The World Championship Still Matters
- Thomas Hall
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
There is a book called The Seven Basic Plots by a man named Christopher Booker. The gist of the book is very simple: every story that can be told comes from one of seven basic concepts (it’s a fascinating idea and worth looking into if you have the chance). Naturally, the same is true in professional wrestling, and today we’re going to look at one of the bigger plots which has been used a lot recently to quite the positive results. That shouldn’t be surprising as it’s a tale as old as time in wrestling.
Flash back with me if you will to 2001, as we’re in the final push towards WrestleMania 17 and the Rock and Steve Austin are having a pretty famous face to face interview. Their feud has been kind of a mess, with Austin’s wife Debra having to manage the Rock, which was a detail no one wanted and was thankfully dropped entirely before the match. During the exchange, Austin summed up the entire feud in one statement:
The fact is Rock, you got the WWF Title and I want it.
Boom. What more do you need out of this? They’re both big stars, they’re about to fight, and only one of them can be the champion. It means more prestige, money, attention and whatever else comes with being the champion on that given day. This is a story that has been done for decades at this point in wrestling and it shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’re seeing it again today in more than one place.
The idea of the World Title (or any title for that matter) being a valuable prize is easy for any fan to understand. Anyone who has ever watched wrestling understands the idea of “you want to be the best and get the big shiny gold belt”. It’s the most obvious way to show which wrestler is the best, or at least allegedly the best, and it offers a perfect target for any wrestler to go after. The interesting thing is that sometimes wrestlers don’t really do that, which makes it all the more interesting when it happens. Thankfully, that is the case right now.
Many SmackDown Top Stars Want CM Punk's WWE Championship
Over the last few weeks, the challengers have been lining up on SmackDown. CM Punk is the reigning WWE Champion (or SmackDown World Champion, which is what it realistically is) and he has a long list of people coming for the title. You have Kevin Owens, who got a title shot in the middle of August, Sami Zayn, who is not happy with anything, and Finn Balor and Gunther, who are trying to get into the title picture. In addition, you have Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes running around feuding with each other and wanting to get their hands on the title, either in the near future or when they’re done fighting each other.
And... well yeah why wouldn’t they be? That’s the idea of professional wrestling right? Most of the time, the wrestlers are supposed to want to win the World Title. Yet how many times do you see someone who doesn’t seem even slightly interested? It might make sense for them to go after something else at the time, but if they’re not there to win the World Title, with everything that comes with it, why are they here?
SmackDown's Crowded WWE Title Picture Is Working
That’s what you’re seeing right now with the SmackDown World Title situation and it’s making things that much more interesting. You can’t argue with the motivation and so many people are trying to get the title, because it’s the reason they’re on the show. Having so many people going after the title at once opens up a lot of doors, as Punk could defend against any one of them, or perhaps a few of them at a time. Or maybe they fight each other for the right to get a title match? You can go in all kinds of directions with this sort of thing and WWE seems to be getting that on Friday nights.
Now, this isn’t something that can be done all the time. Much like Austin and Rock, there are times where it should be two people facing off for the title because they’re the best options. No one in the WWF was close to Austin and Rock’s level at the time of WrestleMania 17 and there was no reason to have anyone else going after the title at that point. It could change down the line, but that wasn’t the right call then and the company seemed to get the idea. Just imagine that feud with Kurt Angle trying to get involved. Angle is great, but he didn’t fit in with that spot.
Multiple WWE Title Challengers Give The Company More Options
The good thing about this is that it allows the champion to be the focus, as there isn’t one particular top challenger. At the moment, Punk is the big featured player in the SmackDown situation because he has the title and everyone else wants it. With Punk not really having a top challenger to come after the title, WWE is getting smart by shifting towards the big group of challengers. It allows the attention to be on the title as everyone wants it rather than two people wanting to face off with each other.
At the same time, it allows time to build up someone else as a challenger in the future, which is probably the ultimate idea. This allows the company to avoid a weak one on one challenger, as there is only so much interest in some of the possible combinations. Instead, now we’re getting what could be an assortment of challengers while we wait for someone else to be ready. There are some major events coming up soon and WWE very well may be getting ready for them in advance, which is a rather nice thing to see.
NXT Is Using The Same Championship Formula
The interesting thing is that this isn’t just happening with SmackDown. NXT is doing something similar, albeit in a slightly different way. Coming into the recent Heatwave event, Tony D’Angelo was defending the NXT Title against three challengers, with Grayson Waller, Cruz Montana and Zilla Fatu. That’s the same concept as SmackDown, but in this case everyone is getting into the title picture at the same time. This time though, Waller actually stole the title in a big upset, which means even more people might be coming after the gold.
That’s what matters at the end of the day. No matter how you look at it, the wrestlers in these situations are trying to become the champion. With so many concepts and prizes and statuses floating around the various wrestling companies, it can be easy to forget why the wrestlers are out there in the first place. Having the title being the focus for everyone is the right call and it seems to be working, at least in NXT and on SmackDown.
While all kinds of things have changed in wrestling over the years, there are always going to be championships and accomplishments in the sport. Wrestlers want to win them because they show the fans which wrestler is the best. Fans understand the concept and there is something to be said about having a bunch of people coming for the title. It’s working on two fronts here and it would work again if it was done one more time. Just keep things fresh when necessary and things should work. The title continues to be the big prize though, and that seems to be well known right now.
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