Guest Steffie Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 Ever since the brand separation 3 years ago WWE have been running with 2 World Championships, the WWE Championship on SmackDown! And the newly created Raw brand World Heavyweight Championship. On paper, it seems like a good idea?.but to any fan who has even glanced at WWE over the past few years; it?s painfully obvious that no one is buying it. No longer is there a champion of the World, a man who carries the promotion, instead there are just Brand Champions?champions of a television show. Of course, I?m not saying the Brand Extension is a bad thing; it?s a great idea really, but it could signify so much more with one solitary World Championship. Back in the 1980s when WWE had Hulk Hogan as their champ, most 'real' wrestling fans knew who the real World Champion was; Ric Flair. At the time, Ric was the NWA World?s Heavyweight Champion and would defend the title all over the United States and beyond in different territories, taking on each promotions leading star, making him a true ?World? Champion in every sense of the word. In 2005, we have one dominant power in the Professional Wrestling industry, that being WWE, and with that comes one helluvan opportunity for the promotion. They have a chance to create the most prestigious period for the World championship since those days of Ric Flair and the NWA title. Both brands will persist to run and operate as separate entities, but just like any premier sport, there can be only 1 Undisputed Champion of the World. There?s a few points I know I will raised, so I?ll just comment on them now and clear a few things up. ? House Shows This is something people will more than likely bring up. What about House shows? People want to see the champ. Well, let?s first talk about the Midcard Championships right now. I think it?s safe to say that the Intercontinental and United States Championships aren?t up to much these days. They get the odd decent feud, but for the most part, they?re suppressed in what is a very short 2-hour show. Even the Tag Team and Cruiserweight Championships aren?t doing much! With only one World Championship, the Midcard titles will become the Premier solo Championships of each brand. They can be used to develop great mainevent storylines and feuds and most importantly, they will be given enough time to do so. People will go to house shows to watch these titles defended because they will have storylines behind him, big stars performing over them and actual meaning. ? The World Champion Would have to work more Another point that might be brought up is that the World champion will have to work twice as much. I don?t see this as the case. The World Champion will be the biggest title holder in the industry. He simply doesn?t have to work every show. There is enough talent on the Raw and SmackDown! Rosters to run some top storylines and angles. The World Champion will continue to work one live show a week and one full house-show schedule a week with no extra time. This makes seeing the World Champion somewhat more special, thus raising the prestige of the WWE World Championship to the fans and the wrestlers. ? What about Pay Per Views? This is a final point I want to comment on. Right now, WWE is running 14 Pay-Per-View events per year. The means that each World Champion on the Raw and SmackDown! Brand works 9 PPV events per-year respectively. I see no reason for changing that. TNA run the odd PPV were the World Champion doesn?t defend the title and it never effects their buy-rates, all that matters is that there is enough of a draw in the event for fans to buy it. Again, WWE have the deepest talent roster in Professional wrestling history, surely they can work a good feud for the IC/US championship, now with all this extra talent, and a few other top draw matches, to get the fans to buy the show. To add to that, with the solo World champion working a 9 PPV a year schedule, it leaves so much more time to develop the actual WWE title feud and storyline, something the promotion is desperately missing. I can guarantee fans will buy if it?s a good show over whether or not the World title is defended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 The downside is that if there was one champ for both brands whoever had it would get burned out so fast the title would probably change hands often, or worse have a situation like in the 80s where Hogan would only wrestle once a month and almost never on TV unless it was a special show. My beef with the split is that they get along too much. They should really sell the competition aspect more, have one brand take digs at the other like WCW used to do. Have the new slogan for SmackDown be something like "We Wrestle". Make it seem like they're rival promotions that only get together for the Rumble and WM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steffie Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 or worse have a situation like in the 80s where Hogan would only wrestle once a month and almost never on TV unless it was a special show. That might as well be the case, these days. You know the belt is only going to change hands at PPV, if at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KingPK Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 Yeah, when was the last time in the WWF/E that the title changed hands at a house show, and it stuck? (Meaning, the champion didn't regain it two days later at another house show). Diesel beating Backlund? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 The Monday Night Wars trained fans to expect the world champ every week playing a vital part of the show, I don't know if they'd accept a champ that's only on their show every other week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 I would love to see the WWE World Champion go to Ring Of Honor and the like to defend his title. That'd be really cool to witness, and would help solidify some non-WWE promotions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 That would be cool from a fan perspective but why would the WWE allow their champion to appear on a non-WWE show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 To promote competition? To show that they "care about the little people?" To try to give Vince a reason to run shows, I.E. direct competition again. Perhaps to try and add a little bit of legitimacy to the business to make it looked at like more of a sport. Right now Raw and Smackdown are just kinda there. When Nitro was on the air, at least they were trying to win the ratings war. It'd be pretty fucked up to see a Triple H highlight on Sportscenter, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 They used to have IWGP matches on WCW shows and NWA/WCW titles defended in NJPW and in many ways it made people believe the title really was a World championship defended across the globe against the top wrestlers the world over. I think they had planned to have only one champion before HHH decided he wanted the Big Gold Belt. They didn't go through the Undisputed championship rigmarole for nothing, it just became nothing after HHH decided he deserved a belt too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 I'm against having only one champion for one reason: HHH. We all know that he'd make the undisputed title his toy just like he's done with the Raw belt. The idea of one champ isgood until you realize that they would have to build 2 feuds for the world champ and I don' think WWE is capable of doing it at this point. I think they just need to do a better job of competing with themselves. SD! should be a certain style and Raw a different style. Right now both shows have long time heel champs and young up and coming heels who the fans started cheering and as a result the booking team cut their nuts off and has hurt their heat. Same shit, different show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steffie Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 The downside is that if there was one champ for both brands whoever had it would get burned out so fast the title would probably change hands often, or worse have a situation like in the 80s where Hogan would only wrestle once a month and almost never on TV unless it was a special show. The World Champion Would have to work moreAnother point that might be brought up is that the World champion will have to work twice as much. I don?t see this as the case. The World Champion will be the biggest title holder in the industry. He simply doesn?t have to work every show. There is enough talent on the Raw and SmackDown! Rosters to run some top storylines and angles. The World Champion will continue to work one live show a week and one full house-show schedule a week with no extra time. This makes seeing the World Champion somewhat more special, thus raising the prestige of the WWE World Championship to the fans and the wrestlers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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