WWE: Curse of the secondary titles

Curtis Axel with the Intercontinental championship title

In professional wrestling, accolades mean as much as what the company sees in a performer.

As great as Piper was, he never won the World title. Other greats and legends in the business such as Mr. Perfect, Owen Hart etc. weren’t successful either in winning the world title in the WWF.

Titles in professional wrestling are merely a marketing ploy for merchandise sales, and to establish a superstar as the ‘flag bearer’ of the organization, but having a title doesn’t reflect on the abilities of the performers. Although winning the WWE title or the World Heavyweight championship is a big deal; they are the richest prize in this business, something that every performer dreams of holding at one point or the other.

Then there are other titles such as the prestigious Intercontinental title and the United States Heavyweight title, which have a legacy and prestige of their own. And hence, when a youngster is regarded as the future of the business, these ‘second tier’ titles are put on him to elevate him to the next level.

These secondary titles are a ‘nod’ from the management that they see something in the performer. When Bret Hart was given the WWF Intercontinental title from Mr. Perfect, it was seen as the company believing in Bret, and that they were molding him to be the future of the business.

As such, winning these titles is as important as winning the WWE/World title, but sadly, that isn’t the case any more in the WWE. For the past few years, WWE has been booking the people holding the titles as mere flukes. Gone are the days when a performer like Umaga holding the Intercontinental title was seen as a legitimate threat, beating down people and winning bouts.

Now, every performer holding the IC/US title is subjected to more losses and is made to look weak, while the primary objective of putting the title on him is the exact opposite.

Looking at recent events, The Shield was considered to be the hottest thing in the company till WrestleMania. They were undefeated as a team till then, and dominated the likes of Cena, Sheamus, Orton, Ryback, Kane and even the legendary Undertaker!

But when Dean Ambrose won the WWE United States championship and Rollins and Reigns became the WWE tag team champions, all that changed, and they started losing more often!

It isn’t just restricted to them, but guys like Wade Barrett and Antonio Cesaro, two of the brightest prospects in the WWE, lost TV matches for months before losing the title eventually!

WWE’s policy of champions losing on TV every week takes away the meaning of them losing the title at a PPV, since no one believes they can ever win! Remember the times when guys like Warrior held the Intercontinental title for months without losing a match? All of that has changed in the WWE!

Another recent event which occurred that made headlines was Curtis Axel losing his first match.

Axel was never booked as a legitimate threat, but he still won his matches one way or the other. But when he became the new Intercontinental champion, that’s when things went south. Axel lost his first match to Chris Jericho, who was on his way out of the company, and then again in the same week on Smackdown!, he lost yet another match to Jericho!

So what makes WWE book their second tier champs so weak? The answer is hard to find, as there is no logical explanation as to why these performers lose all their momentum, after being built as credible talents for months!

It isn’t a coincidence that all the performers lose their steam when they win the US or the Intercontinental title. WWE needs to book them as credible champions, instead of making them lose to the other talents week in and week out.

Whether it is Axel or Ambrose, these are the guys who will be future WWE and World champions. It would be wise on WWE’s part to book them properly after building them for months.