The Big Show has been making a big deal lately about how he is the only man to hold the WCW, WWE and ECW championships. Although this seems to have worked well for his character, my reaction has been: so what? Does it matter that two of those championships you have held are controlled by the same company at the times that you held them?
Back in the day, it was a major thing if anyone could win more than one of the major world titles. Only “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers had ever accomplished this feat. He was both the NWA and the WWWF World Champion. It would be decades before anyone else would accomplish the same thing. Funny enough, it was the other “Nature Boy,” Ric Flair who would do this.
While other titles would come and go, the NWA title fell out of the spotlight for a while. The WCW title became the prominent second title. Flair became the first person ever to hold three separate world titles: WWF, NWA and WCW. (And before anyone tells me that the WCW and NWA titles were the same thing, go back and read your history because they were not).
Hulk Hogan and other former WWF champions made their way to WCW, many of them winning the World Title. What had once been an extremely rare event was becoming quite commonplace. Even some former WCW champions found themselves sitting on top of the WWF. Rather than having such a thing be special and prestigious, it became an afterthought.
With the WWF buying WCW and merging the belts together, there became no real distinction between World Titles. Whatever had made winning both titles special was gone. I thought the thrill was all gone.
However, with the news that was released at the TNA PPV tonight, I realized that Kurt Angle now has a chance to do something only two people before have ever done. He can win both the NWA and the WWE title. Historically, these are the two most prestigious belts ever in the sport. Most of us already know Angle s great, but joining company currently held only by Flair and Rogers is going to ensure his legendary status in the sport.
I didn’t want to write another article on Kurt Angle, because I am sure everyone wants to jump on this opportunity. It’s probably going to end up being the biggest story of the year. How many times do the readers want to hear it?
However, I think it was important to let people know the possibilities that are standing before them. A lot of viewers will be jumping on the fact that Angle will boost ratings for TNA. Others will think that finally TNA is starting to compete with WWE. Even others will wonder if we will see defections as were commonplace during the Monday Night Wars.
Take a moment and think about it though. It doesn’t matter that wrestling has predetermined outcomes. It still says a lot that a promoter is willing to put their company on the shoulders of the man they make champion. And only twice in history did the NWA and the WWE feel the same way about the same man.
And it may happen for just a third time.
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