I'd Appreciate Your Input 4: The Forgotten Men & 'Prestige'

For this weeks I'd Appreciate Your Input, I got thinking about WWE's usage of the word 'prestige' and how I think that they think that if they say it enough then we'll all think "oh, WOW! Look how prestigious that [insert championship] is?!"... umm no...

I also got thinking about some of the, somewhat, forgotten men towards the top of the WWE roster. Let's start with that...

The Forgotten Men

For starters, Daniel Bryan and his 'fight' has been well documented. We don't need to talk about him. It seems that it's widely acknowledged that Dolph Ziggler has fallen from grace, too.

Whilst Ziggler continues to fall down the pecking order, Cody Rhodes is another somewhat 'forgotten' man; now teaming with his brother and having success in the tag team ranks. Something seems a little flat with this, though.

Cody was 'fired' and had a couple of weeks off (to get married). On leaving, he gave a very emotional promo about the McMahon/Rhodes families' storied past. This sparked my interest. When he and Goldust [why isn't he 'Dustin Rhodes', by the way? If he's now an accepted part of the family surely he can drop the Goldust cover up, no?] returned, got reinstated and won tag team gold, they were hot and WWE fans were fully behind them. They seem to have been taken off the boil recently, though.

Goldust looking sharp in a suit... and facepaint

Understandably, tag team title contenders need to be found and even though the Rhodes brothers have been a success, 'proper' tag teams have taken a back-seat to them whilst WWE figure out how best to keep them occupied before a potential brother-vs-brother match in four months at Wrestlemania.

I don't know if the plan is for Cody to have his 'Wrestlemania moment' and then to elevate him (or maybe just keep him as a strong mid-card level contender) but I feel the biggest opportunity to get him to the next level has passed (for now). He upped his game and was hot this summer after just missing out on the Money in the Bank briefcase, and with the 'firing and returning-in-style' angle, you would have thought that there was a door opening for him to get involved in The Authority storyline in a higher spot. For me, I'd have saved the 'firing' until they were ready to give Cody a shot at the big boys.

• Did WWE miss a trick with Cody Rhodes?

• What do you think the future plans for Cody are?

• Thoughts on Ziggler's demise?

• Who else looked as if they had potential and then got a crap deal in this Authority regime?

Prestige

My second topic this week is about 'prestige' and WWE's definition and usage of the word.

For weeks, maybe a few months, Michael Cole has been pissing me off with his use of the word prestigious. It almost seems that he thinks that the more he says it, the more people will start to believe it. It kind of reminds me of a quote I read in 'Foley is Good' (Mick Foley):

"If you tell a lie that's big enough, and you tell it often enough, people will believe you are telling the truth, even when what you are saying is total crap."

Although this was referring to a smear campaign against Attitude Era WWF, it's very true of Cole's attempt to get us to believe something that has simply not been true for some time now.

The World Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles have been anything but prestigious for a very long time now. The IC title now has a chance of raising in prestige thanks to two factors: (1) With the WWE/WHC unification, the IC title might get some much deserved attention and priority and (2) Big E Langston is apparently good pals with John Cena so I'd predict a lengthy (maybe) and strong title reign for the former NXT Champion.

My only hope is that Big E won't get the Cena-esque booking in the mid-card. There's something very likeable about him and I'd hate for him to be hated and booed (like Cena) but in double-quick time. It wouldn't be fair on his first challenger Damien Sandow, either, who deserves something for his improvements in the last few months. It wouldn't be fair on the Intercontinental title, either. This is the opportunity to raise everyone's stocks.

I was also insulted by Cena's claim of how prestigious the World Heavyweight Championship is. For starters, it's NOT the same championship that Flair, Rhodes and Race had. It has also been second rate for as long as I can remember. I have always likened it to being the WCW belt on the WCW show - Smackdown. Vince's punishment to the belt being associated to his greatest rival. It's always felt that way to me.

One month around the waist of John Cena DOES NOT restore prestige!!

• How prestigious is the World Heavyweight Championship?

• How prestigious is the Intercontinental Championship?

• Is the unification (of WWE/WHC) a good or a bad thing?

• Instead of Cole repeating 'prestigious' every week, wouldn't it be better to get to that realm of prestige by having the relevant matches/feuds?

As with the previous posts; any feedback is welcome in the comments field below as well as contacting me on Twitter - @jimmosangle. You can also comment on the Facebook post on the Jimmo's Angle page.

Final thought: I love how some history is only important when it suits...

@jimmosangle