How long before the tag titles are merged/unified?

[AegonTargaryen]

It's an awesome thing(IMO) that they've ended brand-exclusive PPVs beginning with Backlash, and this has thus signalled that it's only a matter of time before they do away with the brand split altogether, may be 2-4 yrs, may be even by WM35, who knows.

But what's even more foreseeable is the unification of the tag titles.

Now a lot of arguments will be made as to why "the brand split is a good thing, we need two tag titles, two world titles, two women's titles" etc. etc.

Right now, I'm not going to argue about the WORLD titles, or whether the brand split SHOULD end, and so on, but just focus on the tag titles.

Just to cover a little on the "why the brand split is good, because it gives people something to do and creates stars" argument though..

1)With two world titles, the scene(particularly owing to Lesnar's part-time status)has never been so dismal and lacklustre on BOTH raw and smackdown. Instead of 4-5 hungry dogs aiming for the richest prize- say AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and Braun Strowman..we've had all sorts of anomalies masquerading as world title changes/reigns.
2)How big of a star is Jinder Mahal now? Whatever they did with him by calling his wins over Orton as "WWE champion" could've and should've been done with the US title.
3)How better off is Bray Wyatt owing to the brand split and being a former champion? That's right, he's WORSE OFF, than he was between 2013-2016.
4)Although fans love Shinsuke's royal rumble victory, my feeling is that he's nowhere near as OVER, or as deserving, or organic as Chris Benoit and Daniel Bryan's coronations, or even Eddie Guerrero's, two of whom weren't even Royal Rumble winners.

Why? Because Shinsuke, despite the "brand split makes new stars" era, was booked like trash to begin with, with protracted feuds with Ziggler, and Jinder wherein he ended up looking like a chump, and some random multi-man matches and feuds alongside Orton.

Instead of booking him strong and consistent(exactly like Braun Strowman has been on Raw), they just gave him a RR win(not that I'm AGAINST it or anti-Nakamura) and lo and behold- DREAM MATCH.

5)The biggest issue- protracted feuds and repetition. I'm aware this has been done to DEATH here in these threads.

The newest evidence of how brand split(two tag titles) is utterly boring lies in the announcement that the Usos will be defending their titles against, the NEW DAY. At this point they're but "OLD DAY".

Despite the fact that all PPVs from Backlash will feature both Raw and SDL, they're not utilizing the elements on the roster for FRESH matchups? Seriously?

Elsewhere on Raw, Seth Rollins has finally arisen out of the ashes of the dreadful 6-8 month feud with The Bar. And the Bar's newest challengers? Not the Club, NOT the revival, but Apollo and Titus O'Neil.

If you consider all of the above, and take into account JUST the tag team title scene on both Raw and SDL throughout this year(April2017-present):-

1)The only remarkable and memorable feud on SDL was Usos vs New Day(which was already a re-enactment of their previous feuds to begin with), and throw in a few good matches with Benjamin and Gable in the mix.

Inference:-Breezango, Ascension, Rusev Day and other teams never mattered and didn't do a thing of note.

2)Raw had the Bar vs Hardys, then Rollins/Ambrose and Rollins/Jordan but that's about it.

The Club, The Revival(who've been made to look like Chumps, so far, besides trading victory with The Club) aren't even in the conversation when it comes to the titles.

And STILL, in all likelihood, it's Titus Worldwide who'll be challenging the Bar at Elimination Chamber.

All of this serves to prove how owing to the brand split, or at least two sets of tag titles, all we get is the same matches and feuds over and over and over. It's basically 500 ml milk diluted with 500 ml water served in a fancy jar or packaging, and lo and behold.

So how long before they merge or unify the tag titles? (and I'm NOT saying they should end the brand split, though that's going to happen sooner or later anyway).

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Realistically they seem to be moving towards full unifications again at Mania 35... They seem to be giving many of the borderline singles guys "one last shot" with the Elimination Chamber/5 way match, that will start being wittled down once Mania is done and some will lose their chance permanently to be in that top spot... guys like Owens, Balor, Zayn, Miz etc...

In the Tag's it's on paper, easier to merge as so many teams can be split/disappear. Sheamus is clearly on borrowed time with his spinal stenosis so The Bar will go, Rusev Day will go as he gets a singles push, ditto for Matt and Jeff, Shelton and Gable isn't quite working (if anything Jordan reunites with Gable) and there are several teams who are just gonna be released... Colons, Breezango, Ascension, Miztourage and Slater & Rhyno have all run their course with the company.

Realistically, the move back to mixed PPV means they need fewer teams, as there will be less space on the cards... They can make do with 8 across both rosters, but 10 is more likely.

How to unite the titles? It's clear they're setting the Bludgeons up for something so I'd have them win the SD titles. at a certain point around Summerslam or Surivor Series, debut War Machine and have them destroy them making them the dominant team... they beat everyone.

Over on RAW have The Revival win the titles from Titus Worldwide (only a short reign is needed for TW) and have them feud with The Club and if as I expect, Sheamus has to retire, the Kings Of Wrestling (Ohno is a logical replacement) build both they and War Machine.

Two options for unifying the titles - either you move the Uso's over and have them win the titles or, personally I'd reunite a classic team for a mutual last hurrah in Jeri-Show... both guys deserve a "last run" and Jeri-Show would help Big Show have that in particular... he and Jericho win the titles setting up the "monster" unification for Mania 35 between themselves and War Machine.

The only "issue" is if they want to go with the 10 time IC angle instead with Miz, but even then, Miz could be part of the tag angle as he was part of Show-Miz, perhaps he's the one to cost them the chance to unify the titles right before Mania...

 

[Khalifa]

I don’t think it happens for atleast another 3 years and i certainly haven’t been picking up the merging of the brands vibe you guys have had. I love the brand split and think it has been the best thing WWE has done in a long time. How long have we wanted undercard feuds to actually have a bit of time? how long have we wanted the US title and IC title to be focussed on as well? How long have we wanted good tag team wrestling? With the Brand split everything has become a focus to an extent instead of the two world title matches (or one) and the other main event match that doesn’t involve the title.

With the brand split your able to hold off matches instead of just wasting them on TV (Cena and Nakamura doesn’t back up my claim) and give everyone a bit of a shot. I mean when was the last time the IC has meant so much than when the Miz has it? It’s been a very long time.

As for the tag teams, I’ve said it before, there is just so many great tag teams right now that merging the division would just kill atleast half of them. New Day, Uso’s, Revival, Shield, Hardy’s, Sheamus and Cesaro, Bludgeon Brothers, American Aplha 2 and Breezango are all champion contenders, you just could not have that many in one division on one show. That’s not to mention every tag team that comes through from NXT, which always seem to be the next best thing.

The brand split has been awesome and merging anything would only hurt the quantity which in the end hurts the quality (for wrestling anyways).

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The brand split isn't going anywhere for now so i don'T see them unifying any title for now since they need to have 2 sets of titles for the live events circuit. That's the reality of the thing, they decided to have only dual brand ppv while still keeping the 2 brand seperate which means that until they decided to stop the brand split all together, where still going to have 2 of each titles.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Honestly if it was up to me being that both tag and women divisions on both brands are too small to actually be called a division; I would have them merge the tag division and the women's division. Then put all the women on Raw and all the teams on smackdown. That way if you want to specifically watch women wrestling then you turn into Raw and if you specifically want to specifically watch tag teams then you turn on smackdown

 

[Radical]

Probably should be a while until they even think of merging the tag titles.

Brand split seems to be staying, as it should, and that means they need separate tag, women's, mid-card and world titles on both shows.

My main thing about all that is just that they should name and design those titles better so they don't seem so lame like they are just a low-level division title. Bring back the terms like: World Tag Team Titles and WWE Tag Team Titles and a Women's World or Universal Title and a Women's WWE Title.

And for goodness sake ... the tag title belt designs --- BEYOND garbage. I don't think a 10 year old could come up with a worse, more childish and pathetic looking title design than what the tag titles have been for years now.

If you look at the classic 90s World Tag Title belts or even the 2000s World and WWE title belts and compare today, it should be highly embarrassing what WWE has allowed.

I think that's part of the problem.

The divisions have talented tag teams but their titles look like toys and do not look the least big prestigious or impressive - literally no gold on them whatsoever. So guess what? They look like 5 cents.

Go figure.

 

[Spencesc11]

Unifying the tag titles would be foolish if your trying to treat the brands as separate entities. What they need is just more quality tag teams on Raw.

Smackdown right now has the Usos, New Day, Gable & Benjamin, Bludgeon Brothers, Rusev & English, & you could even throw Owens/Zayn into the equation.

Raw has Cesaro/Sheamus, The Club, Revival, & Titus Worldwide

Time for some call ups (Authors of Pain, Undisputed Era, etc...)

Also would like to see a Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt tag team. I think this would give them a lane to be more relevant.

 

[EastCoastFan]

As long as Raw and SD are both on USA Network, there will be separate tag team titles.
USA are the ones who wanted WWE to go back to a split roster, as they felt having the same guys on both shows was hurting SD's ratings.

 

[Eyrothath]

I always thought the brand split was a good idea as the roster grows it is hard to feature all the talent they use, Smackdown Live became a really good show again due to the split.. I could see all the belts unifying though and the talent holding the belts are featured on BOTH shows, just the champions though..

 

[shafe_41]

They just did the brand split like... 18 months ago or something. Why would they put the titles back together? I get no "title unification" vibe whatsoever from either brand. People look far too deep into words that are said on television. Everything that's said isn't a hint or signal of things to come. Moreover, if you get these "signals" now, and unification happens three years down the road, it doesn't make you right. Everything in wrestling will happen eventually.

 

[HORRORHOLIC]

The sooner the better. And I mean with ALL the titles!!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think this vibe some have stems from the fact that WWE is ending dual branded ppvs. They've seeing that dual brand ppvs are over, so they make the leap from that to the brand split ending not so long afterwards. I can understand the vibe because it really does seem like the next logical step when you go back to making every ppv feature both Raw and SmackDown wrestlers.

The end of dual branded ppvs is basically a business decision, however, as WWE doing this will eliminate a couple of ppvs. They don't feel that the additional expense is really warranted considering ticket sales and overall interest. They're not losing money or anything, but they don't feel they're making enough to where they feel that it's worth the extra cost. What this will essentially mean is that most of the ppvs will be made up almost entirely of championship matches and maybe WWE is guessing there'll be more interest in a show that'll feature something Roode vs. Orton and Reigns vs. Balor instead of Roode vs. Orton and Rawley vs. Ziggler. The single brand ppv format will basically eliminate whatever focus undercard programs have had in favor of the title programs and, from a business perspective, WWE MIGHT be right.

I agree with most others in that we're a couple of years before WWE decides to eliminate the brand split altogether. From a purely fan perspective, I wouldn't mind if the tag titles and women's titles were merged as those would be some insanely packed divisions when you look at the talent. For the tag team division, you'd have the Usos, New Day, American Alpha 2.0, the Bludgeon Brothers, the Revival, Anderson & Gallows and Sheamus & Cesaro as the top teams and the Authors of Pain are probably due up from NXT post WrestleMania. Then you have your jobber teams, for the most part, like Breezango, Rhyno & Heath Slater, Apollo & Titus and the Ascension.

I can see WWE doing the brand split thing in cycles in which a split will be around for 3 to 5 years and then it'll be gone for 3 to 5 years.