Definition of a Transitional Champion

[Lawz]

Dean (Shane) Douglas' run as IC champion.....

 

EDIT: The Mountie count as well?

[LaGoosh]

To me a transitional champion is a upper mid carder who basically holds the belt untill the person they really want to give it to is either a) ready for it or b) has finished his current storyline/fued.

 

An example being when Big Show won the title for the first time and basically held onto it because Triple H was fueding with Vince McMahon and it wasn't the right time or moment for The Rock to win the belt as the number 1 babyface.

[cokeorpepsi]

Jericho 2001-X8 2002?

 

It was probably more of a test run than anything you had Hall against Austin being built after the Rumble, Hogan against Rock, Taker was with Flair, Y2J was the only obvious choice to hold it till Hunter returned. Everyone new Triple H would win it.

[JohnnyChimpo]

I think Chris Jericho is pretty much the definition of a transition champion. The guy has probably the least memorable, pointless title runs in the history of the WWE. For example, winning the title in the Scramble, losing it to Batista 2 weeks later, winning it back 2 weeks after that, dropping it to the returning John Cena at the next PPV. Winning it from Taker at Elimination Chamber because his and Edge's feud didnt have enough substance, while Taker and Shawn was bigger than the belt, only to drop it in a matter of weeks to Swagger.

[King Pitcos]

That doesn't make him a transitional champion, though. It just makes him, in your opinion, a rubbish one.

 

Mick Foley's never really held a world title for more than a cup of tea and a biscuit...

 

The main example that comes to mind is him winning the title in a Triple Threat match with Austin and Triple H, only for Triple H to win it a day later. Seemed weird at the time, considering if Austin didn't want to job cleanly to HHH, they could have done the title switch by Triple H pinning Foley in the triple threat.

 

The only justification I can think of for the way they did it is that Austin needed time off, and it gave Triple H a reason to be pissed off and injure Austin in kayfabe terms after the match.

And that Jesse Ventura couldn't raise a baddie's hand at the end.

 

Winning it from Taker at Elimination Chamber because his and Edge's feud didnt have enough substance

Have you forgotten that Edge won the Royal Rumble last year? He was never going to have some non-title feud with Jericho at WrestleMania.

[Bayside]

I think all of Randy Savage's WCW title were short and he was somewhat of a transitional champion despite being a big name.

 

Roddy Piper as IC champion to get Bret Hart more over.

[Carbomb]

Agreed about Roddy Piper.

 

This is going to sound bizarre, but hear me out and post your disagreements afterwards: JBL. Yes, he was a bloody good champ and held it for a while, but I got the impression throughout most of it (and especially in hindsight when you consider the circumstances he got his initial push, i.e. there were no other credible, uninjured, unoccupied heel main-eventers around, plus he never got another run with the belt) that he was only ever made champion, and for that long, to give WWE time to get John Cena ready as their new figurehead - for someone to be put in that very important position, he needed to have already captured the crowd's imagination, but also, just as importantly, he needed a moment of elevation vivid and spectacular enough to make it clear he was the new "chosen one", as it were. Where/when better and against whom better than at Wrestlemania, against a champion of whom the fans were utterly fed up and hated?

 

I know there are those who will say "well, that's point of a heel champ, isn't it? To prepare fans for the next babyface reign?" but looking at guys like Lesnar and Orton, I don't think that's always the case. Plus, like I said, JBL never got another run with the belt, even when he came back.

[JohnnyChimpo]

Have you forgotten that Edge won the Royal Rumble last year? He was never going to have some non-title feud with Jericho at WrestleMania.

Actually yeah, I had forgotten that Edge won the Rumble last year. Thats the second time this year I've forgotten that. During this years Rumble, I was trying to remember who won it the previous year, and couldnt for the life of me recall it. I had to look it up on Google. Thats from a guy who watches every week and can remember in tiny detail things that happened on episodes of Raw from 10 years ago, not being able to remember what happened on one of the biggest shows of the year from 12 months ago. I guess that shows how underwhelming their program was for me. Fair enough, Jericho needed to win the belt cause Edge was number 1 contender, but it was still a transitional reign. WWE knew that was coming up, they could have made Jericho champions earlier, and possibly gave him some credibility as champion. Something he never has when at the top.

 

Either way, I still think Chris Jericho pretty much defines transitional champion. All his runs are short, pointless runs where even casual fans know he is just keeping the belt warm until one of the real big boys wants it back.

[Carbomb]

Jericho's run with the UD title, though, while badly booked wasn't necessarily transitional. Remember, he went over both The Rock and Austin in the same night to win the belt, then went over both guys again in two separate, consecutive feuds. Maybe he's ended up as a transitional champion now because he demonstrated back then he couldn't really be a long-term champ (much as I rate the guy), but at that point I think it was clear they were feeding him two of the Holy Trinity to build him up as a perennial main eventer, and the plan just didn't work out.

[KFR42]

I think Chris Jericho is pretty much the definition of a transition champion. The guy has probably the least memorable, pointless title runs in the history of the WWE. For example, winning the title in the Scramble, losing it to Batista 2 weeks later, winning it back 2 weeks after that, dropping it to the returning John Cena at the next PPV. Winning it from Taker at Elimination Chamber because his and Edge's feud didnt have enough substance, while Taker and Shawn was bigger than the belt, only to drop it in a matter of weeks to Swagger.

 

Those were just short reigns, not transitional at all.

 

I'd say, as someone mentioned above, SGT Slaughter is pretty much the definition of transitional champ. From what I've heard Ultimate Warrior wasn't working out too well as champion as SGT Slaughter won the title so he could hold it until Hogan was ready to win it on the big stage at WM.

[JohnnyChimpo]

No, I dont think they were just short reigns. They wanted to get the belt on a face Batista, who had already faced faced CM Punk a couple of times for the belt, so they drop it to Jericho with the sole intention of transitioning the belt to Batista. Batista then gets injured, and they want to switch the belt to the returning Cena, but want to hold off on any Cena v Batista confrontation, so the drop the belt to Jericho, again with the sole purpose of transitioning the belt to Cena. Thats a transitional champion.

[DJ Kris]

Not saying that you lot have, but there's tons of people who seems to confuse what I see as being a transitional reign with simply a short reign.

I say a good number of people in here have confused what a transitional champion is. Simply put it's a Champion that only has the belt so that Wrestler A doesn't have to drop it to Wrestler B, perhaps because they're both face/heel and the promoter doesn't want them to face off or maybe because Wrestler A simply won't put Wrestler B over.

 

Watching the Hogan Anthology last night I got to the Shiek match. Although the Iron Shiek was very good at what he did he was only ever given the title to lose it to Hogan. He held the title less than a month. In my opinion he is the most obvious transitional champion ever as it was his oly reign.

My first thought on seeing this thread was the Iron Shiek. The reason for him winning was the very definition of what a transitional champion is, it was his only World title win and not only that, it's quite possibly the most significant transition there's ever been.

[Magnum]

Jericho's run with the UD title, though, while badly booked wasn't necessarily transitional. Remember, he went over both The Rock and Austin in the same night to win the belt, then went over both guys again in two separate, consecutive feuds. Maybe he's ended up as a transitional champion now because he demonstrated back then he couldn't really be a long-term champ (much as I rate the guy), but at that point I think it was clear they were feeding him two of the Holy Trinity to build him up as a perennial main eventer, and the plan just didn't work out.

 

I agree with that. At the time he got it, Jericho had been knocking on the door of the title picture and not exactly disgracing himself in mini-feuds against the big boys (he had fairly well-hyped PPV feuds with Triple H, Austin and Rock before that) for about 18 months on and off, and he was the next obvious choice to promote to the main event scene proper after Kurt Angle hadn't really worked out as top boy.

 

If they had no faith in Jericho as any more than a transitional champion from the start, though, it would have probably been easier to just move the belt back onto Angle around the time of the Rumble and string the mini-feud he and Triple H had around the time of No Way Out out until Wrestlemania.

[Fatty Facesitter]

I think Chris Jericho is pretty much the definition of a transition champion. The guy has probably the least memorable, pointless title runs in the history of the WWE. For example, winning the title in the Scramble, losing it to Batista 2 weeks later, winning it back 2 weeks after that, dropping it to the returning John Cena at the next PPV. Winning it from Taker at Elimination Chamber because his and Edge's feud didnt have enough substance, while Taker and Shawn was bigger than the belt, only to drop it in a matter of weeks to Swagger.

 

That sums it up perfectly for me. Some would also argue he was a transitional champion for the returning Triple H for Wrestlemania 18. For a first ever crowning of an undisputed Champion, something I think in hindsight was pretty much a rush job and not entirely Jericho's fault for bombing I think that reign was a colossal disappointment and actually did more harm to Jericho than good, aside from giving him a cool catchphrase and claim to fame. He just seemed to fall back down to midcard status after the feud with HHH was over and done with.

 

Edit- Also re: that Unisputed title run, the manner in which he won it was a pretty massive cluster fuck which hampered him out of the gate. Yes, he beat Rock and Austin in the same night, but not without shitloads of interference and other crap going on.

[Magnum]

Jericho's new book actually sheds a fair bit of light on the fuck-up of the first title run, and a lot of it is as expected. As regards Stephanie McMahon's involvement, Jericho wanted it revealed that the two of them were having an affair while Triple H was injured. This was nixed because the powers that be felt that 'Triple H is the sort of man who would know about something like that going on', and so it was changed to Jericho basically becoming Stephanie's lackey.