Greetings, fine ladies and gentlemen. Today, we are going to do the unthinkable! Well, it is thinkable, as I thought of it, but it is something that is done sporadically in professional wrestling. Today, we will Fantasy Book a new championship!
I began thinking about this as I watched the WWE use the “Champion’s Advantage” over and over again. Basically, it works like this – a champion has an advantage in any title match over the challenger. To wit, the champion can not lose his/her title if he/she is disqualified or counted out or as a result of a time limit draw during a championship match. This allows a lot of ways a heel champion can continue their reign without actually beating a more popular challenger.
I grant that this Champion’s Advantage does create a number of interesting storytelling avenues. It places the burden on the challenger to actually beat the champ. And most importantly, it focuses the chase for the title, especially in a program which extends a little while. It gives the challenger a number of obstacles to overcome instead of just beating the champ. It adds drama and excitement and draws us in as viewers.
There is a negative to the Champion’s Advantage though. Often times, the writer’s room use the Champion’s Advantage as a crutch. They use it as an excuse to not come up with compelling finishes to big time matches. They use it to keep storylines continuing far further than they should be. Its overuse has caused champions to become weak and not seen as “worthy.”
An example is The Miz. The Miz, by all accounts, is not the best wrestler in the WWE. But he is good on the mic and he is solid in the ring. His career, also by all accounts, has been a very successful one. In the WWE, he has main evented WrestleMania. He has held numerous titles, including the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship (7 times), the United States Championship (2 times), and various tag team titles (6 times). He won Money in the Bank. He is a Triple Crown Champion and a Grand Slam Champion. He has also hosted one of the better interview “shows” on WWE television as well as starring in several WWE-produced movies. He is well-spoken, media-savvy, and a very good ambassador for the sport and the WWE.
However, a big part of Miz’s character has been that he is “soft” and not a brave or fighting champion. Most specifically, Daniel Bryan and Dean Ambrose have perpetuated this view of The Miz. And therefore we are left with a wrestler who never seems to be good enough to be champion, no matter how much he fights for it. No amount of assistance from the commentary team really helps.
And then we get the Champion’s Advantage. So we have a wrestler who appears weak but gets a title. Then he uses the Champion’s Advantage to keep his belt even though he keeps losing his matches. That just makes him look worse and worse. And this is not only about The Miz. It happens all the time.
So, to combat that, I am suggesting a new title. We will call it the Aggression Championship. The Aggression Champion will not have the Champion’s Advantage. The Aggression Champion will be a fighting champion to the utmost. He or she will have to win to keep their title. They can’t get themselves disqualified or counted out or try to run out the clock on a match. If they do, they will lose their title to their challenger.
In order to force the issue, the Aggression Championship will be defended only in matches with a 10 minute time limit. This would force the champion to be on the offensive from the opening bell. There wouldn’t be time for rest holds. There wouldn’t be time for lulling your opponent into a false security. The champion would be forced to attack from the start and prove that they are a better offensive wrestler.
This could also create interesting strategies for challengers. A challenger could try to avoid a champion’s strikes until the time limit happened. They would win the title that way, but the very next match they have they would have to completely change their style and become the aggressor.
A title like this would work perfectly for a wrestler like the Ultimate Warrior. Or Goldberg. Or Brock Lesnar. In the current state of the WWE Raw brand, it would also allow Brock Lesnar to be a dominant champion without hogging the Universal title.
If nothing else, this new title would provide an interesting and action-packed match each week. The Aggression champ could also become a top contender to other titles. In those title matches, the Aggression champion would most likely have to adjust their style and would add even another level to the Champion’s Advantage.
However it worked out, there is no way you could call the Aggression Champion weak. And you could really push and promote new talent. You could even those who are limited in their selling but are still oddly over with the crowds. (See the three examples listed two paragraphs ago.)
Maybe I am not explaining it well, but hopefully you get the point. In my mind I think it could work very well. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments.
Next week I’m considering a couple options. Maybe I will discuss an opportunity to severely alter the disqualification rule in professional wrestling. Or maybe I will Fantasy Book something I call the “McMahon Games.” Either way, I’ll be back… Have a great one!
