'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Brian Cage was been a nearly unstoppable machine since his debut in AEW. He made an immediate impact at Double or Nothing when he won the Casino Ladder Match to earn an opportunity at the AEW World Championship and remained undefeated up until his title match with Jon Moxley.
He seemed to be in a prime position to win the belt last week at Fight for the Fallen until his manager, Taz, threw in the towel to keep Moxley from re-injuring Cage's surgically repaired pectoral muscle. Moxley had The Machine trapped in an armbar and with Cage refusing to tap, Taz decided to protect his investment.
It was a brilliant finish that allowed Mox to retain his Championship and made Brian Cage look strong in defeat. However, the move has left the FTW World Champion and his manager at odds with one another.
Both Brian Cage and Taz will be on Dynamite tonight to "discuss and announce" some things, according to Cage on Twitter.
So while we wait to see what the next step is in the future of Brian Cage and Taz, I can't help but wonder... what is the best path forward for the FTW Champion? Not to mention, is there a way that AEW could really utilize that FTW Title belt?
Should Brian Cage defend the FTW Championship on a regular basis?
The FTW World Championship has never been a recognized Championship and it still is not recognized by AEW, despite Brian Cage defending it against Brian Pillman Jr. on AEW Dark. My personal opinion, with Brian Cage now out of the World Title picture for the foreseeable future, it's time AEW really let's him own that Championship.
Tony Khan and company decided to bring that belt out of retirement for a reason. While it does add a bit of instant credibility to Brian Cage, it could do the same for others. I think the FTW World Championship should be used to establish a new division - a Super Heavyweight Division.
That's right, forget the cruiserweights. No disrespect for the 205 club, but I'm ready for the big boys to have a division all to themselves. Give the likes of Brian Cage, Lance Archer, Mr. Brodie Lee, Luchasaurus, and Wardlow something to battle over. A Championship to call their own. In the words of WWE's Big E - give me a bunch a big dudes bumping meat!
Now it has to be said, this Championship is Taz's baby. Anything AEW decides to do with it needs his approval, but I think this would be a great way to honor that title by recognizing it. Let the company's big men prove who is indeed the toughest S.O.B in wrestling.
I like the idea so much I decided to bring the topic up for this month's Sportskeeda Expert Poll. I asked a number of my wrestling journalism colleagues their thoughts on Brian Cage and the FTW World Title. Here are their responses.
Alex McCarthy - talkSPORT and Sportskeeda
Alex McCarthy is one of the leading voices for wrestling in the UK through his deep interview work with top stars from WWE, AEW, and IMPACT. He's been absolutely crushing it on the wrestling beat for talkSPORT and you can hear his great work every Monday at 6pm in the UK when Alex hosts talkWRESTLING.
When I asked Alex about the possibility of recognizing the FTW Championship, he did seem to like the idea, but says it's creator might hinder any attempts to get it over:
"To me, I've never loved the introduction of random titles. Half of the appeal is the lineage and prestige sometimes and what does the FTW championship really represent? I look at it like the Million Dollar title Ted DiBiase flaunted; it's not an official title by any stretch, but it added something to his character. Does the FTW title do that for Brian Cage? Not for me.
The title is more about Taz and his legacy than anything else and I think it's an uphill climb to suddenly legitimize that, as interesting as a super heavyweight division would be!"
Stephanie Chase - Digital Spy and Sportskeeda
Stephanie Chase is a freelance wrestling journalist and is a contributor here at Sportskeeda. She's a lifelong viewer and follower of pro wrestling and has extensive knowledge of WWE, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and All Elite Wrestling.
Stephanie's conducted a number of high-profile interviews with stars like Triple H, Jon Moxley, Paige, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Carmella and Corey Graves. Her work has appeared on a number of outlets including Digital Spy, The Mirror, Huffington Post, The Sun, and Cosmopolitan. She also has her own YouTube Channel.
Brian Cage should be AEW's Million Dollar Man
"I really love the idea of the arrogant heel having their own illegitimate championship, much like the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase had with the Million Dollar Championship.
I wouldn’t like to see AEW properly recognize the FTR title and make Brian Cage have to put it on the line in his matches. Instead I think Cage just keeping the title as something for himself is a good way to establish him as a top heel.
He had his championship shot against Moxley and the finish was perfect, with Taz throwing in the towel, meaning that Cage didn’t really lose anything. He’s not ready to be champion yet and letting him hold his own title gives him a level of authenticity that he can have without being rushed back into the title picture.
When Cage does with his first title in AEW, whether it’s the World Championship or the TNT Championship he should then pass on the FTR Championship to Ricky Starks, who looks like he’s the newest member of Taz’s stable."
Tom Colohue - Sportskeeda
Tom Colohue is one of Sportskeeda's top pro wrestling journalists. He started writing professionally in 2008 and has been covering wrestling since 2017. He's most well-known for the PWTorch Roman Reignsometer that started at that time.
Tom is also the co-host of Sportskeeda's Dropkick DiSKussions Podcast and posts weekly news updates on his YouTube channel.
When I asked Tom about Brian Cage and his FTW Championship, he was really on board with recognizing it. As far as creating a new division, not so much. Instead he wants to see AEW's current strongest division have more to fight for.
Forget Brian Cage, give the FTW Title to FTR
"We don't need this many singles titles for a company that doesn't have that many wrestlers. Even though we have a lot of strong names with recent big losses such as Lance Archer, Brian Cage and Brodie Lee, they should all be competing for the TNT and AEW championships.
One arena that is lacking in things to fight for though is the tag team division. The tag division is heavy but gets very little attention despite some major recent additions. A lot of great talent has been pushed down the card and they're struggling to pick up wins.
So let's mix more attention for the tag division with a very, very good pun. Let's rename the FTW championship to the FTR championship and give it to the artists formerly known as The Revival. Tazz with FTR sounds like a great deal to me and, to be honest, the Championship then would look like a lot less of a consolation prize that made it very clear that Cage would not be taking the AEW Championship from Jon Moxley.
We don't need more singles titles, especially after one was just introduced. Let's give the AEW tag teams some love instead."
Denise Salcedo - Instinct Culture and Fightful
Denise Salcedo is a TV host and producer with her own YouTube channel. Instinct Culture is a platform designed to talk about all realms of pop culture including pro wrestling. In addition to her channel, you can also hear her weekly on the post-RAW podcast for Fightful alongside Sean Ross Sapp.
The self proclaimed Taylor Swift superfan has interviewed several huge stars in the wrestling industry, both on her channel and on the red carpet. I love Denise as a person and a journalist, but she was not in love with my idea... at all.
Recognizing the FTW Championship is pointless, it negates AEW's TNT Title and Brian Cage is not the type of heel that needs it
"Brian Cage is a unique athlete and wrestler, he isn't recognized as The Machine for no reason. It is very rare to have someone like Cage, that is as big and impressive looking meanwhile also being so agile in the ring. So with that being said, he does not need the FTW Championship.
When Taz created the belt back in ECW, during that time the ECW Champion Shane Douglas kept avoiding facing Taz. After Douglas was sidelined due to a wrist injury it added the notion that Taz was the uncrowned champion. And instead of Paul Heyman stripping Shane of the belt, he kept it on him to add heat that Taz wasn't getting a shot.
With that being said, the Brian Cage/Jon Moxley storyline is different. Moxley isn't avoiding Brian Cage, he only missed one title defense not months. Jon Moxley is a babyface and not a heel ducking Cage. Therefore, making it a recognized title is pointless because that does not fall in line with Cage's character. Brian Cage is not a heel like MVP or Ted Dibiase, he is a monster heel and there is a major difference.
And given that AEW is still establishing the TNT Championship, adding this title negates that, shifts the focus and lessens the importance of the TNT belt. I also don't see it being recognized as a Super Heavyweight Championship because the only real super heavyweights in AEW are Brian Cage and Lance Archer."
Matty Paddock - Daily Star, Daily DDT and Sportskeeda
Matty Paddock has been covering professional wrestling in the UK for the last four years, including the Independent and Daily Mirror. Matty’s work has been sourced by the Associated Press, BBC, Bleacher Report, Yahoo, MSN, CBS, Sports Illustrated, and many more.
He's had the honoring of interviewing stars like Triple H, Roman Reigns, Stephanie McMahon, Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley and most recently the alleged current United States Champion MVP.
When I asked Matty what AEW should do with the FTW Championship, he had a very short answer - to which I made him expound upon.
Ditch it!
"While there may well be a multitude of options for Brian Cage and the FTW Championship, my gut feeling is that they should eliminate the gold altogether.
Admittedly, in terms of a storyline, the Championship has only just been introduced, so effectively trashing so soon will be a little bit messy in terms of how you explain that on television. For my money, Brian Cage is the most physically impressive specimen all of AEW - maybe even wrestling as a whole. He should be challenging for championships and titles on a regular basis, and essentially bringing in his own title to serve that purpose does not work. Remember WWE's Million Dollar Man? You remember his money, his incredible promos and his wrestling - but his made-it-myself Million Dollar Championship rarely had value in the eyes of its fans. When Virgil beat him for it back in the day, it was the story that gripped people, not the Championship.
In exactly the same way, I would build a long-term feud between Cage and Cody which, ultimately, ends with the former being the man to finally defeat Cody and take the TNT title which - in my view - has far more legitimacy than the FTW gold. Cage needs stability in his career - he has been here, there and everywhere over the last number of years. If he is to settle in AEW long-term and be taken as seriously as a man his size should be, he needs major matches, major opposition and major titles.
Oh, for what it's worth, I'd be disappointed if he and Taz parted so soon. Taz's promos match the likes of Paul Heyman and MVP in WWE in terms of elevating the talent they're advocating. Keep Taz, ditch the FTW title and you're on your way to success."
Louis Dangoor - WrestleTalk and Fightful
Louis Dangoor is an editor and interviewer covering all major wrestling promotions for WrestleTalk. He is also part of the review team over at Fightful co-hosting the Wednesday Night War show as the AEW contributor.
Louis has interviewed a number of wrestling's biggest names including Eric Bischoff, Christian, Brodie Lee and he just wrapped up a conversation with AEW's newest tag team, FTR.
Would Louis hop on board with the creation of a new division? Maybe fresh off a conversation with Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood he's like Tom Colohue's idea. Short answer - nope.
The FTW Belt can stay, but don't recognize it
"While I understand the nostalgia that the FTW Championship brings, I find the way it has been booked thus far in AEW to be incredibly problematic.
For me, the first mistake AEW made with the championship was commissioning a match between Brian Cage and Brian Pillman Jr. for the title on Dark. The title is not something that AEW has introduced themselves, so why would they commission a match for it on TV?
What’s to stop, next week on Dynamite, Peter Avalon coming out and declaring himself the Library Championship? Is everyone now just allowed to introduce their own title belts, declare themselves as the champion and have title matches on TV/YouTube?
From here on out, Cage should walk around with the FTW Championship saying that he is the real world champion in AEW, as he never quit under his own will in his World Championship match with Moxley.
However, it’s important to say that I DON’T think Cage should defend the title on Dynamite or Dark. That makes it look like a title that AEW has introduced, and doesn’t really go with the sort of “F*** The World” gimmick that the title was originally introduced with."
Andrea Hangst - Sportskeeda
Andrea Hangst is the newest member of the Sportskeeda staff! She started this week as the site's new Senior Editor, so join us in welcoming her on board!
Andrea has been a sports media professional since 2011, spending the first seven years of her career covering the NFL. She has thousands of columns under her belt for various leading sports media outlets including Pro Football focus, Forbes, FanSided, B/R and SB Nation.
When asked about AEW's Brian Cage and his FTW World Title, Andrea thinks he should pull the ultimate heel move - only recognize it when he wins.
Cage lost? Oh well, the Title wasn't on the line!
"Taz bringing back the FTW title along with essentially shaping Brian Cage in his image has been brilliant, especially for someone like Cage who has lots of talent and a great look but isn't much to write home about when it comes to mic skills.
I think Cage and Taz should treat it like any real championship in AEW but also do so selectively. For example, every Cage win is a "successful title defense," and any loss just happened to be "non-title."
It gives good heat to the heels and adds a layer of self-absorbed delusion that only makes a good bad-guy character more compelling."
Gary Cassidy - Sportskeeda and BBC
Gary Cassidy is a freelance journalist and an official columnist for Sportskeeda. Gary is one of the go-to wrestling journalists in the UK, having had the opportunity to sit down with the likes of Drew McIntyre, Charlotte Flair, Paige, Rey Mysterio, and Christian.
He also creates video content for BBC, writes for WhatCulture, and is regularly featured on the Wrestling Daft podcast as well as TalkSPORT's talkWRESTLING show.
Gary, or Mr. Wrestling Positivity as he's known on Twitter, was really excited to share his thoughts on the FTW World Championship.
Open it up! Let Cage prove he is the toughest S.O.B.
"I make no secret about this - I am a huge fan of Taz. As a kid, ECW was THE promotion that I watched, despite being much younger than the recommended viewing age. As an adult, I'm equally as big a fan of the Human Suplex Machine. I loved The Taz Show, and Taz's one-off appearance as a commentator on AEW Dark had me clamoring for a return.
I should also clarify, I'm a huge Brian Cage fan! From his time in Lucha Underground to his time in IMPACT, I think Cage has been one of the best kept "secrets" I guess from mainstream wrestling fans. Until now.
The pairing of both men, for me, is gold - orange-tinted gold - and when Taz revealed the FTW Championship on Dynamite a few weeks back, I could not have been happier! Any ECW fan, and any Taz fan, will know just how big of a gesture that was - so let's ramp it up!
For me, the future of the FTW Championship HAS to be an Open Challenge. Have Brian Cage come out every week and defend the title, laying waste to absolutely everyone in sight. Don't have AEW recognize the title officially, but have Cage legitimize it by simply being a monster.
I don't need to spell out what FTW stands for, but Cage encapsulates that term as a wrestler, and Taz should live vicariously through him. Unleash the beast and let the rest of the roster fall - one by one, by one. If you unshackle the monster that is Brian Cage, it will fill everyone with fear.
In the words of a very wise man, "Here comes the pain!"
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