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 wrestlers 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. Titles and events will entail 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 more than a few months without giving prior notice of their absence/inactivity. If the title holder messages an admin or a moderator about going inactive in advance, they can negotiate for a longer grace period. Infrequent posts delaying the defense for unreasonable amounts of time can result in the match either being called off and/or possibly having the title stripped from the champion if 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. Very limited/slow activity over a long period of time may also result in a champion being stripped of their title.
Please bear in mind that prolonged inactivity in an event may get you removed from an event, especially official/mod or admin-run events. If you are forced to be removed from any event due to inactivity, you may 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. This is to prevent the same characters from having the same rematches for titles, and will hopefully promote diversity in the title scene.
- 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 certain situations (i.e. a champion holding their title for an unreasonable amount of time (over 1.5-2 years or so, assuming their division is active and there are eligible contenders and users willing to do championship matches). 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 (i.e. whether that be to community dissatisfaction, inactivity or limited activity, or so on). If this is caused by irl circumstances, of course, that's understandable and I will try to work with you.
- Defenses > Time - In LAW canon, the merit of a title reign is determined by the number of successful defenses and the quality of the matches and stories told in the defenses in, NOT how long they were able to keep the title.
- 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 will not be eligible for title matches. For tag title competition, a team must wrestle at least 1 tag match 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/story/premise for a title match or title exchange should be based on 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/characters 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 the 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 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 Special Events and PPV section only. In-universe, matches, events, and title defenses can occur in any major city of your choosing, as LAW is a large, international company.
The LAWLESS/Hardcore Belt can 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.
