10 Fascinating Facts About Famous Wrestling Titles
9. You've Been Lied To About World Titles All This Time
You may have read that, to be considered a true championship, a pro wrestling World Title promoted by a company based in the U.S. must be defended in multiple countries or continents.
This is a load of b*llocks, and there are several reasons as to why that is.
Firstly, there is no recognised body that governs the entire sport. We are decades and decades removed from when this was halfway true. Moreover, to use a recent example, WWE launched the Universal Championship in 2016, and, owing to the scope and history of the promotion, it was instantly recognised as a top tier achievement the second it was contested for in Brooklyn, New York.
To use another recent example, AEW announced its World Championship at its very first show, Double Or Nothing 2019, from Las Vegas, Nevada. Again, it was instantly recognised as a credible, accepted World Title because Bret Hart held it aloft in front of 11,000 fans on behalf of a promotion with lots and lots of money behind it. The AEW World Title as such simply was a World Title - but in hindsight, it's actually wild that some little t*sser didn't try to incite some bad faith discourse about how Chris Jericho wasn't a real World Champion because he hadn't flown to the Virgin Islands or something.
The perception of prestige is shaped by how big the promotion is, hence whether or not something like the ROH World Title is actually a top-tier prize is ambiguous and widely debated.