By Rick Gardner, PWTorch Specialist

When the WWE introduces a new match concept, it can have mixed results. The Hell in the Cell and the Royal Rumble have endured many years as matches that not only seems special, but can draw money on the basis of simply being on Pay Per View. Conversely Cyber Sunday, a PPV where viewers vote for matches and stipulations, pulled a shockingly low buy rate last year. After all, it's difficult to convince people to spend money on a card on which the main event match has not been finalised. However, once the WWE finds a formula that works, they have a good track record of not over exposing match concepts, generally using them once a year to help differentiate one PPV from another. The WWE hopes that they have found another such concept in the Championship Scramble, which debuted at Unforgiven last Sunday.

The signs were not positive leading into Unforgiven, as Mike Adamle's original botched announcement lead to the rules of the match changing several times. Even Jerry Lawler confessed that he was confused by the rules of the Championship Scramble on Raw two weeks prior to the PPV. In simple terms, the contestants enter the ring at two minute intervals, with a pinfall constituting a temporary title change. Whoever gained the last pin after a twenty minute time limit is declared the winner. The WWE decided for the World, WWE and ECW champions would defend their titles in this manner at Unforgiven.

The first match was Mark Henry's defence of the ECW Championship against Matt Hardy, the Miz, Chavo Guerrero and Finlay. It's been a long time since the WWE has taken ECW seriously, but the brand has deserved better than the last two PPVs. At Summerslam the ECW Title match was given one minute, whilst Unforgiven saw the championship relegated to the opening match. The ECW wrestlers helped illustrate how exciting the Championship Scramble can be, with all five combatants working hard to put on a good match. The finish saw Matt Hardy break up a string of covers to win the ECW title, which was unique in itself. However, the title change felt like somewhat of an anticlimax after such a long chase.

The second Scramble match featured WWE Champion Triple H defending against Jeff Hardy, MVP, Shelton Benjamin and The Brian Kendrick. In the opening stages, the Smackdown wrestlers set the pace, providing the kind of frenetic action that WWE officials must have had in mind when creating the Championship Scramble. Brian Kendrick, in particular, shone and made progress in taking his game to the next level. Unfortunately, much of this work was undone once Triple H entered the ring. It seems pointless to book a five man match in which one wrestler is booked to look so superior to his opponents. At this point the match turned into a game of how many times the wrestlers could pin Brian Kendrick.

Problems with the ambiguous rules of the Championship Scramble surfaced at the finish of the Smackdown match. All Jeff Hardy had to do to become the WWE champion was to break up Triple H's pinfall over MVP, but instead he covered Shelton Benjamin and lost the match.

If the first two scramble matches had their deficiencies, the third had the indignity of the champion not even competing, as Chris Jericho replaced C.M. Punk, who had been taken out by Randy Orton in an angle earlier that night. If contesting the World title without the champion is not confusing enough, the rules were confused further by the referee counting a Kane pin attempt when he was already winning the match.  However, the Raw Championship Scramble produced the best moment of the three matches; Batista's reaction when he realised Chris Jericho had pinned Kane with only seven seconds left.

If the WWE want the Championship Scramble to become an annual tradition they need to make the rules easier to understand. It is difficult to imagine casual fans fully understood the concept of the Championship Scramble prior to the Unforgiven Pay Per View, and there is every chance that this will be reflected in the buy rate. Added to which, it seemed as though the commentators and several of the wrestlers didn't fully comprehend the stipulations on the night.

However, the real issue in the Championship Scramble is the way is devalued ECW, Raw and Smackdown's respective titles. Traditionally, a company could draw money on the basis of a world title match appearing on Pay Per View, so having the ECW title defended in the opening match is an insult to the brand and everyone who bothers to tune into their show on the Sci-Fi network every week. The constant switching of the titles, although temporary, made the championships seem less special than they did before Unforgiven. Added to which, the Smackdown Scramble made all of the challengers look weak, effectively killing four months worth of PPV title challengers in one match.

The Championship Scramble is a concept that the WWE needs to revaluate before using again. Although the drama they provided was excellent at times, the whole process only felt like a slight step up from deciding a title in a battle royal. 

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt