World Titles used to mean something. The champion was a champion who, whether you liked him or not, you could respect because of their work ethic. The champions had lengthy runs, but the runs were interesting. If a heel was champion, you tuned in to hopefully watch him lose, and when he retained the title through some stroke of genius, you were outraged, so you watched the next show. If the face was champion, you watched to see him over come the odds and retain. But now, the World Titles in NWA:TNA, and the WWE mean nothing. I'd like to take some time out to discuss them.

The WWE World Heavyweight Title is a disgrace. If you were to look at the people who've held it, it's gone like this: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Goldberg, Triple H, Benoit, Orton, Triple H. Basically, it's the Triple H Title. Now, I'm not going to bash Triple H, because I enjoy watching him wrestle. But honestly, I wish the WWE would take a break from Triple H. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit as champion. People are beginning to realize that when Triple H loses the title, he's going to have it back in a few months, if not a few weeks. For me at least, the World Heavyweight Title has become a disgrace. The title RAW uses is supposed to be the carry-over WCW Title, which was created in 1991, when WCW stopped using NWA titles. Through all the history of that title, it has seen many great champions: Ric Flair, Sting, Vader, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho. While in the latter years of WCW, it deteriorated tremendously with the likes of David Arquette and Vince Russo each getting a chance to hold it. When the WWE first brought it back after it got retired (when Jericho become Undisputed Champion) I was excited. I even thought using Triple H to build up the prestige of the title was a smart thing. I loved the Elimination Chamber, when Shawn won. Then I began to grow frustrated, as did many of my group of wrestling friends. We hated Goldberg getting a run with the title. Then we saw our salvation in the form of Chris Benoit. He is/was what the World Title used to be about. He has spent almost two decades wrestling, giving of himself to the sport. He doesn't have a flamboyant personality, he doesn't need one. He's a no-nonsense character who steps out to wrestle. I was ecstatic to see Benoit win the title. The WWE also let him have a nice lengthy run, not as long as I wanted, but I was happy. Then came, in my mind, the worst moment in the WWE since the Necrophilia angle, Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight Title. In my mind, that is when the title lost all meaning that Benoit, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels had built up. Here was this kid winning the World Heavyweight Title after having been wrestling four years, doing what it had taken men like Chris Benoit 18 years to accomplish, or Shawn Michaels 12 years, this kid did in four. Now, (at the time of me writing this), Dave Batista is going to be battling Triple H for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania 21. The outcome is still unknown, but I'm hoping that Batista fails to win, and someone like Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kane, or William Regal gets a chance to carry the ball. I'm hoping to see the WWE do a 180, and start rebuilding the credibility of the World Heavyweight Title.

SmackDown!'s WWE title is almost as bad as RAW's World Heavyweight, the only difference is, I love JBL's reign. It's a classic Heel title reign. People tune in to see him lose, to see him dethroned, but he never is. He always finds some way out of it. And before JBL, we had Eddie Guerrero as champion, which was another dream come true for me. But before we got to see Guerrero as champion, or JBL, we were force-fed Brock Lesnar runs. I want to make this clear, I HATE BROCK LESNAR! The way he came right in and won the title makes me sick, still to this day I want to vomit every time I think of it. Then, for a fleeting moment, in mid-December of 2002, I thought Vince had wisened up. Kurt Angle defeated the Big Show for the strap. I was overjoyed. Kurt Angle is a full package wrestler. He can talk and wrestle, and he's got a good look. But sadly, my hopes were tarnished as I saw him lose to Lesnar, then win it again, then lose it back to Lesnar. The quick title changes, and multitude of Brock Lesnar runs had me fed up with SmackDown!. Then Eddie won it, in what I saw as a gift from the divine. On February 15, 2004; after 17 years of professional wrestling, Eddie won the title. He went on to hold it until June 27, 2004 when he lost it to John Bradshaw Layfield. I'll admit, at first I was weary to see JBL win the title. I thought he'd but just a transition Champion to Cena, but he wasn't. Instead, JBL has held the title for an impressive 10 months (at the time of writing this), which couldn't make me happier. Thank you Vincent Kennedy McMahon and your writers, you did something good. Despite what anyone else may think, JBL has set a standard; he has, with help from his opponents, helped build the SmackDown! title up to, in my opinion, the premier title in the WWE. But we're on the verge of seeing that all destroyed. John Cena could possibly defeat JBL at WrestleMania and become the WWE Champion; I'm on my knees right now, begging the God of Wrestling not to let this happen. In my opinion, Cena is over-rated. Yes, he can sometimes perform on the microphone. But, his promos are repetitive, his catch phrases are tired, and his matches are stale. He as World Champion of SmackDown! will/would completely destroy all of Eddie's and JBL's hard work in establishing it as a respectable title.

NWA: TNA is supposed to be the next big thing. With a rumored deal with Spike TV in the works, a show already on Fox Sports Net, they are supposed to have what it takes to give the WWE a run for their money as the dominate force in 'Sports-Entertainment'. That's all well and good, except for one factor. The man who is called the King of the Mountain, that's right folks, Double J Jeff Jarrett is going to keep them from this. How do I know" What happened when TNA debuted on Fox Sports Net" Jeff Jarrett was the NWA World Champion. That was last year, June 4, 2004. In that time, TNA has seen no changes in its World Champion. Normally, I would not be against this, if the man holding the title was worthy. At first, I figured it'd be a good thing. Besides Raven, Double J was really the only person TNA had who had ever had main stream wrestling exposure, being a former WCW Champion. He was obviously the man to start TNA's Television Era off as Champion. I thought, maybe after three or four months, when Impact had gotten a following, and TNA had gotten more exposure, surely Jeff would drop it to someone else. But no... Instead, TNA has become Jeff Jarrett's personal stomping ground. He's beaten them all right" Among the list of names are: AJ Styles, Abyss, Raven, Monty Brown, Kevin Nash, DDP, etcetera. His promos have gotten stale, his matches are not exciting, he's DESTROYED the LEGACY of the NWA. The legacy that men like Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Jack Brisco, The Funks, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhoades, Kerry Von Erich, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, and others have built. He took all that, and destroyed it by making himself the focal point of TNA for it's entire running period. I'm not against him ever holding the title, but really now, is it necessary to see him beat every body, and let no one get built up to his level. You know who should be NWA Champ" No, not AJ Styles, Monty Brown, Abyss, DDP, or Nash. One man, who has paid his dues, has shown himself to be a draw, who has the most unique, and most mimicked gimmick ever... Raven. That is the man who should be leading TNA right now. So please Jeff, step away from your own ego, and let some one else have a chance, for the good of your own company.

That's a wrap on the three World Titles I wanted to discuss. All three of deteriorated to a revolting level, but hopefully they will all pick up soon, other wise, I'm just going to focus on the one company that still gives me goose bumps, Ring of Honor, but that's a different column.

by David Barker ..