Gordon Solie’s strong monotone voice reaches out to me from the days of wrestling
yore. I can hear him say, “the match has turned into a donnybrook,”
and his face is slowly becoming a crimson mask. Then play-by-play concentrated
on mat work and told a wrestling story, not a WWE story. These days make me harp
back to a time when a belt meant something. The belt matches gave you good, short
matches with a great storyline. That belt was the Television Title.
The death of the “Television Title” is a sore spot for me to this
day. Duggan dressed as “Janitor” at WCW, and finding it to defend
was a disgrace. The title was held by stars such as Arn, Regal, Finley, Ultimo
Dragon, Pillman, Austin, and many others. It was a solid belt that was thick
in history. The belt came with the stipulation of a twenty minute match, which
created many great matches and storylines. The belt matches were used to keep
a solid name in the spotlight or to bring along new talent. The old “out
of time” gimmick , when used properly, was always hot and went a long way
to developing character and storyline. It gave credibility to both wrestlers
and made it mean something to win the belt since it usually was a solid match.
I can remember crowds popping at the thought of their man pulling an upset only
to be snagged with the clock at one second. The announcers used to say how much
time was left, and the story of the match would intensify. These little things
are still needed and would help remove a burdened staff trying to come up with
different angles and how to create storylines. ECW could use it to build Punk
and help some of the roster have a direction.
TNA – This would be great if they got a two-hour show so they could help move
Styles, Daniels, Rhino, and others that have outgrown the “X” but
are lost in the upper card.
Smack down – This belt has Finley all over it with Regal, Hardy, Noble, and
others pursuing it.
Raw – This is the only brand that doesn’t need it, because of the IC title,
but it would be nice to have a twenty minute match instead of filler.
If it was good enough for Double A’s waist, then why do I even have to beg
for its resurrection? “The greatest TV champion of all time!” I dream
of hearing one more time that the match was a draw – to see the agony of the
one that was so close and the exuberance of the man that escaped by a tenth
of a second. This makes sense, I know that this belt is as dead as the “Red
Rooster!”
One organization should realize the benefit of having such a title. It would
bring smart fans into great matches and storylines. In the mark world you can
have matches which would get a huge payoff. The writers on WWE brands are already
spread so thin that this little bit of creativity can help free up some time
and move along good angles, while building up-and-comers. This would also let
some mid-carders keep the spotlight. TNA can benefit because it is so top heavy,
and the “X” division should not have to move Daniels back down and
have half the roster with nothing to do but get beat by a cane from Raven.
The Darlin’ one sees a good opportunity to bring back a forgotten belt that
is steeped in tradition! The question is does anyone else see anything but what
VKM does or doesn’t do. Russo , you have always called yourself a fan of wrestling!
Why not study it sometimes and find something that hasn’t happened in the last
ten years and go back and use it. I could care less for an angle about a million
dollar challenge to HHH and Michaels from Voodoo Kin Mafia. Sometimes being
inventive is studying your past and building on it. It isn’t doing an angle
that was done by you when you were on Raw with DX. The new Russo is starting
to leak into the old with his convoluted matches . Thank God it would only take
a moron to ruin Angle vs. Joe, and VKM is still in WWE, so we are safe for now.
I am enclosing a list of title holders I found that wore the WCW T.V. Title:
Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Steamboat, Tully, Benoit, Booket T, Jericho, Finlay
, Regal, Steve Austin, Ron Garvin, Nikita Koloff, Scott Steiner, etc. That is
a very rich background! The ECW T.V. Title had RVD, Jericho, Guerrero, Bigelow,
Taz, Etc. It was the secondary title and meant something. Why not bring it back
Vince? This belt meant something and you hold the history for both belts. Please
someone free the television belt. I think it has been in Vince’s ass too long!
The Darlin One has spoken! So let it be written! So let it be Done!
Darlin’ Danny Dunn