#1 Contendership

[Stickman]

I'm not all that great when it comes to making up storylines but what are your thoughts on this idea?

I think NWA does it and I think the WWE should do it to add some credibility to their titles. They should come up with championship rankings. They should list the top 10-20 contenders for each championship on wwe.com or something and even talk about it on television. That way the fans kind of know who should be the next guy to get a shot at whatever belt division he's in. You can still have your storylines and guys who really don't fight for the belts but I think this would sort of organize everybody.
Right now all a guy needs to do to get a championship shot is ask and he's magicially number 1 contender. I believe this would help build fan support for each wrestler as he has to fight his way to the top. Look at Carlito, he debuted and won a belt. Fans didn't care about him. You could work so many angles into a ranking system.

I dunno, I just think it could help to make the fans care about each wrestler a little bit more in turn making the belts mean something.

[Londoner]

I wouldn't say 10-20 contenders as the roster isn't big enough, maybe if they re-join the roster though they could do something like this.

[hb2k]

Anything more than top 3 is too much in my opinion.

Top 15-20 avoids the intended purpose of giving everything meaning. If EVERYTHING is a contenders match, then a contenders match means nothing. Also, you label guys as low or high is it's that broad, and the only way to keep it fresh is constantly switching everyone around which means nothing gets over. Top 3 would give an elitest feel to the titles, you can be more liberal with it, and contenders matches (to earn a place in the top 3 or to advance to number 1) would seem like a big deal.

But to be honest, they'd lose focus with it, and it would lose all credibility. Just ask Cade and Murdoch about long term focus.

[Londoner]

But to be honest, they'd lose focus with it, and it would lose all credibility. Just ask Cade and Murdoch about long term focus.

Or you could even ask the mexicools.(look at the thread about the tag titles changing hands on smackdown on the show before the ppv)

[The Naitch]

nah, it wouldn't work for booking on the fly

[HeartBreakMan2k]

They do need to go back to building number one contenders at the very least. Number 1 and 2 at the most. And there has to be a rhyme or reason for it. Like if Big Show just comes out, cuts a promo and is all of a sudden the "number one contender" that's crap. No meaning behind it. Have a wrestler get a couple big wins over a couple notable people and become the number one contender. I say two contenders cause that would give an interesting storyline not only between the champion and number one, but also the number two contender trying to get the spot.

[Rob]

The NWA belts are credible already since they aren't treated like a joke.

[Stickman]

The NWA belts are credible already since they aren't treated like a joke.

Jeff Jarret is the champ...

[Innovator]

That one thing I really like about ROH. They have the top 5 rankings, where the guys compete to get on that list. Once they get on there, one big win puts them in a title match. When the 2 and 3 guys face off, it makes it a big match because if they win that can put them at #1.

[Executioner]

or go back to when the IC title holder was the #1 contender for the WWE Title and the US champ was #1 contender for the World HW Title....then have 2 or 3 top contenders to the IC and US Title

[Favre4Ever]

I remember on one of the old Smackdown games for ps1, there were contendership rankings, 1 through 10, and even through storylines you had to try and build up your contendership. I thought it was a good idea, but they never used it again.

[Pepsi Man]

Yeah, it really doesn't lend its way to the way pro wrestling works. They do have the Power 25 on wwe.com, and I think that's as far as the WWE should go in terms of making contenders. Rankings and contender lists were (and still are) also a big part of many independent pro wrestling magazines.

Keep rankings lists to that, and watch what happens on the shows. Lately, they've been having qualifiers and such quite a bit, so let's just relax a little bit.

[Volare]

The NWA belts are credible already since they aren't treated like a joke.

Jeff Jarret is the champ...


and the survey sayz......JOKE!!!:roll:

[Rob]

Jeff Jarret is the champ...

Doesn't mean the championship is a joke though.

[Stickman]

Doesn't mean the championship is a joke though.


I know what you mean.