PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart talks about the importance of the World Championship in professional wrestling and explains why it’s gone to hell in WWE.
A few weeks back, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the WWE for having cheapened the image of wrestling’s holy grail – the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, with that lame and contrived finish at Survivor Series, which entailed Sheamus, aided and abetted by WWE head honcho and COO Triple H, ambushing Roman Reigns (who had just won the world title after a hard fought ass-kicker of a match with Dean Ambrose) and then cashing in his dubious Money in the Bank contract and walking out as the new champion. To my way of thinking, it was an ill-conceived and implausible abortion that diminished the integrity of the belt and didn’t do anything to make anyone believe that Sheamus had any business being called a champion.
The feedback I received was overwhelmingly in agreement – with many vehement in their denunciation. I’ve also been told that fan reaction all over the internet, social media and whatnot has been similarly negative. As such, one would figure that perhaps the WWE might take note of what people are saying by cutting back on implausible and contrived nonsense like that and getting back to wrestling, which, lest anyone think otherwise, is still the name of the game.
That, unfortunately doesn’t appear to be the case. I shouldn’t be having to remind Vince, Hunter, Stephanie or whomever else is pulling the strings, but the main reason why wrestling fans pay their hard earned money to go to live events or on pay-per-views is because they’ve been given to believe – just like NHL, NFL or NBA fans do – that the WWE is the best brand of wrestling in the world, and, by that token, the WWE World Champion is supposedly the best of the best.
Perhaps I’m not grasping the rationale here, or maybe I’ve taken too many shots to the head, but the last time I checked though, bludgeoning some poor son of a bitch with a chair, or slam dunking them through a table, knocking them off a ladder, or smashing someone’s skull with a kendo stick or Hunter’s weapon of choice, the sledgehammer, requires little or no wrestling ability. Having said that, is it not a contradiction and an affront to everything the WWE supposedly stands for and prides itself in – not to mention an insult to the intelligence of the fans as well, that pro wrestling’s ultimate honor is being decided by something that has nothing whatsoever to do with wrestling.
Beyond being an insult to the intelligence of the fans, I find that it’s even more of an insult to people like my brother Bret Hart and other iconic former world champions, like Randy Savage, Bruno Sammartino, Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan and Bob Backlund, or predecessors like Lou Thesz, Strangler Lewis, Nick Bockwinkel and others – all of whom took pride in raising the bar to new heights and who selflessly invested their blood, sweat and tears to making the world title our sport’s equivalent to the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the World Cup or whatever the hell else.
All things considered, I’m surprised that Vince McMahon, who has been around this business all his life and whose father and grandfather dedicated their hearts and souls to the wrestling business and Triple H, who was mentored by the legendary old school legend, Killer Kowalski, and proudly calls himself “the Game” need to be admonished like this. It goes without saying that they should damn well know better.
Anyway, here’s hoping that they soon come to their senses and start restoring some pride and respect for the sport back into the business. On that note, I’ll call this a wrap but will look forward to catching up with you all next time. In the meantime and in between time, take care, and remember don’t drink and drive this holiday season.