Friday 28 March 2014

What happened to the singles titles?

At WrestleMania 30, there is exactly one scheduled singles title match.
This is unacceptable.

Since the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships merged a few months ago, I expected the United States and Intercontinental Championships to finally get some love and attention. So far, no luck. You'd think that with one less title for Superstars to feud for, they'd need to make the ones they have as prominent as possible to compensate. So far, no luck.

Right now, Big E's only involvement at 'Mania is in a Royal Rumble-style match (which should be sweet, even if the stakes aren't very high), and the Shield appear to be feuding with Corporate Kane and the Old Age Outlaws, so I doubt Ambrose will defend his belt either.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time Ambrose fought for his U.S. title, which begs the question: why does he even have it? Shield are doing well enough for themselves that they don't need the U.S. title attached to one of their three guys. They don't need the push in that way. I could see Reigns defeating Ambrose for it once they split up, and I figured that would be at 'Mania, but... Well, that's not happening.

Big E shouldn't have it either--not because he's a bad performer and doesn't deserve a belt, but recently the Intercontinental title has hurt people more than it's helped them. People win it, and they get a quick burst of popularity, but a couple months later nobody cares. At all. And then the torch gets passed to some new guy, and the previous champion fades away.

The IC title used to have the opposite effect. Guys would earn it, prove they were championship material, then move on to the next belt: either the WWE or the WHC. But now there's only the WWEWHC, and there are increasingly longer title reigns. Yes, I remember the days when JBL and HHH had their respective titles for like a year, but that was when there were other belts that actually meant something. Now, there's just the WWEWHC, and nothing is being done with any of the others.

So, what the hell? Why does only one belt have any prestige today? And what needs to be done to fix this? My suggestion is that they should put the U.S. or IC on main event guys and boost them that way. Imagine if like...Cena, Bryan, and Lesnar held today's singles titles. Suddenly you've got three huge ongoing story lines and three coveted belts.

The U.S. and IC titles have this weird stigma now of being for "up-and-comers" or whatever, like they're so far beneath main event guys, but why does it need to be that way? Why not make all the belts super prestigious, with only a little extra attention given to the WWEWHC? There are only three belts, after all, and there are so many Superstars right now, it'd be a wonderful way to keep more of them engaged in stories audiences care about.

But I want to know what you think they should do with the men's singles titles, so continue the discussion in the comments section. I'll be sure to give my thoughts on your potential solutions.

Until next time, have a nice day, and don't be jabroni.


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