10 Radical Ideas To Save WWE's World Title
The biggest title in professional wrestling is in danger of becoming a footnote.
Its astonishing that WWE have allowed the most famous pro wrestling championship in the world to lose so much prestige of late. You can trace the decline back to the end of 2008, when title changes ceased to be a momentous event, and became a monotonous regularity: in the two years between November 2008 and November 2010, the WWE Championship (as it was then known) changed hands seventeen times, with the longest title reign being Sheamus ninety-one days in summer 2010. Throughout this time, the title swapped prominence on WWE programming with the World Heavyweight Championship, depending on the status of the man who held the title: for example, the Miz was no ones idea of a WWE Champion. The Second Summer Of Punk initially helped to restore excitement to the title again in mid-to-late 2011, but Punk would constantly play second fiddle to Vince McMahons favoured superstars, like John Cena, The Rock and Brock Lesnar. The longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era headlined only five out of fourteen pay-per-views during his 434 days at the top: two were with Cena and the last saw him lose the title to The Rock. More recently, Daniel Bryans single-minded pursuit of the WWE Championship in 2013 and 2014 pushed the title to the foreground once again only for it to recede instantly into the background the second that he was stripped of the title. The intimidatingly legitimate Brock Lesnar would take over a few months later, but the Beasts casual status meant that the champion rarely showed up to RAW, and only brought the title to three out of seven pay-per-view events over his 224 day reign. Then theres super-worker Seth Rollins: playing the legit scuzziest chickensh*t heel champion in living memory. His run since Wrestlemania 31 characterised by whiny, sweaty desperation, Rollins wasnt even considered worthwhile enough to vacate the title in person on RAW - it happened off-screen. And now Sheamus holds the gold: one of the biggest afterthoughts on the roster, a man booked to be under rather than over so often that its amazing his ring gear doesnt include a snorkel. Here are ten suggestions for saving the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, for bringing the title back to where it should be... for making it something worth fighting over again.