The non-existent WWE Championship prestige

[Aniking]

2 weeks - the length of Cena's 10th WWE Championship reign and 12th overall.

I have absolutely no idea why the WWE gave Cena the belt for just 2 weeks, because as far as I'm concerned it's a fucking Blue decision. Frankly, I was beginning to like Cena a little bit as he has toned down on being a lame kiss ass, going as far as following Punk's example and saying a couple of things that you just don't say... but this just shits me so much.

I'm sure many of you will agree with me that Del Rio's reign as WWE Champion wasn't good at all, and I feel the main reason for that were his disappointing promos. The final Raw before Night of Champions may have drawn a bad rating, but if the WWE were really that worried about it, wouldn't Cena still be champ now?

It's all quite ridiculous as this was yet another pointless reign for Cena. Here's how long his first 3 reigns as World Champion were:

#1: WWE Champion - 280 days
#2: WWE Champion - 133 days
#3: WWE Champion - 380 days​

Those are very lengthy, which is frankly how it should be. Now take a look at his next 9:

#4: WH Champion - 84 days
#5: WH Champion - 21 days
#6: WWE Champion - 21 days
#7: WWE Champion - 49 days
#8: WWE Champion - < 1 day
#9: WWE Champion - 84 days
#10: WWE Champion - 77 days
#11: WWE Champion - 20 days
#12: WWE Champion - 14 days​

Those 9 add up to 370 days as World Champion - 10 days underneath his entire 3rd reign as WWE Champion.

It's such a shame to think that he is just ONE World Championship victory away from equalling Triple H, although Triple H had some very short reigns of his own. He is an 8-time WWE Champion, with only 2 of those reigns lasting for over 100 days (the next closest was 70 days), and also a 5-time World Heavyweight Champion, with 1 reign over 100 days (280 days) and the rest ranging from 76 to 91 days.

The fact is Cena is likely going to overtake Triple H, but these short championship reigns have been very ridiculous for quite some time now. Since The Miz was champion for an impressive 160 days, losing the title on May 1st, there have been SEVEN reigns (in order) - 77 days (Cena), 28 days (Punk), < 1 day (Mysterio), 20 days (Cena), 35 days (Del Rio), 14 days (Cena) and Del Rio currently. Excluding Del Rio's current reign, that totals to 174 days - just 2 weeks more than Miz's entire reign.

For a World Championship that's supposed to be one of the most sought after championships, one that's viewed as a reward when a superstar reaches the top, it's nothing more than a meaningless prop. This trend has actually been going as far back as the beginning of this century, but the time of the lengthy World Championship reign is fading fast.

Since John Cena's first reign as WWE Champion that started on April 3rd 2005, there have been 33 championship reigns (excluding Del Rio's current, and including Cena's first). Out of those 33, just 6 have lasted over 100 days:

#1, #2 & #3: Cena's first 3 WWE Championship's (see above)
#4: Randy Orton - 203 days (ended April 27th, 2008)
#5: Triple H - 210 days (ended November 23rd, 2008)
#6: The Miz - 160 days (ended November 22nd, 2010)​

Now since the 21st century began, to when Cena's first reign started, there were just 22 WWE Championship reigns, with 9 lasting over 100 days... but 5 of those were the last 6 reigns before Cena's first.

I think that says it all.

 

[Andrew]

There was also something being said with between 1978 and 1986 there were only 7 WWE reigns.

Yet this year alone, the title has changed countless times.

 

[Prodigy]

Andrew I actually think the title changing hands so much adds to storyline, it shows HHH isn't doing his job properly imo.

 

[Andrew]

I hope what Cody Rhodes said last night might knock some sense into HHH.

 

[Doink]

Excellent article AK, I completely agree with you.

 

[Slim]

There was also something being said with between 1978 and 1986 there were only 7 WWE reigns.

Yet this year alone, the title has changed countless times.

Well the reason for that is there were a far lot less shows during that time than there is now. Because now you have 12 Pay per view shows, you have your weekly shows, and then you also have those random supershows and specials. And you can't have just 7 title changes in 8 years in this time of things because it just wouldn't fit and wouldn't work with today's audience.

The problem with today's audience is they are young. And because of that youth and being born into the insta era where if emails take more than 5 seconds to send and a text takes longer than 3 seconds to send then it is considered serious lag and something is very very wrong. Insta meals, I mean the list goes on. Attention span has dwindled down so much which is why commercials are shorter, movies started getting shorter for a while. You have to cater to the crowd you are feeding otherwise they will leave and go somewhere else. And at the end of the day... WWE is a business and if that business isn't making money... it will fall over.

But back to the article at hand... I do agree to the absurdity of how many different reigns Cena has been having as of late and how short they are compared to his first reigns but you also have to think about how those reigns went too. Like before he lost it to RVD, we're talking about a WWE crowd at WrestleMania... telling your main babyface "FU Cena" they knew something had to change and people were sick and tired of seeing him as the champion. They needed something fresh. But the problem with what they are doing now is the reigns are not long enough to truly be established. Instead it is like they get a glimpse, a smell of the title before it goes back to Cena, to someone else, back to Cena, to someone else. If there was an interruption in the Cena reigns that lasted longer than one person and Cena wasn't a focal point for the title every time... it would help.

Like right now the rumor is Punk/Del Rio focus on the title. Which will be a breath of fresh air from the years of Cena getting title shot after title shot and winning title after title. And perhaps, perhaps this is what the WWE title needs. A new face... but then that leaves one thing missing... which is really what has been missing from WWE for a long time... true feuds.

Feuds is what help establish titles, title matches, and matches in general. Give the people a reason to care for the title and the guy holding the title. A reason for the guy wanting the title. The only reason Cena has to go for the title is... I wanna be champ again and say "THE CHAMP IS HERE!" That only works for so long. Cena needs a new direction and something different with his character other than title chasing and this feud he has with The Rock is exactly what his character needs. Something that isn't around the title.

Del Rio/Punk is going to help the WWE title. Mark Henry as World champ is another story for another day.

But as of right now... WWE is starting to head in the right direction with the WWE title by not having Cena in the picture for once. Now if only one of those two guys can have a reign that lasts a little while... that will help it even more.

So yeah... very good article AK.

 

[rcoot93]

Good article, I think that title reigns should last a lot longer otherwise you will end up with guys who have 20+ title reigns. Although I think the title does need to change more often as it used to, but with teo world titles you would think they could get away with giving someone a long reign

 

[Lewb]

I think John Cena needs to be out of the title scene now until after Wrestlemania. vengeance can be del rio punk, survivor series The Rock and Cena are teaming, and from there on the build to Rock Cena should be on high power. If Del Rio kept the title til The Royal Rumble, it would help with the prestige, as Del Rio lost the title then won it again at first call of asking. A 100+ day reign to end off 2011/start 2012 is order of the times i believe. Until Jericho comes back and beats Del Rio. Just saying. And hoping.

 

[Troy]

Great column.

I agree that the title has lost a lot of prestige in recent years due to so many pointless title reigns. The perfect example is John Cena's latest title reign, there was no need for the title change to happen, why not just keep the title on Del Rio for the whole time rather than adding two more title reigns one for Cena and one for Del Rio. I don't mind regular title changes if there is a good storyline behind it but pointless title changes just to pop the crowd and add another statistic to the wrestlers is frustrating because it hurts the title. I must admit that I didn't realise that there had been so few 100 day, or three month, title reigns in the past six years. It is incredible that WWE haven't protected this title a lot more than they have.

Hopefully someone in creative finally realises that the top title needs to be protected and starts booking some longer more dominant title reigns.

 

[Andrew]

I strongly believe that Orton vs. Rhodes at Vengeance will see Orton going over the first time, then it will be the IC and Cody will win adding extra prestige to the title.