WWE Pay-per-view Posters - 2010

The World Heavyweight Championship in decline.

Triple H circa 2002. The WHC was treated quite well when he was in the title picture.

Created in 2002, WWE's World Heavyweight Championship has had quite the decade. I initially considered the belt to be a joke, due to the way it was introduced: Eric Bischoff opened a briefcase and handed it to Triple H. It wasn't until a few years had passed that I took the championship seriously and even considered title holders to be legitimate "World champions." For a time, I truly believed the value of the WHC was on the level of the WWE Championship. I would point to Batista's first win and reign as the turning point in the upward direction.

Let's fast forward to 2011. The World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestlemania OPENED the show. Since then, the belt has not main evented a single pay-per-view. John Cena vs. so-and-so has headlined every show and been placed higher on the card than the WHC. Also, recent World Champions have included Christian and Mark Henry, who are still career midcarders in the eyes of many. This past summer, Smackdown stars were added to Raw in an attempt to simultaneously boost Raw's ratings and Smackdown's house show attendance. Since then, it's given WWE another opportunity to have the World Champion play second (or even third) fiddle to ongoing Raw storylines. Smackdown, the home of the WHC, as fallen even lower as far as being a serious brand within the WWE Universe. More fans have caught on that Smackdown is a generally meaningless show, usually full of filler and unimportant happenings. The current climate in WWE has lead me to believe that the WHC is not a true "World" title anymore and has become the modern day secondary championship, which the Intercontinental title used to be.

While things are bad for the championship these days, the last few years of WWE booking have not been kind for the title either. WWE has fallen into a bad habit of having what I like to call "midcard World champions." These are guys who might hold the title for a few months or so but are not really elevated to main event status. When their reigns are over, they are right back to the midcard. The perfect example of this would be Jack Swagger. Swagger was a surprise Money in the Bank winner as his push had seemed to cool off in the months leading up to his big win. Two days later, he cashed in and became the new WHC. From there, Swagger had a forgettable title reign in which the Smackdown writers did not seem to put any serious effort into getting Swagger over as a top tier star. Fast-forward to today, since Swagger lost the title he has been lost in the midcard shuffle and the commentary team even makes jokes about most fans forgetting he ever had the WHC. That's a fantastic way to bury Swagger, Smackdown, and the WHC in one fell swoop.

So I'm going to leave it at this: WWE has made it clear in the past year that the WWE Championship is the end all, be all in wrestling gold, and that the World Heavyweight Championship is a World title in name only. I'm half-expecting them to drop "World" from the name and just bill it as the "Heavyweight title" the same way they demoted the ECW Championship in 2007. Until WWE starts seriously investing in Smackdown again and throws them a bone by letting them headline some pay-per-views, I just can't take their championship or roster all that seriously.

Thoughts, questions, snide comments? I welcome them all.

Rowe's Top 25 Songs - 9/24 - 10/1

This Chart	Song	Artist	Last
1	"Calamity Song"	The Decemberists	4
2	"Behold the Hurricane!"	The Horrible Crowes	1
3	"We Sing in Time"	The Lonely Forest	11
4	"Blackout"	Breathe Carolina	2
5	"Time Spent in Los Angeles"	Dawes	3
6	"Savers"	Bomb the Music Industry!	12
7	"Sunset in July"	311	5
8	"Cough Syrup"	Young the Giant	6
9	"Rainbow Connection"	Weezer + H. Williams	7
10	"Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie"	Red Hot Chili Peppers	17
11	"Peggy Sang the Blues"	Frank Turner	9
12	"People Say"	Portugal. The Man	10
13	"Junk of the Heart (Happy)"	The Kooks	NEW
14	"Coyote"	The Lonely Forest	3
15	"Paradise"	Coldplay	25
16	"Up Up Up"	Givers	18
17	"Young Blood"	The Naked and Famous	13
18	"The Sound of Winter"	Bush	19
19	"Ex Marks the Spot"	A Skylit Drive	14
20	"I Might"	Wilco	23
21	"Count Me In"	311	NEW
22	"Summer Fires"	Wildnerness of Manitoba	15
23	"Every Tear Drop is a Waterfall"	Coldplay	16
24	"Let it Go"	Saves the Day	NEW
25	"Radiosurgery"	New Found Glory	24

Rowe's Top 25 Songs - 9/11 - 9/18

This Chart	Song	Artist	Last
1	"Behold the Hurricane"	The Horrible Crowes	1
2	"Blackout"	Breathe Carolina	11
3	"Coyote"	The Lonely Forest	2
4	"Calamity Song"	The Decemberists	15
5	"Sunset in July"	311	3
6	"Cough Syrup"	Young the Giant	4
7	"Rainbow Connection"	Weezer & Hayley Williams	5
8	"Time Spent in Los Angeles"	Dawes	10
9	"Peggy Sang the Blues"	Frank Turner	6
10	"People Say"	Portugal.The Man	7
11	"We Sing in Time"	The Lonely Forest	19
12	"Savers"	Bomb the Music Industry!	16
13	"Young Blood"	The Naked and Famous	8
14	"Ex Marks the Spot"	A Skylit Drive	12
15	"Summer Fires"	Wilderness of Manitoba	13
16	"Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"	Coldplay	9
17	"The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie"	Red Hot Chili Peppers	NEW
18	"Up Up Up"	Givers	23
19	"The Sound of Winter"	Bush	NEW
20	"Up All Night"	Blink 182	14
21	"Summer Holiday"	Wild Nothing	17
22	"We Found Each Other in the Dark"	City and Colour	22
23	"I Might"	Wilco	24
24	"Radiosurgery"	New Found Glory	NEW
25	"Paradise"	Coldplay	NEW

Rowe's Top 25 Songs - Week of 9/4 - 9/10

This Chart	Song	Artist	Last
1	"Behold the Hurricane"	The Horrible Crowes	5
2	"Coyote"	The Lonely Forest	1
3	"Sunset in July"	311	3
4	"Cough Syrup"	Young the Giant	2
5	"Rainbow Connection"	Weezer w/ Hayley Williams	12
6	"Peggy Sang the Blues"	Frank Turner	4
7	"People Say"	Portugal.The Man	7
8	"Young Blood"	The Naked and Famous	6
9	"Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"	Coldplay	8
10	"Time Spent in Los Angeles"	Dawes	14
11	"Blackout"	Breathe Carolina	20
12	"Ex Marks the Spot"	A Skylit Drive	9
13	"Summer Fires"	Wilderness of Manitoba	11
14	"Up All Night"	Blink 182	13
15	"Calamity Song"	The Decemberists	17
16	"Savers"	Bomb the Music Industry!	18
17	"Summer Holiday"	Wild Nothing	21
18	"Refuge"	Colin Devlin	10
19	"We Sing in Time"	The Lonely Forest	23
20	"Understanding What We've Grown to Be"	We Came as Romans	22
21	"Keep on Bringing Me Down"	Forever the Sickest Kids	15
22	"We Found Each Other in the Dark"	City and Colour	16
23	"Up Up Up"	Givers	NEW
24	"I Might"	Wilco	NEW
25	"It's Not All About You"	Face to Face	19

WWE pay-per-view posters 2009