Should the WWE and World Titles be merged?

[DDelaware2009]

We're down to one Tag Team Championship. The IC title and US Title are both there but really the US Title is being used more like the old European Title than the more prestigious lineage of the WCW/NWA US Title. And we are down to one Women's Championship. There is really nothing that separates Raw and SmackDown talent anymore, as there are separate rosters but every Raw as of late has been a "supershow," and my guess is that this becomes the norm when the show goes to 3 hours.

If they're looking for a summer angle, how about that? Something that focuses around the wrestling (*gasp*)...what a concept!

PS it likely would play out similar to WWE Vengeance 2001 where the belts were unified in one night- Jericho beat Rock, Austin beat Angle, then Jericho beat Angle, all in the same PPV...who would be your "Big Four" to unify the belts? And who would you put the new strap on?

 

[Skinsley]

The titles need to be unified.
The US and IC titles should be unified/changed to a single belt.
And now that RAW is a 3 hour show it wouldnt hurt to eventually pop the Hardcore and Cruiser weight titles back into action.

WWE Heavyweight Champion
Intercontinental Champion
WWE Tag Tam Champions
WWE Hardcore Champion
WWE Cruiser Weight Champion ( Cruiser Weight is not totally neccessary )
WWE Womens Champion
And maybe even the WWE Womens Tag Team Championship (eventually)

These titles are not a must, but are all acceptable options, arguably the Cruiser Weight title though, I wont argue a case for or against that because its obvious.

With just one WWE Heavyweight Champion, this instantly raises the prestiege of the title. Its without a doubt the #1 title that every wrestler on the roster aspires to own....when the MITB or the Royal Rumble is won and the wrestler has a choice of two titles....and this is a DILEMA? It instantly lowers the prestiege of the title.
With the ONE superior Belt to rule them all.... Importance is instantly raised.

The same with the IC,US titles.....

Harcore, we can get around Blood and Chair Headshots....the title was entertaining and we all love a backstage battle.

Womens Division needs an overhaul and the title should be contended by more than just two Diva's at a time....they should all want it and it should be clear!
WWE network, the extra hours of television and even NXT should make 5 or 10 minuits to a Diva storyline....and WWE should hire more women wrestlers and create a Tag division (arguable and not neccessary....dont flame me)

Plain and Simple and most important is that all characters who are contending for the WWE title or HW (& IC/US respecively) title should all be contending for the one soul title....and this will instantly give more options for storylines clashing and will make the titles matter.

WWE, MAKE IT HAPPEN AND MAKE IT SOON!

 

[The_Reptile_]

The World Titles been needing to be merged for a long time now. Half the reason the main event roster depth is so shallow is because WWE's trying to spread it across two World titles.

The IC and US Titles are fine as is simply because if WWE wanted to they can have a mid roster massive enough to fuel both titles easy if they actually tried.

 

[RIPRKO1005]

I dont mind having 2 mid card titles, because i think WWE has a thick amount of midcard level talent but a thin level of Main Event talent.

As for the two world titles (and the point of this thread), I definitely think there is a need to merge the WWE and WHC titles. Instead of the WWE putting in a half ass effort of promoting each of them, just merge them and put all your focus on one. Also i think if there was just one it would help put a little more prestige back onto the title itself.

 

[bizonatch]

Really good ideas, definitely merge the WWE and World, the Intercontinental and US;
then bring back the ECW title but use it as a hardcore title! Its got an enduring and beloved legacy, is marketable and prestigious already. Have every ECW match without rules, let those climbing up the ladder (Kofi, Ziggler, Gabriel, Dibiasi) really earn their stripes (what Foley, HBK, HHH, Undertaker, Orton, Austin put their bodies through early on made them legends. Sometimes we need a blood (or at least scary level of violence) sacrifice [look at Brock vs Cena])!
And yes, definitely bring back the Cruiserweight title (Kidd, Mysterio, Sin Cara, Gabriel, Bourne, so much under utilized talent!!!!!)!

 

[A-KO]

I sort of agree with Skinsley, but the only problem is that there is too many on the rosters to make streamlining all the titles possible.

WWE Heavyweight Champion
WWE Intercontinental Champion
WWE US Champion
WWE Tag Tam Champions
WWE Cruiserweight Champion
WWE Womens Champion

I think the US championship can bet what the old European championship used to be: a 3rd tier championship. With the WWE Champ being 1st tier and IC being 2nd tier.

This way, with the cruiserweight contenders being busy with their own championship (possibility of the wrestlers going for the IC/US title still possible), the roster is essentially split into 3.

Tier 1: Main Event level
Mainly consisiting of Cena, Punk, Bryan, Sheamus, Del Rio, etc.

Tier 2: IC Title
For those who are over, but are not seen as ME level yet, brings the prestige back to being seen as on the way up or were deemed not ready for ME. Rhodes, Swagger, Ziggler, etc.

Tier 3: US Title
Essentially the rest of the male roster. Even the 'jobbers', this gives them a chance of capturing gold and a stepping stone onto better things. Could even be used as a number 1 contender tournament for NXT. Ryder, Santino, Hawkins, Kidd, etc.

This way each wrestler has a singles title that they can win, and allows them to judge where they are on the totem pole. Would also allow meaningful feuds to be built and for each hour (or almost an hour) of raw/ smackdown have a championship tier dedicated to it.

The only problem with this way is the glass ceiling. How high can a wrestler go in his own tier without being able to break through to the next tier? But would allow for greater character development and show how much each wrestler wants the title round their waists.

 

[mikde_]

Sure it would be great but from a business standpoint? Not so much.
I remember reading that the reason it has not happened is because WWE want to be able to advertise a world champion for the separate live tours of raw and smackdown that take place as well as the merch money from replica sales.
It's kind of strange as I can totally understand the need for 2 world titles when the shows were split and to give other stars a chance at the top to see what they can do at a main event level but the lack of build for stars and lack of interest shown from
WWE towards the WHC makes me wonder what the hell is the point in having it?

 

[THE Great GAMMA]

The need to have two world titles kind of fell away when the brand split sort of just disappeared. With having two ME champions the prestige of both are suffering. which one is more important??. If they want two titles then bring back the brand specific PPVs and keep the brands separate except for the BIG 4 PPVs again.

 

[Spear]

The World Titles should definitely stay separate. WWE has a high amount of guys that can compete for the titles. Plus, how would guys like Miz, Ziggler, Christian, Mark Henry, Kane, and even Daniel Bryan be main eventers right now had it not been for having two titles? And even from a business standpoint, it's best. Do NOT merge the titles.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Not a bad idea. Won't be too bad for summerslam. The 4 I'd pick are Punk, Bryan, Cena and Orton. Cena and Orton were the guys from the past PG era and now during the Reality era, Punk and Bryan are at the top. It would be goos to seen matches with these 4 guys.

Punk or Bryan should win while the others pass the torch

BTW, I though jericho beat austin and rock, not angle.

 

[JaceEvans]

No. No. No.

I swear this thread pops up every week.

From a business standpoint: what would WWE gain with only one heavyweight champion? Maybe more prestige to the one title but that's all. It won't increase the ratings or PPV buys and like someone else said two titles are necessary for house shows. WWE gains more financially from two champions and Vince loves $. Plus it hurts WWE's ability to give a title to superstars who normally they wouldn't pull the trigger on. If Ziggler is having a hard time now getting a WC, imagine if there was only one.

From a Fan standpoint: I really have a bad feeling that if there is one title and they make a big storyline out of this Cena will end up with it. The dude's in the main event storyline every time.

There's also still prestige in the WHC(which I assume will be the title that get's merged into the WWE title) it's not like it's the US title or something. Someone said the brand split is over but we all know which title goes to which show, how many times has the WWE title been defended at Smackdown? I would even make an argument that NXT needs a World title.

All in all if there was only one championship we wouldn't of had champions like Daniel Bryan or Mark Henry. More championship= More excitment

 

[TempestH]

The World Titles need to be Unified. Since John Cena is already considered "the main event" you could put him on one brand and the champion on the other (although he'd be able to roam as he pleased).

 

[Skinsley]

The World Titles need to be Unified. Since John Cena is already considered "the main event" you could put him on one brand and the champion on the other (although he'd be able to roam as he pleased).

John Cena on a different show than the Champion. Meaning he cannot win the Championship....meaning it is pointless being in the business?
Contrary to popular belief, and the way WWE has been treating its championships lately.

The WWE championship, and Heavyweight Championship respecively are the Be all and End all of Professional wrestling.
If the oppertunity to win one of these, or to rise up the ranks to be given a shot is not on the cards.....then pack your bags son and go the hell home.
In order for his character to work, in order for any wrestler to be beleived. They need a Goal....and that goal is be be the champion.

Jesus...if thats what you meant then someone hand me my shotgun of Logic...right now.

 

[TempestH]

John Cena on a different show than the Champion. Meaning he cannot win the Championship....meaning it is pointless being in the business?
Contrary to popular belief, and the way WWE has been treating its championships lately.

The WWE championship, and Heavyweight Championship respecively are the Be all and End all of Professional wrestling.
If the oppertunity to win one of these, or to rise up the ranks to be given a shot is not on the cards.....then pack your bags son and go the hell home.
In order for his character to work, in order for any wrestler to be beleived. They need a Goal....and that goal is be be the champion.

Jesus...if thats what you meant then someone hand me my shotgun of Logic...right now.

Yes but Cena doesn't even go after the titles. Both in kayfabe and in real life, he has already "left his mark on the business" and isalready the biggest star in professional wrestling with or without the title. I can believe that he's satisfied with being the company's poster boy. His character only wrestles to entertain the fans (even if some of them boo him). There is nothing left for Cena to do, except maybe win the IC title to officially complete the Triple Crown (which would raise the status of the IC title back to what it was in the 90s) or have a lengthy tag title reign with an actual partner instead of a guy he's currently feuding with.

In my scenario, the WWE Champion would still be cross branded, and but if Cena was confined to either RAW or SmackDown, then a single world champion could still be treated like a big star on at least ONE of the brands.

 

[TakersBroski987]

I wouldn't merge the two top titles. Using the World Title in much the same way as the Intercontinental title back in the day, has helped the likes of Daniel Bryan, achieve main event status. I would merge the Intercontinental and the US titles. With the brand split essentially over, the World title, is essentially a stepping stone, or try out, for the upper mid-card. Having two more "traditional" mid card titles just clutters things.

 

[lowandmighty]

Yes for fuck sake merge the titles. Jesus off the world heavyweight championship and just go with the wwe title as the world championship and wwe grand prize. I mean who's really the champion right now? Is it Sheamus or CM Punk? there's got to be a line drawn in the fucking sand somewhere. There shouldn't be two champions of one company its ******ed. One man must reign supreme over all.

Imagine if you went back to the late 1980's and told Hulk Hogan "hey we're going to have another champion along side you" he would've been like "what!? fuck you hulkamania's running wild not someone else - amania!. Go fuck yourselves I'm going to wcw to make that the main wrestling company early, so long suckers!"

 

[YesCore]

I prefer the two titles, but would quite like a temporary unification storyline for around 4-6 months.

I can't really see some of the guys challenging for the titles getting enough exposure and chances with 1 belt, so they'd naturally be pushed back down to the midcard which IMO is already saturated with decent talent.

 

[TempestH]

I wouldn't merge the two top titles. Using the World Title in much the same way as the Intercontinental title back in the day, has helped the likes of Daniel Bryan, achieve main event status. I would merge the Intercontinental and the US titles. With the brand split essentially over, the World title, is essentially a stepping stone, or try out, for the upper mid-card. Having two more "traditional" mid card titles just clutters things.

Why couldn't they just merge the World Titles and make the IC Title the stepping stone it once was? The World Heavyweight Championship match practically curtain jerks every single PPV nowadays. For the past two years, it has OPENED Wrestlemania despite having the Royal Rumble winner challenge for it. If there was only one World Title, a brand split is in fact over, having two "World Titles" makes no sense.

While guys like Daniel Bryan do deserve to be World Champion, everyone can't compete for the World Title at the same time, so why not just make the IC Title for the guys who can't fit into the World Title scene at the moment and make the U.S. title the belt for the "true midcarders". They've already started giving the belt to bigger names like Christian and Big Show. Guys like that can elevate the IC title back to it's pre-Attitude Era status, and we wouldn't need the World Heavyweight Title anymore.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Okay. I’m not saying I like this idea for the time being, but if they were to run this Undisputed angle, the four SuperStars I would go with are the WM XXVIII Main Eventers. Of course I would start with a 64 man tournament. The Champions would not be involved in the Tournament until the semi-finals. After 6 rounds we’re down to the final 2, a Raw SuperStar and a Smackdown SuperStar. The Smackdown SuperStar faces the World Champion and the Raw SuperStar faces the WWE Champion.

At Night Of Champions

Match 1
WWE Champion, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

Match 2
World Champion, Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan

Match 3
WWE Champion, Chris Jericho vs. World Champion, Sheamus

Here is your winner, and NEW Undisputed WWE World Champion, Chris Jericho.

I would rather the Undisputed Champion carry two belts instead of one and I would like the Champ to have to option to defend them separately if he wants to. He could alternate Title defense between the WWE and the World Titles on PPVs. Then of course, after two successful Title defenses, he’d have to drop it. Chris Jericho vs. Brock Lesnar sounds pretty good.

 

[Garden State Saint]

No not at all. It is bad enough we get shitty matches every now and than on ppv. Can you only imagine if WWE converted or merged rather the WWE and World Title into one? How bad the matches will be? It will be even worse than what we are watching now. Unless the WWE is planning to combine both RAW and Smackdown into one show. I still want to see both titles being defending.

 

[Flip83]

YES. I don't care how deep the roster is, or how shallow it is. There is no reason for 2 Heavyweight Titles. Having 2 of them is the reason the IC and Tag team titles don't get the time of day. The need to get rid of the US title also.

1 Heavyweight
1 Intercontinental
1 Tag Team
1 Cruiserweight
1 Diva

No need for Divas Tag. The talent just is not deep enough.

3 Hour Raw gives them plenty of time to have good storylines for all titles I listed above. And its ok to have good stories for heavyweight guys that don't involve a Title. Not just random matches between guys out of nowhere. Stop the 2 Different Brands too. Although they have basically joined the shows, thy still try and incorporate it as seperate rosters. Just stop it alll together. No need. If a Superstar needs a Smackdown offfor rest,then let him have off. Theres plenty of wrestlers to do storylines that can fill both shows.

Also, can we get rid of Khali already? My god what useless TV time!! He cant even walk and he has 4 moves. Stop with these time fillers. There is no way the writers are this bad they can't come up with ideas for all there main eventers and Mid Card guys that they have to waste everyones time with giving time to Cole, Hornswaggle, random Khali matches etc etc. its awful. They have such great Mid Card talent that you can have such great storylines for those guys but they don't give IC title much respect anymore. That used to be such an important title. That is why you need to Unify the Heavyweight titles

 

[BNXCOW02IWK]

If they continue along this current path towards one basic roster, then there's no need for 2 world titles. If they try to reinforce the brand extension by bringing in both old and new superstars then there should be two. The problem that wwe has right now is that it has too many superstars for one roster, but not enough for two. The result of this is the convoluted mix we see today. Now, if they decide to unify the titles, I think Punk should be the one to do it. The mix should include Jericho, Cena and others vying for the undisputed title. I would advocate an 8-man ladder match with Punk,Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Jericho,Big Show,Kane and Daniel Bryan, with the eventual winner being either Punk or Bryan.

 

[TempestH]

I think it would be a great idea to merge the two World Titles, but keep the brand extension with the Intercontinental Championship as SmackDown's main title. The IC Title can be booked the way it was before the Attitude Era, and be held by veterans or to test the rising stars, while the U.S. Title can be the "true" midcard belt.

I feel that there is no point in having two World Titles when one is so blatantly booked as being more prestigious than the other. The World Heavyweight Championship practically opens every PPV, and has curtain jerked WRESTLEMANIA despite having the ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER challenging for it.

 

[Ringmaster95]

I think they definitely should, it would make the championship more prestigious. It would enable the WWE to name it the "Undisputed Championship". That is why I liked the old title from 2002-2005. It actually looked like a championship belt.

 

[Reality Era]

There needs to be two main titles so that there is a certain amount of prestige along with the wwe title. It has made the D-Bry evolution all the more amazing and believable. So two titles are very important and it has made CM Punk so much better having the company title than having a world title that was always the secondary title. So at the this period in time two titles are an imperative.