The End Of The Streak Edition

Welcome back to Inside The Wrestling Ring. As always if you haven't had a chance to check out our partners at Club Kayfabe check them out. I highly recommend it!

 

This past Sunday we had WrestleMania XXX and of course the biggest news coming out of New Orleans was the fact that Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker, ending the greatest streak in pro wrestling history. A lot of people are complaining about it, but here is what I think.

 

If Undertaker wanted to lose, then he deserves to lose. It's what he wanted. He is a legend that has earned the right to say if he wins or loses a match like this. I had read that he was getting tired of the streak and wanted to lose. My only issue with it is that Brock has already done all he could have done. Former Royal Rumble winner, King Of The Ring, World Title. Lesnar has done it. For someone to beat the streak, it should have been someone who needed it to push their career. It's not like Brock Lesnar is going to come back full time.

 

The other thing I didn't like was just how it occurred. Because Lesnar's music didn't start right away, it felt like there was an error, like it wasn't supposed to happen, but most reports are saying it was meant to be. I say most because there is at least one "website" claiming Brock forced the referee to change the ending of the match in his favor. I will not link the website or even mention it by name. But it is not true. The ending that we saw was supposed to be ending of the match.

 

I asked my friend Jason to come and comment on the end of the Streak. He isn't exactly a wrestling fan. And by that I mean he doesn't watch wrestling at all. So welcome Inside The Wrestling Ring at this time the host of the Peverett Phile.

 

Hi Jason, let me welcome you to Inside the Wrestling Ring. I wanted to bring you on to guest blog for all the times I appear on your blog The Peverett Phile. Thanks for coming on.

Jason: Hey, Jeff, it's great to be here.

 

How have you been?

 

Jason: I'm doing okay considering the Phile is on hiatus. By the way, if it ever comes back I'll have you and Lori back on, and we'll talk about the Super Bowl that happened years ago. Lol

I was wondering your thoughts about The Undertaker losing at WrestleMania?

Jason:  I don't know what to say about The Undertaker losing WrestleMania. Does he win most of the time?

Yes, Undertaker normally wins at WrestleMania. Let's just put it this way. He has competed at 22 of 30 WrestleManias. Sunday was the first time he lost... That's why I was asking! I wanted to see if non wrestling fans had heard of "The Streak." Thank you for your time, Jason. I hope to see the triumphant return of the Peverett Phile soon!

Regardless of how you feel about the end of the streak, the one thing we can all agree on is that we will never see anything like it again in the world of professional wrestling. The Undertaker defeated Hall Of Famers, up and comers, former world champions, and Giant Gonzalez. It became an entity on its own.

With Miz losing during the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (though I don't think it should count) it looks like Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns are the closest thing to a streak that we have with 2-0 each.

Special thanks to my wonderful editor for making these words readable.

32

Mid card Edition

Welcome back to Inside The Wrestling Ring. Don't forget to check out our partners at Club Kayfabe Podcast for more wrestling news and opinions.

Today I will take a look at what to do about the mid card titles in the WWE. Since they unified the World Title and the WWE titles in December there have been rumors that a similar unification would happen to the United States Title and the Intercontinental Title. I completely disagree with that idea and there is one simple reason why it shouldn't happen. There are more people in the mid card then there are in the main event. Thus, it makes more sense to have more options and more belts.

Let's face it. Both titles have been diminishing in value over the past few years. But what can be done about this? I personally love the Intercontinental Title. I grew up in a time when it was valued and I still value both titles.

 

My biggest idea to re-establish the values of both belts is to make sure they are defended monthly, maybe not always on a pay-per-view, but always defended every month. Remember back in the day there was a rule that stated, "If the champion doesn't defend the title every thirty days he or she would be stripped of the title?" I do. Dean Ambrose went from September to February without defending the United States Championship. In that time, his PPV matches were Shield matches and I understand that, but making him defend the title on Raw, Smackdown, or even Main Event once a month will help bring prestige back to the belt. I can't remember the last time Big E defended his title either. So it's not just Ambrose, but at least he defended it on this past week's episode of Main Event.

Another thing to do is make sure the champion wins more non-title matches than he loses. It will make him a viable champion. I am not one of those people who thinks every champion should win every non-title match. For every match we watch, we have to believe anyone can beat anyone else; it makes for a better match. But the champion needs to win.

In the case of a heel champion (like Ambrose) make sure he wins some of his matches cleanly. Again, this doesn't just help the prestige of the belt, but it helps the prestige of the wrestler as well. I hate to see title matches ending in either count-out, or worse, disqualification. Yes, it will happen from time to time. I get that. But Ambrose had quite a few matches that ended with Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns causing a disqualification.

Another way to help is longer, more meaningful title reigns. The mid card titles should not be passed around like a hot potato. They have been better in the past year with that, but in years past they struggled to maintain a good championship run.

You want the titles to mean something? How about ending Raw or Smackdown with an Intercontinental Title or United States Title match for once instead of the same four or five guys always around at the conclusion of a broadcast?

What do you think? What are your suggestions for how to make the US and Intercontinental Titles more relevant and add to the prestige?