WWE Magazine’s "History of Champions"
Monday, July 16th, 2007So I was needing something to read on the plane ride home and I picked up the “History of Champions” as a reference guide to replace my aging PWI Almanacs, and it turned out to be a fairly interesting magazine. The reasons are as follows:
1) Because it’s a couple of months out of date, it’s likely to be the last WWE publication where the name “Chris Benoit” will appear.
2) Whereas it’s a listing of title changes and lineage and such, there’s also a deeper subtext about everything that goes with holding a belt, which is pretty nice to see. Ric Flair’s tips for new champions is pretty funny, like not wearing it as a cumberbund and always making sure to carry it around in a briefcase and stuff. There’s even a quick interview with Joe Marshall, famed creator of WWE belts for years now.
3) One thing that bugged was the snarky attitude throughout the mag, like the too-hip-for-the-room photo captions which are totally out of context. Even worse, a section where they totally bury people who “didn’t deserve titles”, like Maven (what did HE ever do to them?) or the Headbangers. Sure, David Arquette or Oklahoma deserve the abuse, but geez, you’re the ones who pushed the Bangers in the first place, don’t go turning on them now.
4) More annoying still was the selective inclusion of NWA lineages. The US and Cruiserweight titles retain the full WCW/NWA title listing in their respective sections, for example, but another section about “people who never held WWE gold” includes Dusty Rhodes and Lex Luger, who are listed as former US champions in that section! Can’t have it both ways, guys.
Anyway, critiques aside, it’s a very entertaining and fun magazine for title geeks or those who need a reference guide while writing rants, like myself. Check it out while you can.
