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By Shawn Valentino, PWTorch Specialist

Let me begin with a quick question for all of you Torch readers. Can you name all of the current title holders in wrestling? After all, since "the brass rings" are what every wrestling superstar shoots for, it should not be that difficult for us fans to name the champions. Somehow, however, I doubt that too many of you were able to list them because titles have been watered down to the point where they are practically insignificant, even to the wrestlers who hold them.

As a wrestling fan growing up in the late 1980s, I remember the days when every boy in elementary school could name the WWF Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and Tag Team Champions in the time it takes Steve Austin to deliver the Stunner. The lackadaisical booking and the lack of respect displayed for what should be the biggest prizes in the industry is utterly ridiculous. CM Punk's recent championship reign, where the World Championship was demoted to a mid-card afterthought, perfectly symbolizes much of what is wrong with the current wrestling climate. We do not even need to get started talking about the Tag Team and Intercontinental Titles, as those could be eaten by the Gobbedly Gooker and I doubt anybody would realize they are gone. This week, I will propose ten ideas that can make title belts seem important again. I am anxious to hear your thoughts and your suggestions as well. Unfortunately, the work I put into this article may be more thought than the creative teams of WWE and TNA have put into booking their champions in recent years.

10. Have the World Championship defended on TV only on special occasions.

Now, I will be the first to admit that there are many aspects of wrestling that have improved from the Hulkamania Era I grew up in, however, one major booking concept that I would like wrestling to bring back from that time is that World Championship matches are special occasions and should be presented as such. I feel that the World Champion does not need to wrestle every week on television, but should only be featured in bouts as a major happening. It is the classic notion of less being more. By companies showcasing their top champions on rare occasions, their aura will grow, and when they are wrestling on television, it will seem like a big deal. Instead of having him wrestling in meaningless matches against the likes of the Gene Snitskys of the world, other top contenders can talk about the champion and what strategies it will take to dethrone him. This will put not only the champion over, but also the belt over as the landmark wrestlers are trying to reach. The champion can build his character up by cutting promos, being featured in behind-the-scenes vignettes, etc. This will keep the show focused on the champion as a centerpiece without watering down his marquee value in big matches. People should have to pay to see the World Champion wrestle.

9. There should be an internal logic established on who is number one contender for the title.

Although I will begrudgingly admit that I was entertained somewhat by the Championship Scramble matches at Unforgiven, there is no question that they were shoddily put together without much rhyme or reason. If somebody can discover the booking logic WWE and TNA utilize when throwing together title matches, they deserve an honorary commissioner position in either company. A wrestler can lose a title match clean, but they remain the top challenger. Somebody can beat the champion in a non-title match but not even be in contention for the championship. It is utterly brain-dead booking philosophy that makes matches seem meaningless and the belt seem unimportant. I am not advocating a ranking system of top contenders, but the creative teams need to come up with a logical reason why wrestlers are challenging for the title. Commentators need to play a big role here by playing up how winning a match can impact a competitor's position in the championship ladder.

8. Number-one-contender matches should be featured often on television.

After the creative teams can figure out a logical booking system for determining who is in contention for a championship, they should work on featuring number-one-contender matches as main events or featured attractions of their weekly television shows. Having these matches give the belt magnitude without having to give away title matches on free television. This will also make undercard matches more meaningful as the competitors are shooting for a goal of attaining the biggest prize in the business. I feel that these matches should often main event the programs. Fans will soon be conditioned to get emotionally involved in these matches because they will have real consequences instead of two fighters battling with nothing at stake.

7. The Champion's Seat (or Suite)

Do you guys remember when Vince would occupy a special boxed seat for certain major matches to emphasize how important they are? Do you remember when Mike Tyson cheered on from a suite during the Royal Rumble? The most recent example of this tactic was when Commissioner William Regal stood high in the rafters and sneered down at John Cena. The presence of a major figure watching a match from a high seat or suite often elevates the atmosphere and makes a match feel big. I feel that during matches between top contenders, the champion should have a special seat or suite where he watches the matches from. Of course, the utilization of this tactic can be varied between different wrestler's personalities and their reaction to the matches could showcase their personalities. For example, Austin would have been downing beers from his seat, while someone like Jericho could alternate between smugness and subtle cowardice. The idea would serve the dual purpose of getting the champion over as the top attraction and getting the matches over as a major event.

6. No more non-title matches.

I feel that there are few things in wrestling more damaging to the product than non-title matches. These matches are often booked so a wrestler can beat the champion without winning the belt. This does not so much elevate the contender, but denigrates the champion and the belt itself. Even if that contender eventually wins the belt, there is no excitement in it as he has already beaten the champion. If he never wins the title, the match serves no purpose but making the champion look weak. If the wrestling world wants to make their belts feel important, then every time the title-holder wrestles, the prize should be on the line.

5. The Intercontinental Title, Tag Titles, X-Division, and other belts should often headline the weekly television shows.

With my idea that the World Champion should only wrestle on special occasions, it can give holders of other championships more opportunities to headline shows. By featuring belts such as the IC Title and the Tag Team Titles as main events on major TV shows, these champions and their titles will be elevated. There is a reason that so many wrestlers have been stuck in the mid-card year after year. It is because the lower level belts have been rendered completely unimportant to the point where fans probably could not even name who holds them. The IC Title and the US Title used to be major prizes, and the battle over them would give lower card wrestlers something significant to shoot for. These titles would also be a good stepping stone for rising stars to move to main event status. For example, wrestlers like Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton rose to headliner status during their reigns as lntercontinental Champion. The X-DIvision used to be TNA's main attraction. The tag team division is now non-significant in WWE and they need to take about 20 to 30 wrestlers and commit them to team competition for awhile to rebuild the division and then create feuds between various teams and the champions. It will take a long time to make these undercard belts seem important again, but one good strategy would be to feature them as top matches on the major programs.

4. Wrestlers should have lengthier runs with their respective championships.

One of the best ways to make belts and the champions who hold them have more gravitas is by giving them longer title reigns. WWE has done a fairly decent job recently of not shifting their World Title belts back and forth like a ping-pong ball, but the other belts have had more meaningless changes than failed Billy Gunn pushes. When a champion holds a title for a longer time period, he can establish himself as a character and give the title a personality, as well as its contenders. Fans have more time to get familiar with the central characters on the show and they will either get behind a reign, or they will thirst for a superstar to end one. Lengthy title reigns give writers an opportunity to tell a more compelling story of how a champion fights to keep a belt, and how challengers attempt to capture them.

3. Once a wrestler has been World Champion, he should not go back to holding a lower belt unless there is a solid storyline of that superstar trying to work his way back to the main belt.

When a former World Champion captures a lower card belt, it does not elevate the importance of the belt, but merely suggests a drop in status of that wrestler. One does not have to look further than Jericho's recent IC reign or Flair's IC reign from a few years ago for proof of this. If a wrestler has already held the top prize in the business, why would they be satisfied with winning a lesser title? What we have seen in recent years when this situation has occurred, the holder of the belt rarely defends it or even acknowledges that they have it. Why waste your time on this when you can give the belt to a young, hungry wrestler anxious to rise up to main event status? The only times where a former World Champion should hold a lesser belt is if there is a really interesting story of a main event performer who fell from grace and wants to struggle back up the ranks. With my other ideas in place, the lower belt would be a significant championship, and the wrestler could defend it with pride in an effort to rise back up to the World Title.

2. Although other belts can be featured as top draws, and feuds based on intense personal feelings can be main attractions, the struggle for the World Championship should be the central theme of the company.

This may seem contradictory to some of my other proposals which suggested that lower card titles should be featured more, but it really is not. A company can simultaneously feature these belts and personal feuds in important roles, while keeping the battle for the World Title as the central focus of their shows. I am all for an intense undercard feud between the likes of Michaels and Jericho, but it did not need to come in lieu of a compelling central story of underdog champion CM Punk's weekly effort to show he was a worthy champion. Sure WWE half-heartedly showed Punk trying to prove he was for real, but it was nothing more than a lame effort at best, taking third billing to Cena and Batista and Michaels and Jericho. When WWE went through their big boom periods in the Hulkamania and Attitude Eras, the battle for the World Title was generally the central theme of the show. While the World Champion should not wrestle often on television, with the focus of the programs being on the importance of holding that belt, it makes his matches on pay-per-view major events fans will want to pay money to see.

1. Every belt should be defended at every pay-per-view unless there are special circumstances.

It truly amazes me how wrestling companies, particularly WWE recently, wants fans to pay for the monthly events, but do not feel that many of their championships are worthy of being defended on these shows. By showcasing IC Title, US Title, Tag Titles, etc on monthly pay-per-views, they are immediately signified as money matches. The fact that we cannot even think of a good undercard title match on recent Wrestlemanias shows how far these belts have been demoted. By building around a concept that belts should be defended at every PPV, it will hopefully force writers to come up with a meaningful program to build to the matches that feature these belts. This should not only elevate the belts, but also the competitors who are competing for them to try to earn an important match with something at stake that people pay to see. If all of the ideas that I have mentioned above are employed, then companies should find that they want to feature all of their belts on every PPV because titles will all feel more important.

Please send questions, comments and feedback to valentino.torch@gmail.com

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