10 Most Pointless Gimmicks In Wrestling History

9. The Champion's Advantage Rule

One of professional wrestling€™s most commonly cited rules is the €˜champion€™s advantage€™ rule: the idea that, in a title match, the champion will retain the title if defeated by means of a count out or a disqualification. Now this idea originated in the National Wrestling Alliance back in the day. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion would travel around the territories to be challenged by their top guys, making them look good but invariably escaping with the belt around their waists. In those days, non-title matches would have been nonsensical: the selling point for the match, the draw to bring in the crowds, was the title being on the line and the possibility that the local lad could win it. Untelevised matches before live crowds would follow the same patterns over and over, as the next town on the schedule wouldn€™t know the outcome of the card at the previous town. In order to assist the champion in keeping the gold about their waists, they came up with the champion€™s advantage rule: it made the titleholder€™s retention appear to be a technicality, which of course fuelled the heat on a heel champion like pouring petrol on a pyromaniac. Local Larry looked like he could have taken the title if the bad guy hadn€™t cheated to win, or been counted out. Today, the script has been flipped. Everything important is televised, the territories are more or less a thing of the past, and kayfabe is dead. Non-title matches are everywhere, specifically so that champions can lose occasionally without the drama of losing the title. If you have a months-long feud for the title, then your smartened-up audience will probably see every one of those pay-per-views (affairs). If the champion loses every big match by DQ or count out but retains the title, it doesn€™t bring heat on the champion, it brings heat on the company for lazy booking. What€™s the point in the champion€™s advantage rule in the twenty-first century?