Announcers are always kept under a tight leash when it comes
to wrestling. They aren’t listening to
popular music on those headsets, ya know.
In time if successful, they are granted the freedom to infuse more of
their personality into calling matches.
Sometimes, it works. Other times
it doesn’t. One of the greatest
announcers ever is Jim Ross. During one
of The Undertaker’s many persona shifts, he referred to him as “Booger
Red”. It was a reference to Undertaker’s
red hair and an ode to ex-Atlanta Falcon Tommy Nobis. Before long, Ross was asked to stop using the
moniker. It made sense.
Unless you were the burping badass in the Revenge of The
Nerds movie, being called “Booger-anything” wasn’t cool. It sounds more like an insult than anything
else. However, memories of the
aforementioned name have resurfaced after the creation of the WWE Universal
championship. A copy of the WWE World
title with a red background instead of a black one, the WWE Universe did not
take to kindly to it appearance. The
argument was simple: if RAW is a
different brand than SmackDown, why on Earth would you present something that
looks the same as their version?
The last time WWE had a brand extension, there were two top
championships: the original WWE
championship and the World Heavyweight championship. The World Heavyweight title was the latest
and final (we hope) incarnation of the legendary Big Gold belt. And while it would eventually have its own
history, it wasn’t the same thing as being the WWE Champion. So while battles of the World Heavyweight
title became main event matches for brand-exclusive and co-branded
pay-per-views, you never really could get into them like you did for a WWE
title match.
Thankfully, the Universal championship doesn’t have this
burden to bear.
The name has been used for decades by Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling
Council. That particular title came into
existence after a proposed but vetoed unification match between Carlos Colon
and NWA World champion Ric Flair. Flair
carried the physical predecessor to the Big Gold belt into battle with him
against Colon (who won the match). When
Flair was a traveling champion in the early 1980’s who boasted about defending
his World title against challenger Hulk Hogan would not, it was the Big Gold
Belt he carried. So much of pro
wrestling then and now has been built on the foundation of that particular
championship and the belt that represented it.
Its influence can still be felt today.
The WWE Universal title is unlike any before it. It begins its existence with a clean slate
and an amazing roster of wrestlers who would challenge for it now and in the
future. Finn Balor’s injury when he
captured the belt against Seth Rollins has set the table for Kevin Owens to do
his thing. Now, WWE fans are getting to
see what Owens can really do in the biggest match situations of his
career. So many people say Cesaro should
at least be considered for major title status.
Should he be victorious against Sheamus in their best-of-seven series,
he will get his opportunity. Rusev is
fresh off of a United States title loss but remains a dark horse. I’d be foolish to forget Chris Jericho, Seth
Rollins and Roman Reigns. The best thing
about all of these guys (and whoever I have failed to mention) is that they are
all hungry. Each man is licking his
chops for the chance to wear this new championship.
The Universal championship gives the RAW roster the change
to actually CREATE history as opposed to just “making” it. So don’t pass judgment on the belt or beat up
its appearance too bad. Give ol’ Booger
Red a chance again. You’ll be glad you
did.
Fin.
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