Banking at your local branch

There's a commonly shared view amongst virtually every wrestling fan who has voiced their opinion on the Internet. Time and time again, I read the following statement: "I really hope that CM Punk doesn't waste the Money in the Bank contract on the ECW Championship."

I'm definitely in the minority here, but I couldn't disagree more....

I certainly won't deny that the ECW Championship has lost a significant amount of steam over the past year. During the first portion of CM Punk's reign things were going pretty steadily, but after a while a dangerous trend began when, at numerous Pay-Per-Views, the ECW Championship bout would kick off the show. While everybody recognized that this belt was a distant third out of the three World Championships, repeatedly jerking the curtain with this title really sent home the message that it's nothing more than a glorified Intercontinental Championship.

I suppose you can even trace it further back to when John Morrison won the title. While it seemed unlikely that they would put either of the two main straps on The Big Show or Bobby Lashley, it was still within the realm of possibility. Ditto for Benoit, who was slated to win the title before that whole double murder/suicide thing. But that definitely wasn't the case when Morrison won the title. And it only got worse when Chavo Guerrero took home the gold. While he was champion, the title wasn't even defended at the Royal Rumble (where, conceivably, the winner could challenge him for his title at WrestleMania). Hell, despite being a "World" champion, HE participated in the Rumble match! If that didn't send home the message that this wasn't a REAL World Championship and on the same level of its Raw and Smackdown counterparts, what else could?

So after that long winded rant, why on Earth would I WANT CM Punk to challenge for the ECW Championship? By proxy, wouldn't that diminish the prestige of the Money in the Bank stipulation? No, I don't think so.

I've often said that perception is reality when it comes to wrestling. The reason why Raw is so much more popular than Smackdown and ECW is not because it's any better, it's because WWE has created the perception/reality that anything that's worthwhile or special will occur on Raw. All of the major returns, debuts, and angles will happen on that show, so there's no reason to keep up with the other two.

With that in mind, if WWE creates the illusion that CM Punk fully believes that he CAN beat Triple H and Undertaker (or whoever are champions at that point) for their respective championships, but would prefer to challenge Kane, it tells fans that yes, the ECW Championship is a legitimate World title, and one that several wrestlers actually regard as the most prestigious.

In fact, much of me believes that they should have gone the RVD route, and had CM Punk challenge Kane in advance for a title match at One Night Stand, which is "supposed" to be an ECW-centric PPV.

It comes down to this: The WWE can either accept that the ECW Championship isn't viewed as a legitimate World Championship and leave it at that, or they can try to remedy the situation by giving it a "rub." Considering that it is the sole championship on ECW -- and as such should be the center of the show -- it would be foolish of them, from a business standpoint, to just accept this as a reality. Reminding the fans that certain Superstars are willing to sacrifice a special stipulation (like the Money in the Bank contract or the Royal Rumble title shot) on the ECW Championship can help redeem the championship.