Do we want him to be a fluke or a credible champion?
If it is supposed to be a fluke/transitional reign then just letting him hold the belt until the rematch and then dropping it will suffice. From there they can then book it ala Ziggler's first reign as WHC. With Sabin wanting to get a proper reign.
If we want him to be credible then the whole fluke thing needs to be addressed. Have the locker room say that they feel that Sabin might not be fully deserving adn Chris will then go out to prove them wrong. Weekly matches, each and every one a title match. Have him rack up defenses leading up to Bully's rematch to solidify his reign and prove that he does deserve to hold the gold. So that he isn't just a fluke. He can face TNA roster members, members of Aces and Eights all in the same, as long as he proves that he does deserve to hold the belt. As for the bully rematch, write in a clause that says he is guaranteed his match at Hardcore Justice despite who holds the belt. That way he can throw his aces at Sabin so that even if they don't beat him, they weaken him. Setting up a proper underdog/fighting champ against the monster/conniving heel set up for the rematch.
That's just off the top of my head.
Figured you'd have a good answer to that. TNA really needs someone like you in Creative, not just for your ideas but they definitely need someone to look at the flaws in everything. The storylines could be so much better if someone would speak up with things like "Shouldn't we address Sabin getting a fluke win?" Kudos to TNA for all the stories they do, but don't think that'll get addressed. :downer:
To answer your first question: How will the fans react? How will this affect ratings? Gotta wait for that to happen to see what the long term plan should be.
Giving this guy countless matches to make sure he's credible enough isn't a bad idea, as if he'll get over it'll be with his wrestling. Maybe you can have one match with a Devon or someone to push a storyline, but the rest of them should be MOTYC's with respected veterans imo. Think they can really do something with the whole "pure wrestler champion" and "TNA original" as opposed to the faction members, cowardly heels, and WWE rejects we've had for so long, but guess the ratings will tell us that.
The stipulation on the rematch gives me a lot of optimism, but we'll get to that when they announce it on TV.
