Years ago, the phrase ‘And NEW…. Champion’ would bring genuine shock and awe to those in the arena and at home.
After all, they’d seen this person hold the belt for what seemed like an eternity, and to see them drop the belt seemed like pure foolishness. As a result, when the person usually regained a belt, everyone was overjoyed, because their hero had reclaimed their belt. Nowadays, people barely care.
So, my question to you is: what makes a title belt great?

A very modern problem is that WWE has too many belts. As of writing, WWE have 18 belts across five brands. This does create a problem for everyone: which belt should they care about the most? WWE fans are now so jaded that whenever a new belt is introduced, they simply do not care. Take the Universal Championship for example. When Mick Foley unveiled the belt at Summerslam 2016, fans immediately turned on it, with chants such as ‘This Belt Sucks’ and taking to social media to call it ugly. What should have been a landmark moment for WWE turned into an awkward experience due to the design of the belt and the reaction of the live audience.
Since then WWE have introduced several other belts, and as a result, the belts they already had feel a little less important. They need to have a mantra that less is more. Take away two or three of the belts (the 24-7 one, the US title and one of the men’s tag belts would be my suggestion) and then have the other holders of the belts put on great matches every single week. This then shows everyone that WWE take their belts seriously. If WWE takes them seriously, then the fans will eventually take them seriously too.
Another issue fans have is that WWE like to play hot potato with their belts. Take the WWE Championship. Since October 2013, only six people have held the belt for more than 100 days (Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles twice, Jinder Mahal and Daniel Bryan). This is meant to be the most prestigious title in WWE. It’s the one that everyone should be aiming for. Your champion should be holding the belt for more than three and a bit months. Usually, the WWE Champion is the top star of the company. If he is holding the belt for months on end, it signifies that they are the best in the world, and everyone should be trying hard to usurp them. Look at CM Punk. The guy held the belt for 434 days, defeating everyone who came his way. It took a legend in The Rock to overcome him. In those 434 days, Punk had great matches with the likes of John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler. By having great matches with the top guys in the company, Punk and the title were elevated hugely, and the fans knew that. They turned in every week, just to see who Punk would defend the title against next. It’s such simple booking – a child could do it.

For a more modern example, look at NXT and Shayna Baszler. She has currently held the NXT Women’s Championship for 213 days. In that time she’s beaten the best NXT has to offer, and as a result, the belt and the woman holding it have been elevated hugely. Although not every reign has to last for months on end, sometimes a long tenure can do wonders for everyone.
There’s another reason why companies like NJPW are so highly regarded by everyone is they do something very simple: they protect their champion to a huge degree. You will never see Kazuchika Okada get pinned unless it’s supposed to mean something. One of the most annoying things WWE do is have a champion pinned on a meaningless episode of RAW or Smackdown and then it being completely forgotten about. If you have a champion, then they should never be pinned unless it’s by their challenger or by someone about to challenge them. If they’re pinned by a mid-carder, then it’s basically saying that WWE don’t care about that champion, and he or she could lose to anyone. An example of this is the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Since winning them at Wrestlemania, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) have defended them once on TV, defeating an enhancement team the Smackdown after Mania, and then not winning a match on TV since then. If WWE wants fans to take these belts seriously, then having their tag champions constantly lose on TV while barely defending them is a ridiculous idea.
At the end of the day, we all have our own ideas about what makes a title belt great. For me, it needs to be defended consistently in great matches and by a protected champion. If you have a champ who loses more than they win, then not only does it downgrade the title belt, it also downgrades the person themselves. After all, if they’re a champion, they are at the top of their respective division. They are the benchmark that everyone should be aiming for. They shouldn’t be losing unless the challenger is a genuine threat.

Another thing that needs to happen is the champions need to have a long time with their belt. I’m not suggesting that every reign needs to be seven to eight months, but it shouldn’t be less then six. A decent run would show everyone that they deserve the belt, and that it would take someone very good to claim it from them.
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