Would A WWE/Heavyweight Championship Unification Actually Benefit The WWE?

[PlayTheGame]

I've always thought no, but after all of the hotly-debated recent views on the topic, I created this thread to really address the possibility that it very well could.

If the two big belts were unified, then a large group of lower main event superstars would probably rarely, if ever, see another WWE Title match/Title run, such as the Hardys, JBL, CM Punk, HBK, Big Show, etc. etc. However, this could very well then put all of these guys back into the mid-card belts' divisions, and bring some MUCH-NEEDED credibility back to these belts. Seeing HBK vs. Jeff Hardy for the I.C. Belt in this day and age would be a true classic. The tag belts could also get some MUCH-NEEDED attention..... anyone want to see the Hardys vs. Edge & Christian in a TLC Match one last time for the titles??? Also, if they did this, more feuds could arise in the WWE, and I don't mean trivial ones that are resolved in a month, or on an episode of Raw, but I mean year-long, heated ones full of hatred, a la Jericho/HBK that we got to see last year. Now imagine if we could get moer of these such feuds-- well we could, if certain big names werent constantly in world title contention! Another plus could come in the fact that, if they were unified, it would open up the opportunity of having another undercard belt or two brought back for contention, such as the Cruiserweight Title, Hardcore Title, or Euro Title.

The only drawbacks of doing this would be that the big title would then be only passed around between the likes of Cena, HHH, Orton, Batista, 'Taker, and a few others. Also, some guys' careers might suffer a little bit, since they might not reach the level of success the could have pre-title unification... However, on the flip side of all of that, the big title in the WWE would matter again, as matches for it would be alot more epic and defined, and there would be that 'sole guy' in the WWE again that would be 'the undispted' best- he would just have to appear on both shows, or they could work it out somehow... Plus, the WWE Undisputed Champion sounds BADASS.

What are your thoughts on all of this? Its just an idea...

 

[timmy872]

It's been done though. Thats the problem. Does WWE really want to use the same thing again, just to add to certain wrestler's already insane resume's? I think two seperate belts work best, because there is just too much talent in WWE. Undercard guys like Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Kennedy, Morrison, Christian and Hardys who should evolve into WWE or World title pictures will never get there.
Also, WWE does simply have too many wrestlers to not have two big titles, WWE have tried to build seperate foundations for Smackdown and RAW since 2002, why would they give that all up, especially now that Smackdown is becoming on parr to what RAW achieves in terms of ratings.
Yeah it is a cool idea, but like you said, Triple H, Jericho, Taker, Batista, Cena, Edge and Orton would the the only ones who really get a look in on it. But I suppose it would depend on how long the Undisputed title lasted before seperating again.
But a plus side of it is that it could bring more credibility to other championships, especially the ECW Title. You might see Big Show, Knox, MVP, Kennedy, Hardys, Mysterio gunning for the only other brand championship?
A few things to ponder there..

 

[Phoenix]

All the unification would do is bring the prestige of the other lower titles, yes it would be nice to see them all go up again (especially the IC), but as been stated, with only one World Title, alot of superstars would get overlooked, especially if Triple H wishes to keep it as much as he likes. The unification would probably see Vince actually make Trips drop a few levels to give new guys credit!

 

[Azamuth]

I think it would work if planned correctly. The champ would have to appear at both shows and if he gets enough heat on both brands he could get sent to ECW to "cool down" and it could add a big name to that brand and help it further.

 

[timmy872]

To be honest, I wonder sometimes if a lot of the ideas behind two main titles was Triple H's ego's idea. Its pretty obvious that Triple H has his heart set on beating Flair's 16 World title reigns, that goes without saying.
At the time in 2001/2 when creative were pondering this, a lot of brand new shiney talent came in that over shadowed Triple H, such as Chris Jericho, all the keepers from the Invasion angle etc. Triple H must have thought, hmm i'm dating the bosses daughter, why don't I use that to my advantage? Voila two big titles, that are strangley always called X amount of "World Title" reigns, even if that superstar has only ever won the WWE Championship and not infact the World title. Because really, Triple H is more like a 8 time WWE Champion and 4 time World Champion. But he is refered too as 13 time World Champion now? Jeez he only needs three more. Plus now that Trips has two titles to go for, he can win it more than once a year. I wonder had Triple H not been in WWE would there be two "World Championships" or would WWE be more like NWA with just the one? Triple H is constantly on a power trip. He will be the most decorated performer of all time. Probably 17/18 time "World Champion" heck if not 20 odd? And I expect he will be involved with WWE until the day he dies, reminding people (like Flair) of what he HAS accomplished.
For the record I do actually like Triple H, i'm not a hater, just thinking aloud.

 

[Phoenix]

I naturally agree with what you think Timmy. Have you noticed that Triple H is now referred to as a 13 time WWE Champion? That annoys me more, because you're correct, he's only an 8 time champion (surpassing The Rock's 7) and 5 time World Champion (I think it's 5, he's had one too many). As the WWE and WHC are classed as World Titles, the unfortunate thing is that it is true, he will be known as that forever.

I still think the two titles would have happened, just I think a better way of giving the WHC credit on its debut is NOT give it to Trips and have it contested!

 

[crotchknocker]

I think the biggest problem would be, they'd have to unify the shows to properly do that. You couldn't just have the champ go show to show, because then he'd have multiple feuds going at the same time which would lower the significance of certain feuds. Basically they have too many wrestlers to unify the entire roster, if they did do that, they'd have to fire a bunch of wrestlers.

I like it the way it is, sure the mid card titles are weak right now, but they don't have to be, even going along with what they have now.

 

[jrhonaker]

Well like you said it would probably hold back ppl like Jeff, CM, Morrison, and any other up and comers, but the difference is this. when there's two or three titles it doesnt really mean as much. It would mean so much more and solidify someone like hardy or punk if they were to actually win the undisputed championship. It would put whoever is champion at the undeniable top of the wwe at the time they are champion, and that could be a very good thing if given to the right person.

 

[Decarow]

maybe for a few months. Unify them and have the champion jump brands. But only long enough to bring prestige back to the IC and US and maybe tag titles. Can anyone imagine Taker as US champion? lol. but i digress. i wouldn't mind seeing a small unification then there being a triple threat at summer slam where the person with the first fall gets the WWE title, and the 2nd fall gets the WHC.

 

[timmy872]

It also annoys me with Kurt Angle, he is a 12 Time World Champion, but he isn't. Plus most of those weren't even won in the company he works for now!

Definitly Triple H isn't much different from his kayfabe character, constantly persuing the World and WWE titles.

As I lead your other thread onto, Taker has been a constant in WWE too, he will forever have his streak for that devotion, Triple H will surpass Flair's record that will be his reward. After all there is no more dedicated stars than those two, Hogan and Austin? Austin perhaps, Hogan is no where to be seen and creating rival products..

 

[supergav67]

At the risk of repeating myself I say YeaH.Changing the shows into brands was a great idea when WWF stood alone & had everyone from Austin to Venis,but those days are gone now.Not on such a grand scale yet but TNA are here & NWA & ROH are dipping their toes in TV land.The alternative for wrestlers is not necessarily the indys & obscurity anymore.
I think the change will come more due to finances rather than CreaTiviTy,(usually a contradiction in terms anyway).A situation like ECW a couple years back.Their SCiFi deal was up for grabs,the Originals left,their StarS were loosely linked to SD,just in case.Recently we thought the situation would ease with ECW seamingly becoming a FCW step up,till Christian arrived,might still happen yet.
The bottom line is ,its silly & confusing for A company to have THREE world champions,this aint boxing.While I like SD,I think the Raw titles would remain,& yes,this would do wonders for the mid card.The IC would get its importance back,more tag teams,the return of the stables.& more structured PPVs.
Draft or no draft ,just now we,re in danger of having two world champs who suck up to their boss wifes.Only one shows ring ropes are blue,the others are red,I forget now which is which..

 

[Blade]

Putting it simply.... No, probably not.

Simply put there are far too many guys in the main event or close to it right now to only have 1 title, it simply wouldn't work.
On Raw (I'm talking pre-no way out since post has become too complicated) we have Cena, Jericho, HBK, JBL, Kane, Mysterio, Batista injured and of course Orton. CM Punk is not far from breaking into the main event. And the Legacy will be breaking in in coming years.

On SD there's HHH, Edge, Taker, Hardy 1 and Hardy 2, Big Show etc. With MVP being CM Punk's SD equivalent. And Morrisson also not far away from a major push. Not to mention Christian probably coming here for the draft.

For pushing younger guys, having 2 titles is much better. In the attitude era, there were never more than 5 or 6 main eventers. But that only worked because the IC title actually mattered and many wrestlers were happy to stay in the midcard chasing the IC title until their time came.
But having 2 world title has diminished the midcard right now, the US title and IC title need some help. Having some more credible guys in the midcard would be the only advantage to unifying the title.

How long would Hardy have had to wait with only one title? Would Jericho have gotten 2 title reigns? Would Punk have gotten the World title run? Nope.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

The E.C.W. Championship must be the Rodney Dangerfield of Championships, because it gets absolutely no respect.

A Unification didn't work the first time they tried it, and now that the Brand extention is actually (in my opinion, anyways) working way better now, then it was then, why would it work this time around? So, NO, the answer is no.

Each show needs a Heavyweight Champion, unless you're going to bring an end to the Brand extention as a whole. And if you unify the two Raw/Smackdown Heavyweight titles, it'll leave E.C.W's Heavyweight Championship looking even worse, and pathetic.

Once upon a time, they actually had a Triple Threat match in which the E.C.W. Heavyweight Championship was viewed just as highly as the other two. Now you've created a thread, almost slapping all of the E.C.W. title's historical value completely away by not even trying to include it in this unification idea. Wrong, simply wrong.

Furthermore, let's say they were thinking about it.. it'd help out the mid-card A LOT, because guy's like Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, and a couple others would likely no longer be even remotely involved in Heavyweight title matches, barring the occasional multi-man match. But that wouldn't help the current mid-carders, who'd then get bumped off the show, or down to "jobber" to the former Heavyweights. It's a vicious cycle, but one you'd have to take account for if you think about unifying two Heavyweight titles.

 

[ulimate123]

The main problem with having a championship unification is that the WWE can't then experiment with new and up-coming stars. They can't give the title to someone young unless they're 100% sure they are trust worthy and will actually give something to the overall product. If they're not 100% sure about either of these things then more than likely they'll go with someone that is more experienced. i.e. HHH, Cena, 'Taker etc.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'd be against it as well, even though I'd like to see it. In theory it is a good idea but it isn't that practical. Think about it. If there's only one champion, what do the other main event guys do while he's in a feud with someone else? Take Cena and Edge for example. Are HHH, Orton, Taker and Jericho supposed to not feud over a title? The problem right now is so many people are built up so high that it's almost an insult to not let them be feuding over a world title. While there's still two shows, it's really the only way to go.

 

[Age of Orton]

The Championship unification is a good idea now, at this present day in age wrestling is totally different to that of the 80s where titles had a meaning/purpose.. but having two world champions, two tag champions etc waters the champions down, personally I'd love to see the original 4 (World, IC and Tag.. keep the womans title) being defended on each show, allow ECW to have there title (make it more hardcore? edgy? so it's different from the rest.. apart from that keep RAW and Smackdown two different rosters but have the champions go among the shows (ala Miz/Morrison or Edge from RAW) it's achievable and would give the belts more meaning,

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

The rosters, fueds and stables (if there are any) would be thrown totally out of whack if they went back to the one title.

Imagine this:- Orton is no longer in Legacy, or involved in this McMahon storyline because he got beat for the UWWE Title last night by SD superstar Jeff Hardy, so from now on, Randy is a SD superstar.

Also they'd have to defend the belt on 3 brands. Imagine this:

Backlash - Orton defends the Undisputed WWE title against HHH
Judgment Day - Orton defends against Undertaker
One Night Stand - Orton defends against Dreamer

Wow, great match, great match, shit match. Not good for company overall.

And yet people keep saying 'Unify the titles! Unify the titles!' without thinking about the overall impact of having 1 World title, 1 tag title and 1 mid card title for 3 brands.

 

[RATEDRKO4LIFE]

I Don't want them to unifiy the titles. Maybe possibly have Raw and Smackdown and Maybe ECW go under one roof. but still have all 3 titles.

 

[psychedelicgranny]

I think the belt would gain more meaning if there can only be one. With 2 belts, the WWE has 2 top guys. Its more meaningful if there is only one top guy in the company. It also means way more for whoever wins it to really establish themselves as a maineventer. Wouldn't it have made CM Punk or Jeff Hardy look better if they were above all the other wrestlers instead of half?

 

[Decarow]

I think the belt would gain more meaning if there can only be one. With 2 belts, the WWE has 2 top guys. Its more meaningful if there is only one top guy in the company. It also means way more for whoever wins it to really establish themselves as a maineventer. Wouldn't it have made CM Punk or Jeff Hardy look better if they were above all the other wrestlers instead of half?

It would've made them look better yes, but they wouldn't have gotten their shots

 

[Lee]

Unifying the belts would be a very bad move. Lets say it happened at Mania, lets look at how many Main eventers we have off the top of my head (this is including those in the chamber);Triple H, Edge, Cena, Jericho, Orton, Rey , Kane, Undertaker, Big Show, Jeff Hardy, HBK, JBL, Knox.

That is fourteen there, plus you have people like Batista, CM Punk and whoever wins MITB. Imagine all these guys going after the one belt? it would just cause a clusterfuck and far too many people would be lost in the transition. fourteen people after one is worse than fourteen people after two as it actually allows other people to come step up.

 

[maxymo1234]

The reason why the unification would help is mid card talent(which was a lot of the attitude era). more people would fight for the belt and the tag division wouldnt suck so bad. The IC title wouldnt be so easy to win and it wouldnt be a "souvenier." I think the unification would help the brand combining would halp and get rid of ecw bring back heat. heat is and was ecw now.