The Good, Bad and Ugly: World Title booking and Hell in a Cell

Vince Russo once made the argument that championships are nothing more than props – objects that can be used in feuds to spark/build them.

What a load of crap.

Yes, it's true that titles in a staged sport mean less than titles in legitimate sport from a competitive standpoint because it's the decision of people who aren't the competitors. However, the mark of being the top of a division/company is a true honor that in storyline terms is competed for with full force and execution.

It is a symbol of reaching a point of prominence in the company. I disagree with many things Russo has said in the past, but that remains the most irritating in my view.

I make a point of keeping track of titles that I believe to be World or near-World titles and seeing how those belts are being booked. To this point, using my formula (which I'm sure I'll one day post), I've only been able to pin down three active World titles: WWE Raw (WWE World Title), WWE SmackDown (WWE World Heavyweight Title) and TNA (TNA World Heavyweight Title).

Impact Wrestling just recently changed hands with their belt. Former champion Jeff Hardy won the belt at Bound For Glory against Austin Aries, and has already defended it once against Kurt Angle.

TNA has done a good job at making their belt seem more relevant in recent months. Robert Roode held it for nine months and appeared to be well on his way to completing his year-long feud with James Storm at BFG for the belt.

But plans changed when Aries set the precedent of the X Division Champion getting a shot at the belt at Destination X. Aries became such a hot commodity that they had to get the belt on him.

People, this belt is NOT as bad as his
Divas' Title ripoff.

The plans for TNA recently have been better if you exclude one or two storylines that tend to become WAY too complex during each show cycle. One of the biggest issues I had was this recent title change.

I understand its purpose: To keep the top merchandise seller from leaving. But by turning Aries heel a week before the title match, it messed with the match's dynamic, and people weren't solidly behind Hardy.

Luckily, both talents are good enough to sell it, but it was a hiccup that I'm not sure worked. If something compelling comes out of it, though, I'll overlook it.

The problem with both major companies is that I don't always believe the payoff will be that great. CM Punk's booking against Ryback at Hell in the Cell yesterday shows that.

If the company couldn't figure out a way to keep Punk's reign and Ryback's streak intact (which was difficult to do given the Cell gimmick), then why did you book yourself in that corner?

The finish of the match (which I'm spoiling here. Trust me, you don't want to buy this.) to have a corrupt referee hit Ryback in the nads to cost him the match evoked a terrible "Goldberg gets hit with a taser vs. Kevin Nash" vibe and led me to believe that this push is going to end up botched.

Punk had been asking that the match be canceled. This was remarkably simple to fix. Ryback gets mauled going to the entrance ramp. Vickie has to cancel the match. Cena was cleared, so he could have taken the shot. Or better yet, Ziggler, having opted against using his MITB contract that night, could call his shot and try for the WWE title, only to lose narrowly (or via corrupt ref if you wanted to test him as a face).

But instead WWE clearly blows the main event with hopes that Ryabck hitting a top-of-the-cell spot would compensate. WWE chose to go with the safe short-term payoff of Punk facing Rock instead of trying to vault a new superstar into the spotlight. Ugh.

This is contrasted with what had been a well-executed World Heavyweight Championship feud. Sheamus and Big Show had been comparing power for weeks and put on an amazing match with a legitimately surprising result. One quesiton, though: Why wasn't this in a cell?

This match could have used the cell perfectly and could have then closed out the show so that the PPV felt like it ended with a real finish. I don't care if you don't think these guys are draws or not. People already paid for the show! It doesn't matter which match is last so long as it was main-event caliber (WHC matches always are) and could provide closure to a show (the way the WWE title did NOT).

Overall, this show was botched heavily, and is little more than filler to Survivor Series. Good luck with the next three weeks of booking, WWE.

I'll close this first column installment (which is getting REALLY long), with how I will be formatting from here on out. I will give a Good (highlight of the night), Bad (lowlight) and Ugly (something unexpected - be it unexpectedly good, bad or bizarre) for the week's shows - in this case, just the Hell in a Cell PPV.

*For the record, I work during PPVs, so I only saw a few matches that hadn't yet been taken down and went with live reports for the rest (hence why Punk-Ryback isn't in this list).

Good: Sheamus v. Big Show (3.75 stars) - I already went into this, but the feud hyped this match well, and I was legitimately surprised they took the title off Sheamus when they did. It should open up some interesting feuds for the next couple of months, though. Good power match that really exceeded even my hopes.

Bad: Divas' Triple Threat (1 star) - The Divas won't be in all the time, only when they really stink up the joint. And this sucked the life out of the place. I'm glad they're advancing a real story, but these three did not seem to have a plan.

Ugly: US Title Match (2.5 stars) - Ahh, the US Title. The only place where an Eastern European defeats a Canadian acting like an Italian and then defends against a South African. This belt is almost a low-to-mid card belt now, well below even the IC title, but Justin Gabriel and Antonio Cesaro put out a good effort here. It was a match I think everyone wanted to skip, but it made for a compelling few minutes.

Overall, the show had some solid moments, but nothing stuck out in a good way. It felt like a waste of a card. Give it a 5 out of 10. It's a take it or leave it kind of card, just there to fill time, or in this case, SIX WEEKS of TV programming. (And yet, we somehow had an impromptu match and two on a week's notice. Go figure.)

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