So the title of this blog should suggest where I'm going. A thought came into my head last night about titles that either where over with the people and then went downhill and those titles that just never really got over. So as I was thinking about this subject I came up with 6 championships that had problems.
ROH Pure Wrestling Title
This title wasn't round for all that long really but for the time it was there was some problems. It started with the first champion AJ Styles who was forced out of ROH because of his TNA contract so the title was vacant again within a few months, ROH has sometimes ignored AJ because of it in the title history. It then moved on to Doug Williams who couldn't work all the time as he lived in the UK so they had to move the belt again even though Williams was a good fit for it. The belt than landed on John Walters who never really got over that much and is pretty much forgotten about in ROH history. Jay Lethal would win it next for the only reason being that ROH wanted to push him and it made sense to put some gold around his waist however it didn't for long as the worse choice became champion next that being Samoa Joe (I'll explain in a minute). Finally it went round the waist of Nigel McGuinness who too his credit did a fantastic job and made that belt mean something even if it was just a little bit.
So the problems, first there was the rules. Wrestlers had 3 rope breaks to use once used their opponent could use the rope against them, there was a 20 count on the floor, no closed fists to the face if so you'd get a warning then rope break used and then DQ'd and the title could change hands by DQ & count out. This would kill so much time before the start as the referee would go over them every time. The second problem is that only one champion worked the rules into the story of the match, that being Nigel McGuinness. He would forced guys to punch him in the face and force them to use a rope break so he'd have the advantage, Nigel really did do a great job with the belt. Now like I said I think Joe was the worse for the simple reason he is a striker and this belt was made for mat wrestlers and Joe looked out of place and didn't do the style at all. The final problem is that this matches where very slow and could kill the mood of the crowd if put in the wrong place and at the time high speed big spot matches were the key.
Overall: This title was made for all the right reasons, to get another guy other with a belt however the rules and champion choice was pretty wrong. The main reason why Joe had the belt was to give it the rub from a former World champion however it didn't work, in the long run this title just couldn't work and it's better that it's gone rather then it stay too long and we started hating it.
WCW Television title
So if you look over the long history of this belt you'll see a lot of legendary names and a lot of not so legendary names, you'll also see times when it meant something. However that wouldn't last forever and it soon became a nothing title. So lets look at the problems, well first was champion choice. I'll be fair and say many who held it were great wrestlers who could put on a great match however many where new faces that hadn't really done much in WCW so it would really be a mix one time you'd have a deserving champion and next someone who shouldn't be in the title picture at all. The second problem is connected to the first and that is the time limit rule, the matches were limited to 15 minutes. Now that time is a problem as the great wrestlers who held the title couldn't really warm up in that time for example William Regal would still be chain wrestling by the 7 minute mark. It also lead to a HELL of a lot of time limit draws which could get boring if done to much and it was done too much with this title. The final problem was the number of title already in the company, fans would often go months forgetting this title existed.
Overall: This title was always a 'why is it here?' thought in my head, it was so over looked and with fair reason. With the US title and Crusierweight title matches being some of the best on the card this couldn't of stolen the show. So it's a meaningless title in retrospect, yes there have been some great champions but you never remember their reign as TV champ instead you remember where their career went afterwards whether that was upwards or downwards. The final moments of this title sum it up really Scott Hall threw it in the trash and Jim Duggan found it and declared himself champ!
WWF/E Hardcore Title
Speaking of trash we come to a belt that looked like it was pulled from the bin. Now the original concept of this title was pretty good, the matches would have no rules and falls count anywhere. This would lead to fun matches which would go all over the arena. The time this title was introduced ECW was a big thing and hardcore wrestling was a must for almost every show so this title would give the cards those gimmick matches. The problem came when the late Crash Holly would gain the title and the 24/7 rule was put into force. At the start it would be some comedy as segments would involve Crash being in a weird location wrestlers coming to challenge him and a chase would happen, they were funny for a time. However the problems came when the title got pasted around several times in one night and end up back in the hands of the original champion. This happened to much and even happened on house shows, check out the history and see how many title reigns some guys have hand. The title devolved into a comedy title with weapons and big spots, so guys would be suffering the most and getting nothing in return really. Now the title was slightly revived in 2001 when it went back to actual matches, Raven & Rhyno had a classic at Backlash, and Rob Van Dam's reigns were some of the best things that year and really built RVD in WWE. We still had hope as at the end of the year the Undertaker was champion however that was meaningless and the title went back to passing around like a bottle of vodka at a school party! The title would ultimately get unified with the Intercontinental title in 2002 after it was finally redesigned with little notice what so ever, that was a waste of money.
Overall: Now I didn't list it's problems here but the belt was a problem within itself. No one of meaning wanted that belt and those who held it meant nothing to the fans. It looked ugly, was only involved in comedy segments and I get the feeling that's all WWE had planned for it.
WWF/E European Title
Now this title began well, it was a major part of the company for a while. Guys like the British Bulldog, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Owen Hart put on great matches and were great champions but it then went downhill. Now I think the idea behind the belt was simple, you had the main belt for the main guy, the Intercontinental for the best workers and up and comers and then the European as belts for some good workers who were just hoping to get moved up the card. Now the guys who held the title were pretty good wrestlers but the choice was always pretty random to me, for example if I asked you to name a European champion you'd likely answer the names I've said or D'Lo Brown or William Regal as both held the title several times. Besides that not many are memorable and that's probably because that belt was often just a transition to either bigger things or going into the unseen level of WWE where your stuck on shows which no one watches. Now another problem with this title is that it was created at a time when there were lots of championships and it was easily ignored on the big level. To make things worse the invasion happened in 2001 which added 4 more titles to the company. This title was forgotten about pretty much completely soon after the invasion and by 2002 it was unified with the Intercontinental title bringing a end to it's history.
Overall: This belt started off with so much promise and it could of become something of meaning, maybe on par with the Intercontinental title. However it never happened and it ultimately ended up being a up and down title, sometimes you'd see it and they would make it into a big deal and sometimes it would disappear for months on end. I think it could of had it's place in the company however the 3 title scheme seems to be the best fit for a lot of companies.
TNA Legends/Global/TV title
This title start off bad and has pretty much stayed that way. Introduced for the simple reason that Booker T wanted a belt and they didn't want him to be World champion, and with good reason! So he brings it out and it's called the Legends title, which made no sense and you didn't know who could challenge for it. He said you have to be a legend but then Shane Sewell gets a shot. The matches were nothing and no one took it seriously. The belt got better when AJ Styles held it for the simple reason that TNA put him in awful situations and he shows that TNA shouldn't have put him there, Styles would make it mean a little bit but not to much. Then Kevin Nash and Mick Foley traded it back and fourth to nothing of meaning what so ever. Soon Eric Young would win it and rename it the Global title, however he did nothing with it and everyone forgot about it. And the fact is when it changed hands to Rob Terry it wasn't on TV or a big deal. The title has once again returned to AJ Styles and renamed for a second time, AJ has once again been put in a stupid position which he's trying to make into a good situation however that doesn't seem possible.
Overall: This title was added for no reason and it still has no reason to be there. AJ can try all he wants to make it mean something and if anyone could it is AJ however it has an awful history and most likely an awful future. This title is lost in a land full of titles and very bad booking, TNA hardily look after their main titles so why would they look after a 3rd tier title.
TNA Knockout Tag Team Titles
Now in my view these titles were designed for one reason and one reason only, that is the team of Angelina Love and Velvet Sky aka the Beautiful People. Now the titles originally went to the make shift time of Taylor Wilde & Sarita, I believe this was done for the simple reason that a babyface should be the first champions. In fairness too them they did a good job and could put on good matches. In my view the Beautiful People were gonna dethrone them however the visa problem with Love resulted in her leaving for a time and the team getting new members. So they put a team of Awesome Kong & Hamada together and they won the titles, this looked good as these 2 are two of the best going today however it didn't last long as Kong would kill Bubba the Love Sponge and leave TNA. The titles would be vacate and go to the trio of the Beautiful People (Velvet, Madison Rayne & Lacey Von Erich), I hate the Freebird rule by the way! Anyways they did nothing with them and we just resigned to the fact that they were champions. They would lose the belts to the random team of Hamada & Taylor Wilde who since then have disappeared from TV and not really defended them.
Overall: This titles have been forgotten about and it's for a simple reason there is no Knockouts tag teams to challenge them, hell there's no Knockouts in TNA any more. These titles could fall of the face of the earth and no one would care one bit. Now the team who I think the belts were originally designed for could win the belts however this wouldn't revive the belts.
I've just gone over 6 titles that have had some major problems over their time, now I could pick on every company and a lot more titles however I feel like these are the main ones. Now feel free to tell me if I'm wrong however I think I have good reasons to believe what I do.
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