Champions have been changing faster this month than in the last year. Miz wins and drops in a day, Cesaro dethroned with little hype nor fanfare, and The Rock … The Rock has become the most recent transitional champion I can think of.
Yes, I just called The Rock a transitional champion.
Waah Waah, he is injured, and he is TWEETING alllllll about it so it must be VERY important. Really, he had his guts pushed back into place? Have any one of you had a hernia before? Oh my Lord, the Rock is having surgery! No one ever had THAT before. You know, Ted Dibiase Jr., was injured for quite some time, and he tweeted it all over the internet, but you did not see WWE highlighting it. Sorry folks, Rock got himself injured, so his movies will have to wait, and live will move on. Go call The Rock a Waaaaaaaaaambulance.
He is still a belt-dropper.
Throughout wrestling history, a person would be dubbed as a transitional champion when they would win the belt from one person, and lose it to someone else in short fashion as a tool to protect the previous titleholder or make the next title holder look even better.
Rey Mysterio won a tournament in July 2009 and then lost the WWE title in the same night to John Cena.
In April 1998, Macho Man Randy Savage beat Sting for the WCW Championship, and then a day later dropped it to Hollywood Hogan. Shockingly, Savage played the role again a year later, July 1999 when he defeated Kevin Nash for the title, and then one day later, dropped it, once again, to Hollywood Hogan. In the beginning of November 2008, Chris Jericho defeated Batista for the World Heavyweight Title, only to lose it to John Cena before the end of the month. Christian won the vacant World Title at the 2011 Extreme Rules, only to lose it to Randy Orton less than a week later.
The Rock, won the WWE Championship from CM Punk. Then vanished off television, taking the belt with him to Hollywood, likely defending the title against Bruce Willis, Marky Mark, and possibly Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Unless those rumors can be verified, that means The Rock won the championship from CM Punk, just to drop it to John Cena, predictably at WrestleMania 29. The argument can be made is that WWE wanted Rock vs. Cena II to be bigger, and putting the title on the line would accomplish that goal. I disagree. That match could have happened with or without the championship, and if you watched the match either live at the MetLife Center in New Jersey, or from the comfort (and cheaper) option of watching from home, you saw the worst WrestleMania match since Adam Bomb defeated Earthquake at WrestleMania 10.
WWE protected CM Punk by dropping the belt to a “big name” such as The Rock, and then elevate Cena (based on fan reactions, perhaps the opposite) by having the WWE golden boy defeat The Rock at The Grandest Stage of them All.
Face it true believers. The Rock, your “People’s Champion” is now the “People’s Transitional Champion.”
Wah wah wah, The Rock is having surgery. His match was just THAT intense. Yeah, intense enough to put people to sleep, and watch the live crowd at MetLife Stadium leave WrestleMania 29 early.
So what?
Ready for the hate mail. Bring it.
