10 Awesome Ways Wrestling Champions Elevated Titles
Open challenges, nicknames, grand larceny, and everything in between.
That professional wrestling's many championships aren't treated with enough respect or booked with prestige and credibility is a common argument, and one with merit.
WWE's United States and Intercontinental Titles are held by exciting, popular champions and neither is at an all-time low right now, but the promotion isn't exactly doing much to make them feel like real prizes. NJPW's two sets of Tag Team Titles are NJPW master booker Gedo's blindspot. AEW's Women's Championship still suffers as a result of the unfocused division supporting it. Even the WWE 24/7 Title, once an endearing midcard novelty, has had its identity stipped since becoming a regular belt. The list goes on.
The aforementioned straps have slid for various reasons, but from the NXT Women's Championship to the IWGP Heavyweight, today's great titles all have one thing in common: the right champion doing the right things to get themselves and their hardware over. For some, that means a simple blend of banger matches, great promos, and immaculate character work, but for others? It's something a little less traditional. This list is a celebration of those people.
From the NWA's formative years up to the present day, let's dive in...
10. John Cena: The US Title Open Challenge Series
Though the WWE United States Championship hasn't always been booked respectfully since Vince McMahon inherited it from WCW, John Cena's time holding the belt in 2015 stands as a high point.
Cena took the strap from Rusev at WrestleMania 31. A controversial decision at the time as 'The Bulgarian Brute' was still on the rise and WWE went to the effort of procuring a tank for his entrance, leading to the audience lambasting the promotion for what they perceived as another Cena burial.
The ensuing reign was the silver lining.
Through his open challenge series, 'Big Match John' rebuilt the US Title's prestige by inviting intrigue, opening windows for guys like Sami Zayn (who stepped up from NXT), and through good old-fashioned match quality, with the 30-minute Cesaro victory particularly triumphant. It worked, and Cena was killing it.
Many would point to the Kevin Owens feud as the run's peak. They'd be right. Sure, the US Championship wasn't on the line the night John was upset by the 'Prizefighter,' but the rivalry immediately got KO as a big deal on the main roster, regardless of the final outcome. Cena, so often maligned for not making new stars, did just that.