#TyboTalks: Could a ‘Hardcore Championship’ Work in 2019? (@TyboTalks)

Welcome once again to Tybo’s Talks! I am Tybo, and I’m sure by now you know that I am the ‘Five Star General’ of this operation we call SLTD Wrestling.

There are many things fans loved about the ‘Attitude Era’, but it seems nothing is loved more about that era than the Hardcore Championship, and most specifically the 24/7 rule.

But could a Hardcore Championship (or the equivalent) work in today’s PG era of WWE Programming, or on another mainstream promotion.

Although I have very fond memories of the Hardcore Championship, the things I remember from the titles history is never the crazy hardcore, brutal, bloody battles, it’s always the funny segments, and interesting locations that they title would be ‘defended’, or stolen then immediately stolen back.

I honestly don’t think there is a place for a classic ‘hardcore’ title in today’s mainstream wrestling. Especially in WWE or in Impact Wrestling. That being said of the two I thing a title like that would find a better home in Impact Wrestling, they have recently moved to a later time slot so an edgier product and more use of colour (blood) is a possibility.

The main downfall of this is, the average wrestling fan, (not a die-hard fan who goes to indy shows and owns every possible obscure wrestling shirt) one who watches WWE, Impact, and has a WWE Network/GWN subscription, has been conditioned to not see blood, or chair shots to the head (not that they would come back), it’s for that reason I think a real ‘hardcore’ brutal bloody style of wrestling would fall flat on today’s audience.

I think if many mainstream fans saw the likes of Jimmy Havoc, Sami Callahan, or even some of the brutal Lucha Underground ‘death matches’ they would be more shocked than entertained. Maybe I’m wrong, but the casual fans I know would stop to see a 30-second clip on Facebook or Twitter, but the idea of a full match of pure brutality and ‘crimson masks’ is not something they would be interested in.

The idea I would suppose would be to bring back a championship that is defended everywhere, at any time. This doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a hardcore match. As long as there is a referee with you, it’s a match. Adding something like this to WWE could be really fun and interesting.

The amount of WWE Live programming is insane at the minute, so having a championship that could be defended on Raw, Smackdown, 205Live, NXT, NXTUK, NXT Takeover and WWE PPV’s is an interesting thought.

Or even if Impact brought in a title like this the idea of having a championship that could be defended and change hands on Impact, Xplosion and Impact’s Twitch Specials could be a great way to tie-in all the shows.

Let’s imagine for a second that Impact was having a Twitch Special with the hook being Impact vs (Promotion) Imagine Moose is the ‘Hardcore’ Champion and is facing one of there top guys, he wins and takes the title back to his promotion. Moose then turns up on their show out of nowhere and attacks the champion and wins the title back.

This would get over the new champion, the new championship, their promotion, get eyes on Moose and on Impact Wrestling, and set up an inter-promotional feud all in one match. 

As you can see the ideas I am proposing are less about a ‘hardcore’ championship and more about the 24/7 rule. This is why I think a championship with this rule would be far more interesting than bringing back some crazy bloody brawls.

I would suggest the 365 Championship, this would be a title that would be defended at any time and any place, the idea of doing this in 2019 with the amount social networks and the possible 24/7 coverage of a title, champion or challenger could be interesting enough to create the title in itself. Imagine Sami Callahan posting a video on Instagram or going Live on Facebook, where he is following the champion on a Monday with a referee, ready to wrestle.

This could create constant interest in the Championship and the promotion with fairly minimal effort. By create something completely fresh and new by utilising the way the world has changed, and showing how everyone is connected.

Do you agree that this sort of championship could work in 2019? Do you think ‘mini-matches’ on social media would be an interesting take on getting people connected? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me @TyboTalks

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