Wrestling Rumblings #27
August 7, 2009
By: Jose Marrero of WrestleView.com
Whether you agree with me all of the time or you don?t I think there is one thing that the readers of this column can all agree upon and that is that I am pretty honest with you guys. If I have a situation well I?m pretty open to telling you guys and that is the case this week. You see there is not much of interest to me going on in the world of wrestling this week. Sure we had Dr. Ken and Jeremy Piven prove why celebrities shouldn?t be constantly involved in wrestling and we even had some sackings in TNA that may dictate what their direction could be but at the same time I would rather wait to see what that direction is before commenting. In other words it’s a dead week. So I thought I would do something a little different. After last week’s column I got a ton of email concerning my referring to the ECW title as a world championship. Let me clarify something and just get it out of the way: I do not consider the ECW title or for that matter the ROH title to be of world title status. The reason for my referring to the ECW title in that manner last week was to respect the readers that do acknowledge that title as such. This brings about the question ?What makes a title a world championship?? and of course this is the road upon which we shall embark?you?re reading ?Wrestling Rumblings?.
1. You should have a national TV deal
I think it should go without saying that as great as some independents may be if you are wrestling in a little school once a month where no one outside of a 30 mile20radius even knows of your promotion you should not be allowed to refer to your promotions main championship as a world championship. You should not just have a TV deal but a national TV deal. If you are seen in half the country while it may be great for your company to have that kind of exposure what validates your championship as a world championship to the other remaining areas of the country that can?t even watch your show. We are not in the age of the territories where cross promotion was forbidden. You need to have the attention of the whole country. After all if everyone in the United States is not up to speed on your promotion and you are based there why should any other country validate your existence?
Titles that fit this criteria: ECW, WWE, WWE World and TNA
2. You should have at least 2 overseas TV contracts
This is a world championship and as such the promotion should be seen all over the world. However I think it is fair to say that at least 2 overseas markets would constitute a world championship in addition to being visible throughout North America. If you can?t accomplish this you really have no business of claiming world title status.
Titles that fit this criteria: ECW, WWE, WWE World and TNA
3. You should promote at least 4 live PPV’s a year
What is a promotion without a Supercard? In today’s era of wrestling that Supercard is PPV. While we have literally dozens of PPV’s a year from TNA and WWE I think it is fair to say that we only need a handful to truly respect the championships those companies give us and I think 4 is a nice round number. The reason I say those events should be live is because well do you want to watch the Superbowl or the World Series played 3 months after they actually happened? Of course not wrestling should be held in the same manner.
Titles that fit this criteria: ECW, WWE, WWE World and TNA
4. You should have overseas tours at least once a year
Hey it is in fact a world title is it not? So why not have a tour where it is defended outside of North America? Hell a PPV or a TV show would be even nicer but I can see how that would be costly for a promotion that is not funded by Vince McMahon. Still though if you have overseas markets you should be wise enough to try to have that title defended in those markets when possible.
Titles that fit this criteria: ECW, WWE, WWE World, TNA and ROH.
5. Have 1 additional singles titles on the roster
This one may feel like I am nitpicking a bit but think about it if there is no si ngles title besides your world title to compete for how would that help your mid card? Yes everyone does want to be the world champion but the fact is everyone can?t be the world champion and even those that have the potential to be your world champion cannot always slide into the main event without first being groomed properly in the mid card. Bear in mind you don?t want to clutter your company with titles either because well it devalues your world title. Even though as I write this I still feel you can have as many mid card titles as you make important on your roster and it will do nothing to hurt your world title. For those ROH fans who would argue that the FIP title is a secondary title to your company you are wrong. You?re secondary title should be property of your own promotion and not that of a sister promotion and for that matter shouldn?t have equal billing as that of your main title. To critics who would argue that the X Division was not a traditional secondary title since it was competed for mainly by cruiserweight competitors I will say you?re right. However the X Division was able to float this rule for the simple fact that while cruiserweights generally competed for it there were occasions where heavyweight wrestlers did in fact compete for and win the title. As a matter of fact the slogan of the X Division at its inception was ?It’s not about weight limits, it’s about no limits? which to me helped further estab lish it as a secondary title. It was through the sloppy booking of TNA creative where that philosophy got lost and had to necessitate the creation of the Legends championship. Even still the X Division helped elevate and groom for world title runs both Samoa Joe and AJ Styles.
Titles that fit this criteria: WWE, WWE World and TNA
6. Your world title should be considered the top prize in that promotion
This should really go without saying but I have to include it in there. You see there was a Royal Rumble 2 years ago where Chavo Guerrero as the ECW Champion competed to win a title shot at Wrestlemania. WWE tried to sort of sweep it under the20rug by making it historic and telling everyone how Chavo was the first world champion since Hulk Hogan to compete in the match. However they neglected that when Hogan competed in the match the prize was money not a shot at another brand’s title. If you are a world champion your brand/promotions title should be the top title in your eyes and if it isn?t that greatly hurts the standing of your title as a world title. I previously made mention of the FIP title in ROH. That title is billed as a world title which to me means it has equal value to the ROH title. If the ROH title is to be considered as a world title in ROH it needs to be the only one. There was a point in time where WCW and the NWA both had world championships in the same promotion and for those that followed it back then didn?t it appear that the NWA championship suffered a great deal during that period? How many people actually remember who the champions were when this period occurred? It was such a bad experiment that you knew at some point the titles would be unified (The WCW International Title for those that are unaware was a offshoot of the NWA title after the NWA stripped there title from WCW and was unified with the WCW World Championship). One promotion/brand should have one world title. It is really that simple.
Titles that fit this criter ia: WWE, WWE World, and TNA
There you have it, this is what I feel should be the criteria in which all current and all future titles that would lay claim to having world title status should be judged by. I think after reading this you will see that these are fair stipulations for any title and well after reviewing them you will see that only 3 titles fit that criteria and they are the WWE Heavyweight (Smackdown), WWE World Heavyweight (Raw) and TNA World Championships.
On that note it is time to wrap this week’s edition of the column up. Of course before I do that I have to tell you that if you have something you want to ask, criticize, compliment or a suggestion you can send your emails to wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com try to do better and until then I am out.
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