Recently, we would see AEW launch the ‘Tournament of Champions” following another injury to CM Punk – and while the four matches that followed were great? One aspect was a bit confusing for some fans. This was AEW suddenly acknowledging outside reigns in graphics, noting Chris Jericho as a seven time world champion, Bryan Danielson as a six time world champion, and Jon Moxley as a three time world champion.
A Failed Attempt At Boosting Prestige In A Last Minute Tournament
While this was almost certainly done to boost the perceived prestige of the champions involved, although it had some fans wondering exactly what belts counted. With Jon Moxley it was easy, having two reigns as AEW World Champion and one as WWE World Champion – although, a graphic simply stating “3 Time World Champion” without naming the belts was hardly a good way to do this.
While straight up listing the WWE Championship on AEW graphics might seem like a poor idea, as there isn’t even a semblance of a working relationship – it’d have given the needed context. AEW has an issue with over referencing WWE as is however, with MJF in particular practically being a WWE reference machine lately.
Many fans agreed that it would be better for AEW to simply focus on the championship legacies in their company, and companies they’re linked with. Being able to promote Chris Jericho as a former AEW Champion & IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and being able to showcase those reigns means more than a vague “Seven Time World Champion label”, and likewise with Jon Moxley and his reigns as IWGP United States Champion.
You have to imagine that directly acknowledging outside reigns would have mostly been to include Bryan Danielson – who hasn’t done much of note in AEW, and last non-WWE World Championship reign was his ROH World Championship reign in 2006. Aside from Danielson, everyone in the field held some form of AEW gold, be it the World, Tag or TNT Championship.
How do you feel about AEW vaguely referencing WWE Championships? Should they shy away from it following this tournament? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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