Angry Young Man - Matt Dawg

Today is another day and today I have another column. Two columns in two days must be some sort of record. Anyway, today's lesson is going to be on something that is affecting the wrestling business in a negative way lately. That something is lack of long term world champions and long term planning. It seems like every promotion seems to have champions lose their titles every few months. What happened to serious World Champions who hold titles for long periods of time? Bruno Sanmartino or Bob Backland?

I'm not talking about USA Pro World Champions because they have long title reigns by default. It is easy to hold a title for months at a time because USA Pro doesn't run monthly shows anymore. They will have a show one month (October), a show the following month (November) and then take three months off (Next show in February). Therefore, if you are lucky enough to have two successful title defenses, you hold onto the belt for five months.

Now, on the other hand, a good example of a champion who represents what I am speaking of is Ring of Honor Champion Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe defeated "The All Around Best" Xavier for the Ring of Honor World Championship in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on March 22, 2003. Since then, Samoa Joe has defended the ROH Title sixteen times and has held onto the title for over one consecutive year.

In that same time frame, USA Pro Wrestling has had three champions (Balls Mahoney, Raven and Shane Douglas). In that time span, Balls defended the title twice (losing against Raven in his 2nd defense), Raven defended the title five times (losing once against Shane Douglas) and Shane Douglas has not defended his title as of the writing of this column. More comparisons can be added with other promotions as well. Look at Jersey All Pro Wrestling. In that time frame (March 2003-May 2004), Danny Maff, Al Snow and Jerry Lawler have all held the JAPW Heavyweight title. Nine title defenses combined between them. So in one year, JAPW and USA Pro have had a combined sixteen title defenses between six different champions. ROH has had sixteen title defenses with one champion.

Now the question is, why does this happen? Why do promoters decide to have title changes every few months instead of a long reign? Why does Samoa Joe standout as a World Champion. Well I will explain my theory on this. Samoa Joe has champion written all over him. The man is a vicious animal inside the ring. He is ruthless and he is intimidating. But what makes him stand out even more is the fact that Joe presents his World Title as the most important thing in not only to him, but in wrestling. Samoa Joe knows acts like his title is "THEE" title and no other title on the planet matters. A friend of mine recently stated that "Samoa Joe makes it appear that he would rather have you spit right in his face rather than spit on his World Title." That is how important that belt is to him. It represents honor. He carries himself like the best. The reason for that is because he is the best, hands down.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, there can be several reasons why other promoters decide to have titles change hands often. One of these reasons could be to pop a crowd. If you have a show with five hundred plus fans, you want them to come back the next time you hold a show at the venue. So you make them feel like they are witnessing something important, a huge event. By having a title change, the fans feel like they are part of the show, a part of history. That feeling leaves them wanting to come back next time and watch again.

A lesser reason, and I am sure JAPW or USA Pro DO NOT have title changes due to this, is attendance. If attendance figures are low for some events, frequent title changes may cause casual fans to return to shows. An example is that is you are only drawing one hundred people at a show and a title changes hands, the fans there will tell their friends. Or people may read about it on the internet and feel upset that they witnessed a new champion being crowned. They will then make a point to attend the next show to see the former champion on his quest to regain the title. This however weakens the value of the championship. It makes it seem like it is just a prop, something of little value that just gets passed around.

Some promoters say that the money is drawn in the title chase. While that is sometimes correct with an underdog baby face, sometimes that theory is incorrect. Samoa Joe proves it incorrect. I say the money is in the champion. I pay money to see a worthy champion. Someone who beats all challengers, big, small, fast, slow, young or old. A champion who proves he is the best by beating all his competitors. A champion who carries himself like one. A champion who represents himself like a man who fears nothing. A man who is prepared to prove that he is number one against anybody. A FIGHTING CHAMPION!!!!

Samoa Joe does just that. He defends his title against all comers and will defend his title weekly if need be. He isn't a man who doesn't want to defend his championship against certain people. He isn't a man who is afraid of Joe Schmoe. He basically doesn't give a f*ck who he is fighting. All he knows is that once you get in the ring with him, he is going to do whatever it takes to walk in with that title and leave with that title. Whether or not he has to kill you to do it isn't an issue for him. That is what a champion should be and that is how a wrestling promotion should do it.