One week after debuting as the third “Paul Heyman Guy”, Curtis Axel won his first Unofficial WWE Championship from John Cena. I was unsure how long he would hold the title because it wasn’t apparent how the WWE would book him yet. They quickly showed that they were ready to get behind Axel, giving him count-out wins over John Cena and Triple H and putting the Intercontinental Championship around his waist within a month of debuting. His triple threat match at Payback was a highlight on a card that was generally praised for its in-ring work. The Chicago crowd was well and truly behind him with one of the loudest pops of the night going to Axel using the Perfect Plex made famous by his father, the late Mr. Perfect. Arguably, Perfect’s greatest moment in a WWE ring came when defending that very Intercontinental title at Summerslam ’91 against Bret Hart, and you could tell this meant a lot to Axel. Mr. Perfect only had two reigns as Unofficial WWE Championship for a total of 12 days – Curtis Axel moved past this number in his first reign.
I won’t say for sure that I am 100% behind Curtis Axel yet and he still has a long way to go before he proves himself as a favourite of mine. But so far, with his alliance with Paul Heyman, I give him every chance to impress me. I hope for his sake that he is able to really become a defined character and stay fresh from week to week. Giving him an early IC title run might be risky if he isn’t ready but it’s a great chance for him to step up and prove that he belongs to be a contender in the WWE.
As far as the Unofficial WWE Championship is concerned, Curtis Axel has had quite a successful first reign that. Now that he has championship gold, it’s unclear if they are going to book him as a fighting champion or have him retain the IC title through count-out and disqualification victories. If that is the case, it could be only a matter of time before he loses the Unofficial title, but the championship is so unpredictable that it is impossible to say. As of today, Axel has held the UWWEC for 27 days and moves above legends for total days as champion.
The Unofficial WWE Championship 