Skip to main content

Title holders as jobbers

Hey Scott,

Random but sort of lucid thought I had this morning. It seems whomever holds the IC or US Title (and to a lesser extent the Tag Titles) ends up jobbing a shitload on tv. Here's a theory as to why...

Since basically the entire roster is filled with midcard geeks trading wins with each other, no one is terribly over. Additionally, the powers that be have asserted many times that the belts are but mere props. Therefore, when you need to have someone BUILD MOMENTUM to the next PPV or whatever, getting a win against Jack Swagger or Mark Henry or whoever doesn't do anything for them.

But in the eyes of the fans, the belts still mean something, so getting a win over the person that holds them still has meaning. We all know this on an intrinsic level (even the creative team), even though the mid-tier titles almost never get spotlight feuds.

The titleholders serve as prop vehicles for use when the story calls for it. I don't think any of us would disagree when we say they're leaving money on the table with this approach, but using the belts this way at least does have it's own goody logic to it. Thoughts?

​Yup.  The mentality is not "Who can we build up?" but "Who can we beat safely?" and they think that the titles somehow make the titleholder bulletproof and thus they can job them a million times on TV and have them stay over.  The problem is that the titles really don't mean anything to the fans any longer, especially the US title, because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy where they don't want to put the belt on someone they have plans for because it's such a geek title anyway.  I understand their "logic" in what they do, but it's just the wrong way to do things.  ​

Comments