Why’d Janetty lose the IC title so fast?

[No Longer a Produceman]

I’m watching Raw from the beginning and I got to the period a few weeks before the inaugural King of the Ring. Marty Janetty comes back after he cowardly dove through the Barber Shop window and wins the IC title. Then, 2 episodes later HBK comes out announced as the new champ along with a seemingly debuting Diesel. Commentary mentions that Janetty lost the IC title the Sunday prior due to interference from Nash but don’t really go into detail.

So what’s the deal? Did Marty get popped with a drug test? Did Vince change his mind? Did HBK visit the bearskin rug? Inquiring minds wanna know!!

[thecrusherwi]

I would bet it was to try to garner interest for Raw and maybe pop some ratings for future Raws and the weekend shows that would show the highlights. And the switch back was to help house show business. In 1992-96 when business was down, they had a bunch of these quick title changes, both televised and not, in an event to pop house shows business and ratings. I don’t think there was ever any intention of having Marty hold the belt long term. They did the same thing with Marty and Kid with the Tag Team Titles in January 1994.

[Larryhausen]

Because he's Marty Janetty.

[BlackoutCreature]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the title change was just done to pop a rating or get some interest going for RAW, which was still fairly new at the time. The WWF obviously had long-term plans for Shawn Michaels/Mr. Perfect program at the time, they weren't going to bail on that for Marty Jannetty.

[Deleted]

Aug 18, 2021 23:10:27 GMT -5 Larryhausen said:

Because he's Marty Janetty.

essentially this...Just too unreliable...Bruce has actually talked a lot about Jannetty over the years throughout his STWW podcast...

[Sam Punk]

I'm guessing they were punishing Shawn for...something.

[Mozenrath]

It was a short-term "sorry we fired you based on HBK's possible lie" and to probably placate people who were angry about it, but I doubt it was ever any kind of long-term plan, plus as others have said, they were trying to get Raw over, anyhow, and this contributed to the big-match atmosphere a bit, even if so much of the mid-90s, Raw would be anything but.

[Mozenrath]

Aug 19, 2021 0:01:36 GMT -5 Sam Punk said:

I'm guessing they were punishing Shawn for...something.

Was it this or another time Marty was supposedly sleeping backstage, HBK tells management Marty's drunk/high, and he gets fired, but Hennig and others vouched for Marty to bring him back/cast doubt on HBK's version of events?

[No Longer a Produceman]

Having watched the next episode, it seems as though it was done to make the upcoming HBK/Crush match at King of the Ring a title match

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the usual "Marty is talented to Vince brings him back and decides to give him a push, Marty immediately ruins it by getting popped for drugs or some other big f*** up" lather-rinse-repeat story.

[Aceorton]

Mr. Perfect's interference is what caused Shawn to lose the belt to Jannetty. Looking back, it's a little clearer that Jannetty himself wasn't really the focal point and that Shawn would get his belt back somehow. I just don't think anybody expected it would happen so soon, and on an untelevised show.

Man, I hated those house show title changes with no video footage (Jannetty, LOD, Kid/Jannetty). For a business supposedly all about "heat," they couldn't have been more anti-climactic. "Oh, by the way, over the weekend, so-and-so became the champ. We have no video, so just use your imagination."

[Slingshot Suplay]

The win was to punish Shawn, but it was just a slap on the wrist. Let's be real, Vince didn't see money in Marty as a singles star. He was not going to get an opportunity to move up even if he didn't mess up. Marty would've had to set the world on fire to get a sustained push after the split from Shawn.

[Squirrel Master]

Aug 18, 2021 22:28:41 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I would bet it was to try to garner interest for Raw and maybe pop some ratings for future Raws and the weekend shows that would show the highlights. And the switch back was to help house show business. In 1992-96 when business was down, they had a bunch of these quick title changes, both televised and not, in an event to pop house shows business and ratings. I don’t think there was ever any intention of having Marty hold the belt long term. They did the same thing with Marty and Kid with the Tag Team Titles in January 1994.

I was hanging out with Marty at a Brooklyn bar following a MSG house show just a week or two before he won the tag titles with 1-2-3 Kid and apparently Marty had no clue that was coming up soon.

[Squirrel Master]

Aug 19, 2021 9:38:05 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Mr. Perfect's interference is what caused Shawn to lose the belt to Jannetty. Looking back, it's a little clearer that Jannetty himself wasn't really the focal point and that Shawn would get his belt back somehow. I just don't think anybody expected it would happen so soon, and on an untelevised show.

Man, I hated those house show title changes with no video footage (Jannetty, LOD, Kid/Jannetty). For a business supposedly all about "heat," they couldn't have been more anti-climactic. "Oh, by the way, over the weekend, so-and-so became the champ. We have no video, so just use your imagination."

Fan-cam footage however brief would in fact spur house show sales. On the syndicated shows Bill Watts Presents UWF, they would show house show title changes and it really made you feel you might miss something special.

[cjh]

Aug 19, 2021 9:38:05 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Mr. Perfect's interference is what caused Shawn to lose the belt to Jannetty. Looking back, it's a little clearer that Jannetty himself wasn't really the focal point and that Shawn would get his belt back somehow. I just don't think anybody expected it would happen so soon, and on an untelevised show.

Man, I hated those house show title changes with no video footage (Jannetty, LOD, Kid/Jannetty). For a business supposedly all about "heat," they couldn't have been more anti-climactic. "Oh, by the way, over the weekend, so-and-so became the champ. We have no video, so just use your imagination."

Kid/Jannetty won the titles on Raw.  The Quebecers regained them at an MSG house show, and they did show the finish to that match at Royal Rumble a few nights later.

[dangerousdanpotato]

As others have said, this was a hot-shot angle to create some "never know what'll happen" excitement for RAW, whilst also building heat between Shawn & Mr. Perfect. It was surely only ever going to be a very short-term thing, and the untelevised switch was just to drum up enthusiasm and interest in house shows. 

I'm sure there was also a little bit of an unspoken apology to Marty inherent in the win, as well as a message being sent to Shawn. 

All in all, it killed a lot of birds!

[Aceorton]

Aug 19, 2021 10:40:41 GMT -5 cjh said:

Aug 19, 2021 9:38:05 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Mr. Perfect's interference is what caused Shawn to lose the belt to Jannetty. Looking back, it's a little clearer that Jannetty himself wasn't really the focal point and that Shawn would get his belt back somehow. I just don't think anybody expected it would happen so soon, and on an untelevised show.

Man, I hated those house show title changes with no video footage (Jannetty, LOD, Kid/Jannetty). For a business supposedly all about "heat," they couldn't have been more anti-climactic. "Oh, by the way, over the weekend, so-and-so became the champ. We have no video, so just use your imagination."

Kid/Jannetty won the titles on Raw.  The Quebecers regained them at an MSG house show, and they did show the finish to that match at Royal Rumble a few nights later.

If I'm remembering correctly, the Quebecers won at MSG on a Monday night while a taped RAW was airing, and during the taped RAW they pretended to have a "live update" from Stan Lane reporting the title change.

[cornettesracket]

Aug 19, 2021 11:31:45 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Aug 19, 2021 10:40:41 GMT -5 cjh said:

Kid/Jannetty won the titles on Raw.  The Quebecers regained them at an MSG house show, and they did show the finish to that match at Royal Rumble a few nights later.

If I'm remembering correctly, the Quebecers won at MSG on a Monday night while a taped RAW was airing, and during the taped RAW they pretended to have a "live update" from Stan Lane reporting the title change.

You indeed remember correctly because I’ve only recently rewatched it. 

[thecrusherwi]

Aug 19, 2021 9:38:05 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Man, I hated those house show title changes with no video footage (Jannetty, LOD, Kid/Jannetty). For a business supposedly all about "heat," they couldn't have been more anti-climactic. "Oh, by the way, over the weekend, so-and-so became the champ. We have no video, so just use your imagination."

Same. I think most of the title changes involving Money Inc. happened that way.

-They won the titles in Feb 1993 from LOD at a house show and when it was announced they didn’t even have still photos. Just Mean Gene telling you what happened on an Update segment

-They lost the titles in July 1992 to the Natural Disasters at a TV taping. The match was recorded, but never aired and randomly appeared a Coliseum Video a year and a half later

-After winning the titles back from the Disasters in October 1992 on Wrestling Challenge, they finally lose them in June 1993 to the Steiners at a house show. Then they won them back and then immediately lost them back to the Steiners. This whole sequence was announced at once on Superstars without any footage of any of the matches.

The Tag Titles as a whole got really weird. After the LOD beat the Nasty Boys at Summerslam 91, the titles don’t change hands on PPV again until the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly won the Tag Team Title tournament finals at Royal Rumble 1995. Nine of the 13 title changes took place at house shows!

[SmashTV]

Demons.