Vince McMahon, WWE and Loyalty: Creating Home Grown Champions

In the cartoon world of wrestling, every achievement is predetermined. Champions are decided not by the calibre of their wrestling but by the strength of their characters. Win over the fans and a title reign is likely.

However for the likes of Christian or Matt Hardy, that elusive World Title has still yet to materialise. Why? Well one answer might be because of their past.

Loyalty in wrestling is a rare commodity. Not many wrestling superstars have stayed with the same company their entire main event career. Those that have, often get the highest honours and rewards.

There are exceptions to the rule of course but in the modern era, wrestling and loyalty seems to have changed.

In the days of the Monday Night Wars, wrestlers looking to cross the divide, were rewarded. Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan on one side, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Booker T on the other. Title reigns, main event matches, lucrative pushes all.

In the modern era, where Vince is king however, the WWE is creating wrestlers and characters from the very bottom up. The Nexus is the example here. They may have had wrestling careers in the indie circuit but few would have heard of Wade Barrett or Justin Gabriel before their arrival in NXT.

Their subsequent success is also the WWE's success. They were created by Vince and creative, their success is a tribute to their insight. Home Grown Champions. The likes of DiBiase, Rhodes and Swagger also fall into this category.

On the flip side, take for instance, Christian. Long tipped to win a major championship, he has instead been relegated to the midcard. Arguably one of the most popular superstars and yet his career is stagnant. 

The explanation of why is perhaps that his breakout success was not in the WWE but in TNA. Christian Cage is Heavyweight material, Christian is not. To recognise him as being a champion is to recognise the push he recieved in TNA.

In a similar fashion, if we look back at the WCW and ECW invasion, its important to note that very few of those coming in became superstars in the WWE. Only those that came before the collapse of WCW had any success. To reward the post-2001 WCW superstars would have been to have recognised that what they had been doing was better.

Its sound marketing of course, but it robbed the wrestling world of the greatest potential PPV in history - the epic WCW vs WWE in their prime.

Fast forward to today and look at exactly who is holding the gold.  Cena, Orton and Sheamus - three home grown champions. On Smackdown, Kane, Undertaker and Swagger. Furthermore look who is coming into the WWE. When was the last time, WWE took a TNA wrestler and made them their own superstar?

ROH's Tyler Black may be an exception but it is likely that he will come through FCW with a new WWE gimmick. The WWE wants its own loyal champions. 

The WWE is now all about pure WWE athletes, and the best way to get them is make them via NXT and FCW. It is arguable that the days of the WWE stealing talent from their biggest rival is over.

As Chris Jericho nears his imminent departure, I can't but help feel that his career is over. Putting music before his wrestling career is not akin to moving to TNA but it is something Vince is unlikely to forget. Does Y2J have enough backstage power to do this and make a return?

Only time will tell.

Loyalty as a commodity in wrestling is rare. For the likes of Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, their careers have greatly benefited from such loyalty to the company that made them who they are. Extended breaks, legendary matches and fitting retirements. Whether the modern generation become legends is dependent on their loyalty to the kingmaker, Vince McMahon.

For those that do not, midcard obscurity and a quiet exit out the back door is all they will get.