Several months ago, while Christian and Edge were in the ring going back and forth, Christian said something along the lines “I’ve never been world champion yet, but…” and he continued. One line of dialogue that’s been stuck in my head ever since. The reason why it made me so mad is because, if you didn’t know, Christina is actually a 2 time world champion. Yeah, that’s right, he won the NWA World Championship TWICE while he was in TNA.
Now if you go look at his Wikipedia page, it actually lists him as a 4 time world champ. For some reason, it considers the WWE version of the ECW title a “world championship,” meaning guys like Matty Hardy and Chavo Guerrero are world champs. Eesh. Not even the WWE considers their ECW title a true world championship. Now that my side rant is over…
Bottom line is that the WWE doesn’t acknowledge the fact that Christian is a former world champ because it didn’t happen in their company. It’s not like he won a crappy little world title from some Indy fed. This is the NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE. It predates the WWE Championship belt by 50 years! A title that Ric Flair has held 10 times. Other than Ric, some other no names also held the belt, like Sting, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Lou Thesz, and Ricky Steamboat. Ever hear of those guys?
Didn’t the WWE always refer the Ric Flair as a 16 time world champion? Well kids, 10 of those reigns were with the NWA world title, the same one Christian wore. So what’s the difference? I’m not comparing Christian to Ric Flair in terms of legacy. But Flair won a lot of those titles before he made his first appearance in the WWE in 1991. And how many times did we hear “the 16 time world champion” when Flair was in the company? The WWE refers to Dusty Rhodes as a 3 time NWA world champion on their own website. And they do the same thing with Ricky Steamboat. They certainly don’t mind considering any WCW or NWA title reigns, as long as they didn’t occur in the last ten years.
Why not? Its 2011 for Pete’s sake! People know wrestling is fake. The internet changed the way the wrestling fans get their news and knowledge of what happens backstage. Storylines and major returns are leaked all the time. It’s not like the good old days, where we had to pretend wrestling was real and there were no other promotions out there. Nowadays, pro wrestling delivers their product with a wink and nudge. The fans know when someone is hurt, someone is leaving, or someone is coming in. And major companies, like the WWE, know that the fans know this. Fans know that when a wrestler debuts, he didn’t magically appear out of nowhere. They know they have a history and more than likely came from other promotions. They also know that guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and R Truth were world champions before getting to the WWE.
So why continue insulting our intelligence? Every wrestling fan over the age of 13 knows that there are 3 major wrestling companies in the Unites States. And if they can type, they can find out a wrestler’s history in the blink of an eye. I’m willing to bet that the majority of wrestling fans, especially the ones 20 and above, know Christian went to TNA a few years back, and know he was their world champ twice. The WWE should continue their step into the 90s….I mean 2000s….I mean 2011, and stop insulting the fans’ common sense. Use the fact that Christian is a former world champ to help boost his character, and in turn help boost his usefulness to you.
Hopefully, if they don’t do it now, they’ll mention it somewhere on their website in 20 years.
Hey, look at this, CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbRUH0X2c5k]
