As a wrestling fan, it’s your duty to never think about how the title belts are actually just weird and gaudy bits of tin because it goes a long way to undermining why you’d watch in the first place. Vince McMahon’s vocabulary quirks are insane, but there’s nothing wrong with enforcing how it’s a “championship” as often as possible. It’s supposed to be a top prize.
It’s not supposed to be traded because the colour of the leather matches the ropes.
Last year, The New Day and The Street Profits were asked to engage in this silliness, and mocked the handover. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair couldn’t afford it similar levity, and their personal beef only made the scene all the more excruciating.
In any other wrestling company, it would have been a low ebb. For WWE, it was worryingly par for the course.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
