10 Most Prestigious Wrestling Titles Of All Time
Conclusively NOT props.
A wrestling championship is - or at least was - a signifier that its holder(s) had reached a level at which they had been entrusted to draw money. That, if we are to be reductive about such a nebulous concept, is the sum of it.
But it represents so much more than that. A great wrestling champion legitimises the entire enterprise. For a business predicated on suspension of disbelief, its fans need someone they can buy as the decorated man to beat. Else, there is literally no point.
The man used to make the belt. All too often in recent years, in attempts to compensate for their lack of genuine star-power, WWE in particular have attempted to subvert this maxim in order to fast-track talent to the permanent main event bracket.
In the case of The Miz and Roman Reigns, it has not worked. This is a testament to the power a championship holds in itself; fans, fully aware and respectful of a title's legacy, are as much defending it as they are rejecting those they deem unworthy holders.
That borderline fact - and this list - should tell you that Vince Russo is entirely wrong when he claims that championship belts amount to little more than props...
10. WWE World Title
Deeming the origins of this championship "inauspicious" is generous - at least if you disregard WWE's revisionist history. Its lineage does not stretch back to the days of Lou Thesz. That is a separate prize altogether.
No, this title was literally handed to Triple H, spurning weeks' worth of prospective television and talent-enhancing tournament matches in the process. Its subsequent first few years were similarly dubious. Triple H's self-preservation crusade was an exercise in dashed hopes and dire matches.
Purposefully or otherwise, his 2002-2004 stint did furnish the title with legitimacy - which only grew alongside the reputation of Batista, whose cathartic WrestleMania 21 win ushered in an era in which the title was held alongside the WWE crown, equal in stature.
In ensuing years, Edge emerged as a headliner as a result of his WWE title win - but his permanent residence to the club arose from his many reigns with what is still fondly remembered as The Big Gold Belt.
You need look no further than this title - which sadly saw its aura diminish alongside WWE's early 2010's talent pool - to view the future of the Universal Championship with some optimism. A title can transcend its status as an exercise in ego and necessary brand parity to live on as a powerful symbol of achievement and legacy. That's the magic of pro wrestling.