Not Everyone Has To Be World Champion (Here's Why)
There have been a lot of wrestling series over the years, some of which have been about as standard as you can get. You know what you’re going to get with a regular wrestling series most of the time and one of the most common themes are championship matches. That’s at least partially why so many shows have been called Championship Wrestling in some form over the years. You have wrestlers fighting for championships, and usually one big championship in particular. The thing is, while that’s true in theory, it’s far from the only option, which is what we’re talking about today.
Diamond Dallas Page has told a story about a time when he was talking to Dusty Rhodes. Page was still relatively new in his career and given his relatively late start on the bigger stage, he wasn’t in the same place as a lot of wrestlers. While talking to Rhodes, Page said something to the effect of knowing that he had a ceiling and would never be World Champion. Rhodes responded by saying that if Page didn’t believe he could be World Champion to get out of the business imme.
Now, while I’m not one to question Rhodes, I do think he’s a bit off base here (if you will). In theory, what he said to Page is fine. The idea for every wrestler is indeed to get to the top of the wrestling world and be the biggest star possible. That’s all well and good. The problem is putting that into reality, because there is one simple fact: some wrestlers are simply not going to be top stars in the promotion for one reason or another. That’s the fact, but there’s also a secret behind that fact: there is absolutely nothing wrong with being in the middle of the show and wrestling promotions need stars like that.
Jim Cornette Is Right When He Says Not Everyone Can Be A Main Eventer
Jim Cornette (bear with me) has spoken before about being asked to name eight main eventers he would want to start a roster. Cornette’s response was something to the effect of he wouldn’t want that many main eventers, because it means someone has to lose, and that takes away their shine as a main eventer. Yeah that makes a lot of sense, and it gets into the same idea: it’s fine to want to be the top star and the best around, but there are going to be a lot more stars in the middle of the pac and it is absolutely not a bad thing to be one of them.
Let’s consider the term for a minute here. The main event is, usually by definition, the biggest (not necessarily last) match on the card. That could be just about anything, from a title match to a grudge match to a big specialty match to various other things. The key though is that’s the one match on the card that fans are likely looking forward to the most and that has received the most hype (sidenote: Double and triple main events are stupid. If more than one match is a main event, then neither is the main event. Stop acting like that’s a thing.).
WrestleMania III Proved The Value Of A Strong Roster
The thing is though, that’s one match out of a whole bunch on the card. Take WrestleMania III for instance. Yes it features Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant in the biggest match of all time and that’s what people remember, but there were eleven other matches taking place on the show to fill up a few hours.
Of those eleven other matches, only two were really big matches (Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage and Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis) and it’s not like the show was ripe with past, present or future World Champions. Out of thirty eight wrestlers on the show, only five of them would hold a World Title in the WWF at any point in their careers (and neither Bret Hart nor the Iron Sheik were anywhere close to that point at WrestleMania III).
Yet with that being said, my goodness look at the talent involved in the card. That show had all kinds of legends, including but certainly not limited to Rick Martel, Bob Orton Jr., Hercules, Hillbilly Jim, King Kong Bundy, Greg Valentine, Piper, Adonis, Hart, the British Bulldogs, Tito Santana, the Honky Tonk Man, Jake Roberts and more. That is an outstanding lineup and the vast majority of them would never even get close to the main event scene.
Midcard Wrestlers Are Essential
That’s the thing: you absolutely need a lot of wrestlers who just aren’t on that top level. That doesn’t mean they’re worthless or that they’re all just there to make someone else look good. Instead, you have wrestlers who are out there helping to flesh out a card. Those are the kinds of people who can do so much to make the show feel bigger while not taking up much of the spotlight.
Take a match from that same show like Hercules vs. Billy Jack Haynes. Neither of those two ever held a title in the WWF and there is a good argument to be made that this is the most famous match of either of their careers. It’s not for a championship or anything official, but it had a story that was built up on television and a post match angle to keep the feud going. The match itself ate up just shy of eight minutes and they did a nice enough job with the chance they had.
Hercules is a prime example of what I’m talking about here. He didn’t have much depth to what he was doing (his name is Hercules and he’s strong, which is about all there is to know about him) but he was part of the company’s roster for a pretty long time. That’s the kind of role player you need to have around and Hercules made it work. He was a perfectly effective midcard villain, either on his own or in a tag team. If you really needed him to do it, he could even challenge Hogan for the WWF Title on a low level show without being any real threat to win the belt.
You can go up and down the card with stars like that, from the Brooklyn Brawler losing pretty much every match he had (except for that one time on Jakked where he beat Just Joe for your trivia shot of the week) to someone like Tito Santana, who almost never got WWF Title shots but could headline shows if Hogan wasn’t around and was a longtime regular of the midcard scene. They might not work at the top of the card, but people like that were absolutely worth having around and added so much to the shows for years up and down the card.
Success Is About More Than Just Championships
What Rhodes said made sense in theory, but being the World Champion at the top of the card is just one spot on the roster. While Page wound up getting there, it’s not like it was the only thing he ever did. Page was a star for most of WCW’s existence and won every singles title he was eligible to pick up. Being the World Champion was a big deal for him but even if he hadn’t gotten there, it wasn’t like his career would have been a failure. Page was a success because of his talent and connection with the fans, not the championships that he won.
Being a main eventer or even the World Champion is a great goal, but at the end of the day, there are a lot of spots that need to be filled on the roster. Not everyone can get to those elite levels but that doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. There have been all kinds of wrestlers who were there in supporting roles for most of their career and they were often highlights of the show. Wanting to be the best is fine, but there’s a big gap between the best and useless. Finding a spot in that gap is hardly a bad thing. If you will.
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