I know that we don't normally post Heat spoilers ... but after reading these I thought I would to see if anyone else wondered why we didn't get these matches on RAW ...
Sunday Night Heat:
Randy Orton defeated Val Venis in a non-title match w/ the RKO. Randy Orton's loud crowd reaction surprised me. He is going to definitely step up in 2004.
Al Snow and The Coach came out to a decent pop.
Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak defeated Matt and Jon from Tough 3. The Tough Enough boys looked like a young version of the Hardy Boyz. They didn't botch any spots to my amazement.
Sunday Night pyro...
Matt Hardy Version 1 defeated Lance Storm w/ 2 ladies with the Twist of Fate. Matt Hardy was better off on Smackdown.
"Yeah cake rocks the body that rocks the party." - Christian
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWHY IS IT NON-TITLE IF THE CHAMP IS GOING TO WIN?????????
Do they purposely try to make their belts look like crap?
You mean, only defending the title against people who have actually earned a title shot makes the title look crappy? And here I thought that allowing just anyone a chance to win the title made it look cheap.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWHY IS IT NON-TITLE IF THE CHAMP IS GOING TO WIN?????????
Suspense is the usual reason.
It's not like I thought Val Venis was going to win the IC Title on Heat, anyway. Build up the prestige of the title by having the champ defend it. Does anyone give a crap about the US Title since Big Show won it? Not defending the belt has a lot to do with it. Having a title match on Heat may bring some respect to the show, as well, and bring in some extra viewers.
You mean, only defending the title against people who have actually earned a title shot makes the title look crappy?
I know I'm getting older, and the memory may start to get fuzzy, but I seem to remember mid-card champs defending their titles against JTTS back in the '80's.
Randy Orton is supposed to be a cocky bastard? Have him grab the mic from Lillian in mid-announcement and say "I'm Randy Orton, legend killer. *Mick Foley* is afraid to face me in the ring, and I'm supposed to be concerned that Val Venis might beat me for *my* Intercontinental Title? This match is now a title match." Have him do this every week to play up the cocky character, as well as put heat on his feud w/ Foley.
The suspense comes from knowing that *insert name here* would not win the belt if it were a title match.
If it's non-title, then there is at least the illusion that Val Venis, et al, might pull of the upset.
Besides, winning a non-title match can be used as the set-up to a title chase.
I do like the idea for Orton to unilaterally make it a title shot to further the cocky heel bastard character, but I do see the point of non-title bouts.
2002 rspw Quote of the Year: JR--"Lita's no Cheater"
Orton might be a cocky heel, but he's still at heart a cowardly heel. He would never put the belt up against anyone if he didn't have to, unless it was some proto-underdog like Spike Dudley.
Rob asks Dave and Ric if they want to go backstage to play Hungry Hungry Hippos and Flair and Batista immediately bail. Flair wants to be Green. Man, EVERYBODY wants to be green. Except the girl in the commercials. She wanted to be pink. That either means that the ad agency was sexist or that she was communist. Of course Hungry Hungry Hippos is a rather capitalist game isnt it? No self respecting communist would play Hungry Hungry Hippos. Except Stalin. He LOVED Hungry Hungry Hippos. God, Ive got no clue what the hell Im rambling about anymore.-- Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking, Raw Satire writer extraordinaire
You know, I just can't call it the "WWE." I just can't. My body's rejecting it like a bad liver transplant.-- Bill Simmons, espn.com/page2
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWHY IS IT NON-TITLE IF THE CHAMP IS GOING TO WIN?????????
Suspense is the usual reason.
Also the fact that if the Champ ALWAYS lost non-title matches like you ask them to, wouldn't that be a dead give away the ending?
It's not just the suspense of "could Val Venis get the upset?" It's also the fact that they spent years having the non-champ win ANY match that was non-title, to the point where even thinking the champion might win was a joke.
Tribal Prophet
Wrestling exists in the eternal present. What is, has always been, and when it no longer is, it never was. It has no past and no future, and sometimes even today is in question. - Madame Manga
In essence, they've flipped the coin from the previous situation of usually being able to guess who is going to win a match, to just not CARING who is going to win a match.....
After all, who cares if, for example, Spanky faces Big Show in a non-title bout? What does he gain if he wins? Nothing. So why should I care if he appears to be on his way to a win? I don't.
Suspense would be increased if there was the chance that a victory of his might amount to something more than a 2 second screaming fit from Micheal Cole before his terminal ADD kicks in and he moves to another subject.....as is, there's next to nothing.....
Anybody can kick people's asses. But it takes a true monster to kick people's asses AND breastfeed at the same time - Excalibur05
Originally posted by Big BadOrton might be a cocky heel, but he's still at heart a cowardly heel. He would never put the belt up against anyone if he didn't have to, unless it was some proto-underdog like Spike Dudley.
Has Orton really been portrayed as being cowardly? So far, it's just been cocky pretty-boy.
You could have him put the belt up against low-card guys like Val, but once/if he goes against guys like Booker, he could always say "normally I would put the belt on the line, but I don't think you've proven you deserve a shot at *my* belt, so this match will remain non-title." Then, you could have Orton lose, and start trying to duck him.