10 Awesome Ways Wrestling Promotions Made Titles Prestigious
9. NXT Play The Long Game
In essence, the pro wrestling title - and indeed any sporting accolade - is something profoundly difficult to attain. It requires excellence and graft at an elite athletic level.
The NXT Women's Championship, with its superbly curated history, best distills this ideal.
Originally won by Paige, in a tournament final that quietly rewrote the history of Women's pro wrestling in the U.S. mainstream, she set the precedent: going undefeated for 308 days, she was only stripped of the title upon her promotion to the main roster. NXT's decision not to opt for a neater switch enhanced its prestige. This wasn't some storyline driver passed around via some contrived mechanism.
The aura of the Four Horsewomen was established in parallel as, between 2014 and 2015, the title was earned by Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley - all of whom enjoyed lengthy reigns - in exceptional matches, the latter of which remains the greatest Women's match in North American history.
Then, via Asuka, "profoundly difficult" became virtually impossible. Elevating the prize to an even loftier realm, she held it for 510 days, becoming so attached to her invincible aura that she played a heel role to vanquish her greatest threat in Ember Moon.
Shayna Baszler's second reign further cast the title as elusive, and Io Shirai's current 155+ run is consistent with the standard: the NXT Women's Championship requires a career-best performance to even stand a chance of securing.
In a long-term booking masterstroke, sometimes even that isn't enough.