Why is Seth Rollins allowed to hold two major titles?

[TheRev]

I haven't been on here in a while and maybe this has already been addressed, but I didn't think you could hold two singles titles at the same time. I know you can hold a singles title and a tag title.

As soon as the possibility for Rollins to win came up, I immediately thought of my childhood, when the Ultimate Warrior defeated Hogan for the WWF Championship while holding the Intercontinental Championship. I remember Warrior had to vacate the IC because he held the WWF Championship. If I remember correctly, they even held a tournament for it.

Now, I get it that the "rules" of wrestling change and it's not real, but when did this change become permissible? I can't say that I've heard anything on TV that states the rules allow Rollins to hold both and I definitely haven't heard anything stating that he has to vacate one.

Personally, I like that he can hold both titles. I guess I was curious why they never invoked the old "WWF rule" that you can't hold two singles titles.

And as far as I know, no one else as done this in the WWE since Warrior did this back at Wrestlemania VI. Someone could correct me on this though. I know it has happened in other federations, but not WWE as far as I can tell. Granted it would be at least a 25 year old rule now, but the WWE has always found it convenient to forget rules or other history to make the way for new storylines.

Has anyone else heard this rule, or lack thereof, addressed in any way with the WWE?

 

[therockiswwf]

I think that's the only time that rule was ever used. It was used for a very obvious reason, they wanted to take the title off Warrior without having him lose.

HBK held the WWE and European championships simultaneously. RVD held the ECW and WWE championships simultaneously. Angle, Jeff Jarrett, D-Lo Brown held two single titles at once.

 

[TheRev]

I think that's the only time that rule was ever used. It was used for a very obvious reason, they wanted to take the title off Warrior without having him lose.

HBK held the WWE and European championships simultaneously. RVD held the ECW and WWE championships simultaneously. Angle, Jeff Jarrett, D-Lo Brown held two single titles at once.

Thanks for sharing that info! Looks like everything happened during the years I stopped watching wrestling for a while. I wonder when they decided to "throw away" that rule or if it was like you said, they simply did it so Warrior wouldn't lose.

 

[timothy26]

From my experience past rules hold little relevance in wrestling, they will book any angle the way they want at the time depending on what creative wants to do.

As TheRev said multiple guys have held mutiple titles at once, they were even calling dual Intercontinetal and European Champions "Eurocontinental Champions" on air for a while.

Goldberg and Booker T both held the WCW and US titles simultaneously, although WCW was a different promotion

 

[Really?]

Well, there are a few viable reasons:

1) Vince says so. He has never let inconsistency stop him before.
2) warrior was a shit worker who was often blown up after five minutes in a match. He was not going to be working two matches.
3) the IC title was used at the time to elevate guys. Perfect got the belt as a result, and while he never git the big belt, he transitioned the IC strap to Hart and we know what happened then.
4) it was 26 fn years ago. Times have changed.

 

[adam]

He's young, in his prime and one of the top 3 workers in the
company. He'll likely drop the US belt back to JC.

 

[Navi]

From my experience past rules hold little relevance in wrestling, they will book any angle the way they want at the time depending on what creative wants to do.

This is very much true. The goal posts move a lot depending on the situation at hand, and what the story line calls for. We've seen wrestler's like Bryan stripped of the belt because of the 30 rule, but we've also seen that it doesn't seem to affect other title holders. It's whatever the WWE wants at the time, is what the rule is. Fans should never really be surprised to see supposed rules being broken. It's a sport and is always changing and evolving.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

With few exceptions, the "rules" of wrestling are quite flexible. As has been pointed out, there's no "official" rule that I'm aware of that says a wrestler can't hold two championships at once in WWE, it's just something that we almost never see and isn't done just for the hell of it. In Rollins' case, it's all part of a storyline with him being "the future" of WWE; said storyline may also result in The Authority abandoning Rollins' at some point, leading to a potential match against Triple H somewhere down the line, possibly WrestleMania depending upon whenever Rollins ultimately loses everything in terms of the championships. I have a feeling that Rollins will drop the US title to Cena this Sunday; there's a possibility that he'll also drop the WWE Championship to Sting, but I'm hoping not as I've little interest in seeing Sting get a vanity run with the title just for the nostalgic moment of Sting being only the 2nd wrestler in history to have been NWA, WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

While it's true this doesn't come about often, it's also currently going on in Ring of Honor as Jay Lethal has been ROH World Television Champion for 523 days even though he won the ROH World Championship 3 months ago.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I wondered this as well, but it’s clearly for storyline purposes.

When the Intercontinental Champion, Ultimate Warrior won the WWE Championship Title Belt, he was dropping the lower tiered Championship Title Belt, the Intercontinental Championship Title Belt.

When United States Champion, Goldberg won the WCW Championship Title Belt, he was dropping the lower tiered Championship Title Belt, the United States Championship Title Belt.

When World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H won the Intercontinental Championship Title Belt, he was retiring the lower tiered Championship Title Belt, the Intercontinental Championship Title Belt.

I would not mind Seth Rollins retiring the United States Championship Title Belt, but holding 2 Championship Title Belts simultaneously makes the Champion look “stronger”. Now I’m hoping Seth Rollins gets a shot at Ryback and the Intercontinental Championship. 1 Championship Title Belt is good, 2 Championship Title Belts are better, 3 Championship Title Belts are best!!

I’d also like to see an inter-promotional Dream Match between WWE World Heavyweight / United States Champion, Seth Rollins vs. ROH World Heavyweight / Television Champion, Jay Lethal before either of them lose either of their Championship Title Belts!!

 

[gmanversion1]

Personally, I think it's just WWE copying ROH with Jey Lethal

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

WWE will do what is convenient for the storyline. Any "rule" will be changed if WWE wants to.

 

[5 Moves of Doom]

Past rules are irrelevant, especially the rule that the title holder has to defend the title within 30 days of winning it. Most recent champions who have broke this rule are Ryback (current IC champion) and Nikki Bella (current Divas champion). I believe Ryback defended his title 2 months after he won it, and it was almost 3 since Nikki won it (just because they want her to break AJ Lee's record). So, this rule no longer applies.

 

[Vintage]

Past rules are irrelevant, especially the rule that the title holder has to defend the title within 30 days of winning it. Most recent champions who have broke this rule are Ryback (current IC champion) and Nikki Bella (current Divas champion). I believe Ryback defended his title 2 months after he won it, and it was almost 3 since Nikki won it (just because they want her to break AJ Lee's record). So, this rule no longer applies.

I get what you're saying but the WWE doesn't consistently book any title under the main one. WWE rarely books the Tag titles on wrestlemania. they are lucky to even get a spot on the pre-show at times. The womens title.. pretty much every other ppv.. mid-card titles can go for months without being defended on PPV. so in essence the rule applies to the only division vince really cares about.