Mid Card Titles

[PSF]

Ok so the most famous mid card titles are the Intercontinental & US Championships. We have also had/have the Hardcore, European, X Division, Cruiserweight, Light Heavyweight etc... in the US. In the UK there was the Openweight title in 1PW which I think was a great name.

 

If you were asked to come up with the name of the Secondary title for a company, what would you go for?

 

Some people might class this as Market research, although i'd like to call it curiosity

[tiger_rick]

Intercontinental Title has always been my favourite name. Didn't make much sense as a name, they often don't. Like companies who have a Television title and no TV! Or a United States title defended outside the US.

 

Not generally a fan of titles named after weight classes, like boxing, unless you make a genuine effort to enforce them.

 

If I had a British wrestling promotion, I'd just stick to having a main title and tag team titles. I think if you're going to have a mid-level title in a small promotion, it should signify that the class is different. Either light weight guys or matches being fought under hardcore rules or something. I'd probably go with a title that had an age limit, Under 23 or something and call it the Junior Heavyweight Title.

[neil's bitch]

It all depends on the company really.

 

For exmaple if you want to be original, you would go with some form of Stipulation title, like a ROH Pure Wrestling Title for example, or a belt that represents something, IE a "Heritage" championship.

 

Depending on what the main title was (Say with World or British) you could also work the next step down from that, say US or County championships.

 

Personally in the UK i would go with a Heritage title, which would be under old WOS rules, (Best of three / Similar to ROH pure rules). Doesnt mean it has to be boring tech wrestling all the way through, although it would "represent" an older Era.

[simonworden]

I hate it when promotions copy title names without a very very very good reason. I dont mean weight classed titles etc more regions so having a JKWUP (or whatever silly indy name they have) Intercontinental/ United States/ X Division etc Title.

 

Personally if I was booking it would depend on region I am promoting, what the title is for and what it wants to achieve.

 

So an example of what I mean would be say if I ran a promotion in my home area of bournemouth/ southampton/ portsmouth. Then I would have something on lines of South Coast Championship/ Southern Counties etc.

 

However in any promotion big or small too many belts is overkill. In fact a regional promotion unless they have a real need for storylines etc to have a midcard title that is general dont do it. I recently went to the worst show I have ever been to and tey had a World, Tag, All Counties and Lightheavyweight which for shows in a backwater of the solent was overkill.

 

Ideally I would have only 3 belts max A Heavyweight title (not World, british if you want a regional name) A Tag title and a specialist title based on a niche of my product that the fans enjoy. When I say niche what I mean that if you roster is fairly small then dont have a cruiser title as it is no different to the main belt in terms of eligibility.

[PSF]

Now I might get shot down in flames here, but what about "The Peoples Champion". I know its blattently stealing it from the Rock, but hear me out. It would be a title defended against an opponent of the fans choice. Everyshow the fans chose who they want to fight for the belt at the next show. You could even have online voting. The name could obviously be played with, but would help in a British promotion to bring fans back to every show, as they want to see the lad they chose, fight for the belt.

[KFR42]

Find a big name sponsor and use that for the title! Then you can have the Carling title, or the Tesco Value Title.

 

Another idea would be a Newcomers belt. A title that you could only win hold if you had been with a promotion for less than a certain period of time.

[Vamp]

I know heavyweight means that anyone can challenge for it but I've always stupidly felt a main title should either be an 'Openweight' or 'Catchweight' championship. I am completely wrong on that front though and I'm not really sure why the idea persists.

[neil's bitch]

Now I might get shot down in flames here, but what about "The Peoples Champion".

 

I Believe AllStar Promotions Main title either is or used to be called just that

 

Find a big name sponsor and use that for the title! Then you can have the Carling title, or the Tesco Value Title.

 

Another idea would be a Newcomers belt. A title that you could only win hold if you had been with a promotion for less than a certain period of time.

 

The Sponsorship thing may be a good idea, although maybe more for a tournament/trophey much like in football?

 

Also i know various promotions either have had or do have an "under 30/21" title or something along the lines of a "Rookie" Championship.

[simonworden]

I thin all star had one, I dont know if or what type of shows you run but a better adaption may be to have the fans there that night choose the stipulation. I always liked the idea of a gimmicky title where the holder gets to choose how the belt is defended for the duration of his reign so always has the advantage. IE A Technical wrestler may choose world of sport rules and a brawler no DQ etc

[spartan]

Interesting topic this. It has always been a bugbear of mine when companies give (in my opinion) stupid names to titles.

 

For example, I reckon companies should only have a "World Champion" if they have a genuine presence outside their own country, whether that be on TV or otherwise.

 

Companies with no overseas presence should either stick to "(Name of Company) Champion" or "(Country where promotion is based) Champion", if you get my meaning.

 

For midcard titles, it should be a step down from whatever your main title is called (eg. British or US Champ for companies with a World Champ), except for companies with a World Champ where the midcard title will be defended overseas. Intercontinental Champ works in this case, US Champ doesn't. I would personally go with International Champion or a variation thereof for global promotions.

 

If the main title is British Champ, the midcard title could be the area where the company promotes eg (using my own area as an example) Northern Champion.

 

Giving a title a name which implies a weight limit other than Heavyweight immediately diminishes a title for me and should be avoided. Flags it up as inferior straight away.

 

Bit of a rant I know, but it genuinely gets under my skin!

[Richie Freebird]

The North West Counties League Division One Open Weight Wrestling Championship Title.

 

 

Find a big name sponsor and use that for the title! Then you can have the Carling title, or the Tesco Value Title.

 

The Maccy D

[Halitosis Romantic]

I like International Champion. I also love secondary tag titles, so when I've fantasy booked, I've had a secondary International Tag Title.

[Kaz Hayashi]

I would have:

 

The World Title (obviously the main belt, all comers, including import attractions could go for this, hence, 'world')

 

&

 

The Tag Team Titles

 

I would possibly have something else as a gimmick. If for example, the company had a PPV every 2 months, at that PPV a gimmick match was announced in where at least 4 people were entered. So in January, you had a Battle Royal, the winner gets the title. Two months later, its a Ladder match, the winner recieves the title.

 

So the winner would gain the title and have bragging rights for a couple of months. At 'house' shows leading up to the next PPV, other wrestlers would fight for a place in the gimmick match.

 

To answer your question, i have no idea what i would call it. Possibly the 'Main Event' title, or the 'PPV title'. As mentioned by others, it does really need to be linked to your company and have meaning, or it sounds shit and cheesy.

[Burchill's Buddy]

I think at some point they let the US title and the Intercontinental title get too close together in terms of prestige. I'd always have the Intercontinental title for either upper middle carders who are being prepared for main event status, or great workers who don't quite have the look or charisma to main event. Leave the US title as a way to push new guys and light-heavyweights.

[olliej149]

I've always liked the idea of a British promotion re-introducing some of the weight limit titles such as middleweight and lightweight titles. They used to have these in the world of sport days, and sometimes these were even more popular than the Heavyweight matches. So for example a promotion could have a British Heavyweight title, followed by British middleweight, welterweight and lightweight titles. I'm not sure if these would work nowadays though.