Friday, October 12, 2007

eW Six Pack: Best Secondary Title Runs

Before we get to the main entry, a correction and a plug. Firstly, as pointed out by Bobby Nickens and BenCaldera himself, Outlaw Pro will not be run by Ben, but it will be supported and hosted by Ben. Still though, I have to endorse it, seeing that his endorsement is good enough for me.

Second, speaking of CalderaBen, he's gone out and gotten himself a blog. For those of you looking at more of a PTC-centric view on things, there's your blog.

Thirdly, I'll have more on the GCW/PRIME supercard, but I will say that this is the event the PTC community has been waiting for for a long time. With GCW back strong, now's as good a time as any to do this. I'll be looking forward to it.

And now, for something completely different...

Jeff Paternostro has been doing "Six Packs" on his regular blog, and I ganked that from him. Now, I'm going to bring the idea here, mainly because it's a good content filler for when I'm busy or feeling somewhat removed from current events like I am now. Trust me, things are hectic for me right now, but maybe I'll get caught up on some feds while I'm in Virginia.

Anyhow, Six Packs are basically just lists of six for a given topic. They may be numbered, but assume that all of them are in no particular order. Tonight's Six Pack...

The Six Best Secondary Title Reigns I've Seen

1. Torment, A1E Cyber Championship

Back in the early days of A1E, the Cyber Championship was kinda passed around like a hot potato. At one point, I think it changed hands three straight cards. Then, this force burst onto the scene and just started mauling people. Torment, a guy who topped out as a tag guy in MBE, came over and he was this irresistible force, bursting his way into a Cyber Title shot within five matches. He summarily dispatched Xavier Storm and he brought an air of stability to the Cyber Championship that no one really could bring before. It was incredible. There was one angled title switch at the first Vengeance, but other than that, no one could beat the guy. For those who remember him in his later A1E times less than fondly, it might come as sort of a shock that he'd pull off something like that, but still, back then, it was a sight to behold.

2. Karl Brown, EPW Intercontinental Championship

This is a current reign, and what a reign it is. Say what you will about the frequency of EPW's cards, but to keep a title like that for two years is almost unheard of, no matter what. To think, you have to stay on your game and be sharp, even over long layoffs. That can be harder than defending in a "quick" fed, especially since you can build up some momentum and get into a real groove. Whoever defeats Karl will end up having a big rub and it'll free Karl to go up to the main event, where he can try to get to the next level.

3. Rat, MBE Extreme Championship

People think that Torment doing what he did with the Cyber Championship "came out of nowhere," but in retrospect, he did have a good run in MBE, and he showed some flashes there. Rat though... his handler, Mikey Nunes, made a career being the lovable jobber in A1E as Mikey F'n W. Sure he improved to the point where he was a vital part his team with Snake, but no one ever thought he could pull off dominant. And yet, there he was as Rat, just owning everyone with this superb gimmick, a mentally tortured decrepit young man with a bitch girlfriend who controlled him. He could have taken the character so much further, but as with many of us, his own ambition undid him. When he introduced Spyder, a very mediocre cocky character meant to be Rat's brother, it took some intensity and focus from Rat, and both characters suffered. Shame, but it was a really sweet run while it lasted.

4. Chip Friendly, A1E Cyber Championship

If Torment brought the Cyber Championship into the modern ages, then Chip Friendly could very well be its definitive holder. He held onto that title for over a year, I believe, and he took out everyone. He beat Big Dog in a program, and a few months later, Dog became World Champion. Even when Canuck FINALLY wrested the strap from him, it wasn't necessarily because he was better than Chip. It was the equivalent of a mercy killing, the voters taking the title from Chip to elevate him. Still, one thing that confounds me to this day is how Chip was never given the chance to follow up that career-making reign with a strong World Title program.

5. Vangelus Olsig, PRIME Intense Championship

I came into PRIME at the tail end of this run, but still, Tywon held onto the belt for over a year. PRIME's a pretty competitive fed, and PTC feds seem to put more focus on the competition than the angles. I don't know how much of this was due to Tywon's inactivity, but still, you'd think if he was really lagging, they'd have stripped him of the title. An impressive run no matter how you slice it.

6. Jared Wells, BAD Championship (WFW)

This was another starmaker run, and Wells went through a lot of challengers, both established and upstart, to keep this title and make it nearly as prestigious as the fed's World Title. His run with this belt has seemingly made Barry Clark into a main event-level talent without having won a World Championship. It's a shame that both the feds he's in are lagging right now, because there's no doubt in my mind that he'd have gotten there by now.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Jonathan Rhine (handled by Nate, also in PRIME) held onto the FUSE Custom Chaos Championship for quite a long time, which was eventually re-gimmicked into the Gateway Championship. Guy had an absolute amazing run with it...won the title in his third match after beating two FUSE legends in a tournament, and held onto it from May 31st up until this past week's UPROAR. Not to mention the last four weeks Rhine has been #1 contender to Clinton Sage's Universal Championship. :D

Rhine gets no love! No love! This must change!

Josh Ray said...

I got the rub! I got the rub! I think Tom jinxed Karl Brown with this thread... :)

Unknown said...

Speaking of the A1E Cyber title, we can't go without mentioning Andrew Gilkison, who held that belt for damned close to a full year, if not more. And he wasn't just beating guys, he was really dominating. Not to take anything away from Torment or Chip, but I'd have to go with Andy here.

Anonymous said...

Doc C with the IC belt in XUW.

- Dave (Snow)

Anonymous said...

I second Doc C with the IC belt. If you ever do third tier belts, Jay Terror has to get mentioned for his amazing run with the GCW TV title. It is the longest TV title reign in GCW's history and made a division that is usually considered extremely lackluster into one of the highlights of the shows.

Another secondary reign is Hoyt William's with the PTC Extreme title. It wasn't the longest or anything of that nature, but the Extreme title was always kind of shunned by PTC as something only a certain niche of wrestlers should compete for. Hoyt opened the field wide open and really made that title something worth going after. I'm a huge fan of PTC's title divison (as a former Global champion and head of the Tag Division) so I can greatly appreciate all Al did with that belt, even if it wasn't an extremely long reign.

Anonymous said...

It's always gonna be a little subjective with these things, lol. I must admit I probably wouldn't have had Brown's IC title reign, but I can see with the list of names he managed to fend off why - it does read like a who's who of World Champions. Mr Entertainment's TV Title reign is pretty similar, and that's been over a year now I think.

A good list though. One day I'll read through some of these past reigns and other feds :)

Unknown said...

Archibald MacGregor after taking Hoyt's PTC Extreme Championship. ;)

He had an entire PPV named after him!