Title Unification: A Good Idea?

[midgensa]

I definitely think that some title unification would work.

I think that the U.S. Championship and the Intercontinental Championship should probably be unified, but I could easily be talked out of that. As long as they keep one primarily on a RAW guy and one primarily on a Smackdown! guy it makes sense to have two, but with such blurry lines between the two brands at this point it might be a little much. In the end though, I consider the U.S. title to basically be the third tier title in the company and I do not really mind a company having three tiers.

Obviously, the Diva and Tag team divisions are not big enough to warrant two titles running around, so I am completely fine with the unifications there.

As for the World Heavyweight and the WWE Championships I am constantly changing my mind on this. Honestly, there are a ton of legit top tier guys with hours of legit programming to go around every week ... so I have no problem at all with them being two separate titles. What I think SHOULD happen ... is every now and then one champ or the other should WANT to win the other title and go after it. Not really "unifying" but more or less attempting to hold both at the same time.

This person could then defend them separately ... maybe even be forced to in a PPV or something ... but it would be a fresh storyline and interesting to see for sure.

Just a thought though ... but in the end ... I am not all that unhappy with the number of titles in the WWE.

 

[shitsngiggles]

If having the WHC is a benefit for house shows. Why not have a WWE World Tour Championship. Re-brand it!

That way, it keeps a second belt off of TV which makes a ton of sense. And the Tour Championship could be on a big star whenever it is required for a house show and the title could actually change hands at house shows. Keep it off TV altogether. Mention it in promos for shows though obviously. Might also give their house shows a boost.

That is obviously another reason why getting rid of the WHC would make sense anyway as it is right now. How often does it change hands at a house show?

I'm guessing people go to see the WWE/WHC titles matches just to see the matches and are not expecting them to change hands anyway.

 

[JandSman]

I think the thing that gets over looked a lot about the Title Unification stuff is the House Shows. Which is probably the only reason the titles aren't unified, because let's be honest you can't really have a house show tour without a world champion. So if they want to continue the dual house show tours, then they have to keep the titles separate. But I think that the dual house shows aren't as profitable as just having one house show tour. If you go to a Raw House Show then go to a SD House show there is a big difference, because the Raw house shows have a better line up, so more people are going to go to it, while SD has the weaker line up, so less people go. But if they had Cena, Punk, Orton, Sheamus, Big Show, Ryback, on every house show, a lot of people would go. And it has been proven successful it's just like what they did in the Attitude Era, and they had great house show attendances.

 

[TempestH]

I think the thing that gets over looked a lot about the Title Unification stuff is the House Shows. Which is probably the only reason the titles aren't unified, because let's be honest you can't really have a house show tour without a world champion. So if they want to continue the dual house show tours, then they have to keep the titles separate. But I think that the dual house shows aren't as profitable as just having one house show tour. If you go to a Raw House Show then go to a SD House show there is a big difference, because the Raw house shows have a better line up, so more people are going to go to it, while SD has the weaker line up, so less people go. But if they had Cena, Punk, Orton, Sheamus, Big Show, Ryback, on every house show, a lot of people would go. And it has been proven successful it's just like what they did in the Attitude Era, and they had great house show attendances.

I disagree with that. If a guy like John Cena can main event without sniffing the title picture, then you don't really need a world champion for both house show tours. John Cena is a guy who can draw without the title. Just put him on the tour that the WWE Champion isn't on.

Another option is to put the IC Title on someone like Sheamus and he could still be a draw for the SD house shows. Or a high profile tag team like Kane & Daniel Bryan can be the headliners for the SD house shows.

The way that WWE works needs to be restructured. If they work on getting EVERYONE over, then WWE won't have to rely on using the belts as draws or having an extra World Title as a prop.

The problem with the World Heavyweight Championship is that we see so many guys as "World Champions" on paper yet they aren't really being given the ball because the WWE Championship, as well as special attractions whenever they are around will always be treated as more important. The World Heavyweight Championship is pretty much a charity title or a consolation prize, and it cheapens the belt a bit.

There are legends who have never been WWE Champion. Not everyone gets to be a World Champion. At the same time, the wrestlers deserve to matter, even if they never get the belt. With the way that World Titles are handed out, it makes the guys who haven't had a world title look like even bigger chumps because they can't win the belt despite there being TWO of them.

Ideally there should be:

ONE Top Championship: The WWE Championship

ONE Secondary/Upper Mid-Card Championship: The WWE Intercontinental Championship

ONE Tertiary/Lower Mid-card Championship: This role was previously fulfilled by the WWF European Championship and the NWA/WCW Television Championship. While the United States Championship has been a secondary title equal to the IC Title in the past, with the end of the brand split, it is now a de-facto tertiary title based on the status of recent holders (Ryder, Swagger, Santino, Cesaro) compared to the IC belt, which has been held by former World Champions.

One or more "niche" titles/titles with special stipulations: ex. Cruiserweight Title, Hardcore Title.

 

[JandSman]

I disagree with that. If a guy like John Cena can main event without sniffing the title picture, then you don't really need a world champion for both house show tours. John Cena is a guy who can draw without the title. Just put him on the tour that the WWE Champion isn't on.

Another option is to put the IC Title on someone like Sheamus and he could still be a draw for the SD house shows. Or a high profile tag team like Kane & Daniel Bryan can be the headliners for the SD house shows.

The way that WWE works needs to be restructured. If they work on getting EVERYONE over, then WWE won't have to rely on using the belts as draws or having an extra World Title as a prop.

The problem with the World Heavyweight Championship is that we see so many guys as "World Champions" on paper yet they aren't really being given the ball because the WWE Championship, as well as special attractions whenever they are around will always be treated as more important. The World Heavyweight Championship is pretty much a charity title or a consolation prize, and it cheapens the belt a bit.

There are legends who have never been WWE Champion. Not everyone gets to be a World Champion. At the same time, the wrestlers deserve to matter, even if they never get the belt. With the way that World Titles are handed out, it makes the guys who haven't had a world title look like even bigger chumps because they can't win the belt despite there being TWO of them.

That's a fair point, but you can't rely on one guy, like last year I went to a SD house show, right when Orton got injured, and while my show did get Air Boom vs Primo and Epico, most were not happy. So WWE can't just rely on one guy. And guys like Sheamus, Kane, and Daniel Bryan, aren't even on Orton or Cena's levels for filling house shows.

Now they should be trying to make everyone look good, but that's more of a long term goal to get guys like Rhodes, Ziggler, Clay, Ryback, Bryan, Kingston, etc. to look like major stars, in the short term they need to figure a way to make their house shows more profitable, and they can do that by bringing there talents together in one house show tour.

I also think that a unified championship will help make stars, part of the problem with the World Title is that it's always seen as second to the WWE Championship. If Swagger was the single champion after WM 26 instead of just the secondary world champion, he might be a really big star right now. I think that it means so much more if a new guy would be one the undisputed champion of the WWE, instead of playing second fiddle to John Cena and whoever the WWE Champion is, if they were the World Heavyweight Champion. And then the number 1 contender to the WWE Championship would mean so much as that means they're second or third best in the whole company, making the World title matches so much more important.

 

[tripleddd]

After catching up with both Raw and Smackdown this week for about the first time in about 3 months - Ive got to say im even more convinced that both the WWE and WHC title need to be merged. As far as I could see Orton, Cena, Ziggler & The Miz are all being wasted at the moment. There needs to be a rematch between Ryback & CM Punk and also Seamus & Big show.and at Survivor Series. and set up a unification match at TLC and also a no 1 contenders match at the same event between the two losers.

 

[leviraymond90]

I personally do not like the idea of a title unification. Unifying any of the current WWE titles would result in either a very crowded title picture or a load of meaningless feuds.

 

[TempestH]

I personally do not like the idea of a title unification. Unifying any of the current WWE titles would result in either a very crowded title picture or a load of meaningless feuds.

Actually both of those things need to happen.

With one top title, there will be more variety in contenders instead of the same guys fighting over and over for months.

And also, Creative has to try to make feuds without using the belts as crutches. Either that, or some of the high tier guys will have to instead contend for the Intercontinental Championship.

And to be honest, that isn't a bad thing. With two world titles, all of the other belts are meaningless. Having Randy Orton as an IC champ or having Alberto Del Rio holding the tag titles with a much stronger booked Ricardo Rodriguez would boost the prestige of ALL of the titles. Having two World Titles has created the perception that "You're nothing if you're not a World Champion", a perception that needs to change.

Ideally they should unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships, but keep both midcard belts with the IC Title for uppercarders on the cusp of breaking the glass ceiling and the U.S. Title for pure midcarders who won't be in line for a major title any time soon.

 

[Wrestling101]

No, what should happen is WWE goes back to the brand specific PPVs, so that each one is getting proper build-up. If you're really interested in building the WHC back up, give Smackdown a 6 month or 1 year run with the bigger main event scene, like Cena, Punk, Sheamus, Orton, ADR, Big Show, etc. Let Raw (the show that gets watched more anyway, so the younger, future stars are getting more exposure without the added pressure of getting every last match at PPVs) have the WWE belt with Ziggler, Barrett, Bryan (he could carry this roster), Miz, Sandow (he's still at least a year away from breaking into that ME scene with a force, but he's capable of it), etc. Make some stars out of this group and WWE will be well on it's way to fixing their 'lack of ME stars' problem they currently have.

 

[CrazyMatt88]

Maybe they should, the World Heavyweight title is in danger of being officially the "B" title. Only two options I can see, either unify them so we have one true world champ or split the brands again. I'd rather see the second option, I used to love the RAW Smackdown rivalries every now and then.