Column: Has Every Title Become The Hardcore Title?
I don’t know if anybody has realized this but Maryse is the only current champion in WWE who has held his or her title for more than six weeks. In my view this is pure ridiculous. How can any of these title’s gain or retain any prestige with so many short and meaningless reigns? We are about half way through the year and the WWE title, which is supposedly the most prestigious wrestling title in the world has already had six different reigns this year already.
Title changes are exciting in the moment, but their has to be a limit. Unless WWE wants all their titles to mean nothing in the long run they have to go back in time. Now I know we cannot go all the way back to the day’s of Bruno Sammartino holding the title for over seven years, and I am not saying they should. However there has to be a happy medium.
Lets just take Edge for an example. In just three year’s he has won nine world titles! How can world titles be so coveted and prestigious if one person can win nine in the space of three years? A title needs to be changed a maximum of every five to six months or it just cannot have any allure. It is no longer special, the world title has just become something shiny a person gets to carry around for a few weeks. If every wrestler becomes a world champion then what does it really mean to be a world champion? The answer not a hell of a lot.
What about Batista’s last reign. It was a total joke. He had the title for two days then left because of an injury. Now that seems fine but everyone knew he was injured before they gave him the title and they also knew he was going to take time off. So why did they give him the title; for a storyline? How many more hits is the World title going to have to take on behalf of a storyline, before it becomes meaningless to the point where it can’t even add to a storyline?
To try and solve this problem we must look to where it started. This mad frenzy of title swapping really started during the attitude era. A time when WWE was in need of new fans so they could take on WCW, so they added as much excitement and shock to every show as possible. One way they did this was a lot of title changes. This was fine for the short term but did damage to the titles in the long term. This is shown clearly as many of the titles around at that time have been retired. This damage is still happening today and something needs to be done.
So how long does WWE left until all of their titles suffer the same fate as the hardcore title? Which started of as a good idea but changed hands so much it became meaningless and was retired. Some changes need to be made and they need to be made quickly.
by Paul McNamara
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Paul, i agree. i feel that longer title stints would create bigger heat with heels and make the fans more verbal at PPVs (the last few have been like a library compared to how the fans use to act in the 80s early 90s).I just feel that every belt has lost its appeal…the tag belts (well they will be extinct in the next year), the intercontinental belt (that use to be the mid-card belt for main event pushes, but they have started to give them to old world champions and not pushing young exciting talent), the womans belt (yawn….well this division is just the pits). The us belt (what is the point to this belt really???Please honestly tell me the point in the US belt???please)
thanks
What is this personal vandetta against the attitude era?
Paul, I`m afraid I have to both agree and disagree.You are definitely right about the titles slowly losing their prestige, especially when so many of the champions are being pinned in matches with only a 3 count. There`s a time and a place for that, but to have it happen so often is VERY uncessary and undersells the said champion. The part I disagree with though is Edge winning the title 9 times, in the past 3 years. I myself believe that after so many hard working years in the business, WWE offcials finally became smart and utilised Edge to his best as a first-class heel. All of his title wins were either unexepected, surprising, and yet always entertaining. Sometimes his wins would have all of these attributes.
I will agree with you on a few things. Yes both world titles have changed hands to many times this year. But look at it this way, when Triple H was the champion last year for a good several months, but none of the little kids liked it because they can’t make up their damn minds! So WWE decided to make the kiddys happy by changing the titles every month or so. But if you ask me it’s quite annoying. I think a good reign is about Four monthes, than we would have about three or four Champions in one year instead of nine.
Here’s another thing that degrands the Champions that you didn’t mention. I’ll tell it to ya in a question…. How can there be 2 people on the tip top of the same mountain? Having more than one main title is a terrible thing to do. It confuses the fans when the titles switch shows almost every year and having 2 heavyweigh champions degrands the belt because lets face it guys and gals, There’s only 1 Superbowl Champion…. There’s only 1 World Series Championship Team, NHL Champions, UFC Champions. Hell Spelling be champions… THERE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE World Heavyweight CHAMPION!!!!!
You Can’t Test…The West
Wrestling is fake the title is a prop,the only thing real is the money and the miles, the title is used to elevate a character, the best characters flourish with good feuds that don’t involve titles,kurt angle vs HBK,HBK vs taker, why would lame ric flair win a world title 16 times, because he lost it and got it back 16 times!I find these records ridiculous, is triple h going to whore out and win the title 17 times? probably, That douchebag cm punk walking around with a briefcase, finally cashed it in, back in the old days the IC champ would be a strong contender for next world champ, now they don’t even follow the formula, all the past great world champions were great intercontinental champions, batutista isn’t in the top 10 of great world champs, come on, things got out of hand when rey mysterio got the world strap come on? Its been awhile since a wrestler died, whats the count to, how many days since a wrestler died? u should put up a deathboard on the website
mr.wondeful who cares if its fake…everyone knows that…
Good comments from everyone i just want to quickly state a few things i do not have a vandetta against the attitude era i just pointed out one of its flaws every era has flaws.
Plus i actually respect edge alot and do think he deserved a few good years I just used his case as unfortunately for him it helped prove my point
I’ve expressed this issue in past columns also, and I especially agree with you on Batista’s last title reign. While most fans seem to love him and can do no wrong in their eyes, I’m not such a huge fan and think it was meaningless to put the belt on him for only one day. The general consensus was that it was to give him credibility and save face going out with an injury, but who the hell cares about that when the integrity and prestige of the title is at stake?
wwe is absolutely terrible. thank god 4 tna, thats all i got 2 say.
you know what really pisses me off everytime i see it. When Randy Orton comes out, without his title. Hes the Champion and doesnt even bring his belt out with him.
Short reigns don’t undermine titles. Disrepect or disinterest by the company undermines titles.
I don’t think that short reigns undermine the value of the world and WWE titles, provided that they are swapped back and forth between worthy holders. In the past two and a half years (2007-09), the two world titles have been held by ten wrestlers—Orton, Batista, HHH, Edge, Cena, Punk, Jeff Hardy, Jericho, Undertaker and the Great Khali. If the Raw title hot potatoes at every pay-per-view between Cena, HHH and Orton for six months, I don’t think that that’s a problem. (The feud would get stale, but that’s a different problem). The top stars in the company are still treating the title with respect, and so are the writers. The belt is the goal and the focus of the promotion, and the focus of the fans. (Commenter above is right about Orton not coming out with the title. That undermines the title more than three title changes in a one-night championship gauntlet.)
Khali’s two-month reign damaged the Smackdown title more than Batista’s two-day reign did. Giving Batista the belt for two days was stupid, but was quickly forgotten.
The secondary titles are a different issue. No one questions why competitors want to be “the champ.” It doesn’t need an explanation. The secondary titles need an explanation. Why is a competitor content to be a lesser champ? For the women’s titles, the answer is obvious enough. For the tag titles, it’s pretty obvious. For the other titles, it’s not as obvious, and those titles have suffered.
Secondary titles prosper when the company effectively defines what these titles are for, and therefore what this division is for. Tag team specialists strive for the tag belt, Knockouts/Divas for the women’s title, small high-flyers for the Cruiserweight/X title. When the creative staff loses interest in a division, like the WWE Cruiserweight division, the TNA X Division, or the tag divisions on Raw and Smackdown, the title becomes meaningless, defended in thrown-together matches, ignored or eventually retired.
It is always hard to effectively define what a midcard title (US, Intercontinental) is for. Those are the titles most at risk. If Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, Finlay and John Morrison are dethroning each other as US Champion every two or three weeks, it is difficult to stay interested. Those are the belts that need stability, so that the holder is seen to successfully defend that belt through several different feuds, cementing his case for a place in the main events.