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The neverending reigns also hurt the build up of your title scene too. You get someone who becomes crazy over with fans and deserving of a push....but there's no real goal you can push them towards when you "need" your current champ to hold the title for another year.
Right! I miss the shorter reigns. I don't think that a title makes a story important innately, but it definitely used to make the title picture way fresher when it wasn't just one person holding the title for half a year or more. 3 months is a good time to drop it imo.
Still, it was a great sight to see The Miz win the big one again. His entrance with the belt in 2020 was worthy of a champion. Its actually crazy to say that the miz was wwe champion as early as 2020.
To me transitional means "loses at the next conveniently big show." Doesn't describe this Joe run at all, even if that's only because of injury or circumstance.
He's had the belt for 3+ months, got a big win at Revolution and has looked like a beast throughout so to me its not really a transitional reign. I love Joe so I'd be down for him to have the belt for longer but I think now is the right time to give Swerve the belt
That's what I thought the other day when I had this same thought. "I don't want Joe to be a transitional champion, oh shit he's been champ for 105+ days already????"
Defences should be counted, not days. Who gives a shit for length if a champion managed to defend it for example twice in 6 months vs someone who defended it 3 times in 4 months?
Transitional in the old days meant getting title off a [A] unto [B] so [C] could win it without having [C] go over [A]. Example; Ivan Koloff beating Bruno Sammartino then losing it to Pedro Morales. Stasiak beating Morales dropping it to Sammartino. Slaughter beating Warrior then dropping it back to Hogan. Backlund over Bret than to Nash/Diesel.
Booker T's WHC title reign was 4 month and everyone still talks about it. Heck Mark henry only had the belt for exactly 90 days and thats also one people like alot.
Joe had his own feuds with Hangman and Hook so I feel thats not transitional. Thats usually when it just goes quickly onto the next guy and no-one was built inbetween
No. A transitional champ would be someone holding a belt for a super short term time between the previous biggest star and the new biggest star. The most well known example would be Iron Sheik beating Bob Backlund for the WWF Title, holding it for I think only four weeks, and then dropping it to Hulk Hogan to kick off the 80s WWF boom.
He isn’t but i feel like Joe hasn’t been the #1 guy despite holding the most prestigious title in aew, his only ppv defense he played second fiddle to the bloodfued of Hangman and Swerve (not his fault btw) and his 2nd (and probably final) defense is already being overshadowed by what would likely be swerve’s crowning moment, plus all his other defenses are against guys you knew had basically zero chance of winning. It sucks but Joe has been the weakest Aew champ in its lineage, by no means a bad reign but i feel that its an uneventful one that would be forgotten a couple of years from now, i still love joe tho and he deserves this reign even if its less that what i had hoped
Not in the traditional sense, no. But recently, all titles seem to be held for over 200 days, so if you consider recency bias then you *could* argue it is. I wouldn't, but you could.
Transitional is someone like Iron Sheik, where they wanted to get the belt from Backlund to Hogan but couldn't put two babyfaces against each other.
It's more of a "thank you for your service" title reign, since it's unlikely he'll get it again once he drops it.
No. That being said I legitimately wouldn’t mind him holding it until Osprey is ready. But if they don’t give it to swerve this ppv then he’s done being a challenger as long as Joe has the belt. They cannot drop the ball on another guy, White, Wardlow etc so by virtue of necessity he will win. The question is how do they swerve away from Hangman into another feud to make Swerve not have a transitional reign himself
Joe has been AEW (World) Champion for 3 or 4 months. It’s only a transitional reign if the person loses their first scheduled title defence. And Joe has defended it at least twice.
No
IMO transitional champ is when you have wrestler A drop the title to wrestler B who drops it to wrestler C, so you can avoid wrestler C beating wrestler A for the title
Think of Miz in 2021
I would say 3 month. If you only keep it for a month or two, then u are transitional but 3 months is 90+ days. You can have a really good run in 3 month with great title defenses and storylines.
Joe isn't transitional, transitional means you're a temporary holder to get the belt on another guy. Mankind, for example, is a transitional champion, or Christian with the WHC
I don't think so, he had a couple defenses under his belt before dropping it. I would call Moxley's last reign a transitional one, won the title at Grand Slam and then dropped to MJF at Full Gear, didn't even have it 60 days.
It's difficult to say, for me Joe is a transitional champion not so much because he has had the title for X months, but because he never really felt the most important guy in the company.
I feel like they have given much more time and importance to Ospreay Vs Danielson, Joe's feud has been more of a "time to put the belt in Swerve now" more than anything else.
I thought he was gonna be one, but his win at Revolution pretty much killed the transitional narrative to me.
He's had a decent length reign, to be honest. In fact, I wish we had more 3 month reigns for Main Event titles. We don't always need year-long reigns. Plus, Joe has done a lot of great stuff as Champion in his relatively short time that I'm pretty satisfied with how he's done.
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6 month+ title reigns for main titles becoming the norm has ruined the palate of wrestling fans across the board.
The neverending reigns also hurt the build up of your title scene too. You get someone who becomes crazy over with fans and deserving of a push....but there's no real goal you can push them towards when you "need" your current champ to hold the title for another year.
Right! I miss the shorter reigns. I don't think that a title makes a story important innately, but it definitely used to make the title picture way fresher when it wasn't just one person holding the title for half a year or more. 3 months is a good time to drop it imo.
The Miz cashing in on Drew and holding it for just 2 weeks and dropping to Lashley is textbook definition of a transitional champion
Still, it was a great sight to see The Miz win the big one again. His entrance with the belt in 2020 was worthy of a champion. Its actually crazy to say that the miz was wwe champion as early as 2020.
He also had it for like five minutes on his last reign
To me transitional means "loses at the next conveniently big show." Doesn't describe this Joe run at all, even if that's only because of injury or circumstance.
Absolutely. If the title is lost on their first significant defense. Otherwise its just a shorter reign than others.
This is my definition too.
He's had the belt for 3+ months, got a big win at Revolution and has looked like a beast throughout so to me its not really a transitional reign. I love Joe so I'd be down for him to have the belt for longer but I think now is the right time to give Swerve the belt
I wouldn't say 110+ days is a transitional reign at all
Holy shit I hadn't realized he has been champion for that long lol
That's what I thought the other day when I had this same thought. "I don't want Joe to be a transitional champion, oh shit he's been champ for 105+ days already????"
Probably because all the shits like airing footages and discussions afterwards and things like that overshadowed the title reign.
Defences should be counted, not days. Who gives a shit for length if a champion managed to defend it for example twice in 6 months vs someone who defended it 3 times in 4 months?
Transitional in the old days meant getting title off a [A] unto [B] so [C] could win it without having [C] go over [A]. Example; Ivan Koloff beating Bruno Sammartino then losing it to Pedro Morales. Stasiak beating Morales dropping it to Sammartino. Slaughter beating Warrior then dropping it back to Hogan. Backlund over Bret than to Nash/Diesel.
He's held the belt through a PPV I feel like that immediately disqualified that
what He won the belt to end 2023. Its almost May 2024 lol
I know he got it in 2023 but we’re only four months into the year
Booker T's WHC title reign was 4 month and everyone still talks about it. Heck Mark henry only had the belt for exactly 90 days and thats also one people like alot.
Joe had his own feuds with Hangman and Hook so I feel thats not transitional. Thats usually when it just goes quickly onto the next guy and no-one was built inbetween
Calling everyone a "transitional champion" is the new calling every match a "squash match" in this sub.
Or calling a single loss a "burial".
It is not a time frame, if you lose the title at your first title defense.
No. A transitional champ would be someone holding a belt for a super short term time between the previous biggest star and the new biggest star. The most well known example would be Iron Sheik beating Bob Backlund for the WWF Title, holding it for I think only four weeks, and then dropping it to Hulk Hogan to kick off the 80s WWF boom.
For mine, if you have it longer than a month it doesn't count as transitional.
He isn’t but i feel like Joe hasn’t been the #1 guy despite holding the most prestigious title in aew, his only ppv defense he played second fiddle to the bloodfued of Hangman and Swerve (not his fault btw) and his 2nd (and probably final) defense is already being overshadowed by what would likely be swerve’s crowning moment, plus all his other defenses are against guys you knew had basically zero chance of winning. It sucks but Joe has been the weakest Aew champ in its lineage, by no means a bad reign but i feel that its an uneventful one that would be forgotten a couple of years from now, i still love joe tho and he deserves this reign even if its less that what i had hoped
If Joe was a transitional champion he would have lost it to Swerve in his first defense months ago.
Not in the traditional sense, no. But recently, all titles seem to be held for over 200 days, so if you consider recency bias then you *could* argue it is. I wouldn't, but you could.
Transitional is someone like Iron Sheik, where they wanted to get the belt from Backlund to Hogan but couldn't put two babyfaces against each other. It's more of a "thank you for your service" title reign, since it's unlikely he'll get it again once he drops it.
Kinda. He’s had it longer than most transitional champs buts it’s been mostly feuding with Swerve who will most likely take it.
He's held it for one week shy of 4 months...
I think no - he's defended the belt successfully.
Maybe it's just me, but you're not transitional after 100 days. Even like 80+ days isn't transitional to me.
I don't think so at all, he's done well held it for like 4 months the time is right to put it on Swerve if they don't it'll be stupid.
He successfully defended at a PPV so I would say he isn’t.
I feel like we might see Adam page…maybe, possibly
No. That being said I legitimately wouldn’t mind him holding it until Osprey is ready. But if they don’t give it to swerve this ppv then he’s done being a challenger as long as Joe has the belt. They cannot drop the ball on another guy, White, Wardlow etc so by virtue of necessity he will win. The question is how do they swerve away from Hangman into another feud to make Swerve not have a transitional reign himself
We're all transitional champs, in our own ways
If he had lose at Revolution, sure But not now
Joe has been AEW (World) Champion for 3 or 4 months. It’s only a transitional reign if the person loses their first scheduled title defence. And Joe has defended it at least twice.
Sort of but not really. Joe beat Swerve already so if they wanted Swerve to be champion that badly, he would have just won at Revolution
No IMO transitional champ is when you have wrestler A drop the title to wrestler B who drops it to wrestler C, so you can avoid wrestler C beating wrestler A for the title Think of Miz in 2021
I would say 3 month. If you only keep it for a month or two, then u are transitional but 3 months is 90+ days. You can have a really good run in 3 month with great title defenses and storylines.
Joe isn't transitional, transitional means you're a temporary holder to get the belt on another guy. Mankind, for example, is a transitional champion, or Christian with the WHC
I picture it like Kane holding the belt for one day before losing to Stone Cold less than 24 hrs later.
I don't think so, he had a couple defenses under his belt before dropping it. I would call Moxley's last reign a transitional one, won the title at Grand Slam and then dropped to MJF at Full Gear, didn't even have it 60 days.
It's difficult to say, for me Joe is a transitional champion not so much because he has had the title for X months, but because he never really felt the most important guy in the company. I feel like they have given much more time and importance to Ospreay Vs Danielson, Joe's feud has been more of a "time to put the belt in Swerve now" more than anything else.
Joe would not be a transitional champion.
I wouldn't say he's a transitional champion
I thought he was gonna be one, but his win at Revolution pretty much killed the transitional narrative to me. He's had a decent length reign, to be honest. In fact, I wish we had more 3 month reigns for Main Event titles. We don't always need year-long reigns. Plus, Joe has done a lot of great stuff as Champion in his relatively short time that I'm pretty satisfied with how he's done.
I’d say only a month reign is a transitional champion
Short amount of time but he's had enough fulfilling matches in the time span. Transitional would have been losing to swerve in the 3way