Thoughts about the WWE Universal Championship

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Many people thought that WWE was going to bring back the World Heavyweight Championship for the new brand, but that's not the case.. WWE created a brand new World Championship, the WWE Universal Championship.

It's not the first time a world championship is being created in the wrestling world.. Championships might get created in daily basis.. The most recent one must have been the NXT Championship, but correct me if I'm wrong.

However, it is the first time that a world title is created, for an already established division/brand. The WWE UC is a brand new world title, which will have to carry WWE RAW, a show that has been around for 20+ years and will also have to compete toe to toe with the WWE Championship, a title that has been around for 40+ years and also shares history with the WCW Championship and the WH Championship, two other great world championships. Meaning that WWE Championship's prestige reaches greatness.

My questions are the following:
Where does the new championship stand in the world title rankings around the wrestling world? Does it get a free pass at the top because it's a WWE title? What prestige does it hold?
It only seems like a brand championship, whereas the WWE Championship seems to be the company's championship.
Is it equal to the WWE Championship? Will it ever be equal to it?

So my main topic here is to talk about the prestige this new title will hold in the wrestling world and inside the company.

To me, WWE Championship > all. It really is a step back for the WWE Championship that it will be defended only on Smackdown and I hope for a storyline that will treat the WWE differently.
But I can't really take that WWE UC = WWE C. I also think that the Rumble winner should only challenge for the WWE Championship, since the WWE Championship is the top prize of the WWE, whereas the WWE UC is just a prize for the brand.

Sorry for the long and quite messy post.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[Henrique]

Putting the until now "A" world title on Smackdown and creating a title that is supposed to be at least at the same level of the now Smackdown world title and call it the Universal Championship is goofy - to say the least.
It just sounds like a toy title belt they are putting on WWEShop for kids... I don't like it. I think it disgraces both titles.
I get it... it's a referece to the WWE universe... but it still sounds dumb. Seems like some alien could be a contender for the title.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Well I'm not going to get too mad over a championship name. I don't like it, but it's not that big of a deal.

 

[Metalhead0290]

The name is super cringe worthy. It sounds really corny.

 

[Mr.Maikeru_Sawyer]

Never thought they would dream up a title WORSE than the Diva's Championship, but so far with no images/idea what the title actually looks like. so as of now with the name only, I rank it WORSE than the DIVA's Champ and needs a TON OF WORK

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Forget the name guys, it's just a name.

I'm talking about the prestige this title will hold and where it will stand when it comes to value on the wrestling world.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I was hoping WWE would be able to do something that would make both world titles seem on par with one another. It does not feel that way with Ambrose's title carrying the same name it always has and calling the Raw title something completely new.

What I was hoping/what should have been done was to distinguish each title by brand have the offical name for the Raw title be the Raw World Heavyweight Title and Smackdown be the Smackdown World Heavyweight Title. Furthermore, I would have each title have the same design which would be the current design. To distinguish them I would have the Raw title have a Red background behind the logo like on the Woman's Title and the Smackdown title have a blue background.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Where does the new championship stand in the world title rankings around the wrestling world? Does it get a free pass at the top because it's a WWE title? What prestige does it hold?

No matter what those who hate WWE or simply are bigger fans of other wrestling promotions might think, the fact that it's a WWE title automatically gives it a high rank. That's just simply how it is because in the eyes of many wrestling fans around the world, WWE is what springs to mind when they think of pro wrestling. As for it getting a free pass to the top, the thing is that the WWE Championship, the original World Championship of the company, is still in use and that particular title is going to trump everything else for the foreseeable future. A year or two back, I created a thread in the General Wrestling Discussion section with a poll listing just about every major World Championship in pro wrestling and asked which was THE definitive World Championship and the WWE Championship came out ahead by an overwhelming margin. Whether the WWE Universal Championship can ever truly match or exceed the WWE Championship in terms of prestige is something that only time can tell.

As for the name of the title, it doesn't bother me right now, but that all might very well change depending on what the belt actually looks like. I think the name is simply the latest thing in a long line of little things for some people to nitpick and complain about.

 

[nWo2]

It totally makes Dean Ambrose's victory at Battleground seem like he was fighting for second place.

This "Universe" belt could be booked as and looked as a "people's championship" of sorts meaning the Universe would always vote for #1 contender to ensure audience engaement. Great idea, but WWE will probably use it to diminish existing titles and retain their "A+ Belt for the A Show" mentality.

 

[Goldberg's Lawyer]

I prefer the look of the World Heavyweight Championship, to me it's the most prestigious aesthetically, whereas despite it's history I still struggle to get over the spinny version of the WWE title that Cena inflicted on us. I don't particularly like it now either.

Sad that the WHC won't be coming back, because it has a rich history of its own, but open-minded as to what this new Universal title will bring. Balor v Rollins fighting over it already has me intrigued, and the name doesn't offend me either as it does others.

 

[legendkiller1979]

The WWE screwed up. Obviously they didn't look too far into the future. They should have called the unified championship simply the WWE championship. I get why it's the WWE world heavyweight championship. But now you are going to have two, and you don't the opportunity to call the champion the "world champion. So now we get something that sounds like the european championship or a television championship. Certainly not the top guy of the brand.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I really hope they have a top notch belt design, because that name is something a five year old would yell out at the end of an argument.

 

[lil steroid meat]

I like the name because it's title indicates that we're gonna get some variation of the Globe Championship Belt back.

That being said, I guess it kinda is weird that they're just gonna throw away 50 years of heritage from the NWA/WCW Heavyweight Belt but then again...it makes sense because I'm sure Vince wants everything to be WWE created now that we're almost 20 years away from WCW being bought by the WWE. And that's not a bad thing. If they were gonna replace the WHC with a WWE created belt, there was no better time to do it.

 

[stingray11214]

If they are going to have two separate and distinct brands with equal footing, you need two separate and distinct World Champs with equal footing. The WWE Universal Championship sounds corny, but it could have been worse. WWE World Class Championship sounds better. I think....

 

[Radical]

My thoughts?

Vince has always wanted to own the UNIVERSE so, finally, this was his chance.

It's not enough he owns the World Champion but now, apparently, the WWE Universal Championship will be the best "sports entertainer" in the entire UNIVERSE!

That's right, move over Martians, move over Uranians, move over Aliens from other solar systems and galaxies because THIS is where the Champion of the Universe is!

HA!




Yeah, so honestly, it's a corny name. It's a name Vince loves because he already calls everything in his own world the WWE Universe. But since Vince doesn't live outside of his Universe, it's quite fitting that there would be a WWE Universal Champion.

It makes no logical sense, of course.

It would make more sense to have the WWE Championship and the World Championship. The both top champions on both brands can be called "World Champs" and it doesn't really get too confusing because both have a slightly different name, but both mean virtually the same thing and since they are on separate brands it makes sense. All other wrestling promotions have their own World Champion so why wouldn't both brands of WWE?

But, whatever, WWE isn't big on logic with belt names and designs.

For frick sakes they still have those absolutely awful NON-gold Tag Team belts and it took them YEARS to make a respectable Women's belt.

They have a relatively poor track record, so I wouldn't expect it to change soon.

 

[AnthonyM4]

When I heard they were doing a universal champion, I actually thought of Bill Watts. Remember how he renamed Mid South the Universal Wrestling Federation because the universe is bigger than the world? That's what this reminded me of. That's what Stephanie's character is probably thinking when she came up with that name.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Let's face a fact: no matter what they named it, there would be a thread here full of people who are trashing it. No decision would have made everyone happy, and ultimately they at least went with a new name, regardless of how fresh some of us may feel it is.

There's precedent for universal championships in pro wrestling. Puerto Rico has a universal champion in WWC. CMLL crowns one anually. This isn't exactly a new idea.

WWE refers to its fans as the WWE universe. The fact that universe is some kind of ludicorous sci-fi one-upsmanship over world is just a happy accident. It plays into the new brand supremacy thing that has caused them to launch brand extension 2.0.

If they just called it the world heavyweight championship again you run into confusion for online searches and require annoying addendums to every sentence as to which title you're referring. It streamlines everything on WWE's website.

There's precedence in WWE for not reactivating old titles. When they awarded Triple H the world heavy weight title in 2002, they gave him a new title with new history, but with a classic look and a familiar name. This time the name is unfamiliar, but hopefully they land on a timeless design for the universal strap.

How will it go down in history? Probably the same as the world heavyweight championship (2002-2014). It'll inevitably switch brands once or twice before finally being absorbed by the WWE title when this brand extention dies. It'll be like the WCW international title that WCW activated when Flair ran off for the WWF.

A rose by any other name, I don't care if they called it the heavyweight championship of all existence no matter what, and I'll only trash it if they book it poorly. They already booked Balor into the match, so I'm sold. Cross your fingers for a decent design.

 

[Dagger Dias]

In terms of prestige it would be below the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at first but so long as it remains Raw exclusive then it would climb up the ranks of importance (kayfabe or not) fairly quickly since countless people associate WWE and the Raw brand in particular as synonymous with professional wrestling. It is the top title of the most well known wrestling brand in the world. I personally would much rather they have brought back the big gold World Heavyweight Championship to give to the winner of Seth VS Balor. There is history with that belt and there was really no reason to not simply bring it back when the brand split itself was re-instated.

Will it ever be equal to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship that Dean Ambrose currently holds? In a kayfabe sense the WWE will likely do everything in their power to put the Universal Championship over in importance, referring to it right off the bat as being on par with Smackdown's top title. In a realistic standpoint, no. Not a chance. The big gold belt couldn't even touch the WWE Championship's prestige and real importance before the title unification. If that belt couldn't, there's no chance of the Universal Championship ever reaching that point. That's without even bringing up all the history that the WWE Championship has at this time between its own lengthy lineage, the WCW Championship and big gold World Heavyweight Championship both also got merged in. No wrestling belt in our lifetime will ever top that from an outside of kayfabe sense.

The name is extremely silly and when they announced it as the name for the new top title for Raw it had me scratching my head. Why go with such a strange name? Why not bring back the big gold World Heavyweight Championship? In the grand scheme of things I am more concerned with its design than I am about its name. I am going to give the Universal Championship a chance. It could end up being awesome for all we know, despite the hate it is already getting. One thing is for certain though.... No matter what we end up with, it couldn't POSSIBLY be as bad as Jeff Hardy's Immortal Championship over in TNA. So long as it's better than THAT piece of garbage, Raw's top prize will be just fine in time.

 

[kadroan]

I hate the name but I'm glad they're getting a second title if they weren't going to elevate the IC title as the main title of Smackdown. I hope the title looks good.

 

[Starkist]

The name works since they don't call their fan's fan's as they are the WWE Universe. I can see where the name possible came from. I just wonder two things: is it going to be the main title and what is it going to look like. That's my only two concerns as the name no longer bothers me based off of my opinion of how the name possibly came about.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The more I think on it, the less I dislike the name. I don't really like or dislike it at this point as it's just a name. Pro wrestling companies themselves have had names and championship names that could be viewed as lousy: Dragon Gate and its various titles, Triple A and it's AAA Mega Championship, Shimmer, the old Universal Wrestling Federation of the 80s, the World Wrestling Council's Universal Heavyweight Championship, etc.

My biggest concern is what the thing is going to look like because it's a complete crap shoot where is involved. It could come off looking decent to great or it could come off looking like a piece of modern art, which means it could look like warmed over shit.

 

[ShinChan]

Unlike majority of people, I really like this name of the championship. It's refreshing enough for a change. Really anxious to see how it looks like. Aka how does it's look differentiate itself from the World Title.

I am really optimistic about this new title. The inaugral champion possibilities have also a big hand in it. We really need some time to judge how this title goes in future.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

Just saw some video featuring ideas for new wwe universal championship design..

Here's the link..
https://youtu.be/Awybt8PCC0s

Out of this i like the ones Brock Lesnar and KO is holding..Also the one with Roman (Dont booo me..)..Anything with eagle and globe is good..

Just wanted to know yours all thoughts..Which one did you like..Do you have any other designs that is better than these..

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I liked the 3rd and 9th ones the best. The 9th one looked like an amalgam of various titles. The center plate had a mix of the side plate designs and center plate designs for the current and Attitude Era WWE Championships while the side plates themselves looked like those used in the ROH World Championship design that was used before the one that's currently in use. The 3rd choice looked like a modified Winged Eagle design used from the late 80s through the late 90s. They had a nice mix of old school and new school feel about them. Most of the others were essentially just slightly altered designs of the current WWE Championship and Big Gold Belt designs. The Lesnar & Owens titles fit in with the WWE Championship design, but they were mostly just the big WWE logo set into 3 bright blue globes. The only thing really distinguishing them was that Lesnar's had the outline of the various continents on them, but there was no printing.

There were some interesting designs here but, yeah, I'd say that I probably liked the 9th one the best overall.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

Whatever title is held on RAW is the highest title in the wrestling world. Period. It could be called the Brooklyn Brawler Garbage Can Championship, and if they put in on their top guys on their top show, that's the top belt. Even if Smackdown becomes the better show, RAW is the top show. They're been clear on that.

Calling it the Universal Championship is just a branding thing. I'm curious what the belt will look like. I actually would have guessed they would have two of the same belt, but name with a red strap for Raw and a blue one for Samckdown, but I don't think that will be the case now. I'm not a fan of the brand split and I'm definitely not a fan of two belts. Let's see what happens.