What if I told you that there is one rule in professional wrestling that I feel is out of touch? Not only is it out of touch, it is also something that doesn’t make sense when it comes down to it. What am I talking about? The fact that the title can’t change hands during a wrestling match if the champion loses by a disqualification or a count out. Even as a kid, I always felt that this was a silly rule. I mean if I am champion, and I can only lose the title by being pinned or by submission, what is to stop me from purposely getting myself counted out or disqualified each and every time I go to defend the championship?
Now some of you reading this are like, “They do it to preserve the feud”, that is a silly excuse. How about preserving the feud through good booking and a logical and well thought out creative process? I want you guys to take a look at the last few PPV’s that WWE has had, the sort of finish has kind of become a crutch for their heels. It is a crutch to the point where it seems to happen way more often than it needs to. It does not make me want to see a rematch or anything, it just comes off as lazy booking. Actually, it doesn’t just come off as lazy booking, it IS lazy booking!
Look at real sports like UFC and professional boxing. If you are champion, and you somehow lose by a disqualification, you not only lose the fight but you lose your championship too. That is the way it should be in the world of professional wrestling. There are plenty of ways to keep a feud going without using those lame and played out finishes. One thing they can do is bring back the time limits. That way a heel champion can escape with his title via a draw. In a lot of ways, the situation can be win-win. If you want a good example, look at when Sting took on Ric Flair early in his career at the first ever Clash of the Champions which took place in March of 1988. Flair put Sting over via the match ending in a draw. It not only allowed Flair to successfully defend his championship, but just by having Sting to wall to wall with him for 45 minutes, it put Sting over while making Ric Flair look vulnerable.
Do I think that WWE will ever go this route and make this change? Probably not, I mean if they did this, it would actually force their 30 writers to come up with more interesting ways to keep angles and feuds moving along that doesn’t involve being repetitive. I get that a heel getting themselves DQ’d or purposely counted out is something cowardly a heel would do, but that does not make it any less silly when you think about it. There are other things a heel can do to cheat and retain their title, you know the deal! Holding tights, using ropes as leverage, outside interference when the ref is not looking (without playing the interfering person’s theme because why the hell would a wrestler want someone he is trying to distract be alerted to his presence?), THE FOREIGN OBJECT OUT OF THE TIGHTS, that kind of stuff! Stuff that doesn’t have to be done every match but can be done here and there to allow the heel to escape with the title.
The system is not really broken, but then again, neither was my VCR when I switched over to using a DVD player to watch movies. It is just that some thoughts and concepts in professional wrestling are played out. This is one of them, and killing off that lazy and trite non-finish can actually lead to more interesting matches for all of their champions. It is not just WWE who can benefit from this, but this is something that I feel should be used in Impact, Ring of Honor, or any other wrestling promotion out there. Even the little indie fed that draws 40 people can benefit from this concept.
What do you think? Am I looking too deeply into this, or do you agree with me? You can hit me up on Twitter with your thoughts @whosantcox or you can hit me up on Instagram under the name Ultragoldenant where you will see plenty of selfies, dank memes, and the latest additions from my retro gaming hobby! I respond to everyone, and I am not afraid to respond if you disagree. That is the thing here, it is all subjective! I’ll catch you next time, wrestling fans!
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