Fantastic Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Could this be one of the lamest world champion roll calls in wrestling history? WWE World Heavyweight Champion - John Cena TNA World Heavyweight Champion - Bobby Lashley ROH World Champion - Michael Elgin IWGP Heavyweight Champion - AJ Styles AJPW Triple Crown Champion - Joe Doering GHC Heavyweight Champion - Naomichi Marufuji NWA World Heavyweight Champion - Rob Conway AAA World Heavyweight Champion - El Texano Jr. CMLL World Heavyweight Champion - El Terrible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 John Cena is my pick out of all of them. - Bobby Lashley isn't anything special, he's TNA's answer to ... Bobby Lashley. There are many other members of the TNA roster who would do more for the title and the company (which really needs something special at the moment) in place of him. - AJ is good, but he's no Okada, Tanahashi, or Nakamura who are far more successful draws with the NJPW audience, it feels with Styles that he's come out of no where and not really made the proverbial impact that he should have. What's more, there's Naito, Ishii, and Shibata all waiting in the wings, who would have been far better choices as champions, given their chemistry with the aforementioned aces. Hell, had NJPW managed to hold onto Devitt, he might have made an awesome champion. - Rob Conway is a journeyman, a guy who wants to be good, but cannot realistically be a world class level champion. - Marufuji was once pushed to be the natural successor to Misawa, he couldn't do it. Can he do it now, at the helm of a greatly diminished promotion? Probably not. - Joe Doering is just reaping the rewards for his service, the belt will be back on Suwama in no time, or Akiyama will book himself a run for old time's sake. AJPW has a lot of work that needs done. - Michael Elgin is a great wrestler, but not the total package. There is no way any case could be made to put him ahead of John Cena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 There's always Rey Escorpion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 I know All Japan has been garbage for over a decade now but Doering with the Triple Crown seems like rock bottom for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 I know All Japan has been garbage for over a decade now but Doering with the Triple Crown seems like rock bottom for them. This. They've done two reward reigns now with Omori and Doering sandwiched between a nothing reign for Suwama. Not exactly a great start for what has been promised as the rebirth of AJPW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Out of those choices, Cena by a landslide overall, but AJ has probably had the best 2014. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 And Marufuji while an awful GHC Champio IS a step up from Yuji Nagata. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Give me Nagata over Marufuji any day. AJ at least had a hell of a G1 to the point of knocking on being in my top 10 in the world. He seems to have gotten much, much more over with the crowd than he was beforehand, too. The Bullet Club stuff is still very, very lame for a main event act but I'll lift my negative judgment on AJ's being champion, which I had until now, to see if he can capitalize on that great G1 run and make the crowd care about him. Cena is just a very lame transitional champ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 There's only one real World title for me anymore. And John Cena wears it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Biggest star is Cena. Best worker this year has been Styles. Best promoted as champion - scarily enough - has been Lashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Yeah, not saying he's better than the others listed here but I love how TNA has been promoting Lashley as a Ric Flar/Goldberg hybrid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphis Mark Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 AJ Styles is the best champion . The jury is still on on Elgin . let's see if he draws is well as Adam Cole. I don't really carry for John Cena's work , he appears to be really limited in the ring. To be fair I only seen Cena work a few times , the WWE product is hard for me to watch . I am prefer a more traditional wrestling product.. The others are really far behind AJ Styles. AJ should be wrestller of the year. Jus t my take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 IWGP Heavyweight has been the best booked championship recently so for that reason alone, it puts Styles near the top of the mix. WWE World Heavyweight sort-of, kind-of "means something" in the sense that WWE still has the biggest profile so people care to some extent who the champion is. None of the other world championships listed really mean all that much to a wider fan base so it is hard to consider any one of those champions as "the best". There is at least some level of mutual relationship between a good champion and a championship. I am inclined to go with Styles over Cena because the IWGP Heavyweight title has been better booked than the WWE World Championship, plus Styles is having the better reign from a match quality perspective. Cena is without a doubt the biggest star but I am not sure that alone makes him the best champion per say. I'd point out that Texano, Jr. & Terrible were left off the opening post, but since their home promotions often seem to forget those guys are their World Heavyweight Champions, then I guess their omittance here is fitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 I'd point out that Texano, Jr. & Terrible were left off the opening post, but since their home promotions often seem to forget those guys are their World Heavyweight Champions, then I guess their omittance here is fitting. I left out El Terrible because pretty much every belt in CMLL is a world title and they change their minds regularly about which is the premier division. As for Texano, AAA seems to regard Rey de Reyes as the big prize over their heavyweight title. However, I will amend the OP to include them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 I'd point out that Texano, Jr. & Terrible were left off the opening post, but since their home promotions often seem to forget those guys are their World Heavyweight Champions, then I guess their omittance here is fitting. I left out El Terrible because pretty much every belt in CMLL is a world title and they change their minds regularly about which is the premier division. As for Texano, AAA seems to regard Rey de Reyes as the big prize over their heavyweight title. However, I will amend the OP to include them. I was mainly joking and using it as a chance to point out how CMLL and AAA misuse Terrible and Texano, Jr., respectively. Agreed that neither title is pushed by their respective promotion as major championships and they are fine to leave out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 I'd point out that Texano, Jr. & Terrible were left off the opening post, but since their home promotions often seem to forget those guys are their World Heavyweight Champions, then I guess their omittance here is fitting. I left out El Terrible because pretty much every belt in CMLL is a world title and they change their minds regularly about which is the premier division. As for Texano, AAA seems to regard Rey de Reyes as the big prize over their heavyweight title. However, I will amend the OP to include them. I was mainly joking and using it as a chance to point out how CMLL and AAA misuse Terrible and Texano, Jr., respectively. Agreed that neither title is pushed by their respective promotion as major championships and they are fine to leave out. I know, but it nicely relates to my point about how lame the current roll call of champions actually is. Nobody really stands out all that much as a true world class star, with the exception of John Cena, who is definitely into the process of winding his career down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shining Wiz Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 AJ. Far and away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 Now if they decide to put Marco over Terrible (I kid). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 There was a period in 2011 when Miz was WWE champion and Mr. Anderson was TNA champion. It doesn't get much worse than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 I was trying to think of a worse period of champions than this. Coming out of Wrestlemania 18 in late March you did have this roll call of champions: WWE Champion: Triple H IWGP Champion: Tadao Yasuda Triple Crown Champion: Kawada - injured and striped of the belt around this time frame. GHC Champion: Jun Akiyama NWA Champion: Dan Severn CMLL Heavyweight Champion: Universo 2000 That's a pretty pathetic list of world champions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 I was trying to think of a worse period of champions than this. Coming out of Wrestlemania 18 in late March you did have this roll call of champions: WWE Champion: Triple H IWGP Champion: Tadao Yasuda Triple Crown Champion: Kawada - injured and striped of the belt around this time frame. GHC Champion: Jun Akiyama NWA Champion: Dan Severn CMLL Heavyweight Champion: Universo 2000 That's a pretty pathetic list of world champions. That is pretty awful. Some thoughts though: - The return of Hogan neutralised the appeal of Triple H - Tadao Yasuda was just more MMA masturbation booking influence of Inoki. - Akiyama did have some life in him as champion. - Servern should never have stepped foot in a wrestling ring, let alone have held a world title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 Yeah, Akiyama is probably the best of that group considering Kawada got hurt. If you go to the end of April it's still pretty ugly: WWE Champion: Hulk Hogan IWGP Champion: Yuji Nagata Triple Crown Champion: Tenryu GHC Champion: Ogawa NWA Champion: Dan Severn CMLL Heavyweight Champion: Universo 2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted August 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 Yeah, Akiyama is probably the best of that group considering Kawada got hurt. If you go to the end of April it's still pretty ugly: WWE Champion: Hulk Hogan IWGP Champion: Yuji Nagata Triple Crown Champion: Tenryu GHC Champion: Ogawa NWA Champion: Dan Severn CMLL Heavyweight Champion: Universo 2000 That's a lot of older guys. Even Ogawa was 35 years old at this point. Really, Hogan was done as a good in-ring performer in 1998. Anything after the was smoke and mirrors or working against somebody who could carry him and take all of the bumps (Rock, Lesnar, Michaels, Orton, etc). Nagata was pretty good in ring at this point, but didn't have the presence to really make a difference as champion for NJPW at this point in time. Really, it wasn't until Nakamura and Tanahashi started appearing as aces, coupled with the booking of Gedo and Jado that NJPW really exploded once again. That was a really tepid period between 1998 and 2007. Tenryu was pretty much in the "Kobashi of 2006" period of his career. He was still entertaining, could have good to great matches, but was no where near what he once was, and it showed. It was just one final run for Tenryu. Ogawa shouldn't have been GHC Champion, it was nothing more than a reward for years of loyalty to Misawa and being a dependable and consistent worker. He didn't have the traits needed to make a credible champion or promotion ace. But then, not a lot of NOAH's roster at that time did, which is probably why Misawa found himself delaying continually postponing his retirement or winding down. Fuck Dan Severn and his moustache! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 They finally got Inoki away from having any real influence within the company sometime in 2006. I consider them putting the belt on Tanahashi for the first time to be the turning point for them as a company. They made several missteps after that but you can trace the rebound to that decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 - Servern should never have stepped foot in a wrestling ring, let alone have held a world title. Are we really calling the useless, pathetic "NWA" Title of that era a World Championship? Shane Douglas was right about one thing: The NWA died - R.I.P. - many years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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