Oy, I'm bored. Wrote this little somethin up an hour ago for the GFAQs Wrestling board. If you don't like the WWE or wrestling in general, just do the usual ingnore Mewfour routine, k?

Perhaps I should elaborate on my post

The credibility of a title is affected by what it's involved with. Take for instance the WWE title from WMXIV-WMXV. Austin won the title from the HBK in a legendary battle. He then defended it against the likes of Taker and Kane, lost it to Kane by a fluke, won it back immediatley, lost it to Taker and Kane by unfair stipulations, Rock won it, Foley won it, Rock won it back, FOley won it back, Rock won it back again, and Austin won it back once more. See, from WMXIV to WMXV, the WWE revolved around the world title. Aside from the Taker/Kane/Austin match, those said matches were indeed notable. Maybe not legendary, but noteable and memorable nontheless.

Now, the brand split gave us two titles, the WWE title, and the old WCW title, now the WH title. Brock held the WWE title, and HHH held the WHC. The WWE title's history has been full of the legends and the greats, from Hart to HBK, from Hogan*snerk* to Warrior*double snerk*. Who could forget the HBK/Hart Ironman match? Benoit/Angle RR03? Hell, who could forget the 1992 Royal Rumble when Flair won the title from spot no. 3 and lasting 62 minutes?

On the other hand, you have the WHC. While it was alluded to that it was the old WCW belt, it was pretty much considered a new title. So let's just say that yes, it is a brand spankin' new title. So as opposed to the grand tournamentback in the 60s when Buddy Rogers was crowned the first EVAR WWE champ, HHH gets the belt handed to him, even though the previous RAW title (The IC) wasn't even in his hands. So while you may argue that HHH certainly was worthy of the WH back then, others may argue that he did pretty much nothing to have the strap put on him as opposed to HBK, or Jericho, or Booker T, etc.

From Survivor Series 02 onwards, the WWE and WH titles pretty much went their sepearate ways. We had Big Show, Angle, Brock, Angle, Brock, Eddie, and now JBL as title holders. As opposed to the WH, in the 20-something months since it's creation, we've only seen HHH, HBK, HHH, Golfburger, HHH, and now Benoit as champs. From all of 2003, the WWE title matches were the best of the year. Angle/Benoit? *****. Angle/Brock? ****1/2 and ****. Benoit/Lesnar? ****1/4. As opposed to the WHC, HHH/Steiner? -* and DUD. HHH/Booker? *** complete with horrible booking. HHH/Nash? -***. HHH/Golfburger? * and *1/2. Comparing the two belts, the WWE title meant so much more due to match quality and frequent title changes. As opposed to the WHC, we only had two different champs, 3 title changes, and a whole load of **** for main events, and even ****tier champions. Most everyone who saw HHH lug around the WH for those 9+ months jsut thought "Oh, he's carrying THAT thing around with him again." As opposed to SD, people thought to Angle and Brock, "It's HIM, man! THAT's the CHAMP." So longstory short, people in 2003 saw the SD! title as a true crown, while the WHC just a joke.

Now jump to 2004. Fresh off the heels of an incredible Brock/Benoit match and captivating Cena/Benoit rivalry/partnership, we're force-fed Holly/Lesnar like Arquette in WCW2000. Holly, who has been nothing but a midcard jobber for his whole career, is suddenly being billed as the next Steve Austin.

To which I reply: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Not only did Holly lose, but he was back to undercard tag jobbing in less than a month. Nice choice for a champ, eh?

But lo, what's this now? Chris Benoit, the underdog midcarder whom everyone thought would never be world champ again outlasting 29 men int he Rumble, surviving one hour of hell fromt he no. 1 spot? Holy ****!, says the casual fans, this Benoit dude's really got something going on!! And no less than two weeks later, he's planted right in the middle of the never-ending HHH/HBK feud. And people accepted it. Know why? Becuase not only was he built up as a true fighting contender from the Rumble, but he is probably the best worker the WWE has right now. Crap on the mic, yes, but you can't argue his workrate. When Benoit made HHH tap out at WMXX, they even held the Final Encounter to make Benoit make HBK tap out too, proving that he IS for REAL.

Now, let's recap the WHC matches of 2004, shall we? HHH/HBK? ***1/2. HHH/HBK/Benoit? ***** and ****1/2. Benoit/Kane? **** and ***1/2. HHH/Benoit? ***1/2. Clearly, the WHC has seen more workrate in any one of those matches than it had for all of 2003 combined. NOW, when Benoit walks out with the big shiny strap, people think, "THERE is our fighting champion. THERE is our talent d'extrodinare."

Now, we shift to the WWE title.

We really should have seen things start to go downhill for SD! after the Holly push. But after the legendary Eddie/Brock match, we were blinded. Eddie/Angle was next, and after such a great match, surely the Brock/Bobby was just a tiny little stain that would be easily overlooked, right?

Wrong.

After the ****3/4 and ****1/2 that was Brock/Eddie and Eddie/Angle, we go from the most recognized, beloved, and best superstars as WWE title contenders to the biggest, the baddest, and the most famous wrestler to EVER hit the WWE....

...BRADSHAW?

Yes, Bradshaw. A man who was jobbing his way through the 90s in undercard tag matches, suffered through endless failed singles pushes, and jobbed at WMXX not even three weeks ago was suddenly awarded the no. 1 contenders spot for the WWE title. Sound familiar, Mr. Holly? More midcard jobbers grabbing for the WWE title, we all thought, God, what a waste of a single PPV. Maybe next PPV, we all thought, we'd have Eddie vs Booker T, or maybe even Eddie vs RVD. Maybe even Eddie vs Taker, who knows? As long as it's a star who we know can put on memorable matches and classics for the ages under their belts that's grabbing for the title, we still call the man who holds the big shiny thing our fighting champ.

Nope.

After two PPVS that were strikingly similar to a car crash, train wreck, and nautical disaster all rolled into one, your new WWE champ, your NEW LEGENDARY FIGHTINGEST CHAMPION OF ALL LEGENDARY FIGHTINGEST CHAMPIONS IS....

Bradshaw.

Now you can take this posion as you will. Either Shaw's reign has suddenly made Spike Dudley look like the next Brock Lesnar, or the WWE title is now the 2003 version of the WHC. Maybe even worse. People now look at Shaw and his strap like, "hey, it's that jobber guy. What the **** is he doing with Eddie's belt?"

Who knows. Funaki may have his WWE title reign just yet.