10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2023

8. The World Heavyweight Title, General

Austin Theory fail
WWE.com

WWE established that the World Heavyweight title was the lesser World title in its own canon, which was suboptimal.

Even less than ideal was the fact that the attempt to establish a prominent title defended regularly in matches that aimed for greatness was undermined - and that is because GUNTHER perfected that role as the Intercontinental champion.

His reign was incredible. Balancing invincibility and vulnerability, he was the perfect champion; capable of retaining his aura and generating rich drama at the same time, his outstanding matches against Chad Gable, Kevin Owens, and Drew McIntyre and Sheamus absolutely smoked Seth Rollins' body of work.

Seth hardly worked bad matches, but not one of his World Heavyweight title defences will remotely trouble any Match of the Year lists. That was the aim, too. Rollins was better as a bit of an obnoxious, extravagantly-dressed clown. His transformation into an earnest "workhorse" type was a regression back to 2019. Back then, he worked some of the best matches in WWE, but was outclassed by his peers on the international stage.

In 2023, he didn't even work the best matches in WWE - his first PLE matches with Finn Bálor and Shinsuke Nakamura were unacceptably "mid" - which undermined the prestige of the belt he carried.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!