Savana's Chamber of Pain #41: Greatest Reign Ever

[Andy_Savana]

Savana's Chamber of Pain

I am here to defend probably one of the most underrated title reigns in the history of the WWE and I will stop at no limits in doing so. Santino Marella's second reign as Intercontinental Champion was probably one of the greatest reigns in this decade. I was reading a random other column, which I am not allowed to call out, when I noticed that he said that the title was nothing more than a comedic prop for Santino to make jokes. To that I say, so? It may have been a prop for Santino to have fun with but isn't what he was supposed to be doing?

I don't like to sit at home and pretend that Jeff Hardy went out of his way for ten years to win the World Title and then be in a shitty mood with it around his waste. Want to hear some more fascinating news, guy? It was a prop, too! Damn, it is finally out of the closet that the title was nothing more than a prop for Jeff...to be in a shitty mood? Eh, scratch that idea and back about three illogical steps. There is a fork in the road where, somehow, some guy went down the illogical one. This time we will take the logical one and look at why Santino was an amazing champion.

Title's as Business Props

Let's get the basic idea of any WWE title in the company. It is meant to put the spotlight on a certain wrestler so that the audience pays greater attention, merchandise sales go up, and ratings increase. Thus, the title is nothing more than a prop for the sake of business. Afterall, the WWE is nothing more than a business that has to struggle to survive like the rest of them. Their stock could easily collapse at any second, which it will not if you want my expert advise, so they need to use the titles in their company for the greater good of making more money. There is a twist to this bit of logic though and here it goes...Sports Entertainment. Entertainment is a business type and I already explained what that has to do with the titles in the company.

The sports part is what really attracts a large amount of the WWE's Universe. I doubt most of them even consider the Entertainment part of the Sports Entertainment persona that the WWE takes. Their all happy that these men are coming out and 'trying' their past. These are the fans that go to work and earn their pay without much thought as to just how valuable the WWE is making any title look. Their happy as long as the holder of the title won it from someone else in a wrestling match. They pay no attention to what's going on behind the scenes in the WWE and those are the truly happy people in the world. I wish I was one of those people but I am not and I cannot change that. I write columns about behind the scenes in the WWE and I'll just have to learn to dig that.

So I guess I am not going to be typing this column to entertain those types of fans, the kind that watch it as a sport. I'm going to be writing this column to entertain the people who read between the lines of the wrestling matches they watch. The ones that critique beyond the presentation of a match, but the story that has been placed into the match. What other way would I have it though? It would be too easy to convince the other type of fan that a certain match was better than the one before. I have to convince you group of something totally different. I have to convince you that a reign, and everything beyond what you see, was more than it appeared to be. This is far from saying it isn't possible because I'm about to right now. I've looked at the audience view of the WWE title's now so lets move on to the next section of my point of the Intercontinental title as a prop.

Title's as Entertainment Props

I said earlier in the column that the titles were used as props to put a spotlight on a superstar. Why not put the title on a superstar that the audience can get interested in? Santino, in his current gimmick, has always been a character that the WWE Universe has found interesting. He may not be some main-event superstar that'll make the title amazingly prestigious but has that really ever mattered? It's supposed to be for those who aren't main-event caliber stars yet and could use the spotlight to push them in the right direction with the audience. Not every person to hold the title has became a WWE champion afterwards but this isn't always the purpose like I said earlier. Sometimes the WWE just feels like giving the title to someone because they know it is all good entertainment. Santino Marella is the perfect example of this.

They don't expect this guy to become the next Rock or Austin but they knew there was potential for some great entertainment when they gave him the title in August of 2008. You tuned in to see what crazy antics he would be pulling out for that night and just how long his title reign would last with the WWE's erratic booking at the time. Santino was a good example of them simply using the title to entertain the fans and that's the point afterall. They are not obligated to make the title look like it should be held by the greatest wrestler's in the world. They're just supposed to make sure we are happy as fans.

To further my point just a tad bit, look at Jeff Hardy. When he won the title in 2006 it wasn't simply to entertain the fans but to show them that he was a contender for more than just heat. The point to his riegns as champion was to push him above the rest of the midcard wrestlers of the time period and no one can say that it didn't work for him. Afterall, he was a World Champion just a month ago. This probably made all you behind the scene critics happy to know that they were using the title for good and not simply as a prop to pass time. Little did you know that they still were. It was a prop to propel Jeff to greater things and they fooled you into believing it was something more than that.

Is there really a problem with that though? No, because not everyone is a winner. Sometimes you run into a batch of people that just aren't going to make it in life and it's not realistic to believe that the WWE doesn't have those kind of people in it's roster. Hell, half of them aren't going anywhere as we speak but I don't see you guys complaining about it. You just sit back and remain blind to the truth. I see it all but I know that it's all going to be okay and can accept the Entertainment part of the WWE. The sports part is fine too.

Santino as an amazing champion

For all the above reasons involving entertainment I defend Santino as a champion. Now I get a tad bit into detail why his reign was one of my favorite. Sure, he had the spotlight on him because he was entertaining as a wrestler and an actor but there was more going on with him as champion. He was doing something with the title! Most champions hold the title and use it as a prop, like the lot of you bitch about, and nothing more. Santino held the title with pride and he had plans with the title. He wanted to go somewhere with the title. A lot of people are booked to hold the title until they loose it and then move on to something else. Santino had the title and he wanted to keep the title for as long as possible. He gave the title a third dimension of meaning that most champions, even Jeff Hardy, had failed to do.

The plan was obvious. He simply wanted to have the longest reign than any other. Think of it as Chris Jericho simply wanting to outdo Shawn Michaels. It was a storyline for the title itself and not just for the wrestler holding the title. He had the title and with every week his goals with the title were seven days closer to being achieved. It was great entertainment for seventy-seven days. We all watched on to see just when he would lose the title or if he would make it the distance and break the Honky Tonk Man's record of sixty-four weeks.

Then he lost it in forty seconds and the title went back to what it was before. Just a prop for wrestler's to be propelled. Regal held the title to look good and lost it to CM Punk so that Punk could look good. I will admit their feud was a little more than entertaining but Punk lost it to JBL which is where some slight hope comes in. JBL wants to be the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. Just like Santino was trying to do and I can dig that. That third dimension is what makes watching champions worth it.

That's all I have to say and if you have a problem... reply with feedback. I listen.

Until next time,

Andy Savana.

[Martin Riggs]

very compelling points, you're right in that 'Tino was bringing an extra dimension to that title.

Very convincing argument, you've sold me, great column!

[Petre Dyche]

Wow, could this be considered a 'shoot column'? It was certainly a change to the usual spec, but I completely agree with the message. There are 3 world titles in WWE now, the IC title as a springboard to the main event is simply redundant.

The Honk-a-Meter was a terrific part of Raw that hasn't been replaced. I hope Santino can break out again soon, probably once Mania is over, cos he puts the E into Double Double E.

Oh, and did no-one at all find it strange that the final of a #1 contender match for the IC title got to PPV, but none of the actual title matchs did? I'm just saying.

Great stuff!

[Leonard]

Hi Andy:

Sorry I missed this column...I was scanning over the forum and saw that I had yet to read this. I love rebuttals and counterpoints to opinions, so I'll give my own.

I think you take my reference to a "prop" a little too literally. In a world where something predetermined is presented in a fashion that is intended to "suspend disbelief" (much like theater or a soap opera, perhaps), championship titles should be more than just "props," but a signifier of "the best" in that particular class. While I will say that Santino is (and was at the time) very entertaining (the "E"), he did very little to add anything to a wrestling title (the second "W"). Even in the world of suspended disbelief, how can you be a wrestler without looking to gain the top honors (which the I.C. title, as much as I like it, is not)? The point I'm trying to get at is that an ideal champion should embody the best of "wrestling" AND "entertainment.

As for the Internet Wrestling Community's "negative" attitudes in general, I think it's human nature to be critical of things we enjoy. As a musician, I love Frank Sinatra, Chicago, and Frederick Fennell (a prominent wind band conductor) all the like, but am still very critical of musical choices they make/made in their careers. In my columns, for example, I make it a point to be critical of things that happen in the wrestling profession, because it too is something I enjoy. Also, there's a difference between "being blind" and simply not addressing something at that moment.

The wrestling business is kind of funny...we know its predetermined, but we need to consider it from both the "real" and "fake" (for lack of better terms) points of view to get a truly unbaised viewpoint. Anyways, Andy, I might disagree with some things you say here, but you make a very good case for them. Well done, sir.

--Leonard

[MyLeeCyrus]

I really like this... Which is very annoying, as Santino doesn't do much for me anymore. But all of your reasons were convincing and I'll be damned if it doesn't make me appreciate him a bit more! Good job squire. Good job.