When did the World Heavyweight Championship lose its prestige?

The classic Big Gold belt, a staple of the Monday Night Wars, was reborn by then RAW GM Eric Bischoff in 2002, being awarded to Triple H.  Since then, in its 11 year history, its been held by some of the greatest to ever enter the squared circle.  HHH, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, Undertaker, John Cena, Krispen Waah, Kurt Angle, Edge, Randy Orton... the list goes on.  In its short run, its had an equal calibre of champion as even the WWE title.  However, the WHC has lost ground over the past couple of years.  Being seen as the upper-mid card, B title, it not longer carries the same weight as the WWE title, when it was once its equal, almost becoming the A title.

The past few years have seen forgettable reigns from the likes of Swagger, Sheamus, ADR and - eugh - Khali.  However, the WWE title also has its share of bogus reigns, including The Miz, Alberto Del Rio (again), Batista, Mysterio and arguably The Rock. However, even when CM Punk was in the midst of a 440+ day reign, half the time he was being over-shadowed by John Cena, it remained the A title.

Alot of people pin point the downfall of the title on the night CM Punk first cashed in MITB on Edge.  The WWE gave him the title and then did nothing with him, he was merely a place holder for the belt so when HBK returned from injury they could use it in his fued with Jericho.  It was this scenario where Triple H coined the term "The title doesnt make the guy, the guy makes the title", and it seemed to fit.  Ever since Punk became champion, the WHC never really recovered.  Even memorable reigns from Jericho, Kane and Mark Henry havent brought it back up to the level it once was.

Will John Cena be the answer?  I certainly hope so.  I dont seen the point in having 2 world titles if they dont hold roughly equal prestige.  The IC and US titles are the warm-up titles, not the WHC.

When do you think it dropped down a rank?  Do you think it will ever reach the highs it once did?  Did you ever think it was as worth holding as the WWE title?

all belts are goods gives the a fight a reason to happen

I don’t agree that Punk cashing in on Edge was the catalyst for its downfall. Since then Punk and Hardy had a memorable fued for the title in the Summer of 09. Jericho also faced Edge for the title at Wrestlemania 26 and although the match stunk it was still contested between 2 top stars and the hugely ‘over’ Rumble winner Edge chose to challenge for that title.

Swagger winning the title was when it lost its prestige for me. It wasn't necessarily Swagger's fault though, the WWE should never have put the title on him. Although that was the title's downfall i'd say the final nail in the coffin was the decision to have Edge v ADR as the curtain jerker at WM27. That was the WWE saying 'we don't care about this title'.

Yeah I think wrestlemania 27 was the turning point. The fact they then repeated it a year later, and the match only went 18 seconds, was the nail in the coffin.

They can bring it around, especially with Cena as champ, but so far I'd say he's been damaged more than the belt has been elevated. He's not been positioned as the company's top star since his return, and his angle with Del Rio is not the major storyline in WWE. I'm actually starting to wonder if 2013 is turning out to be the beginning of the end of Cena as the face of the company.

I think it really began to lose all its appeal around mid 2010, Swagger absolutely sucked as the Champ then Rey won it again, then Kane won it, some of the promos he cut during the reign were Oscar worthy but Rey and Kane just fwlt like it was downsizing, then Edge won it when he was really struggling as a face, few months later Edge and Del Rio opened up Mania with it, its been on a landslide ever since for me.

Not really much I can add to this, I think the erosion of the brand split has played a big part in its downfall, the title has spent much of its time on Smackdown and even as the perceived 'B' show, they always had a smattering of big stars like Batista, Edge, Orton and Taker to keep the appearances of the title up, now the whole roster is apparently in competition for both belts the lesser calibre of WHC champs and challengers is quite apparent.

WM27 was really the turning point though, A WWE title match will never curtain jerk Wrestlemania

Going back to the 'the guy makes the title the title doesn't make the guy' thing I think you can also say 'the fued makes the title the title doesn't make the fued'.

Prime example of this was the Christian v Orton fued of 2011. It was red hot but it was a fued which for me didn't need the title. It was all about Christian trying to finally get one over on Orton and eventually the only way he could do it was the dirty was this turning heel. The title should have been promoted a lot more in that fued but for me it played second fiddle to Christian and Orton's personal rivalry.

I don't subscribe to the whole "The title doesnt make the guy, the guy makes the title" theory anyway because there's only so much "the guy" can do - he needs the full support of the creative/booking team to truly establish himself as a World champion and to establish or maintain his World title as being 'prestigious'.

Look at CM Punk when he first won the WHC in 2008; he was booked as the underdog who fluked his way to the title, was belittled by everyone, wasn't allowed wins over the biggest names and wasn't allowed to cut loose with his promos. So it's easy for people like Triple H and Michael Hayes to say "Oh he devalued the championship".

Bullsh*t. The creative team devalued CM Punk which in turn devalued the championship.