10 Radical Ideas To Save WWE's World Title

8. Have Sheamus Drop The Title To Someone Unexpected, Part 1

Survivor Series this year represented exactly twenty-five years - to the day - since the debut of the Undertaker in the then WWF€ and underwhelming was not the half of it. We deserved more from this melodramatic, blood and thunder Wyatt Family feud than a simple, generic tag team match as a blow-off: hell, the Undertaker deserves more, and Bray Wyatt and his monstrous minions deserve a lot more. There€™s certainly value in having the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion be the Undertaker: there€™s no doubt that a star of that stature holding it would give the title back some of its prestige. If this is really his last go at it, then have the Dead Man win the title from Sheamus (who no one thinks deserves it) and legitimately take on all comers as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, headlining RAW with a match every other week instead of just advancing a pay-per-view angle. Have him feud with Owens, maybe, and then then with Roman Reigns - but over the title instead of over some stupid operatic grudge. You know, like a professional wrestler competing for a prize, instead of a supernatural man-myth engaged in some fantastic struggle. This might not be ballet, but it€™s not bloody Lord Of The Rings either. The fact is, there€™s too much controversy involved in the Dead Man€™s wins and losses right now, as a special event/guest star. People argue that he should be going over as he€™s a legit icon of several eras, on his last big run, who€™s already lost enough with the Streak; or people argue that he should be putting everyone over because he€™s a fifty-year-old man who shouldn€™t be pushed like he was the next big thing. If anyone comes close to beating him, the debate is always framed in terms of whether the loss should occur, and if the legend should do the job, how it should take place. That€™s not the dominant narrative I€™d want pursuing me if I was the greatest legend in WWF/E history on his retirement lap. But that was when he was a spooky special event star, who only reared his head once in a blue moon. The stakes don€™t need to be that high. If the Undertaker were a semi-regular contender on RAW as he was in the old days, it would absolutely make sense to have him lose the occasional match when necessary, and without making such a big deal over it. More than that, if you€™re looking to get Reigns over with the portion of the crowd that€™s booing him, a hard-fought babyface vs. babyface match with the Undertaker for the title will do the trick far better than this most recent tournament did, and certainly far better than some lame attempt to redo Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority from 2013/2014. Reigns isn€™t Bryan. He€™s not some courageous underdog, he€™s the Big Dog: and as rubbish as that nickname is, the last person to hold it was the Dead Man, over a decade ago. That Was His Yard, remember? If the Dead Man was on RAW every other week until Wrestlemania 32, he€™d have the opportunity to pass all kinds of torches and still go over enough to appear like the dominant, scary legend he€™s supposed to be. As WWE World Heavyweight Champion for a couple of months, he could put Reigns over easily, and Reigns has proven that he excels at that kind of big match. There€™s no humiliation in being beaten cleanly after a brilliant, competitive match by a babyface earmarked as the next big star, and the potential is there for Reigns to get the rub he always should have, without any of the drawbacks.