Five-Star Conversation 05.18.10: The Role and Importance of Titles, The Hart Dynasty, Drew McIntyre and More!

For those of you wondering what that trembling was last week, that was my boss’ insistence upon my trying to move the Earth’s axis a bit to the left, thus, my hands were a bit full. A big apology to anyone who missed this column, and thanks to those who asked where it was! I hope you enjoy this week’s offering!

I’ve been hearing a lot of dissatisfied talk about how titles are working (or aren’t…?) in WWE these days, so I decided we should have a look and open up a larger discussion about them this week. See if you do or don’t agree…

“Let’s face it, the US and Intercontinental, for all of their lineage, don’t mean shit anymore.”

Traditionally, we need to see a guy hold the title long enough that it becomes a big deal when he loses it. That where the title acquires it’s value. Now it’s a big deal if a guy manages to reign for three consecutive months, and if this does happen, it’s often because the company doesn’t bother to book it for that long.
Posted By: Guest#0920

I can follow the thread of the logic employed here, but I respectfully happen not to agree with it, at least with respect to the mid-card titles losing their luster due to the inflated PPV schedule. I’m completely with you as far as the desire to see another Savage-like reign (especially if such reign culminates in such an epic fashion as the Steamboat defense at WrestleMania). But I think you’re missing the basic point of why we watch professional wrestling in the first place – stories and characters (or is it I who am so out of touch, because that’s why I watch it!).

It seems to me that titles are significant because they spotlight the best talent the company has under contract at the time, either heel or face. Vince McMahon made his fortune in the ‘80s based upon the basic “face as champion” premise, that being, install a beloved and inspirational leader who connects with the greatest number of your fanbase and continue to send monster after monster after him with the intention of destroying everything for which he stands (and, thus, the movement his fan base follows) by depriving him of said movement’s foundation, the title. As much as I absolutely despised Hogan and his one-trick pony of a title defense, I can’t deny that the formula worked on several levels, one of them being that Hogan’s reigns on top with the belt gave it credibility and value, because he never failed his fan base and, by proxy, the belt (if he ever lost a championship match, it was because of the treachery of his evil opponent, not because he couldn’t live up to withholding his part of the deal). Fans continued to tune in and buy PPVs because it was important to them to see their hero vanquish whomever opposed their hero.

Conversely, if you look to the NWA during the same time period, you had the hated Ric Flair, whose opulence and avarice combined with his having earned the title “the dirtiest player in the game” sold out houses all over the country because it was worth the fans’ time and money to witness him finally get his come-uppance and lose the belt.

In my opinion, Flair’s lengthy reigns as champion while he was Stylin & Profilin did more for The NWA Title than did Hogan’s for The WWF, because Flair’s entire lifestyle, the custom-made suits, the watches, the diamonds, the limousines, the women, it all stemmed from the wealth being the champion brought to him, and anyone who could take that belt from him would also deny him the ability to live that lifestyle that he loved to flaunt, belittling the fans with it. (Of course, it never occurred to the fans that their hated of him and his lifestyle were actually affording it to him by continuing to buy tickets in the hope of seeing him be defeated, but I digress.) By making the title the source for everything he valued in his life, whether or not fans liked it, agreed with it or were jealous of it, he lent that ten pounds of gold an identity of its’ own, more so than Hogan up north.

The same philosophy was (at least attempted to be) employed by WWE when Eric Bischoff awarded Triple H with The WHT on Raw back in the day when Brock Lesnar took The Undisputed Title to SmackDown! to make it the exclusive property of The Silver & Blue. Tri was the recipient of a LOT of flack from virtually everyone at the time, accusing him of utilizing his stroke with Vince to keep the belt around his waist, when, we learned later, that it was the intention of McMahonagement to keep the “new” belt on one, established character for an extended amount of time to lend credibility to the belt (although it seems to me that if you want to instill a new belt as credible and important, you wouldn’t just award it someone, but that’s just me talking).

There’s also the long-standing fact that there’s little better way to build a face than to have him chase a heel champion. Again we can look back to Flair’s reigns as champion and what he did for young, burgeoning performers like Barry Windham, Sting and Lex Luger. It’s a time-tested formula I was certain was being used to build Edge into a top-tier hero on SmackDown! with Chris Jericho in the Flair role before it became obvious that people prefer to boo The Rated-R Superstar, especially when cheering Randy Orton is the new flavor of the month.

Basically, you have the established and hated heel champion who, by virtue of being such, gets to pick and choose the terms of defending his title, to say nothing of the clichéd truism that the champ doesn’t have to beat the challenger, the challenger has beat the champion. So you book your face challenger to go over the hated, established champion in every way, shape and form as he chases the villain to score the belt…except when the belt is on the line, then you either have the heel cheat like mad to retain, write some kind of Dusty finish, where the heel doesn’t necessarily actively perpetuate any dishonesty to retain, but some miscarriage of justice does or you can actually have the heel prove he deserves the belt and go over clean (this usually is a good way to blow off the feud if it’s decided that the heel will ultimately retain, because the heel proves he deserves the belt, which actually serves to piss off fans even more, because they have to begrudgingly admit he’s as good as he tells them he is).

Otherwise, you write the face to finally overcome the heel after so long, fans barely believe their ears when they hear the third slap of the referee’s hand on the canvas, encouraging them to erupt, their long-suffering loyalty to the face (to say nothing of their financial investment of live shows and/or PPVs) finally paying off! But for fans to invest so deeply in chosen talent (and whether they recognize it or not, they’ve invested emotionally and financially in the heel, as well, in the hopes of one day seeing him defeated), they have to care one way or the other, and simply hot-potato-ing a belt around on PPV because it’s expected isn’t enough, and that seems to be something modern day bookers have forgotten.

If a fan buys a PPV just to see a title change for the sake of it, that’s a hollow (and expensive!) gesture unless there are solid characters in both roles making that title change, and thus, the title itself, important. It seems to me that people buy PPVs for the spectacle of the event, to see stories I assume about which they care and in which they have invested be furthered or concluded, assuming under circumstances that are more special than that they can generally expect on the weekly show. Here is where we see WWE jeopardizing itself – how many times have you shelled out for a PPV and been upset because it felt like a three-hour commercial free episode of Raw (and with the amount of self-promotional padding even WWE-TV is bloated with these days, PPVs are hardly commercial-free anymore!).

Now I absolutely am on board with the statement that WWE has stopped using The IC and USTs as stepping stones, and I do not like it one bit, Sam I Am. Correct me if I’m wrong but it seems to me the last time either title was used in such a manner was in Randy Orton’s case and check out where he is today…not that the two situations are mutually exclusive to one another, Orton has been mentored and protected with the intention of becoming exactly what he’s become. But the fact that it happened in his case proves that the formula is a winning one. The only reason there’s not a greater case to be made for The ICT being a successful stepping stone to the main event and a world champion reign is because Hogan stayed on top for so long during the 80s, he kept deserving ICCs like Curt Hennig and Rick Rude out of the title picture, although even other popular performers like Savage and The Ultimate Warrior were successful in making the transition.

Other than that, however, there’s still Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart to consider from back in the day, too, and, into The Attitude Era, there was Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H. However, it was this same point in time that it seems to me the transition to not using the mid-card belt as a stepping stone occurred. Talk about hot-potato-ing a belt around, it seemed as if the entire consolidated roster (prior to the brand split) was allowed a turn with some gold, whether it was InterContinental, European or Hardcore. This, I think, could have been the crux why The ICT started to lose its’ glory, because it ended up becoming “just another title” with the other two created belts that had no legacy. The year of 1999 saw no fewer than TEN title changes. However, length of a performers’ reign can’t really be blamed, either – Val Venis, someone not necessarily remembered for having been a “CHAMPION”, had six months with The ICT; I barely recall him having held the belt at all. Blame Vince Russo, who was co-writing the stories at the time, if you like, but bear in mind, there was another Vince along for that ride, too…or was he too busy writing himself into his own stories to notice? Maybe it was here that he stopped caring about any other belt in the company but the world championship(s).

I also agree that PPVs today are being sold almost solely on (world) title and gimmick matches, but disagree completely over the notion that it’s because of the TV-PG shift. It seems people want to point the finger at the new PG WWE and pin everything wrong with the company on that facet of the presentation, when, really, all it means is sanitized language, more tasteful Divas segments, a greater emphasis on Happy Endings and less, shall we say, Katie Vick.

Other than that, not a whole lot has really changed, in my view, because there’s still a HELL of a lot of violence, but executed in a more creative manner as a result of the safer ways WWE has gone about presenting its’ product, which would have come about regardless. After some of the findings produced by studies on the effects of concussions and such, WWE appears to be committed to creating a safer work environment for its’ performers. This should be applauded and if it puts a damper on anyone’s preferred manner of professional wrestling viewing, I’m sure there’s some old XPW tapes available on e-Bay.

That, and the Vince McMahon who used to refer to himself as a storyteller has somewhere along the line decided he prefers having lots and lots of money over telling stories, which is indicative of his preoccupation in making movies and cds and getting his wife elected to public office. If you ask me, that’s the reason the product is suffering, because Vince knows the bottom line can take care of itself, even if the quality has taken a holistic nosedive.

Yes, it would be nice to see a wrestler hold the title long enough such that it matters when he loses it, but, in today’s environment, the hyper-fickle IWC would be crying and bitching so loud and so long about so-and-so hogging the title and how Vince has a new pet in his menagerie, general public opinion would squash the importance of the whole event, so it’s kind of a catch22.

COMMENTPALOOZA!
Geoff, do you think they planned the whole Edge turn from the moment he came back or do you think it was a reactionary decision? I know this isn’t ask 411, but I just wanted your opinion on it.

Lastly, I finally saw Return of the Living Dead. Actually, that was the same night I finally saw They Live. Keith David is John Carpenter’s Danny Trejo as Robert Rodriguez is Danny Trejo’s John Carpenter. Seriously, I loved both movies. That is my gift to you on your birthday.
Posted By: the danger stranger

I have absolutely nothing on the inside track where Edge is concerned, only what my gut tells me. It seemed to me that WWE was prepared to turn Edge face when he returned and capitalize upon the face pop he was inevitably going to receive upon returning from rehabbing his Achilles tendon. I’ve detailed here over the weeks my thoughts on what I felt was to (and could) have gone down from WrestleMania on – Chris Jericho retained The World Title, but Edge got a measure of revenge by Spearing him through the wall barricade post-match.

It seemed child’s play to continue to book scenarios where Edge got the better of Jericho and looked to all to be the superior man in the program…just that he couldn’t seal the deal when the belt was on the line, when it mattered the most, Jericho playing the perfect cheating bastard champion to play Edge’s foil in this neo-Flair scenario. The big difference, of course, between Edge and Batista, though, is that, before Edge loses his credibility as a viable challenger who has a shot of dethroning the incumbent, he finally gets the duke in a tough, back-&-forth match, at a point in the program when fans are starting to believe that maybe The Rated-R Superstar can’t get the job done against Jericho, such that, when the three count went down, fans mightn’t even believe their ears and erupt in shared triumph!

However, for as high and hard as WWE seemed to want Edge to be pushed and accepted as a top tier face, maybe something along the lines of filling the vacancy left by Shawn Michaels’ having retired, the longer we got from Edge’s return and attack on Jericho when he declared against which champion he planned to challenge at WrestleMania, the face pops seemed to stop gathering momentum and started to level off, almost as if fans were recognizing, for once, the fact that they were being hyper-manipulated into feeling a certain way about a character with virtually every performer coming within a ten foot radius of Edge being forced to lead a reluctant crowd into chanting “Spear! Spear! Spear!” whether they were really feeling it or not (or perhaps there was a certain contingent of the audience who resented being led like a kindergarten class into playing sing-along…?).

It strikes me, along the same lines, as well, that McMahonagement actually exhibited a little self-awareness and flexibility when it became apparent that Randy Orton had organically evolved into exactly the role into which they were attempting to square-peg Edge, so good on WWE! I’ve said this for as long as I’ve been writing about wrestling, when your fans choose whom they want to support or deign, LET THEM! The only right or wrong answers in this vein come from the fans, as they are the ones shelling out for your product. When they make such a resounding decision as this, play along and reshape your landscape, no matter how awesome your original plan may have been!

Many of us had been calling for a while prior to Edge’s return that it was time for him to straighten up and legitimize his legacy. By that, I mean, it’s all well and good for a sneaky heel to ply his trade in such a manner, it helps to characterize who and what he is; however, for such a heel to be remembered as a truly great wrestler, he has to prove that he can actually, legitimately bank money against his name by stepping up and proving he’s as good as his record on paper implies that he is, and that he’s just not 250+ pounds of chickenshit. Again, this is the Flair template, more or less, and it could have worked for Edge as a face.

However, if he wasn’t going to work in the role WWE needed him to fill in one denomination, he certainly can still do so as a heel, he just needs to evolve. Edge can certainly stay true to being the ultimate opportunist and master manipulator, he just needs to utilize his machinations to get himself into position to honest-to-God win a world championship, and not take short-cuts to achieve the victory itself. He’s at a point in his own history where he’s proven he belongs at the top, now he needs to make sure that he stays there and he does that by being the same slimy, douchetastic bastard we know and love him for being, but also by securing some important, high-profile victories against other top level talent in memorable matches and situations. Hell, if he does a convincing enough job doing so, there may still be a face run for him somewhere down the line.

As for the Fortunate Sons stable, I do recall someone had mentioned as much. If that person was you, I’ll stick your Slammy in the mail as soon as it happens…hahaha! Although, considering the news that Brett DiBiase will require surgery soon, that whole deal may be postponed…?

I’m pleased you enjoyed your film selections, even if I’ve never seen “They Live” and only vaguely recall “Return of the Living Dead”. As we’ve seen here numerous times in the past, my personal cinematic preferences differ vastly from the norm here at 411mania, so I’ve learned not to mention too much about what I consider fine viewing. My favorite horror movies are “House of 1000 Corpses”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (the original Tobe Hooper version) and “Night of the Living Dead”. I’m also always up for an old Vincent Price film and I thought “Quarantine” that ran a couple years ago was quite well done, as well as virtually any Japanese scare flick. Best cinematic vampire? Willem DaFoe in “Shadow of the Vampire”.

“I suspect David Hart Smith might be the real break-out star of the team, as just now am I personally starting to see some real potential from him.”

That makes one of us, Slim G. DH still strikes me as unmotivated. Combine that with his cupie-doll looks and the man doesn’t really strike fear into the superstitious mid-card-heel mind… Again, that’s just how I see it. Kidd, on the other hand, has the kind of weird, shrieking intensity that I never get tired of watching. He’s got the willfulness and ring presence to make a match stand out on any show in which I’ve seen him. That intensity — that fabricated (but convincing) desire to “win — is something that even some of WWE’s upper-card guys don’t seem to have in their grasp… John Morrison… Jack Swagger… John Cena– I’m kidding; that’s one of Cena’s defining characteristics. Although, every time he makes the big comeback, I get the impression that his pre-match pump-up ritual is watching that lame-ass scene from Superman Returns where the man of steel lifts up that island of kryptonite….
Posted By: KanyonKreist

Speaking of film, I never saw Superman Returns. Oh, wait, was that the newest one with that Brandon guy, or was it one of the old Christopher Reeves flicks? If it was the one from a couple years ago, I did see it, but was pretty meh about it. Anyway, not important.

So, Double K, DHS is doomed to a lifetime of playing faces because he has such an undaunting look. There are worse things…it worked for Ricky Steamboat! Come to think of it, his dad needed Jim Cornette to pull off decent heel heat back in the mid-90s. I think that was Owen Hart and Daveyboy Smith’s most considerable shortcoming as professional wrestlers, they just didn’t have the inner killer instinct within themselves to really channel any convincing heel energy to fuel their characters, which is a shame. There was a period there in 1997 when The WWF was teasing a split between Owen and Smith, but they kept that going for so long, fans didn’t know what to think; then Bret reformed The Hart Foundation and the story was lost. I think that’s a shame, because it seemed to me, especially at the time, Smith, though never destined to be legendary top tier face stock, could have really shone in The WWF of that era, considering how lean the ranks were in the face of Eric Bischoff’s locker room cherry-picking.

But what if DHS learns to play a completely sarcastically disingenuous heel, who smirks and grins while boring those doe eyes into his prey, using those cupie doll innocent looks to manipulate and lie to others? Maybe he grows some scruff, lengthens his hair a bit, stops, you know, dressing in pink? Just a thought. I considered biting my tongue in DHS’ regard last night watching Raw when he totally futzed The Sharpshooter on Jericho…I cringed, thinking, “Aw, dood, if there’s ONE MOVE you don’t wank, especially while you’re working this next-generation hart gimmick, it’s The Sharpshooter!!!”

I wouldn’t be so rough on him, except that it seems to me that fans are already starting to cool on DHS and Tyson Kidd, which was my fear, and also why I was so adamant about placing them in the mid-card during my WWE roster break-down these last couple of weeks, instead of the upper mid-card, as I was rebuked for not having done by a couple readers. Yes, The UTTTs have been elevated that high these last several months as a result of good booking and wise championship selections by McMahonagement, and, yes, it seems to me to be the perfect time to attempt to bring DHS and Kidd up with Bret around. However, I just don’t think fans are completely convinced they need to be cheering for The Hart Dynasty right now and, apart from the sweetheart victory that afforded them the belts in the first place (and I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the fan reaction had a LOT more to do with seeing The Miz tap to lose a championship than the fact that it was The Harts who made him do it), I get the sense that fans feel obligated to cheer for them because of Bret’s association with them, not because fans are really win over. If I’m correct, that stands to hurt them, and there could even be a bit of backlash in their regard although that could be the jumpstart a heel turn requires.

I really dig Tyson Kidd’s mixture of high-flying and submission offense, but he loses me when he slaps on a headlock and starts screaming like there’s no tomorrow. It tells me that he doesn’t get how and why it’s important to include such moves in one’s offense, rather thinking it’s slowing down the overall action and that he needs to become vocal to keep the crowd interested. Suddenly he becomes a reincarnation of Crash Holly distracting us from what he errantly believes to be the cue for fans to start chanting BORING, whether it makes sense in the overall story being told or not. This disturbs me on his part, because, if I’m right, it implies he’s all about going full-bore and doesn’t get the subtler nuances of working a match. I’m convinced I have to be off the mark on this one.

Such outbursts, on the other hand, appear to be what convinces you he’s really into the match and has that “will to win” you feel is lacking in other faces such as Jack Swagger and John Morrison. That’s an interesting observation, and one I’ll not altogether disagree with you on. It’s entirely possible these two specifically and in particular lack Kidd’s expressiveness toward displaying the will to win. It’s entirely possible that they’re allowing the flow of the match to tell the story for them instead of the other way around. I’ve never noticed this and will have to take note before I can say one way or another. Or we could just both be completely full of shit.

I did hear that the WWE was going to inflate Smackdown for their SyFy debut. Who could you see going? I can see Sheamus and a nice face turn to boot.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth

Where’d you hear that, Schmoovester?! I heard just the opposite, that, because SmackDown! will be reaching fewer viewers once they move to Sy-Fy, WWE plans to turn The Silver & Blue into a sort of neo-ECW, using the brand as a means to build young talent and/or re-package/revitalize veteran performers, meanwhile packing the Rawster with the most marketable, saleable and most immediately-returnable commodities. Notwithstanding, my friend, it strikes me as implausible to put so much effort into building Sheamus into such a monster (ie, for Triple H to give him so much) to turn him so quickly. I don’t think it’s in the cards, fella!

The BCS is college football’s bullshit way of determining a champion so bleeped up that if I told you about it in a way you could understand you’d swear to never even touch “real sports” again.

JTG *was* briefly announced as switching brands, at least on the live chat, before that was revealed to be a mistake. Source: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/13177/105/
Posted By: Morgan Wick

I hate college sports even more than I hate the professional counterpart for reasons I won’t bother with here. And you can drop The F Bomb here, Morgan, most of us are bleeping adults.

And thanks for restoring my faith that my brain isn’t falling to pieces…well, at least other than the ways of which I’m aware. I knew I saw something about JTG being traded. I just never saw the retraction/correction.

You know, I used to think I had a handle on what was going on with McIntyre, but after he was stripped of the title then fired by Teddy Long and especially after what went down on last week’s SmackDown!, I have no fucking clue what’s going on with that guy anymore. This is an angle that seems to be more about Long and Vince McMahon than it does McIntyre in a way, as if he’s being used as a pawn in the power struggle of who really holds the reins on The Silver & Blue, a story that seems to have been going on forever and not really going anywhere (does anyone know if Teddy’s still on probation…?). I hope for his own sake that McIntyre doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

As for confusing the performer with the character, that could very well be true. However, McMahon seems completely committed to the advancement and success of McIntyre. Look at this push. Seriously, this guy is almost universally disliked by fans, and not in a beneficial manner…it’s the closest thing we’ve seen to XPac heat since, well, XPac. And yet, here he is every week, spotlighted in some fashion with The ICT. And let’s not forget that this is his second time on WWE-TV…does anyone remember his first run in 2006? At a time when so many performers are treated as absolute disposable commodities, McMahonagement’s commitment to McIntyre is almost a stubborn anomaly.

That all said, though, and to respond directly to your comment, it seems to me that McIntyre is still being established despite the fact that he’s been The ICC for a good while now. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for McIntyre to be feuding against the likes of Hardy and Kane, as they’re staunch mid-card faces who, basically, exist under the WWE umbrella to put over up-&-coming talent like McIntryre. Considering what’s been going down between McIntyre and Hardy, it seemed like a logical next step to have them go to war over The ICT at Extreme Rules in a Ladder match, a stipulation Hardy has much more experience with than does McIntyre, and so it would seem he’d have an advantage, thus giving fans the belief he could defeat McIntyre and walk with the belt. Hardy knows how to work such a match and situation in convincing fashion, even when he ends up, as Gorilla Monsoon used to say, at the short end of the pay window, so, when McIntyre would successfully defend his championship as well as lay in a wicked beating on Hardy in the process, why, there’s a perfect way to get a title on PPV and help a youngster develop identity and heat.

It also seems to me it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring Kane into the mix, as well, and “prove” McIntyre is for real by managing to overcome both faces and ultimately emerge still The ICC, especially since both Hardy and Kane are such different performers in size, stature and offense. THEN maybe it would make sense for McIntyre to step up to a performer the likes of a Rey Mysterio.

However, as beloved a face as Hardy is, all of these ruthless beat downs perpetrated by McIntyre don’t seem to be helping him get over in the eyes of the fans. It stands to reason fans should hate his guts by now, but there just seems to be this collective rolling of the eyes when his music plays, as if fans are saying, “Oh, Christ, here comes this guy again…honey, you want nachos…?”

I think it’s this reason we had the whole kerfuffle with The ICT, McIntyre’s having been stripped of it and Kofi Kingston going on to “win” it; now the fans are starting to take note because there seems to be a different quality of support given to Hardy and Kingston. Stay with me here. Is it outlandish to suggest that the majority of today’s “WWE Universe” fans are so used to cheering for Hardy, it’s an almost Pavlovian response to do so, but, Kingston, being on an upward trend in the company, fans have more invested in him? Because, therefore, it’s not just “that guy’s a dick because he beat up one of my favorites”, it becomes “that guy’s walking around with the championship one of my favorites fought for and earned”, which carries a lot more weight, I think. It’s a good move, altogether, but the big question is, once Kingston eventually wins The ICT fair-&-square off of McIntyre, is the heat going to stick or will fans stop caring once justice has been served?

That’s all for this week…thanks for reading!
RESPEEEEECK!!!
RIP Ronnie James Dio