Titles are very similar. A title is meant to be held by someone with the distinction of being the best at what the title represents. They're meant to be things that wrestler aspire to achieve, making them good plot devices and boosting the visibility of standout wrestlers on the forum. Currently, Light, Middle, and Heavyweight championship titles are planned to be instated when each respective division has enough activity and interest in the title. These will be mid-card level belts, but will mean much. If we make it that far, more will come later. Titles and events will entail of their own ruleset, which will be as follows:
- Inactivity - A title is both an accolade and a responsibility. You should not attempt to get a title if you feel you'll be relatively inactive. An inactive title holder will be stripped of their title if they remain inactive for 3 months without giving prior notice of their absence/inactivity. If the title holder messages myself or a moderator about going inactive in advance, they can negotiate 4-5 months rather than three. A single title defense cannot last longer than 6-7 months. Infrequent posts delaying the defense for unreasonable amounts of time will result in the match either being called off possibly having title stripped from the champion of they are the source of the inactivity. A user who has had a character stripped of their title will be ineligible for future titles for a temporary period of time.
Also bear in mind that prolonged inactivity in an event may get you removed from an event if it involves many people (like a tournament for example). If you are forced to be removed from any event due to inactivity, you will be ineligible for future official events for a time.
- No Rematch Clause - A character that has lost a title to another character cannot have a rematch with the new champion, during that reign, for their title.
- Stagnation - A title holder is given freedom with their title for the most part unless directed by moderators. However, there may be situations where the mods or admin ask a user to drop their title to avoid situations like someone holding their title for an unreasonable amount of time (over 1.5 years or so, assuming their division is active and there are eligible contenders), or something of that nature. You're allowed to retain your championship. You're allowed to have a strong title run. Just not in a way that proves itself to be at the expense of other users.
- Defenses > Time - In LAW canon, much like NJPW and most fight sports, the merit of a title reign is determined by the number of successful defenses, NOT how long they were able to keep the title. In addition, you should only have one title defense match going on at a time. Please don't defend one title across 3-4 different threads at the same time.
- Title matches - Communication between title holders and prospective eligible challengers will be your go-to means for title matches. Characters that have wrestled 3 or fewer matches and characters that are less than a month old, will not be eligible for title matches. This rule extends to tag teams. Two singles wrestlers who have wrestled 3 singles matches each cannot challenge for the tag titles. A team must wrestle at least 2 tag matches together prior to challenging for the tag belts. You are encouraged to add your eligible characters to the this list as they finish their 3 match quota. This helps us keep track of who can and can't challenge titleholders.
A compelling argument for a title match or title exchange should be based around the writing/merit of the challenger and the stories they are/have been involved in as opposed to something superficial like the way the challenger looks or something to that effect. Title holders are also encouraged to seek out users to defend their title against.
Additionally, a user that has a title on one of their characters is disallowed from winning other titles with their others characters unless given permission from the admin or moderators. Users that have a title on a character are allowed to have their characters compete for other titles as long as they lose and/or don't have two titles on their roster at the same time.
- Contendership - Being number one contender is an accolade in and of itself The current number one contender is specified on the front page. Please message the admin to keep the admin informed and to keep the front page updated. Please also bear in mind that title defenses should entail of some sort of build or story whenever possible as opposed to someone just getting a title match out of the blue. Again, for emphasis, the reasoning for a title match or title exchange should be based on the writing/merit of the challenger/roleplayer and the stories they are/have been involved in.
- Location - Until otherwise stated, title defenses are to take place in the Tokyo Dome (Special Events and PPV's only). The LAWLESS/Hardcore Belt will also be defended in those sections on the forums, but the in-universe location can be another place specified at the beginning of the RP. Number one contender matches, when they do happen, can take place anywhere.
