LogFAQs > #907471209

Zeus posted...

But we're not talking about weekly tv defenses -- although Cena's run as US champion was actually pretty incredible *because* he was doing that fighting champion gimmick -- I'm talking about regular tv appearances and challenges at most PPVs. You gain no gravitas if nobody can remember who has the championship and if it's been out of circulation so long that nobody can remember what it looks like.

Absentee champions don't build a brand. You can't book PPVs and shows based on somebody NOT appearing. And a casual viewer watching tv isn't going to care enough to check out a PPV when they've never seen a guy fight because he does maybe a few tv matches a year.

Champions who are hated by most of the audience don't really build brands either. At least not when they're being booked as faces - booking a champion as a heel and allowing popular faces to chase the belt is arguably better for business than just putting the most popular face on top.

The problem is, when Roman has the belt, we already KNOW they want to push him as "THE GUY", so we go into every match knowing they're not going to take the belt off him, and thus we're either getting a screwy finish to protect his opponent (which doesn't really work anymore), or Roman winning and WWE throwing a tantrum and demanding everybody cheer him (which will just make people boo him more). So constant defenses hurt him (and the people he's fighting) more than an "absentee" belt does.

And yeah, Cena's "fighting champion" gimmick definitely helped him get over - which is exactly why the WWE is hoping they can pull it off again with Roman. But odds are it won't work this time, because Roman is worse damaged goods than Cena was at the time, crowds are smarter now, and too many people KNOW they're basically trying to turn him into Cena 2.0.

The irony being, they should be trying to turn him into The Rock 2.0 if they were smart - just turn him heel and let him cut promos that aren't heavily scripted, and he'd probably win the crowd over in ways he never will if they keep pushing him the way they are.

Though it's worth noting that the WWE has long since stopped caring about "selling PPV buyrates". Between the network and the Fox deal (and being heavily bribed by the Saudis and Australians), they barely care about having PPVs at all at this point, and multiple people have suggested we may reach a point where the business shifts towards using PPVs to sell TV more than using TV to sell PPVs. In the same way that house shows used to be the be-all end-all of wrestling, and now they're barely an afterthought for the most part.



Zeus posted...

And I'd argue that if Brock was willing to work a regular schedule, it's possible that Roman would be kept at a far lower level because Brock *was* the guy they wanted.

I'd disagree strongly. Because while Vince definitely loves him, there was always the feeling that he was seen as an attraction in the moment, whereas Roman is basically the Anointed One who is supposed to be the face of the company for decades to come. Brock can't really fill that role in any realistic way - he was never going to be the babyface centerpiece no matter how compliant or willing to work he might have been.

Brock likely would have been positioned closer to where Braun is right now - a monster that the crowd can cheer when he does insane things, but who acts more as a foil to Roman than someone who gets to take his place as WWE's new Superman. He might trade the belt with Roman a few times, but Roman would always be at the top because that's where WWE defiantly wants him, no matter what.

But again, even just working PPVs isn't necessarily a negative - it can make a title feel more important to ONLY be defended on PPVs.


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