Post by sungod2020 on Sept 12, 2022 8:42:42 GMT -5
Just as the thread says. What championship reigns do you think weren't given the appropriate amount of time?
Too Long:
Bob Backlund's 2,135 day** World Title Reign - Debuting in the then World Wide Wrestling Federation to huge fanfare in late 1976, Backlund was challenging the villianous "Superstar" Billy Graham for the championship throughout 1977. On February 20, 1978, he finally got to vanquish him for it despite having his(Graham's) foot on the rope. It's only fitting however since he used his feet for leverage when defeating Bruno Sammartino for it 10 months earlier. I guess you can say "you live by the foot, you die by the foot."
Backlund's early challengers for the title included Spiros Arion, Mr. Fuji, Ivan Koloff, George "the Animal" Steele, and Ken Patera, and had his first high-profile title match in Japan, defending against Antonio Inoki. He also won a series of rematches against Graham, including an April 1978 steel cage match at Madison Square Garden.
Backlund continued to be successful into 1982 and 1983, successfully defending against a variety of contenders, ranging from Adrian Adonis, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Big John Studd, Ivan Koloff, Magnificent Muraco and Sgt. Slaughter. One of his most memorable encounters came in mid-1982, when he won a steel cage match against "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka; in that match, at Madison Square Garden, Snuka scaled the top of the cage, intending to perform his "Superfly" splash onto a prone Backlund to incapacitate him, but Backlund moved after Snuka began to fly through the air and went on to escape the cage. He also turned back a challenge from Superstar Billy Graham, who returned to the WWF in late 1982(now under a kung fu gimmick) wanting to reclaim the championship.
After having been popular with the fans from early on, in the final year of his title reign, Backlund changed his image, cutting his mop hair into a crew cut, wearing amateur wrestling singlets and losing muscle mass and definition. Fans seemingly grew weary of this "Howdy Doody" character (as the Grand Wizard had dubbed him). If there was any indicator that he was losing support from the audience, the WWF aired a whole episode of All American Wrestling in September 1983 essentially burying him....
www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-allamerican01/
This can be seen as a foreshadowing of sorts that his days as WWF champion were numbered. And numbered they were as on December 26, 1983, Howdy Doody's near 6 year reign came to an end as his manager "Golden Boy" Arnold Skaaland threw him the towel as The Iron Sheik had him in the camel clutch. While some may see it as a betrayal that even his manager gave up on him, it could also be seen as Skaaland not wanting to risk further injury on his client as he was trapped in that hold....or maybe it was both, you decide.
Either way, this lost haunted the future Hall of Famer for over a decade until he defeated fellow Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart at the 1994 Survivor Series in the same way he lost it, but in this case, Bret's mother Helen(who was tricked by Owen to do it since his cornerman Davey Boy Smith was knocked out cold) threw it the towel. Even though this might've been vindication for him, this time he was a hated heel as he got nuclear heat from the fans in attendance.
Sadly for Backlund, he didn't have much time to celebrate as he lost the championship to "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel three nights later at an MSG house show. While his first official reign may have been seen as an eternity by many, his second reign had the opposite problem as he didn't have time to show what he was capable of as a cheating heel champ. So it went from one extreme to the other.
With his first reign, he could've dropped the belt to a hated heel in like 1980, chased it for a little bit, reclaim it sometime in like 81/82, and then drop it to The Iron Sheik the same way he did IRL. I think he would've been better received as a fighting babyface champion, and the shock of his second reign ending would've registered better with fans. It would also be a relief to have Hulk Hogan vanquish the Iron Sheik a month later and bring in a whole new boom period of Hulkamania/Rock n' Wrestling.
With his (real) second reign, he could've held onto the championship until The Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania to Diesel(or back to Bret Hart). Now, I know Kevin Nash's reign wasn't the best and can also be in the too long category, but he certainly did have the look as a WWF champ and was over with the existing fans. The fans didn't turn against him(at least not fully or from what I remembered), but he needed a better array of challengers outside of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. If his reign was shaved off by a few months, I'm sure it would've been better(but not greatly) received.
**Yes, I'm aware that Backlund had two interruptions in his 6 year reign, with Antonio Inoki defeating him on November 30, 1979 in Tokushima, Japan only for Backlund to win it back 6 days later. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh, and Inoki remained champion. Inoki refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant. Backlund later defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas death match to regain the title on December 17.
And on October 19, 1981, after a dazed referee "accidentally" gave the championship belt to Valentine as part of the storyline, it constituted an interruption of Backlund's title reign. However, Backlund was billed as the WWF Heavyweight champion in other cities in the days following the controversy.[16] In the early part of the 1980s, when no promotion held nationally televised events, it was not uncommon practice to "hold up" the title in one area (to build interest in a rematch the "former" champion would win) while ignoring the situation in other parts of the territory. On November 23, Backlund pinned Valentine for the "vacant in New York only" WWF Heavyweight Championship.[17] A rematch for the title, held inside a steel cage at the Philadelphia Spectrum in January 1982, also saw Backlund emerge the winner, securing the victory when he hit a piledriver on Valentine onto the mat.
Even with the title being held up against Inoki and Valentine, Backlund is recognized by WWE as having one continuous title reign from 1978 to 1983 as WWE champion.
Too Short:
Kane as WWF Champion - The Big Red Monster made a splash on the WWF scene at Badd Blood 1997 to swear revenge on his brother The Undertaker for setting fire to the family home and killing their parents(and presumably him) 20 years ago. Initially refusing to fight his own "flesh and blood" Taker finally gave in and challenged him at Wrestlemania XIV to come out victorious. He defeated him again at the following month's Unforgiven in an inferno match.
On the June 1 episode of Raw Is War, Kane did manage to get some measure of revenge as he defeated his older brother to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship. At the King of the Ring, Kane defeated "Stone Cold Steve Austin" in a First Blood match following interferences by Mankind and The Undertaker to win the WWF Championship. Kane lost the title back to Austin the following night on Raw Is War
While I get the abrupt title change was to pop a rating against WCW Nitro(who responded the following week by having Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan for their World championship), I think his reign should've been dragged out until Summerslam.
Just have Kane defeat The Undertaker at Fully Loaded, and then have Austin beat Mankind in a number one contenders match in preparation for his Summerslam showdown against The Big Red Machine where he wins it back. Pretty simple.
Zack Ryder as United States Champion - Zack Ryder is an example of how stubborn WWE in the 2000s onward can be when it comes to having things their way. The Long Island Sensation dare got over on his own with his youtube channel "Z! True Long Island Story" which debuted in February 2011. His T-shirts sold out despite not appearing on television and by June, "We Want Ryder" chants were started by the audiences of Raw and the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view without Ryder appearing on the show.
WWE finally gave into fan pressure and had him defeat Dolph Ziggler for the US championship at the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV in December of that year to the delight of the crowd. So with that win, things are on the up and up and now the Ryder Revolution can begin? Right? Well no, because during his reign, he was injured and thrown out the ramp in a wheelchair by Kane, had his girl Eve Torres taken by John Cena, and eventually lost the belt to the unover Jack Swagger regulating him back to the lower midcard where the company thinks he belongs.
Seriously, it's like WWE was saying "there, we made him champion, you happy now? now lets move along and focus on the people who REALLY matters." What is so difficult with him having a fun underdog reign lasting three months? He dosen't have to be a serious main eventer, and I don't think the audience expected him to be, but someone who should be featured more given his popularity.
It's so aggravating how Vince and co always preaches about grabbing this "brass ring", and then Ryder(or anybody who isn't approved by upper management) does that, and gets buried as a result, and while the term "burial" may get thrown around alot within the IWC, it's hard to argue that this WASN'T one.
His surprise IC title reign in 2016 wasn't much better as he won a 7 man ladder match at Wrestlemania, and then lost it the next night to The Miz, and I remember one poster on here saying that would happen on the day that it did.
Any too long or short title reigns you can think of?
Too Long:
Bob Backlund's 2,135 day** World Title Reign - Debuting in the then World Wide Wrestling Federation to huge fanfare in late 1976, Backlund was challenging the villianous "Superstar" Billy Graham for the championship throughout 1977. On February 20, 1978, he finally got to vanquish him for it despite having his(Graham's) foot on the rope. It's only fitting however since he used his feet for leverage when defeating Bruno Sammartino for it 10 months earlier. I guess you can say "you live by the foot, you die by the foot."
Backlund's early challengers for the title included Spiros Arion, Mr. Fuji, Ivan Koloff, George "the Animal" Steele, and Ken Patera, and had his first high-profile title match in Japan, defending against Antonio Inoki. He also won a series of rematches against Graham, including an April 1978 steel cage match at Madison Square Garden.
Backlund continued to be successful into 1982 and 1983, successfully defending against a variety of contenders, ranging from Adrian Adonis, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Big John Studd, Ivan Koloff, Magnificent Muraco and Sgt. Slaughter. One of his most memorable encounters came in mid-1982, when he won a steel cage match against "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka; in that match, at Madison Square Garden, Snuka scaled the top of the cage, intending to perform his "Superfly" splash onto a prone Backlund to incapacitate him, but Backlund moved after Snuka began to fly through the air and went on to escape the cage. He also turned back a challenge from Superstar Billy Graham, who returned to the WWF in late 1982(now under a kung fu gimmick) wanting to reclaim the championship.
After having been popular with the fans from early on, in the final year of his title reign, Backlund changed his image, cutting his mop hair into a crew cut, wearing amateur wrestling singlets and losing muscle mass and definition. Fans seemingly grew weary of this "Howdy Doody" character (as the Grand Wizard had dubbed him). If there was any indicator that he was losing support from the audience, the WWF aired a whole episode of All American Wrestling in September 1983 essentially burying him....
www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-allamerican01/
This can be seen as a foreshadowing of sorts that his days as WWF champion were numbered. And numbered they were as on December 26, 1983, Howdy Doody's near 6 year reign came to an end as his manager "Golden Boy" Arnold Skaaland threw him the towel as The Iron Sheik had him in the camel clutch. While some may see it as a betrayal that even his manager gave up on him, it could also be seen as Skaaland not wanting to risk further injury on his client as he was trapped in that hold....or maybe it was both, you decide.
Either way, this lost haunted the future Hall of Famer for over a decade until he defeated fellow Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart at the 1994 Survivor Series in the same way he lost it, but in this case, Bret's mother Helen(who was tricked by Owen to do it since his cornerman Davey Boy Smith was knocked out cold) threw it the towel. Even though this might've been vindication for him, this time he was a hated heel as he got nuclear heat from the fans in attendance.
Sadly for Backlund, he didn't have much time to celebrate as he lost the championship to "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel three nights later at an MSG house show. While his first official reign may have been seen as an eternity by many, his second reign had the opposite problem as he didn't have time to show what he was capable of as a cheating heel champ. So it went from one extreme to the other.
With his first reign, he could've dropped the belt to a hated heel in like 1980, chased it for a little bit, reclaim it sometime in like 81/82, and then drop it to The Iron Sheik the same way he did IRL. I think he would've been better received as a fighting babyface champion, and the shock of his second reign ending would've registered better with fans. It would also be a relief to have Hulk Hogan vanquish the Iron Sheik a month later and bring in a whole new boom period of Hulkamania/Rock n' Wrestling.
With his (real) second reign, he could've held onto the championship until The Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania to Diesel(or back to Bret Hart). Now, I know Kevin Nash's reign wasn't the best and can also be in the too long category, but he certainly did have the look as a WWF champ and was over with the existing fans. The fans didn't turn against him(at least not fully or from what I remembered), but he needed a better array of challengers outside of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. If his reign was shaved off by a few months, I'm sure it would've been better(but not greatly) received.
**Yes, I'm aware that Backlund had two interruptions in his 6 year reign, with Antonio Inoki defeating him on November 30, 1979 in Tokushima, Japan only for Backlund to win it back 6 days later. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh, and Inoki remained champion. Inoki refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant. Backlund later defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas death match to regain the title on December 17.
And on October 19, 1981, after a dazed referee "accidentally" gave the championship belt to Valentine as part of the storyline, it constituted an interruption of Backlund's title reign. However, Backlund was billed as the WWF Heavyweight champion in other cities in the days following the controversy.[16] In the early part of the 1980s, when no promotion held nationally televised events, it was not uncommon practice to "hold up" the title in one area (to build interest in a rematch the "former" champion would win) while ignoring the situation in other parts of the territory. On November 23, Backlund pinned Valentine for the "vacant in New York only" WWF Heavyweight Championship.[17] A rematch for the title, held inside a steel cage at the Philadelphia Spectrum in January 1982, also saw Backlund emerge the winner, securing the victory when he hit a piledriver on Valentine onto the mat.
Even with the title being held up against Inoki and Valentine, Backlund is recognized by WWE as having one continuous title reign from 1978 to 1983 as WWE champion.
Too Short:
Kane as WWF Champion - The Big Red Monster made a splash on the WWF scene at Badd Blood 1997 to swear revenge on his brother The Undertaker for setting fire to the family home and killing their parents(and presumably him) 20 years ago. Initially refusing to fight his own "flesh and blood" Taker finally gave in and challenged him at Wrestlemania XIV to come out victorious. He defeated him again at the following month's Unforgiven in an inferno match.
On the June 1 episode of Raw Is War, Kane did manage to get some measure of revenge as he defeated his older brother to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship. At the King of the Ring, Kane defeated "Stone Cold Steve Austin" in a First Blood match following interferences by Mankind and The Undertaker to win the WWF Championship. Kane lost the title back to Austin the following night on Raw Is War
While I get the abrupt title change was to pop a rating against WCW Nitro(who responded the following week by having Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan for their World championship), I think his reign should've been dragged out until Summerslam.
Just have Kane defeat The Undertaker at Fully Loaded, and then have Austin beat Mankind in a number one contenders match in preparation for his Summerslam showdown against The Big Red Machine where he wins it back. Pretty simple.
Zack Ryder as United States Champion - Zack Ryder is an example of how stubborn WWE in the 2000s onward can be when it comes to having things their way. The Long Island Sensation dare got over on his own with his youtube channel "Z! True Long Island Story" which debuted in February 2011. His T-shirts sold out despite not appearing on television and by June, "We Want Ryder" chants were started by the audiences of Raw and the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view without Ryder appearing on the show.
WWE finally gave into fan pressure and had him defeat Dolph Ziggler for the US championship at the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV in December of that year to the delight of the crowd. So with that win, things are on the up and up and now the Ryder Revolution can begin? Right? Well no, because during his reign, he was injured and thrown out the ramp in a wheelchair by Kane, had his girl Eve Torres taken by John Cena, and eventually lost the belt to the unover Jack Swagger regulating him back to the lower midcard where the company thinks he belongs.
Seriously, it's like WWE was saying "there, we made him champion, you happy now? now lets move along and focus on the people who REALLY matters." What is so difficult with him having a fun underdog reign lasting three months? He dosen't have to be a serious main eventer, and I don't think the audience expected him to be, but someone who should be featured more given his popularity.
It's so aggravating how Vince and co always preaches about grabbing this "brass ring", and then Ryder(or anybody who isn't approved by upper management) does that, and gets buried as a result, and while the term "burial" may get thrown around alot within the IWC, it's hard to argue that this WASN'T one.
His surprise IC title reign in 2016 wasn't much better as he won a 7 man ladder match at Wrestlemania, and then lost it the next night to The Miz, and I remember one poster on here saying that would happen on the day that it did.
Any too long or short title reigns you can think of?