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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Throwing it All Away (Spoiler Alert)

As the title of this post suggests, there is a spoiler alert to Thursday night's TNA Impact show.


The new TNA World Title

Hulk Hogan has pitched the TNA heavyweight title in the garbage and presented a new belt (the one you see in the picture) to champion Jeff Hardy.  I know this is all a part of the storyline, but I still find it incredibly annoying.  And I'd be saying that whether it was TNA or WWE doing it.

There are a number of reasons for this.  I know wrestling is scripted and shouldn't maybe be taken so seriously, but if you're reading this, you're likely a big fan too.  To me, throwing ANY title in the trash tarnishes the reputation of that belt.  Even if you're doing it to introduce a new version of it.

I can't help but to think back to 1995 when Madusa tossed the WWF Women's championship into the trash on Monday Nitro.  That of course was a different circumstance and a spectacle of the Monday Night Wars.   It was the ultimate sign of disrespect.  And I never really looked at Madusa the same after that.


Oh hell no!
Besides throwing the belt in the trashcan, I'm not a fan of the so called "designer belts."  Remember the Smokin' Skull belt they created for Stone Cold Steve Austin.  Snake skin belt with the big, fuming skull.  Lame.  It's only suited for one wrestler.  Same with the Brahma Bull belt the Rock wore, John Cena's Spinner belt, and Edge's Rated R Superstar belt.

They're all novelties as far as I'm concerned.  Maybe a step up from the Million Dollar belt, only because these men were the champions and didn't just designate themselves a title holder.

But the WWF(E) has desecrated its title in other ways.  Think back to 1989 when the "Genius" Lanny Poffo and Mr. Perfect took a hammer to Hulk Hogan's belt shortly after Poffo beat the champ by countout.  Not a great moment for the belt.  I think they used that to introduce a new design on the title.

Then there was the old championship belt that got converted into the Hardcore title.  That was actually somewhat clever I thought.  And back in 1990, the Ultimate Warrior added some flair (not Ric) to his titles with the yellow strap, blue strap, white strap, etc.  I think he recently tried to auction the yellow belt off on eBay.  Not sure if it sold.

Anyway, the whole point of all of this is two fold.  Don't disrespect the belts, even though there is little respect shown to the concept of a title reign anymore.  Secondly, don't change the design of the belt to fit the personality of the wrestler.  As far as I'm concerned, the wrestler wearing it needs to change their personality to be worthy of holding the gold strap.

Your thoughts?

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