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| Article: |
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| Man Of The Moment |
Matt Barnes |
Are short-term champs ruining the reputations of the titles they long for?
Way back in Issue 16, FSM looked closely at Edge – the man so often charged with keeping the seat warm at the top of the heavyweight division while his fellow professionals were either out injured or embroiled in feuds elsewhere. In particular, we referred to the fact that WWE only ever seem to put the belt on Adam ‘The Rated R Superstar’ Copeland when it is absolutely necessary. Indeed, calling Copeland a ‘caretaker champion’ was a thought-provoking take on the career of a man who, even then, had managed to snag more gold than greats such as Jack Brisco and Bruno Sammartino.
If anybody doubted our assessment of Edge – and, indeed, of transitional champions in general – then they need only have looked at Edge’s recent run, which saw him drop the gold to one Mr Jeff Hardy. Edge took the gold to ensure that Hunter didn’t have to be the one losing to the n00b champion, and made Hardy look like a million bucks in receiving the strap. It was a wise, wise move by a normally unwise booking team, but Edge’s stellar performance ensured that Hardy was received as a strong, enigmatic new champion… even if Hunter did have to nail a match-winning Pedigree before Jeff scored with the Swanton Bomb for the win.
But then, such is the nature of the transitional champion. Upon receiving the belt, the transitional champion must swear an unspoken allegiance to the company, promising to make the absolute most of their title run but, above all, to do no harm to the belt either. They must protect the title and their opponents at all times by doing exactly what they are told and by making other, often weaker, grapplers look like their equals. Swear though they might, however, holding onto the gold for any significant length of time is a far more difficult prospect than merely winning it. An even more challenging task, given the backstage politics and the unpredictable nature of pro wrestling, is to leave the championship scene in the same state that you found it.
Harder yet is to bring anything at all to the table that adds credibility to the title picture and actually enhances the belt’s value, given how insipid the chasing pack can often be and how tarnished much of the gold in the wrestling world is. But as the optimistic types that we are here at FSM, we’d argue that it could actually be the transitional champions who are bringing the real value to the title scene in 2009. The conclusion we drew back in Issue 16 was that this role was perfectly suited the Rated-R Superstar and, as noted, that view was confirmed when Edge’s recent transitional run facilitated Jeff Hardy becoming WWE Champion.
And that, not surprisingly, raises a very good question. With the WWE having celebrated the brief runs of so many transitional champs over the past few years, do transitional champions simply prove that anybody can win the gold – given the right build up and investment from the company – thus keeping the fans interested and the product edgy? Are they more a sign of a company bereft of ideas, desperately switching the gold from one grappler to the next in the hope of finding something that sticks? Or, in reality, have transitional champs always been a prevalent, if overlooked, factor in this crazy-assed business?
For the rest of this feature, check out issue 38 of FSM - available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders and Barnes & Noble, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)
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