WWE: Do Records Matter to the Fans?
By Josh.0
The WWE likes to make a big deal about records being broken but do they matter to fans?
Was there any doubt that New Day would lose their tag team titles after breaking Demolition’s previously record-setting 478-day title reign? This has been the formula in WWE for years now so it came as little surprise to me when they lost at Roadblock this past Sunday. Wrestler(s) X breaks a championship record previously held by Wrestler Y and thus Wrestler X is now able to lose their belt almost immediately. We saw it with Nikki Bella. We saw it with New Day. Next up on the chopping block is likely Paige’s record as NXT Women’s Champion which lasted for 308 days in 2013. Current champion Asuka has held the belt for over 260 days and much like AJ Lee, WWE especially likes to expunge records held by disgruntled employees (or soon to be former employees).
Former WWE wrestler CM Punk holds the record of the longest reigning WWE champion of the modern era. He held the WWE championship from November 2011 to January 2013 for a total of 434 days. AJ Styles is 1/4th of the way there but I doubt he will be the man chosen to break this record. John Cena is second on this list with his 380-day reign back in 2006 and I doubt he has enough in-ring commitment time with the company to break a record that would require over a year of title defenses. Punk’s record is the sixth longest of all-time, behind Pedro Morales (1,027 days), Bruno Sammartino (who has two records of 1,237 and 2,803 days), Hulk Hogan (1,474 days), and Bob Backlund (2,135 days).
The idea of records in professional wrestling is inherently stupid since wins/losses are determined by a team of writers. This isn’t boxing and a wrestler’s record is completely out of their hands unless they become a rare superstar like The Undertaker who can win or lose as he pleases. Some records still on the books will likely remain until the end of time because the WWE Universe doesn’t have the patience to allow a single wrestler to hold a belt for so long anymore. Lex Luger holding the U.S. Championship for 523 days would have more than a few articles written about it (likely by me) detailing why this is a terrible idea. It’s almost certain that Fabulous Moolah’s controversial reign as Women’s Champion – which lasted 28 years – would endure generations of criticism.
The WWE also wants us to believe that Sasha and Charlotte Flair’s “record breaking” feud has ended but does anyone really believe that? Does anyone think we won’t see these two women compete again sometime in the near future? These two women were propped up as trendsetters with their back-and-forth wins and losses stemming back to April 2016 when the new WWE Women’s Championship was created. Since that first match, Charlotte and Sasha have been the only two competitors and winners of this belt, a fact that was even made fun of by Big E on the Dec 19th edition of RAW.
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This complete disregard for the other women’s on the RAW roster is a record in itself but not one the WWE should be proud of.