Wins/Losses and Titles is the way forward...

[Maluco]

I can't help but think that one of the reasons that wrestling is out of fashion and that new stars struggle to get built is that everything means nothing. There are endless matches on TV and no-one stands out anymore. Everyone can beat everyone is nice and competitive, yeah, but at the end of the day, stars stand out.

Back in the day our champions rarely lost and they really did seem like the best of the best. It was a big deal when they lost and it really did set them apart as being stars, simply, they were better than the rest. The way things are today, no-one stands out as being any better than anyone else, and in my opinion, that means there cannot be true stand out stars. You can talk about charisma, mic skills all you want, but it doesn't make anyone a true star.

Can't help but think that CM Punk could have made it to that upper tier, but WWE refused to give him and string of wins over established guyswhen he needed it. As such, I don't think he will ever be a true superstar.

Ryback is another guy who came in, and has been expected to get over without any big wins. I feel sorry for him, because it is those big wins that make you look good, simple as that, and so far he hasn't been given a chance, but they seem to think that he has and that Heyman is his "last chance." If a guy can't win a PPV match all year, why would I care about him?

Coupled with that, seeing those recent pictures on WWE.com of the older titles made me sad. When people were winning those titles, it really meant something, they were hotly disputed and winning one of those titles proved how good you were, it put the spotlight on you and gave importance to EVERY match on the card. People wanted nearer those belts.

Nowadays, the matches mean nothing against wrestlers that don't stand out, that ultimately are competing for something that isn't valued anyway.

In a dream world, the way forward would be bringing back the older titles, making them be the be-all and end-all of feuds and having guys they wanted to push looking great and getting wins on their way to those titles. Video packages showing passion about dreaming of those titles, and doing anything to get those titles. Real bloodfeuds over a belt between two guys who don't get beaten very often at all. Real drama...that is what I want to see....and I think a lot of people could get into that sort of thing very easily again...

[Theo Dious]

If you aren't over enough with the fans that you can't stay over without a title or a lot of wins, you aren't good enough.

[Maluco]

I dunno, I am not suggesting that they should use titles. The titles should be valued on their own merit, only the best guys can get them.

But surely any guy needs big wins at PPV's to get over, to get to that top level? If you have a guy consistently lose in matches, noone is ever going to buy him as a star. People pay to see big matches and big matches are matches against guys that don't get beaten too often, fighting for something they really care about.

[Tony Revolution]

I think a good way to start doing this would be to take an honest look at the roster and rescructure the "levels" of talent accordingly. Sheamus, Del Rio, Dolph, Ryback, RVD, Fandango, Miz, Swagger, Cesaro, Axel, Wyatt, Kofi...that is a badass IC title divison, and any of those guys, when booked consistently and against eachother would make the belt mean something again. Defend it on every PPV again and give it to an already well established guy. Its shouldnt be looked at as a bad thing to be the IC champ, back in the 90s that was always my favorite title, hopefully the figure out a way to fix it. There are a ton of guys not mentioned that would benefit from that too, those are just the ones that came right to mind

[DrCrawford]

They just try to cram too many talents into one title and leave the other talents floating around without going after any title. It is like they forget that the US and IC title even exist. I also love when they pair random rasslers up for tag teams, Cody and Sandow were great together.

[Ruien]

We do have those stars that rarely lose. CM Punk and John Cena. Daniel Bryan is in his way there too. Randy Orton losing, clean, is a big deal. Then you have your second tier like Sheamus and Big Show.

[scatterbrain28]

In the Attitude era, and probably before that, they used to build guys up through the mid-card have them win the IC/US title then win the WWF title. After he had a couple of runs with the big belt, then it was time to put other guys over. That happened until Brock Lesnar won the WWF title after a few months of being there. Now they rush the process and if they put the IC/US belt on you, Vince says "Hey, but this jobber over." He either puts too much faith in them or kills their push when they don't connect with the audience.

[Maluco]

We do have those stars that rarely lose. CM Punk and John Cena. Daniel Bryan is in his way there too. Randy Orton losing, clean, is a big deal. Then you have your second tier like Sheamus and Big Show.

A quick look at statistics tells you that you are wrong about Punk, and he has lost to any big star of the past he has faced, Lesnar, HHH, Taker etc... Most statistics websites give him about a 40% win at PPV. He loses more than he wins on PPV basically. I woul suggest Orton is similar.

Cena is their biggest star by a long shot, and I would suggest that he was made by constantly winning matches and being built up to be that star.

[#1-norm-fan]

I agree. There's no thought put into building guys up via winning matches anymore and it's probably the main reason no one is on Cena's level really. Everyone wins and loses roughly the same amount and it leads to a bunch of meaningless matches and titles that don't represent anything because the guys holding them are losers.

[#1-norm-fan]

And Ryback... My God, Ryback...

[whiteyford]

Cena was booked slowly at first, but consistently when they decided he was getting the push, and ever since he broke into the main event he's been treated as a main event talent in the way he's presented on TV, that's more the problem than wins/losses, consistent booking, the stop/start push system they use is more harmful.

[whiteyford]

They should go back to bringing up the winners purse aspect of matches though, if for nothing else it gives an easy excuse for quick feuds if a guys getting screwed out of wins and the bigger payoff.

[DAMN iNATOR]

In the Attitude era, and probably before that, they used to build guys up through the mid-card have them win the IC/US title then win the WWF title. After he had a couple of runs with the big belt, then it was time to put other guys over. That happened until Brock Lesnar won the WWF title after a few months of being there. Now they rush the process and if they put the IC/US belt on you, Vince says "Hey, but this jobber over." He either puts too much faith in them or kills their push when they don't connect with the audience.

Let's not forget the more recent example of rushing to push a new guy in WWE: Sheamus. He debuted on ECW in late June, 2009, within months was transferred to RAW, given a title shot for the WWE Championship vs. Cena at TLC in December of that year where he beat Cena in a Tables match. I'm no great fan of Cena, all the veteran posters here know I make no secret of that. But was it really necessary at that point in time to rip the title away from Cena just because they wanted this fresh, young Irish "lad" to get more attention? I think not.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There's a case to be made for both sides. For example, CM Punk was on a massive PPV losing streak when he proclaimed himself "The Best in the World." People still ate that shit up. If you are over you are going to be over. I think a true star should be able to lose and still retain intrigue. That being said, there are certainly unsavory booking decisions, in my opinion.

CM Punk was mishandled as WWE Champion in the sense that he wasn't given top billing. Being WWE Champion should mean top billing. It may have worked for Punk since John Cena was still headlining shows and being the draw, but it always irks me when someone is consistently treated like a bigger deal than the WWE Title. Also, as much as I enjoy the promo work of Paul Heyman and CM Punk, and I appreciate the effort they are putting into that story -- CM Punk is WWE Title obsessed. He's done a great job of being convincingly distracted, but eventually Punk needs some sort of championship to signify that he is The Best in the World. If not the WWE Title (Daniel Bryan could be wrapped up for the conceivable future), then the World Heavyweight Championship, definitely.

I love Alberto Del Rio, but I sort of feel that he's not being treated as importantly as he should be. He should really be hanging out with Randy Orton, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. I'm hoping that they send someone to help him beat RVD at Battleground, putting RVD on the shelf in storylines, making the World Heavyweight Title seem important, setting up a return program for RVD when he comes back and allowing Del Rio to get some more heat. Or they could just have Chris Jericho return and win it. Jericho and the World Title are always a good combination.

Maybe Triple H and Stephanie McMahon could throw Big Show a bone and give him a World Heavyweight Title shot against Alberto Del Rio at some point? Show can win the World Title and then be a monster who is being rewarded for his service to the company. It'd mean something when someone managed to beat Show.

I like Curtis Axel, but I'm wondering if he and the IC Title are a good fit. It seemed that Axel won the title simply because Fandango got a concussion, and while I've enjoyed the effort they've put into Axel, I don't know how much he is going to get out of being IC Champion. Maybe switch the title to a babyface Big E. Langston and see how he does as a champion? Heyman could offer Langston a place in his group, and Langston could emphatically say no to get further face points. Langston vs. Ryback for the IC Title would be an interesting clash at, say, Survivor Series. Another option for IC Champ is Tyson Kidd. He's ready to return and they should try to make people care about him out the gate. Natalya could be the Divas Champion pretty soon, and having Kidd win the IC Title around the same time could get the duo a bit of attention. Kidd doesn't need a super-long reign with the title -- he can drop it off to someone like Ryback or Fandango soon afterwards -- but just winning the title might help him out a little.

Dean Ambrose is pretty great, and I enjoy him as the US Champion. When Christian returns, I'd like to see Ambrose and Christian mix it up. Captain Charisma has never been the US Champion, but I don't think he really needs to win it from Ambrose. When they get Jericho back, I'd like to see him move into a feud with Ambrose, since the US Title is the only one Jericho hasn't held in the WWE. Jericho could win the title and then lose it back to Ambrose. Another guy with a shot at winning the title is Cody Rhodes, should they decide not to push him too hard as a main eventer. If Rhodes did win the US Title, I would hope that he'd bring the old-school design for it back. Ziggler is currently in a program with Ambrose, but I don't think being the US Champion would help Ziggler right now.

The Tag Titles are great on The Shield. I don't really want to see them lose them to anyone. The Prime Time Players and The Usos, as fun as they can be, just don't seem like the right teams to dethrone Rollins & Reigns. Maybe if John Morrison returned and started teaming with The Miz again, I could see a title switch. I'd just have these guys keep holding onto the belts until a proper team comes along, because then it will mean more when they lose them.

AJ Lee is doing a great job as Divas Champion, but I think it's the right call to have her lose to Natalya at Battleground. Nattie can celebrate with Tyson Kidd, and then she can eventually lose the title back to AJ who defends it against Paige at WrestleMania XXX.