The Heel Turn: Thoughtless promotions cheapen the game

An alarming trend has been occurring in both the WWE and TNA in recent times, and it has to do with the championship belts of the two promotions being passed around without a thought, sometimes week to week.

On November 14, Gail Kim won the Knockouts championship by defeating Velvet Sky. Granted, Kim is no rookie. She has plenty of experience and is one of the best female wrestlers there is. The problem, however, is that she only recently returned to TNA after spending a few years over in the WWE. The proper thing would be for the company to require her to put some time in first. It hasn't happened like that, though. In fact, as soon as Kim arrived, she was heavily pushed. She's already demolished Tara and become Knockouts tag champ alongside Madison Rayne. Throughout this, she has been helped in no small part by Karen Jarrett, who continues to show majorly selective favouritism in her treatment of the girls.

Sky only just won the Knockouts belt for the first time ever a few short weeks ago, after being loyal to TNA for close to five years. She's earned the privilege of being a champion, and to pull the rug out from under her like that makes the championship seem virtually worthless, especially considering that the ink on Kim's contract has barely dried.

If you look back to the past of professional wrestling, championships actually used to be held by someone for amazing lengths of time. The Fabulous Moolah's five reigns as women's champion lasted for a combined total of 30 years. Bruno Sammartino held the WWF Heavyweight Championship for eight long years the first time around. Hulk Hogan and Bob Backlund also had similar lengthy reigns as the top dog in the WWF.

With the current generation's short attention span, a wrestler being champ that long might not go over so well. But a middle ground must be found so that the Heavyweight Championship that once meant so much and carried immense prestige is not carelessly passed around to a different superstar every single week. Traditionally the champ is supposed to be a guy that the company revolves around. He is the public face, a leader of sorts that can help young wrestlers succeed in the business.

Alberto Del Rio is WWE champion again right now, but is he really making the impact he should at the top? More attention is being paid to what's going on with John Cena at any given moment. And that is a grave mistake, as nobody should overshadow the guy who's wearing the belt. Both the two big promotions are in dire need of changing how they handle business in this area, before the idea of a championship having prestige becomes just a thing of the past.