Wrestling is a business that is based on perception. How WWE portrays its characters, directly influences how we feel about them. Think about it, would John Cena be the face of WWE if he lost loads of matches? No, he because if he did, that would make him Curtis Axel.
By watching WWE closely, we learn who the company has invested in the most. So if you’re favorite wrestlers have trouble has trouble getting on TV, well, it’s clear they are not a priority to WWE.
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One of the best ways WWE can say “I love you” to a wrestler is by giving them a championship belt. In turn, that wrestler is given the privilege and responsibility of carrying his or her division. It is their duty to increase the perceived value of-of that championship.
But that doesn’t always happen. Some wrestlers will decrease the value of their belt. To their defense that isn’t always their fault, like when Seth Rollins had to defend his title against an old Kane and a nearly dead Sting in the summer of 2014. Or when Sasha Banks and Charlotte passed the Women’s Championship back and forth like a middle school boyfriend. The value of a given belt can go up or down for an infinite amount of reasons – the market is always fickle.
Enough of the pseudo-intellectual riffraff, let’s get to it. For this exercise let’s look at Brock Lesnar‘s WWE’s Universal Title vs. Jinder Mahal‘s WWE Championship.
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Regardless of how absent Brock Lesnar tends to be, he’s still special. However, as the chart shows, his hit or miss schedule can hurt the title (May). However, look how it has bounced back this month. This is due to 2 things: 1. Brock Lesnar is actually on TV 2. His program with Samoa Joe is dynamite.
Their two big brawls on RAW has earned over 10 million views on Youtube. Fans are into the. When that happens, the belt feels important. The belt becomes, wait for it, VALUABLE.
As hot as the Universal Title has been, the WWE Championship has been that lukewarm. Say what you want about Jinder Mahal, but he is improving by the week and will likely be known as a serviceable champion.
However.
The belt has been on a steady slide since the Modern Day Maharaja has been its keeper. It’s not entirely his fault either because as we all know, it takes two to Fanango, er, tango.
Randy Orton is a slippery wrestler to appraise. He himself is kind of boring, but he owns the most popular finisher in the WWE – the RKO. Without that, Randy Orton may be Sheamus.
For months now, the WWE Championship has been centered around these two and has suffered because of it. Their actual matches have been good to great, which keeps the value of the title afloat, but its in between PPVs where we lose interest.
By design, the Universal Title ranks higher than the WWE Championship, but that’s not the point. Apple trades at double the price of Microsoft, but that doesn’t make it a better company. That said, the Universal Title is beating the WWE Championship 2 fold – it’s worth more and is increasing by the week.
Stay tuned as next week will be a big one as we march toward Great Balls of Fire.
