The Piledriver Report 7.25.07: The Ups and Downs of the World Title Picture in the WWE
Posted by Ronny Sarnecky on 07.25.2007
Last week, The Piledriver Report looked at the lack of quality main events been broadcast during WWE pay per views. This week, The Piledriver Report takes a look at the poor World Title picture, and also what help is on the way to improve the title chase.
What do you get when you have a main event on RAW that features John Cena and Candice Michelle against Umaga, Trevor Murdoch, and Lance Cade? The answer is "a reason to go to sleep before 11pm." Actually, when you think about it, the whole episode of RAW gave you a reason to turn out the lights early. While my NY Mets could use a night off, after the first 15 minutes of watching the show, I was longing to watch David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and the rest of the Flushing 24. Watching RAW lately hasn't been easy.
During the media blitz following the Benoit tragedy, every WWE representative during any appearance has said the WWE's job is to "entertain people and put smiles on the fans' face." Well, if that's the case, the WWE is doing a terrible job. Lately, the only time I get a smile on my face with the WWE is once the show is over, because I no longer have to sit through 2 hours of boredom.
Even when they give the fans' a match on RAW that should get them excited, like Paul London/Brian Kendrick vs. the World's Greatest Tag Team, they do not give them enough time to put together an excellent match. What every happened to Vince's demand of "more wrestling/less talking" on their shows. When the WWE took that angle earlier this year, RAW was at its best.
Granted, the WWE has been hurt by the injury bug. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, the Undertaker, Ken Kennedy, and now Edge. All of these men were key performers on their shows. However, instead of pushing wrestlers who were on the brink of the main events, the WWE shoved guys down the fans' throats the both aren't ready for the spot, and the fans have no interest in.
The Great Khali is the new World Heavyweight Champion! Are you kidding me? It's now official. Titles in wrestling, aside from the WWE World championship are meaningless. Look back to 1990. The Great Khali winning the World Heavyweight Championship would be like the Giant Gonzales winning the NWA World title from Ric Flair. That would have killed the title. This reminds me so much of WCW in its dying days when they had David Arquette and Vince Russo win the gold. After those two championship runs, the WCW belt was useless. The Intercontinental championship pre-attitude era was a stronger title then the World Heavyweight Championship is today. The only reason I could think of that the WWE put the belt on Khali was because they are hoping that he suffers the SmackDown World Title injury curse that Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, JBL, Batista, Rey Mysterio, the Undertaker, and Edge all felt before Khali grabbed the gold. It's the only thing I can think of. The Great Khali can't wrestle, can't talk on the mic, and has no charisma.
The WWE had the perfect opportunity to do the right thing by their fans. When someone suffers the SmackDown title curse, lately they have been too quick to act. If they thought things out, instead of rushing to judgment, they would have seen that Ken Kennedy's injury wasn't that serious, and he would be holding the World Heavyweight Championship right now. I understand that you need someone to represent the show as the World champion. However, this would not have been the first time the company had a vacant title for a few weeks. For the latest title switch, the WWE had a battle royal to put the belt on Khali. If the WWE was set in their ways about wanting the title to be won in a battle royal, I came up with a more intriguing plan to determine a new champion that would conclude with the battle royal that they wanted. My plan would have been to have a month long one round tournament. The winner of each first round contest would be automatically entered into the battle royal. However, I would leave one spot open, a General Manager's choice, for someone to enter the battle royal. The night of the battle royal, I would have co-General Manager, Vicki Guerrero, announce that the GM's choice for the final spot in the battle royal is the returning Rey Mysterio, Jr. The choice makes perfect sense when you think of the ties between her husband and Rey. By having Mysterio win the battle royal, SmackDown will have a wrestler that the fans view as a legitimate main event star holding the World title.
Instead, we have the not-so-great Khali as the "World Heavyweight" champion. UGH!!!! Matt Hardy would have been a better choice. Ric Flair, when he returns from injury would have been a better choice. Even Kane would have been a better choice.
On RAW, John Cena has a firm grip on the WWE World title. While the list of title contenders for the WWE championship have been less then stellar (for the most part), the creative team hasn't done anything to cheapen the value that the WWE belt may have. The big problem with the WWE title, is that aside from Shawn Michaels chase for title, nobody believed that Umaga, Khali, or Bobby Lashley had a shot to win the belt. The good news is that is all about to change.
Randy Orton looks to finally be completely out of the doghouse. He gets a main event singles match against John Cena at SummerSlam. The rumor has Randy Orton capturing the WWE World title from John Cena at the pay per view. Also at SummerSlam, Triple H is returning. It should only be a matter of days upon his return that Triple H is inserted into the title picture. In November, Shawn Michaels should be returning. Michaels was supposed to have a WWE title match on a pay per view this past summer. After the way Michaels performed before the injury, he deserves to be inserted back into the title hunt when he makes his probable Survivor Series return. Whether Randy Orton still has the WWE title or not, Shawn Michaels should be his opponent when he returns since Orton was the wrestler that "retired" him.
After having months worth of not yet ready for prime time players competing for the WWE World title, the WWE will have a nice run of major players all gunning for the championship. Ken Kennedy should be the next wrestler to break through to the main event spotlight after the Cena/Orton/Michael/Triple H matches are settled. WrestleMania would be the perfect place for Kennedy to rise atop the WWE mountain. However, that's a long way off.
The point is that despite the boredom that the fans have to sit through right now, the sun is about to rise. The WWE title will be strong one more. What about the SmackDown championship? Unfortunately, I don't see good things ahead. SmackDown used to be the "wrestling" brand. However, every time they have a good wrestler, he either switches brands or gets injured. With Edge out of action, the SmackDown title picture consists of the Great Khali, Batista, and Kane. Three big men, who do not provide the type of matches that the fans crave. Will Rey Mysterio be added to the mix? Even if he is, how do you think he will be booked against Khali? Rey isn't exactly getting the Triple H treatment hyping his return. When Rey was World Heavyweight Champion, the bookers had Mysterio play the role of "jobber boy who kept the title." How do you think they will be booking Mysterio without the belt, and against Khali- if they even put him in the title picture?
Knowing the WWE, they will probably have Batista win the title from Khali before Edge makes his return. Once Edge comes back, he will probably regain the belt. The interesting plot twist will be what will happen once the Undertaker comes back. Remember, the Undertaker was promised a long title reign. Edge was promised a long reign, as well. What they should do is have Edge will the title upon his return. Hopefully, in November at the Survivor Series. Then, have him hold it until WrestleMania, where the Undertaker wins the belt, and gets his long promised title reign.
The World Heavyweight title chase, shouldn't give the fans a lot of drama and excitement over the next several months. At least, not until Edge and the Undertaker return. That can't be said for the WWE World title. The WWE title chase should get very exciting in the near future, with John Cena, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and eventually Ken Kennedy all in the mix. As Jim Ross would say, "business is about to pick up." From an entertainment aspect, that's all the fans can ask for.
