
1996 - Non Title Main Event
1997 - Sting beat Hogan to win the title
1998 - Nash beat Goldberg to win the title
1999 - Hart retains vs Goldberg
2000 - Steiner retains vs Vicious
Ok, IC25, what does this exhaustive list mean?
In main events for a promotion's major Heavyweight Championship (main event denotes the final match of the night involving a World Title), a new champion was crowned 66% of the time. This does not take into account the 3 Starcades in which a title match did not occur. If you do not count Starcade, the WWF/E and TNA Title has changed hands 77% of the time. This counts Wrestlemania 9 as only ONE title change.
With all of the kayfabe build-up to a promotion's major PPV event, a title change almost feels like a "gimme." The Royal Rumble has almost become WWF's may of saying "you're going to win the belt at Wrestlemania, it's just a question of how." Both of Cena's title retentions, though final match main events, were against non-Rumble winners, and in BOTH cases, WWE's other championship had changed hands earlier in the night, which would drive the title change percentage up above 80%, or 4 out of 5 events.
What I am saying is that a major PPV that does not crown a new champion at the end is anti-climactic. Do you agree with me?
Let's examine each:
World Wrestling Entertainment - Wrestlemania
1986 - Hogan retains vs Bundy
1987 - Hogan retains vs Andre
1988 - Savage wins tournament
1989 - Hogan wins title from Savage
1990 - Warrior wins title from Hogan
1991 - Hogan wins title from Slaughter
1992 - Savage wins title from Flair
1993 - Yokozuna wins title from Hart, Hogan wins title from Yokozuna
1994 - Hart wins title from Yokozuna
1995 - Diesel retains vs Michaels
1996 - Michaels wins title from Hart
1997 - Undertaker wins title from Sid
1998 - Austin wins title from Michaels
1999 - Austin wins title from The Rock
2000 - HHH retains vs Foley, Show, Rock
2001 - Austin wins title from The Rock
2002 - Triple H wins title from Jericho
2003 - Lesnar wins title from Angle
2004 - Benoit wins title vs Triple H and Michaels
2005 - Batista wins title from Triple H
2006 - Cena retains vs Triple H (Rey won WHC earlier)
2007 - Cena retains vs Michaels (Taker won WHC earlier)
2008 - Undertaker wins title from Edge
Total Nonstop Action - Bound for Glory
2005 - Rhino wins title from Jeff Jarrett
2006 - Sting wins title from Jeff Jarrett
2007 - Sting wins title from Kurt Angle
2008 - Sting wins title from Samoa Joe
World Championship Wrestling - Starcade
1983 - Flair beat Race for the title
1984 - Flair retains vs Rhodes
1985 - Rhodes beat Flair for the title
1986 - Flair and Koloff - double DQ
1987 - Flair beat Garvin for the title
1988 - Flair retains vs Luger
1989 - No Title Matches Occured
1990 - Sting retains vs The Black Scorpion
1991 - No Title Matches Occured
1992 - Simmons retains vs Williams
1993 - Flair beat Vader to win the title
1994 - Hogan retains vs The Butcher
1995 - Flair beat Savage to win the title
1996 - Non Title Main Event
1997 - Sting beat Hogan to win the title
1998 - Nash beat Goldberg to win the title
1999 - Hart retains vs Goldberg
2000 - Steiner retains vs Vicious
Ok, IC25, what does this exhaustive list mean?
In main events for a promotion's major Heavyweight Championship (main event denotes the final match of the night involving a World Title), a new champion was crowned 66% of the time. This does not take into account the 3 Starcades in which a title match did not occur. If you do not count Starcade, the WWF/E and TNA Title has changed hands 77% of the time. This counts Wrestlemania 9 as only ONE title change.
With all of the kayfabe build-up to a promotion's major PPV event, a title change almost feels like a "gimme." The Royal Rumble has almost become WWF's may of saying "you're going to win the belt at Wrestlemania, it's just a question of how." Both of Cena's title retentions, though final match main events, were against non-Rumble winners, and in BOTH cases, WWE's other championship had changed hands earlier in the night, which would drive the title change percentage up above 80%, or 4 out of 5 events.
What I am saying is that a major PPV that does not crown a new champion at the end is anti-climactic. Do you agree with me?