TNA Wrestling’s Nic Nemeth has strong opinions about AEW’s new title and wonders if the promotion needs another championship.
Tony Khan recently announced the introduction of the National Championship, a title that harkens back 40 years to its days in the NWA, which then aired on TBS. Nemeth explained why he isn’t a fan of having too many titles and feels that the championship will only be a success if it helps build a young star.
“I don’t think we needed another one. But that’s fine. It’s historic. There’ll be something to it. Maybe it helps somebody launch a career or build somebody up,” he said on “Busted Open.” “There will be something special to be somebody — the inaugural first champion in 40 years or whatever, and maybe it’ll be a big build to somebody and a stepping stone. I’m very into the ‘less the better’ because you can either make them a prop, you can make them something that escalates someone to the top, you can make it something that you’re fighting your whole career for — there’s all these different steps to make them big and it’s really easy for us to water that down that beautiful sensation and or the moment to have like, ‘Oh, I’m [a champion]’ [but when] there’s 14 titles and you’re like, well, that’s a big deal, but it’s not that big a deal.”
He argued that when there are fewer titles, it’s more meaningful for the ones holding them, which may not be the case when there are numerous titles in a promotion. Despite his reservations, he is willing to give the new championship a chance and see what AEW does with it.
Nemeth on what could make the title interesting
Nic Nemeth discussed whether a potential split between AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision could help elevate these titles, arguing that there was a healthy rivalry between WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown. He touched upon the concept of the title, that it can be defended elsewhere too, which he thinks is not a novelty, as WWE also has that, particularly after they acquired AAA.
“If there was a separation between Collision and Dynamite, yeah, then okay, it would be interesting. But the idea with this title, that you can fight it and defend it everywhere else, you can kind of do that with everything else,” he said.
Tony Khan has noted that this will be a traveling title, which Nemeth said would work if it’s defended every week in different companies.
“But if this becomes a piece that goes every couple of weeks, It’s being defended in a different company with different matchups, then now you’ve created a little bit of more interest in it and now like, okay, not just talk the game and at the big shows you get somebody else winning a title or fighting for it and you get the matchup, now you have something once a month that’s being constantly defended on different companies and it can give you matchups. That way it becomes a bit [more interesting], you’re introducing to new stars. You’re watching pay-per-views you thought you’d never watch — that’s win-win for wrestling fans.”
The title will be up for grabs at Full Gear later this month, with the inaugural champion crowned in a Casino Gauntlet match.
