Bret Hart unveiling AEW’s World Title

One of the biggest gripes of American wrestling fans over the last decade has been the lack of meaningful championships. Sure, there have been a few great champions in American wrestling in the last few years. Can we recall a single great title run with meaningful defenses?

In WWE, titles have been more so used as plot devices which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The negative aspect comes when you deter your attention away from the titles. What good is a champion who is never on tv or never defends? What good is a champion who loses to their opponent before their title match? AEW has been shouting from the mountain tops that wins and losses matter, and if they do it could help bring prestige to not only their world title but to all their titles.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has treated their IWGP Heavyweight Championship as the crown jewel of their company. They have not had just sustained title runs. They have had each championship match mean something important and they have had their champions constantly fighting to hold their prestigious title.

Will AEW hold their titles to the same respect as NJPW’s titles? Only time will tell. It is much easier to write a television show when you don’t take the time to think about how to protect your titles, but hopefully they don’t fall into that way of thinking. Do you have faith that AEW will make their titles mean something?