**MERGED** Championships WWE Should Consider (keep it in here!!)

[Dagger Dias]

Back in October, New Japan Pro Wrestling introduced a new championship to their roster called the NEVER Openweight Championship. The NEVER stands for "New Blood Evolution Valiantly Eternal Radical and is a title that is used for rising talent and for outside wrestlers that aren't currently signed to the company.

First of all, if it stands for "New Blood Evolution Valiantly Eternal Radical" then the "NEVER" acronym does not work. Either they should change it to "NBEVER" as opposed to "NEVER" or change the meaning to "New-Blood" rather than "New Blood". Now with that little rant out of the way, my thoughts on the actual topic.

It could be a good idea to bring in this type of championship to the main rosters, but they already have too many titles. They need to worry about fixing the importance of both midcard belts, the divas title, and the giant pennies before they can think about adding a new title. This new championship would get lost in the shuffle and immediately get knocked down to bottom tier in terms of importance. If they worked on the other titles first then this could be a better idea later down the line. It could work fine the way the ECW Championship used to be, as a bottom tier title for the newer guys that aren't even ready for the midcard belts yet or some of the veterans who have nothing else to do.

I don't see it happening though. They might make this title as a modern counterpart to the Cruiserweight Championship or even a sequel to the old ECW Championship under a new talent initiative type deal as far as who fights for it, but the part that really stands out is letting wrestlers not currently signed to the WWE fight for it. That will never happen, at least not onscreen. Maybe in the developmental area, and even there I highly doubt that WWE would give any type of title shot to someone that is not under any type of contract with them.

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

They already have this, in a form, as the NXT Championship. While not defended on Raw or SmackDown, it is exactly what you described: a championship denoting the next guy in line to become a bigger star. Seth Rollins was the first NXT Champion and now he's in the biggest angle in the company.

I think if anything they might start at least SHOWING the NXT Championship on the main brands, to get the audience to know the up-and-comers a little better. I wish that was what they were using their third hour of Raw for, rather than Great Khali and Hornswoggle giving Vickie an Eiffel Tower.

 

[Diet Soda]

I don't think WWE has either the roster depth or the airtime to successfully execute this idea, which is ironic since the roster is at its largest for a long time and has more television hours in a week than ever before.

Right now, the competition for the two mid-card championships is pretty stifled with challengers going for the gold on the back of a grudge match rather than working their way through the ranks to become the number one contender. I think another title in the scene would further complicate this issue.

I suppose the infant NXT Championship pretty much fulfils the role that this NEVER Openweight title has. Consider the inaugural champion Seth Rollins: 6'1" and 205lbs, has many athletic and high-flying moves in his arsenal, his in-ring style is fast and energetic - essentially if he was wrestling 10-15 years ago he would be labelled a cruiserweight. Though looking at the NXT title's predecessor, the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, smaller guys like Rollins, Justin Gabriel, and Richie Steamboat had reigns alongside big guys like Sheamus and (even) Mason Ryan. So it's one of those cases where the title 'Heavyweight' doesn't really apply.

It's just a shame that NXT is being treated right now as an isolated brand, where instead if there were some degree of crossover then the NXT title could easily be the new championship Jack-Hammer is looking for.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I don't really like the idea to be honest, the roster does not have what it takes to do it and the creative team has troubles finding ways to actually use their midcard championships right, I mean United States Championship, Divas Championship and the Tag Team Championship are pretty much weak, because there are not a lot of competition for them, and like I said the proper booking for them to be credible.

And another question, what is really the point to create that championship? If unused guys aren't being used, what would the title do for them? Make them relevant? Highly unlikely. I remember the discussion when HHH said that Raw was going to be a Supershow, and people started to say that champions would have more time to book their rivalries and that guys like Alex Riley, Tyson Kidd, Drew McIntyre would have an opportunity to have some TV Time. Fast forwarding we look at the titles and only the World Championships and Intercontinental Championship are relevant, I would be capable to nominate the guys that appear on WWETV every single week, and they are pretty much midcard to uppercards, over and over again. SO my question, what's the point of creating the new title? Just do something new, that we would bet on the first two months and then just drop it?

I say before any of that, they should make the already active titles relevant again. Antonio Cesaro does not do any favors for the USA Title, he is very bland as a character and in four months he stayed the exact same thing. Give it to R-Truth at TLC (isn't going to happen I know), and let him do his thing with Little Jimmy and maybe, just maybe make him turn heel. He is a character that we can invest some time on, have good laughs and see who's going to finally win it from him. The Divas Division just needs more girls, bring the girls from NXT to the main roster, girls like Paige, Audrey Marie, Charlotte and once again just properly book them. I mean, I get it that WWE is building up an AJ Lee vs. Eve Torres sometime down the line, but does that mean that the Divas Championship has to be off TV and just have a random match set up from a random battle royal in the day of the PPV? And what about the Tag Team Division, that has two solid uppercards, completely random paired in Daniel Bryan and Kane has their champions and more random guys put together to challenge them? What's the story in the N1 Conteder's Match? What does Rhodes Scholars have against Team Hell No, taking the fact that they think they can be better than them as champion? It's going all down for the booking team, and if they can't even work with the championships they have, they wouldn't certainly do a better job by creating a new one.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

Bring the NXT title over to the main roster. Boom. Sorted.

I like the idea though, those new guys need something to help them out, because, my God, those shitty gimmicks won't do anything for them.

 

[Wolf Pac]

NXT is a developmental brand, so I don't really see how the NXT Championship and this NEVER Championship are the same. NXT is still FCW just televised and under a new name, it's for guys who aren't ready for the main roster. This title Jack-Hammer is suggesting sounds like a title for rising talent who are already on the main roster and for guys who are ready to graduate from NXT. NXT Championship elevates you to the main roster, the "NEVER" Championship elevates you up the ranks on the main roster. I like the idea of the WWE bringing in this championship, it reminds me of a similar title in my old e-fed called the Rising Star Division title, but I agree with everyone else that says the WWE need to work on getting it right with their current titles in terms of importance before they ever consider bringing in another one. If they brought this one in now, I could see it getting lost in the shuffle and ending up on Superstars for the rest of it's days.

 

[THE Great GAMMA]

I would like to pose a question to the posters on here. And if this topic has already come up I apologize.
I would like to know if you guys think (as i do) that the WWE could use a Television Title to bring in some intrigue to its lower midcard as well as utilise it to build up new talent.
WWE could make it that the title must be defended at every televised event. So every match the holder is in is a title match. As well what they could do is put the emphasis on actual wrestling. It should give guys who are lost in the shuffle atm something to do before going on to actual bigger storylines.
The only draw back i can see is that people would probably feel that the champ would be shoved down their throats him defending on RAW Smackdown Main Event and PPVs.

What do you guys think?

 

[Brewski]

I'm assuming you paraphrased from wikipedia, but the NEVER title is NOTHING like TNA's x-division belt. I don't even understand how it could be for up and coming wrestlers if Masato Tanaka is holding the belt. Does anybody else remember this guy in ECW? He was a power wrestler, he's gotta be in his 40s now. Don't get me wrong, really entertaining wrestler but in no way up and coming.

Op compared it to the original x-division but it doesn't even sound close to me. If you recall TNA back at the peak of the x-division (think the time of 6 sided rings and shaky TV deals) TNA was basically flooded with light heavyweight high flyers. They pushed the idea of "not wight limits but no limits" but it was really just exciting because these guys were excellent lightweights. IMO the title really changed when Somoa Joe came in. Now I love Joe, he's one of my favorite performers in all of wrestling, but even with his exciting for big man style it didn't always work the same way with smaller x-division guys. The NJPW of the x-title is the Junior heavyweight title which is just a light heavyweight belt. Would work perfect in WWE I think.

As for the guys comparing it to NXT, this could be a possibility if NJPW develops it. But right now having it on Tanaka is like if William Regal was holding the NXT belt, not much sense. NXT should remain it's separate thing as it leaves no pressure no put the belt on any established guy. This is still developmental, these are guys not meant for the big time yet. Keeping NXT as a separate entity by allowing more advanced prospects to polish up before moving to the main roster.

 

[jrush1978]

No, just no. Not insulting your idea but there are too many championships as is. I mean i'd be all for them just taking the US or IC title and using it for what you mentioned. In the title prestige thread i posted an idea for a restructuring of the championships and in that it would be either the US or IC title used for that purpose.

 

[vampirek]

Every time it seems a come on here, this thread pops up.

But on to it, no the WWE does not need it. I agree with the above poster, the roster does have enough titles, however the structure is just plain wrong. (By that I mean the IC and US titles are the same level.. the US should go for a more relevant lower title (with Cesaro a great chance to replace it)) The TV title wouldn't resolve this as it'll end up being the likes of Kofi holding the belt because nobody will care about the low carders and will get sick to death to see them 3-4 times a week on tv. Plus the fact that wrestler will suffer from fatigue meaning changing the title quickly and often to give the champions a break. It would work if WWE has less hours on tv but with the recent increases it doesn't make any sense for this title to exist.

On a second thought, you could rework the idea of the title. With WWE wanting to use the live crowd and social media, you could have a title where the fans decide either the opponent or the match stipulation (and keep it away from the rest of the Raw picture) for every title defence and it wouldn't need then to be defended on Main Event, not every Smackdown and so on. So it could become a mixture of previous titles and keep people entertained... I mean when will we ever see Zack Ryder v Tensai in a ladder match?. Of course it needs a good name instead of something like the Internet champion or Social Media champion etc.

I stand with the following structure (not to change this topic, but just to expand on the above post slightly):
WWE title
IC title
A lower card title, a name irrelevant but definitely not this TV idea.
Cruiserweight

As you can see doesnt increase the amount of titles, just does a better job spreading them out over the roster.

 

[JaylisJayP]

There are't necessarily too many championships. The problem is WWE has rendered them all except the WWE title completely worthless. And yes, that includes your precious Cesaro and his U.S. Title. They either don't use any of these belts in storylines (what's a storyline?) or nobody gives a crap because the contenders and champion are so horrible lately (Show/Sheamus).

The belts are props. They mean nothing. So who cares if there's another one? Make tem relevant again and then you can better gauge whether there are too many or not enough.

 

[UrUp]

Having someone defend the title every show is a bad idea, guys get injured, storylines change also having the same guy wrestle week in week out would get stale. WWE also would never rotate who the Champ was facing and if they did, they'd be all jobbers like the lineup Ryback faced during his streak like JTG, Slater, Hawkins etc.

WWE needs to start by having one World title and work their way down. The two main singles titles in WWE should be WWE and the IC title and your IC title is basically a tv title.

There is no need to add anymore titles, especially a tv title, until WWE sorts out their current title/format mess.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Yes and No. I like this idea a lot. I think using a Title could bring in some intrigue to its lower Mid-Card as well as utilize it to build up new talent. It worked with the ECW Title and the NXT title, well, one for one so far at least. I think a Title should be defended at every televised event. I think every match the holder is in should be a Title match, which could also put emphasis on actual wrestling. It would also give guys who are lost in the shuffle at the moment, something to do before going onto actual bigger storylines. The Champion wouldn’t be shoved down their throats with the Champ defending on Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, and Pay Per Views, because it’s not like it’s just a SuperStar building a streak, it’s a Champion defending his Title. The Title I’m talking about is both the Intercontinental Title and the United States Title.

Here’s my version of this great idea. At this very moment, Kofi Kingston and Antonio Cesaro are at the Top of the Bottom / Bottom of the Top. Have Kofi Kingston defend the Intercontinental Title every week on Raw. Have Antonio Cesaro defend the United States Title every week on Smackdown. Have them alternate Title defenses on Main Event. Lastly, have them both defend their respective Titles on every Pay Per View. The key here is to have a different challenger every time, unless of course the Champion is defeated and loses the Title. One rematch, and then onto the next one. This plan would bring back that “Workhorse” Title mentality to both Mid-Card Titles.

 

[Wolver]

Bring back the WWE European Championship and make Hunico the champion for 120 days as maximum, he then defends it against Cesaro in a steel cage match and then the winner unifies it. No need for the TV title. Maybe dubuting an extreme championship title will be a good idea. There is good wrestlers like Hunico, Primo, Hawkins, Clay, Riley, Kidd, Rollins etc. Could benifit from winning the extreme title. Adding a stipulation in every match may also add prestige and focus to those wrestlers.

 

[HBsam31]

YES. I have talked about this in other threads as well. I would say get rid of the US title to bring in the tv title. Give the matches a 10 or 15 minute time limit like in the old days, and alternate defending it on Raw and Smackdown each week. I think this is a title that could really spice up the mid card. I think to they should allow only one rematch in a certain amount of time. I talked about this in the time limit thread too. A heel tv champion could help create new strong faces, by having the heel champ retain via time limit draw again and again so when a face finally beats the champ for the belt it would make the crowd that much more into the new champion. Then have a dominate face champ for a while until the next heel comes along and wins the belt. I am biased towrds this title, and it may not work as well as I think it would, but I think it is worth a try to add more prestige to the mid card.

 

[Steve-O-Matt]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------​

Hey guys, Steve here, talking about another one of my genius ideas... Well this one is not THAT good, but it might perk you up. Earlier I discussed the idea of a WWE Tag Team Championship MitB, but in the middle of my other thread: Let's Talk: Title Prestige (you can find it on here). I brought up a brief idea of a WWE Junior Championship.

Since then I've been tossing the idea back and forth in my head. Basically, I want the US and IC titles to unified, then the names taken away and new title put in it's place the WWE Junior Championship. What's its role? It's gonna be a midcard title exactly like the US and IC. The name Junior Champion implies that the champ is on his way to becoming a world champ and is a stepping stone to higher plains. It also implies you are the best in the mid-card division.

I've never really understood the names of the US and IC, they probably made more sense in the old days, but now, United States Championship is just a name, there's nothing United States about it, same goes for the IC. Inter-continent... Doesn't that basically mean the entire world, yet this isn't a world title? These names mean nothing really, where as Junior means something.

Also, I think once a year, maybe Summerslam, whom ever is the Junior champion gets a title shot at a world title, but risk is reward as they would have to give up the title, exchange it, for a title shot. You can ignore this bit if you want, it's just my silly idea of adding a little spice to it, but you get the jist.

The title will actually MEAN something as a name and will have something definite for the young guys to shoot for. The only drawback however might be the name Junior, it might imply wrestlers who aren't mature enough for the big leagues... But I'm hoping people won't get stuck on THAT notion, so what do you guys think, am I onto something?

 

[Piss Bucket]

Bring back the WWE European Championship and make Hunico the champion for 120 days as maximum, he then defends it against Cesaro in a steel cage match and then the winner unifies it. No need for the TV title. Maybe dubuting an extreme championship title will be a good idea. There is good wrestlers like Hunico, Primo, Hawkins, Clay, Riley, Kidd, Rollins etc. Could benifit from winning the extreme title. Adding a stipulation in every match may also add prestige and focus to those wrestlers.

Extreme title in PG era? Won't happen, they got rid of the hardcore title 10 years ago for a reason.

As for the TV title? Meh, TNA has one, OK it's hardly ever defended, but does WWE need it? IMO they don't.

 

[Boourns]

In a way this already exists. Let's be honest there are no real territories in wrestling anymore and therefore you can't have a United States and Intercontinental Champion really. Personally, I would unify the two titles and have a TV title and have the United States title used for what it is when they need it for a gimmick. I have no idea why Antonio Cesaro hasn't resurrected the European title yet in place of the United States title to gain more heat because even though these titles sometimes get lost in politics the fact is that they are simply prestige props. I think a TV champion should be guaranteed 15 minutes of television a week and have the title defended in every house show match. This is because you could move this TV champion tv time around as you wish for example, you could have a 15 minute Iron Man match on Raw and that'd be it (if they wanted.) or they could put the TV champion on Saturday Morning Slam and Superstars if they didn't have time on the main shows for the champion. We definitely need less titles and whatever happens they need to focus more on the idea of the titles they have in themselves and restore the prestige and the gimmicks of the ones in place to their maximum potential.

 

[JJohns]

First off, WWE Junior Championship is a horrible name. When I think Junior, I think either the WWE Mini's division that lasted for a cup of coffee, or a light heavyweight division. It doesn't harken to me a secondary title.

If the titles were to be merged and given a new name, I would call it the WWE North American Championship (bringing back the late 70s title that was held by Ted DiBiase) or keep the Intercontinental Championship.

The problem though is that there are too many wrestlers on the roster that could use a midcard title to eliminate one of them. This is the one area where I really don't support a title unification. In a perfect world, you would have WWE World Heavyweight Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE United States Championship and WWE World Tag Team Championship in that order from most important to least important. Basically, the United States Championship would take the place of the old European Championship in the order of importance for WWE Singles Titles.

 

[Rayne]

"Intercontinental" was originally intended to mean North and South America; Pat Patterson, the "North American Heavyweight Champion", won an imaginary tournament in Rio de Janeiro to create the championship.

And, this sounds like a perfectly horrible idea from top to bottom. You say it would occupy exactly the same position as the US and IC championships. So beyond the "Destination X" rip off part of it, what would be the point? People are suddenly going to go nuts for a title that's the equivalent of two titles people already hardly care about? How well has that worked for TNA? (If you don't watch TNA, the answer is "horribly".)

The name is god-awful as well. Yes, when you call something a "Junior" title, it sounds like you're talking about a belt for kids who aren't ready to be anywhere near the main event. People are going to get hung up on that, much like adults don't order from the "Kids" menu. "Light Heavyweight" is bad enough, and that was a Junior title.

Take this idea out behind the barn and shoot it.

 

[fenderjapan]

I think we should just merge all of the "add another secondary title" threads into one thread from now on. It seems like there are 5 of these every day.

Yes, there are lots of ideas for new titles that are slight variations on what is already there. They could make a WWE IntoEuroAsian Title, they could bring back the European Title, a title for fat guys, a title for people over 50... all that crap does is just add a device to get around booking talent into meaningful storylines.

 

[DirtyD79]

I would say yes if they didn't already have the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. As is WWE already has too many championships. Why do they need a third mid carders' belt? What would it do that those two belts aren't already doing?

 

[shitsngiggles]

I have been saying it for ages. There should be 1 main belt and 1 lower belt, maybe no lower belt.. The NXT belt should be shown on TV aswell to gather some interest.

Who is the real Champion in the WWE today? CM Punk or Big Show?

What is even the point of the US title or IC title? It is basically just screeming out: I'm not good enough for the world title, so I have to wear this title instead.

I'd have 1 Championship, The main champ of the company overall, no questions asked.

Scrap the rest, except the NXT belt, and use that alone as a lower level belt. Atleast it means something to be NXT champion, it means you've proven yourself to be good enough to compete in the main tier of WWE.

So in the end:

WWE Champion
Tag Team Champions
NXT Champion

You could then focus more on creating tournements and events specifically for people trying to climb the ladder to get their shot at the Champion.

King of the Ring done properly like before would be huge! And it takes up a good size of programming. Winner gets a shot at the champion.

Gauntlet matches, haven't seen a proper one of them for years!

Lots of options.

Also what about a Stable championship? Where groups go head to head to gain some level of control of the WWE? Just a thought

 

[TheYoungEra]

As many have said on here before, WWE needs to sort out what it has before bringing anything else in. That being said, they need to go ahead and retire the World and US titles. They are stagnant and meaningless without a brand division anyway. That knocks it down to WWE, IC, and Tag Team. I like the NXT title where it is. It serves its purpose, has its own prestige and it works.

As far as where to go from there...someone mentioned bringing back the European title in a Cesaro angle. That would be a fantastic idea and I have no idea why they haven't done it yet - it be the perfect opportunity to get rid of the US title. I mean, the roster is diverse enough that having it back would make sense. This also opens it up for having a EuroContinental Champion again, and it all still serves the function that the OP's new belt would. Either that, or you could bring back the Cruiserweight title. God knows there's enough high flyers now that that belt could mean something again. And it would even give the company a chance to redeem it after the way it went out with Hornswoggle.

 

[TempestH]

I think that WWE should get rid of the World Heavyweight and United States Championships. These two particular championships serve no purpose other than to remind everyone that Vince McMahon ended WCW.

The WWE Championship should be the absolute top guy. Even with a Brand Split, the WWE Champion should be the top guy in the company, not just the top guy on one show.

The Intercontinental Champion should be the #2 guy in the company. The IC Title should be held by guys who are on the cusp of breaking into the main event, or for main event guys who can't fit into the WWE Title picture, but WWE wants to keep relevant.

I would also like to see a newly created WWE Television Championship for the pure midcard guys who won't be in a high profile angle any time soon.

I think WWE could introduce a few specialty titles. One idea I had was introducing a "relaxed rules" title. The matches would be no-DQ, falls count anywhere, with occasional use of weapons. This title would essentially be a new version of the Hardcore Championship, but without the dangerous expectations that would come with the "Hardcore" tag. The wrestlers who compete for this title will usually either be high fliers who can utilize tables and ladders, or brawler types who can fight all over the ringside area, and/or backstage. This title would be mostly for "high energy" type of performers.

WWE could bring back the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship. But instead put less emphasis on the "Light" and more emphasis on the "Heavyweight". What this means is instead of focusing this title on the lowcarders, give this championship to upper tier guys who just happen to be under the weight limit and have them carry it around and make it out to be a big deal. The reason people associate the Cruiserweight/Light HEavyweight Championship as a sort of glass ceiling for smaller guys is because on the occasion that a cruiserweight guy actually becomes a success, they end up ditching the division entirely. This should not happen. Top level guys like Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Cody Rhodes, and Dolph Ziggler should hold the title every once in a while to give the belt a rub so that when they drop the title, the next champion will be seen as a credible threat.