The State of Championships in WWE

Throughout WWE's rich history there have been many prestigious Championships. There have been many successful Championship reigns. however more often than not in recent memory Championship reigns have been forgettable, sometimes making the Champions themselves forgettable.

CM Punk held the WWE Championship for an incredible 434 days, making him the 6th longest reigning WWE Champion in history, and while this reign was historic there has been several reigns over the past few years that we're forgettable.

Last year at Wrestlemania 28 Daniel Bryan hoped to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus in the opening match of the night, does that sound like a World Championship match? And to make matters worse, the contest ended in a record setting 18 seconds.

Wrestlemania 28 is not the first time that a World Chapionship match has opened the show, do you open your biggest show of the year with a World Championship match? It's no secret that the World Heavyweight Championship is second to the the WWE Championship, a World Championship shouldn't be second to any prize in the sport should it? and that is why I think they should unify em.

There is no arguing that Team Hell No certainly resurrected the dying tag team division for a while and what started out as an hiliarious run, defending their Championships prominently as now almost returned the tag team divsion to what it was not so long ago, a dying art in Professional Wrestling. They rarely defend their titles now and you can't argue that there is no competition because in my view Rhode Scholars are more than capable of holding the Championships and PTP are certainly a good team together. Soe light may be brought back however because it looks like the super talented Shield is going to be challenging for em and I'm overjoyed at that possibility, The Shield are one of the best teams in years.

There was a time in WWE when Championships meant a lot but now the US Champion loses every week and he doesn't even defend it, if you beat the Champion, shouldn't that earn you a Championship match? It certainly seems not, I can't remember the last time Antonio Cesaro defended his Championship on a PPV, although he did recently loses his Championship on Raw in a match against Kofi Kingston, a match that had a 2 week build.

That's another issue that's hurting Championships, the lack of build. In the Wrestlemania 29 pre-show Wade Barrett lost the Intercontinteal Championship to The Miz, a match that felt like it was randomly thrown together and a match that had a very short build to it, how o they expect the fans to care about it?


There was also a time in WWE when losing a mid-card Championship would lead to a major Championship. In 2011 Cody Rhodes won the Intercontinental Championship and swore to restore it back to it's once prestigious self. He even retired the title and ressurected the classic Intercontintal Championship and got many defenses under his belt. Cody Rhodes was phenomenal in 2011. His impressive run as champion eventually led to a PPV match with Randy Orton, although he did lose there is no doubt he looked like a champion and his feud with Orton was very entertaining. However this feud did not feature the Championship, he would go on to lose his Championship to Big Show at Wrestlemania 28 and from there was the beginning of the end for Cody Rhode's impressive year.

In the golden age if Hulk Hogan met Randy Savage in a Champion vs Champion match, it would be a big deal, actually it probably would have been the main event of one of their big PPV's. However, Wrestling has changed for the better and for the worse. Champion vs Champion matches are thrown together frequently now that it doesn't feel big anymore, it likes any other match, and Champion's lose so much on live events that it doesn't feel special when a Champion loses in a none title match anyway.

The lack of well thought out stories is another concern I have for Championship feuds as well. Not so long ago now Jack Swagger returned and from the moment he did, he looked dominant. He went onto win the Smackdown Elimination Chamber No. 1 Contender's Match for the World Heavyweight Championship and while he was a breath of fresh air, I remembered that he was losing every week before his return for a very long time, the as fast as he returned, he was running through his competition.

As I touched on earlier, CM Punk held the WWE Championship for an astounding 434 days, beating everyone who came his way. He beat guys like Del Rio, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Kane Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Ryback and John Cena. But all good things must come to an end and they did for CM Punk at WWE's Royal Rumble PPV. CM Punk finally lost his Championship to The Rock and while it certainly is not a bad thing to lose to The Rock. He did only lose it to him so WWE could re promote "Once in a Lifetime" I think it would have been much better if CM Punk kept the title and put it on the line against Th Undertaker at Wrestlemania in a streak vs streak match but I'm not complaining because we did still get the match and it didn't disappoint by any means.

As well as the World Championships been unified, I would love to see the European Championship ressurected, prefably by Barrett or Cesaro. Who knows maybe a tournament to declare the Champion? I also think it would be a nice touch if William Regal awarded the Championship to the winner. Ressurecting the classic Intercontinental Championship worked very well for Cody Rhodes.

Thoughts?

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Damian Waudby