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People come up to me all of the time and ask my opinion on WWE’s World title situation. All of the time. Like so many others, I don’t see how ONE company can trot out TWO major heavyweight championships, especially when the title often regarded as the more important of the two (Raw’s WWE title) actually implies something so much less prestigious than its counterpart (Smackdown’s World title).
But there are two brands within one company. I get that. They are two brands that WWE has – despite some small degree of inter-mingling – managed to keep as separate entities for almost a decade. With two touring brands and the breadth of the legacy WWE inherited when it acquired WCW, I understand why WWE feels itself entitled to continue carrying around the rich history of both its own heavyweight belt and the big gold one, which represents a 100+ year legacy that was the NWA (and later WCW).
I get it.
You never forget your first time. For me, my first time as a wrestling manager came with the thwack of a steel folding chair to the back of my leg, a blow that shot pain down the length of my leg but caused me no real damage. At the time, nobody could have convinced me that the chair-shot was innocent enough and was such a mild sting compared to what professional wrestlers go through every time they step in the ring. I guess that’s why I’m not cut out to be a wrestler. In any event, I didn’t have any time to think about it anyway, as my charge – and VH1 reality star – Matt Riviera tripped over my hunched-over frame and was pinned by legendary tag team Demolition.
