The World Heavyweight Championship has had a very interesting 2013. It had been around the waists of Big Show, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler prior to October 27. It has been the centerpiece of rivalries that have led to outstanding matches involving the likes of Christian, Rob Van Dam and Jack Swagger, all of whom are tremendously talented in-ring workers.
The title has not been defended in the main event of a pay-per-view since Hell in a Cell 2010, when Kane defeated The Undertaker to retain the title, diminishing how little it was already valued.
Del Rio, for as exemplary as he has been from an in-ring standpoint this week, has struggled in the promo department and has yet to display the tools of a complete performer. He carried the title with the grace, dignity and respect of a champion, but he never made the title a true equal to the WWE Championship.
The return of John Cena and his subsequent World Heavyweight title victory at Hell in a Cell immediately elevated the championship to a level it had not seen in years.
The mere association with the top star in the industry makes the title seem that much more important. The fact that he is the most polarizing personality in World Wrestling Entertainment and elicits a reaction from every arena he enters based on presence alone (unlike Del Rio) guarantees anticipation and excitement for the title matches.
Another aspect that Cena will bring to the title is an elevation of talent.
When Del Rio, Ziggler and, to a lesser extent, Big Show and Sheamus were champion, the title picture consisted largely of Superstars on the same level fighting over the second-most important prize in WWE. Being the level of star that Cena is, he has the opportunity to elevate Superstars to his level.
Fans were witness to it the night after Hell in a Cell, when Damien Sandow cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase (above). Despite a loss, he came out of the match looking far better than he did going in, largely because he matched move for move and hold for hold with Cena and made him look weak.
Had Sandow continued the tradition of a midcard talent getting that title and being expected to be a successful champion, he likely would have failed in the same way that Jack Swagger did in 2010.
Cena made Sandow into a legitimate threat to the title, win or lose.
That match, which opened up the October 28 episode of Raw, was the first World Heavyweight Championship match since Ziggler cashed in and won the night after WrestleMania that had some noticeable excitement surrounding it.
A lot of that had to do with the polarizing Cena and the way the creative team bookedSandow.
And therein lies the most important way Cena will lend credibility to the title.
When someone has the star power and profile that the current World Heavyweight champion does, he immediately attracts the creative team's attention in a manner that Del Rio, Ziggler, Van Dam and Christian never would have.
He is the greatest asset outside of Vince McMahon himself that the company has at this point, and he will always be given the stronger material. High-profile stories will be centered around him, and that will do infinite good for the World Heavyweight title and, as a result, whoever is challenging for it.
There will always be controversy surrounding John Cena. He elicits a tremendous amount of both love and hate, and as long as he remains the real face of the company, that will not change. Regardless of what side of the audience one finds him or herself on, the fact that Cenawas the absolute best choice to reestablish the World title as an elite championship is inarguable.
He will single-handedly return the so-called "big gold belt" to the prominence it once enjoyed.
Whether its stays that way after he moves on from it is an entirely different question.
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