Is a championship title just a prop? Is it just a hunk of metal strapped to leather to use to sell a product? To many its certainly far, far more than that. Championships used to be seen as testaments to the hard work and talent of the individuals that held them. In the past, when a worker was told we're gonna put the strap on you, it was magical; a moment they would never forget. Over the years, however, titles in the WWE have been passed around back and forth more than Melina was in the locker room her first year at WWE. Joking aside, the championships in the WWE need to be reviewed and reestablished to their former prominence in order for them to be perceived to be as prestigious to the fans in the audience as it once was to the workers in the back in the past. This can be easily done in such a way as to not only elevate the title, but also give young up and comers more ways to showcase themselves to the public.
To start with let's start with the WWE Divas' Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship. The main problem with these two divisions is reestablishing their importance, as well as showcasing a convincing roster of contenders for each title. The divas' division has a great start at the moment with Beth Phoenix as their champion. Due to her talent and skill, she is easily the best active member of that division. As such, her reign with the championship should last a long while, maybe even into Wrestlemania. But, how could that be done convincingly and in a way that is entertaining.
Between now and Wrestlemania there are approximately five pay-per-views; Vengeance, Survivor Series, TLC, Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber. With Vengeance being not long away, not much build up can be done just yet, so one can start off by finally doing the blow-off final match between Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. Beth should look dominate in this match-up to help showcase her position as the top of the division. The main build-up for the division won't fully jump start till after Survivor Series as based on the WWE model one can expect Survivor Series-style tag match being arranged for the divas match per usual. After Survivor Series, there are would be only two opponents that would stand out as the main contenders for Beth's title; Eve and Natalya. Eve can be built up as wanting to take revenge for what her friend, Kelly Kelly, went through can demand to want a show at Beth first. Natalya, however, would counter by claiming that Beth would want her to have the first shot. As such, with two people vying for the match, Natalya and Eve could be placed in a number one contender's match at TLC with Beth watching from the outside.
Eve could go over Natalya to get the match with Beth at the Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble, Trish Stratus could be shown speaking with Eve in the back to give support and to also help set the tone for things to come. When Beth and Eve go one on one later that night, Beth could get overly aggressive and end up being disqualified for it. As she's beating her down, Trish could run in for the save. From here the can build up a story of how Trish is getting sick of all the things that Beth and Natalya have been doing in the division, and says that she will help get her ready for Beth. At Elimination Chamber it could be Eve with Trish in her corner vs. Beth with Natalya in her corner for the title, with Eve going over here. This would help establish Eve as being a credible champion for beating such a dominant star and help build her up for her future challenger after Wrestlemania.
Because of this match, the story can be built up so that it arranges Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. Trish Stratus and Eve at Wrestlemania. Trish and Eve could go over here, and while celebrating after the match (as it would be just enough time thankfully) Kharma could make her return to shock the crowd. Kharma could then be a tweener to begin running through the division as she had before to help build her way up to finally go over and beat Eve down the line, most likely at Over the Limit or Capitol Punishment. With this build-up, the title and the division would both have a huge boast with Eve, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and Kharma as the forefront of the division that could all easily be seen as credible champions.
As for the WWE Tag Team Championship, WWE already has a good start with having Air Boom as champions with Awesome Truth vying for the championship. At the moment, there are currently five teams that are regularly tagging with one another; Air Boom, Awesome Truth, The Usos, Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks, and Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. As the final two teams will most likely not last for an extended period let's focus on Air Boom, Awesome Truth, and The Usos. Going by the current power struggle angle going on in the WWE, Awesome Truth will most likely stand as the heel tag team for the inevitable 'new regime'-like stable that will begin to emerge from this angle. As such they need to most likely hold the gold to help establish the division more. As there is no telling when this new stable will emerge, one must say for the time being that when such a stable does finally appear from the shadows as the source of the 'true conspiracy,' Awesome Truth should gain the titles at the next pay-per-view from there to help establish the stable's dominance, most likely being TLC.
From there, they can feud with Air Boom as part of a WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle. But, who do they face after that. There are a few teams that could emerge for this. The Usos can easily be seen as the first true team to try to dethrone them. This would occur toward the second half of the WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle. Seeing as it will most likely not go past Capitol Punishment, I say that the Usos should take the championships from Awesome Truth at either Extreme Rules or Over the Limit. From there the feud between the two teams would end at the same time as the WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle does. From there the Usos would need someone fresh to face off with, a team that would stand out as the true team to bring the division to its peak. This is where the Kings Reign Supreme.
With the recent acquisition by WWE of Claudio Castagnoli and the most likely near future signing of Chris Hero, the Kings of Wrestling can find themselves on WWE television very quickly. What would be done is the night after the Usos win the WWE Tag Team Championships, the Kings of Wrestling would debut on Raw. From there they should appear on as many WWE shows as possible winning matches as to establish themselves as being on a winning streak. As such, when the struggle angle does finally end, the Usos have a viable team already waiting in the shadows who could be seen as a true that to their reign after Awesome Truth. From there you can have the two teams feud for about two months before finally having the Kings of Wrestling defeat the Usos for the titles around most likely Night of Champions. From there the titles would have a hell of a lot of most interest than they had in the past with a few already established teams that can compete with the Kings, as well as hopefully a few more tag team acquisitions done by the WWE during this time to help boost the division.
From here we bring ourselves now to the two world titles. Having multiple world champions did serve a fine purpose in the past when the brands were truly separate entities, but now since certain titles are dual-branded having two world champions tends to be harder to seen as making sense as most fans would prefer to have one man standing tall as the true undisputed champion of the WWE. That can't be done if there is one more man claiming themselves to be the best as well. So only one thing can be truly done, unify them the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship to be one WWE World Championship.
Now I call this unified title the WWE World Championship as this takes away the weight moniker that is usually associated with the world title as not all world champions are usually heavyweights so why call them as such. This can be done sometime after Wrestlemania and toward the end of the prementioned struggle angle. Going by who I think the champions will be after Wrestlemania, I say this feud will focus around Daniel Bryan and CM Punk; thankfully also since Cena will be occupied with the Rock, we shouldn't have to see him vying for the title for quite some time.)
This set-up calls for Daniel Bryan to turn heel leading into Wrestlemania before cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Due to his losing streak he's been having as of late Bryan could finally just lose it and start going off on his opponents in a far more aggressive manner. As such, his heel character would focus on him being one of the most aggressive and technically sound wrestlers on the roster, and knowing it. I know also many fans would also be marking out immensely when we finally see the resurgence of the classic I have till five moments that have been seen by the American Dragon in the past. After Bryan wins the World Heavyweight Championship, Bryan can continue being on a winning streak tearing through the Smackdown roster going through guys like Sheamus and Randy Orton. After such victories, Bryan could start going on about how he is truly the one that is the Best in the World, Que Cult of Personality in the middle of his promo on Smackdown.
CM Punk could walk out and start talking about how long he has known Bryan, and how he could not believe he has sunk this low. From there he could start going on about how since he is the WWE Champion, than he is the one that is the true Best in the World. From there they could arrange to take on one another one on one in order to see who is truly the best. In order to make things more interesting, as well as to help the feud begin sooner, this can be built up as a best of five series to determine who is the best beginning at either Capitol Punishment or Money in the Bank and ending with the final match being at Night of Champions. Also, the title stipulation wouldn't necessarily have to be added right away. The matches could be seen as a pride thing at first, but when it comes down to the 2-2 score, Punk could bring up uping the stakes to the series by making their final match be a unification match; most likely with it being a 30-minute Iron Man Match.
From here, Punk could go over Bryan in the end in a classic match to end an entralling series that would be remembered always. With there being one world title, the champion can appear on both shows with his number one contender also being able go between brands as well. This would make the world title mean far more with the champion having to work even harder for his position since it means far more then. During this time, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler could continue to be built up to be in the main event picture so that when Punk finally wins he has two viable heels ready to face him. Now with there being only one world title, that leaves the main event picture a tad full. But, that leads into how the Intercontinental and United States championships are elevated.
These titles would serve as the top championship for each brand, while the WWE World Championship would serve as the top championship of the company as a whole. As such, the IC and US titles would be treated as the separate world titles were previous to that with storylines that could easily be portrayed as main event ones. As such, it would serve as the perfect way to prepare up and coming talent to be in the main event as the titles served as stepping stones in the past. This would also help veterans to work with these talents to help prepare them for it, as well as keep them from being seen too much with the world title as John Cena has been as of late. Also, the United States championship would be elevated as being a part of the Grand Slam in the WWE finally as the appropriate replacement for the slot normally held by either the European & Hardcore titles. As such the criteria for the Grand Slam would be:
Primary: WWE World Championship (or WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship)
Secondary: WWE Intercontinental Championship
Tertiary: WWE United States Championship (or European Championship or Hardcore Championship)
Tag: WWE Tag Team Championship (or World Tag Team Championship)
With this being done, more people could have the chance to attain the Grand Slam, as well as past stars would have that honor attributed to them. (For Example: Ric Flair). This would make the IC and US titles mean so much more, and make people want to watch more. However, you still run into the problem that comes from removing a title, less championships for stars to go for which in-turn can lead to less television time for them. With this, I bring up my final point to this revival; bringing back the Cruiserweight Championship to be a dual-branded title.
I say only the Cruiserweight Championship for a number of reason. 1. A huge amount of the roster could compete for it, most of which would normally not be seen as viable world champions in the eyes of the WWE due to their size. 2. You don't want to have too many titles or else its too much to present to the audience. 3. Due to changing times and tastes, the Hardcore Championship would be far harder to market and use as it would devalue gimmick/hardcore matches to the point wear they would mean as much as well as would make more chances for superstars to hurt themselves seriously.
It could be used to get the crowd pumped for the action of the night with ease and give superstars more time to showcase their skills. It could be brought back with ease. After the power struggle angle that is going on now is over, whoever comes out on top could reintroduce it as one of their first orders of business for their new era in the WWE. A tournament could then be held with Sin Cara coming out on top to help be the main face of the division. From there, the skies the limit. More talent can be brought out from overseas that may not speak English that could not only thrive in that kind of division, but also help to boost WWE marketing value in those areas they were from as well.
With these kinds of changes the WWE could revitalize the images of their championships with ease. This would create very compelling television that would bring in both casual and smart fans alike, while also not interfering directly with WWE's main business model, main current storyline, or knocking away their main poster boy that most fans have grown stale with. As such, the championships would finally be brought back to their former glory.
To start with let's start with the WWE Divas' Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship. The main problem with these two divisions is reestablishing their importance, as well as showcasing a convincing roster of contenders for each title. The divas' division has a great start at the moment with Beth Phoenix as their champion. Due to her talent and skill, she is easily the best active member of that division. As such, her reign with the championship should last a long while, maybe even into Wrestlemania. But, how could that be done convincingly and in a way that is entertaining.
Between now and Wrestlemania there are approximately five pay-per-views; Vengeance, Survivor Series, TLC, Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber. With Vengeance being not long away, not much build up can be done just yet, so one can start off by finally doing the blow-off final match between Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. Beth should look dominate in this match-up to help showcase her position as the top of the division. The main build-up for the division won't fully jump start till after Survivor Series as based on the WWE model one can expect Survivor Series-style tag match being arranged for the divas match per usual. After Survivor Series, there are would be only two opponents that would stand out as the main contenders for Beth's title; Eve and Natalya. Eve can be built up as wanting to take revenge for what her friend, Kelly Kelly, went through can demand to want a show at Beth first. Natalya, however, would counter by claiming that Beth would want her to have the first shot. As such, with two people vying for the match, Natalya and Eve could be placed in a number one contender's match at TLC with Beth watching from the outside.
Eve could go over Natalya to get the match with Beth at the Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble, Trish Stratus could be shown speaking with Eve in the back to give support and to also help set the tone for things to come. When Beth and Eve go one on one later that night, Beth could get overly aggressive and end up being disqualified for it. As she's beating her down, Trish could run in for the save. From here the can build up a story of how Trish is getting sick of all the things that Beth and Natalya have been doing in the division, and says that she will help get her ready for Beth. At Elimination Chamber it could be Eve with Trish in her corner vs. Beth with Natalya in her corner for the title, with Eve going over here. This would help establish Eve as being a credible champion for beating such a dominant star and help build her up for her future challenger after Wrestlemania.
Because of this match, the story can be built up so that it arranges Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. Trish Stratus and Eve at Wrestlemania. Trish and Eve could go over here, and while celebrating after the match (as it would be just enough time thankfully) Kharma could make her return to shock the crowd. Kharma could then be a tweener to begin running through the division as she had before to help build her way up to finally go over and beat Eve down the line, most likely at Over the Limit or Capitol Punishment. With this build-up, the title and the division would both have a huge boast with Eve, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and Kharma as the forefront of the division that could all easily be seen as credible champions.
As for the WWE Tag Team Championship, WWE already has a good start with having Air Boom as champions with Awesome Truth vying for the championship. At the moment, there are currently five teams that are regularly tagging with one another; Air Boom, Awesome Truth, The Usos, Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks, and Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. As the final two teams will most likely not last for an extended period let's focus on Air Boom, Awesome Truth, and The Usos. Going by the current power struggle angle going on in the WWE, Awesome Truth will most likely stand as the heel tag team for the inevitable 'new regime'-like stable that will begin to emerge from this angle. As such they need to most likely hold the gold to help establish the division more. As there is no telling when this new stable will emerge, one must say for the time being that when such a stable does finally appear from the shadows as the source of the 'true conspiracy,' Awesome Truth should gain the titles at the next pay-per-view from there to help establish the stable's dominance, most likely being TLC.
From there, they can feud with Air Boom as part of a WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle. But, who do they face after that. There are a few teams that could emerge for this. The Usos can easily be seen as the first true team to try to dethrone them. This would occur toward the second half of the WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle. Seeing as it will most likely not go past Capitol Punishment, I say that the Usos should take the championships from Awesome Truth at either Extreme Rules or Over the Limit. From there the feud between the two teams would end at the same time as the WWE vs. Anti-WWE struggle does. From there the Usos would need someone fresh to face off with, a team that would stand out as the true team to bring the division to its peak. This is where the Kings Reign Supreme.
With the recent acquisition by WWE of Claudio Castagnoli and the most likely near future signing of Chris Hero, the Kings of Wrestling can find themselves on WWE television very quickly. What would be done is the night after the Usos win the WWE Tag Team Championships, the Kings of Wrestling would debut on Raw. From there they should appear on as many WWE shows as possible winning matches as to establish themselves as being on a winning streak. As such, when the struggle angle does finally end, the Usos have a viable team already waiting in the shadows who could be seen as a true that to their reign after Awesome Truth. From there you can have the two teams feud for about two months before finally having the Kings of Wrestling defeat the Usos for the titles around most likely Night of Champions. From there the titles would have a hell of a lot of most interest than they had in the past with a few already established teams that can compete with the Kings, as well as hopefully a few more tag team acquisitions done by the WWE during this time to help boost the division.
From here we bring ourselves now to the two world titles. Having multiple world champions did serve a fine purpose in the past when the brands were truly separate entities, but now since certain titles are dual-branded having two world champions tends to be harder to seen as making sense as most fans would prefer to have one man standing tall as the true undisputed champion of the WWE. That can't be done if there is one more man claiming themselves to be the best as well. So only one thing can be truly done, unify them the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship to be one WWE World Championship.
Now I call this unified title the WWE World Championship as this takes away the weight moniker that is usually associated with the world title as not all world champions are usually heavyweights so why call them as such. This can be done sometime after Wrestlemania and toward the end of the prementioned struggle angle. Going by who I think the champions will be after Wrestlemania, I say this feud will focus around Daniel Bryan and CM Punk; thankfully also since Cena will be occupied with the Rock, we shouldn't have to see him vying for the title for quite some time.)
This set-up calls for Daniel Bryan to turn heel leading into Wrestlemania before cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Due to his losing streak he's been having as of late Bryan could finally just lose it and start going off on his opponents in a far more aggressive manner. As such, his heel character would focus on him being one of the most aggressive and technically sound wrestlers on the roster, and knowing it. I know also many fans would also be marking out immensely when we finally see the resurgence of the classic I have till five moments that have been seen by the American Dragon in the past. After Bryan wins the World Heavyweight Championship, Bryan can continue being on a winning streak tearing through the Smackdown roster going through guys like Sheamus and Randy Orton. After such victories, Bryan could start going on about how he is truly the one that is the Best in the World, Que Cult of Personality in the middle of his promo on Smackdown.
CM Punk could walk out and start talking about how long he has known Bryan, and how he could not believe he has sunk this low. From there he could start going on about how since he is the WWE Champion, than he is the one that is the true Best in the World. From there they could arrange to take on one another one on one in order to see who is truly the best. In order to make things more interesting, as well as to help the feud begin sooner, this can be built up as a best of five series to determine who is the best beginning at either Capitol Punishment or Money in the Bank and ending with the final match being at Night of Champions. Also, the title stipulation wouldn't necessarily have to be added right away. The matches could be seen as a pride thing at first, but when it comes down to the 2-2 score, Punk could bring up uping the stakes to the series by making their final match be a unification match; most likely with it being a 30-minute Iron Man Match.
From here, Punk could go over Bryan in the end in a classic match to end an entralling series that would be remembered always. With there being one world title, the champion can appear on both shows with his number one contender also being able go between brands as well. This would make the world title mean far more with the champion having to work even harder for his position since it means far more then. During this time, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler could continue to be built up to be in the main event picture so that when Punk finally wins he has two viable heels ready to face him. Now with there being only one world title, that leaves the main event picture a tad full. But, that leads into how the Intercontinental and United States championships are elevated.
These titles would serve as the top championship for each brand, while the WWE World Championship would serve as the top championship of the company as a whole. As such, the IC and US titles would be treated as the separate world titles were previous to that with storylines that could easily be portrayed as main event ones. As such, it would serve as the perfect way to prepare up and coming talent to be in the main event as the titles served as stepping stones in the past. This would also help veterans to work with these talents to help prepare them for it, as well as keep them from being seen too much with the world title as John Cena has been as of late. Also, the United States championship would be elevated as being a part of the Grand Slam in the WWE finally as the appropriate replacement for the slot normally held by either the European & Hardcore titles. As such the criteria for the Grand Slam would be:
Primary: WWE World Championship (or WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship)
Secondary: WWE Intercontinental Championship
Tertiary: WWE United States Championship (or European Championship or Hardcore Championship)
Tag: WWE Tag Team Championship (or World Tag Team Championship)
With this being done, more people could have the chance to attain the Grand Slam, as well as past stars would have that honor attributed to them. (For Example: Ric Flair). This would make the IC and US titles mean so much more, and make people want to watch more. However, you still run into the problem that comes from removing a title, less championships for stars to go for which in-turn can lead to less television time for them. With this, I bring up my final point to this revival; bringing back the Cruiserweight Championship to be a dual-branded title.
I say only the Cruiserweight Championship for a number of reason. 1. A huge amount of the roster could compete for it, most of which would normally not be seen as viable world champions in the eyes of the WWE due to their size. 2. You don't want to have too many titles or else its too much to present to the audience. 3. Due to changing times and tastes, the Hardcore Championship would be far harder to market and use as it would devalue gimmick/hardcore matches to the point wear they would mean as much as well as would make more chances for superstars to hurt themselves seriously.
It could be used to get the crowd pumped for the action of the night with ease and give superstars more time to showcase their skills. It could be brought back with ease. After the power struggle angle that is going on now is over, whoever comes out on top could reintroduce it as one of their first orders of business for their new era in the WWE. A tournament could then be held with Sin Cara coming out on top to help be the main face of the division. From there, the skies the limit. More talent can be brought out from overseas that may not speak English that could not only thrive in that kind of division, but also help to boost WWE marketing value in those areas they were from as well.
With these kinds of changes the WWE could revitalize the images of their championships with ease. This would create very compelling television that would bring in both casual and smart fans alike, while also not interfering directly with WWE's main business model, main current storyline, or knocking away their main poster boy that most fans have grown stale with. As such, the championships would finally be brought back to their former glory.
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