The Rise & Fall of the WWE & World Heavyweight Title

For years, the cornerstones of the WWE (WWF) and NWA/WCW have always been their heavyweight titles. These titles were the proud flagship titles that were proudly worn by the likes of Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, The Rock, and others. Each of these men wore the title with dignity and respect, both for themselves and the company that they represented as the top guy in the business. As I listened to a recent podcast, I could not help but remember and reminisce about how great the World Title once was, which is what drove me to write about it. The World Title signified that you were the very best in the company and in the business and that you had no peers. That title meant that you were a bullseye for every up and coming star and that you had to constantly fight to keep your spot. The men that I just mentioned wore the title with respect and worked extremely hard for their spot and to carry the torch as long as they could, while performing at a very high level night in and night out. A true world champion was one who had great talent and skill inside the ring and professionalism and maturity outside of it. When you have that title around your waist, you are suppose to put on classic and memorable matches while helping to bring out the very best of yourself but your opponent as well. Longtime fans such as myself tuned in every night to see who the champ was going to face and how he was going to overcome, because the World Title was always a proud title with the highest form of prestige and value in the business, far above every other title. The main event match for the World Title in both WWF and WCW was what I always looked forward to because each promotion had a great champion that I had fun watching. Growing up, I was a huge WWF fan, because of Bret Hart who was at the time the WWF Champion.

The Winged Eagle Belt was perfect for a guy like him. When I started watching wrestling, Bret was the Champion, and he captured my imagination like no other because of how great he was as the champ. It was only a coincidence that one of the first guys that I had seen was the world champion and an awesome one at that. The Hitman was a ring general, using his scientific technique, submission wrestling, wrestling IQ, quickness and heart (no pun intended) to win. His matches with HBK, Flair, Austin, Undertaker, Owen, Bulldog, etc. were brilliant. Bret was a guy that I could watch without ever getting bored, because of how fast-paced he was with his technical prowess. Bret's reigns as champion in his prime ('93-'97) were classic. That is what I called a true champion. The Excellence of Execution for me was the torchbearer for the '90s from a World Champion standpoint, until Stone Cold/The Rock took over in the Attitude Era and carried the company to new heights as they traded the belt back and forth.

The Nature Boy Ric Flair was without question for me, the torchbearer of the '80s as the NWA Heavyweight Champion, because of his terrific persona, in-ring ability, promos, and feuds with Harley Race, Dusty, Sting, Steamboat, etc. As I was listening to this very intense discussion about the World Title (The Big Gold belt specifically), I could not help but agree that this title was the worker's title, and Flair was the face of that championship. As you can see that during wrestling's golden era, Hogan and Macho Man were the mainstream champs for the WWF in New York, while Flair was NWA Champ wrestling in different territories and around the world. The business was at its apex during this period, because of the drama that Hogan created during his feuds and matches with the likes of Savage, Piper, Andre, etc. Both titles were held with very high prestige, where you did not have to worry about any celebrities wearing them. Mr. T was Hulk's buddy, so no one had to worry. Buyrates were awesome, and the characters were believable with stellar matches overall.

Today, the title has taken a HUGE downgrade!!! The prestige has dropped tremendously, with the boring and monotonous title reign of John "Cyborg" Cena, who has ZERO technique in the ring, overbooked, awful matches, forced delivery as a super hero character and worst of all, his five moves of doom, including his 5-year old knuckle shuffle. When you look at the great WWF Champions, from the mainstream champions such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Stone Cold, The Rock and Warrior to the worker champs such as Bret Hart, Cena has brought in the WORST PPV Buyrates of any champion. Ratings have taken a huge nosedive, and fan support from longtime fans has fallen off, because of how repetitive his delivery is and how un-entertaining he is. That piece of garbage spinner belt has dropped the title's value dramatically, like never before. Cena has officially monopolized the main event picture, because even though CM Punk has the title, the belt is customized for Cena to keep. Even when Edge won and had it customized with the Rated R logo, you knew that it was going back to Power Ranger Cena. Stone Cold had the customized "Smoking Skull" Belt, but it was only for a short period of time, especially compared to how long the spinner belt has been around, which is going on 7 years so far. Bobby Heenan once said that comparing Hogan's WWF Title to Ric Flair's World Title was like comparing "Ice Cream to Horse Manure". Well now, the Ice Cream (World Heavyweight Title) has now become vomit, and the WWE Title has REALLY become horse manure. I really cannot take it seriously when you put the belt on a Real World reject like The Miz. I still cannot take him seriously because of that, when you look at the guys who have worn it long before him. How the mighty have fallen. Both belts stink.

The Big Gold Belt has even been modified to where the plate has been made even more round, with the WWE logo on it. Vince always finds a way to tamper with things that were great and put a stain on them. Cena-mania has polluted the WWE and squandered the prestige of the richest prizes in the sport, and WWE needs to clean up the toxic waste that John Cena has created very fast, and start from square one by disposing of the spinner belt and bring back the Winged Eagle, as well as re-modify the WHC and make the front plate smaller and find other guys to push to make it a more valuable title. Watching these great belts go to waste makes me cringe and cry inside.