WWE should unify their titles

[matty256]

What if WWE decided to unify all their belts. Get rid of the World, US, World Tag, ECW, and that distasteful Diva's Championship, and kept The WWE,IC,WWE Tag, and Women's Championship? and also added back a title I miss the Cruiserweight title? How do you feel the landscape of the WWE would be changed? I personally would like to see this. It could gives a bigger more wide open mid-card roster, and bigger main event picure also. We wouldnt have to see Orton defend the title against HHH every month. Thoughts?

 

[tLight]

The dont need to end the Brand split or unify the titles, they need to focus on making their divisions better. They have the talent, they just dont use any of it right. Theres no need to combine their current titles and bring back an old meaningless one. They just need better people booking the show, and to get some older wrestlers to step out of the lime light so the young guys can make a name for themself

 

[Haner388994]

I personally agree 100% with matty256. The products of the matches would be so much better. We wouldn't have to see the same matches every PPV (Orton/HHH, Orton/Cena, Cena/HHH, etc.) We would have a much larger variety for the PPV main events. Then, there could also be Main Event feuds but, not over a title. I mean, you could have Cena and Undertaker feuding over the top title while you have HHH and HBK in their own feud over no title. It would make the WWE product that much better. VERY good idea by matty256.

 

[Alex(Killer Of Dreams & Legends)]

Disagree the titles should stay seprate and so should the brands. We hardly get any good matches now imagain if there was only those titles you spoke of we would get the same feuds on all three shows and it would be a mess. Thats why they did the whole brand split in the first place was to have diffrent angles working at once and with all the titles being unified we'd see a lot of the same matches over and over and the wwe would likley have to cut a lot of wrestlers. The only reason they unified the tag titles was to rebuild a division that has been suffering for many years and this also allowed no more odd parings of tag teams and stuff. I am sorry matty 256 bad thread been done before way to many times.

 

[Nev]

They've already unified the tag-team belts.

Just a matter of time before they do for the intercontinental & U.S titles. (hopeful thinking)

But the actual problem, is that it doesn't seem permanent. I hope it comes down being permanent. The WWE-WCW merger is outdated and the number of superstars has declined since then.

 

[wbuqed]

the only problem that has come up with the brand split is the need to run a tri-branded PPV every month. The ECW brand is barely represented and with the exception of the Y2J/Rey matches in the last couple PPVs no feud has been able to maintain any voluntary positive progress. How come we have to pay for Big Show/Cena every month. When SD is prepping a PPV there is alot of feud progress that can be made. Now yes that does partially deviate from the thread topic, but my point is that there are options other than reuniting the WWE that could be considered, though that has been my argument for the last 3 years. Also Vince needs to not be so quick to letting people go week by week (e.g. Kennedy) in order to add more players to feuds.

 

[stillboy21]

I agree with Alex up there on the fact that a lot, A LOT, of superstars would be released. If you were a new comer and not in a title picture within half a year then your time would be up. I'm not quite imaginative enough to even begin to think what this would do for Wrestlemania, if anyone has any thoughts on that, do tell. ECW would either be canceled or turned into a feuds only show. Perhaps it would have the Cruiserweight title. The feuds would grow stale even faster then they do now, especially with the only 4 male titles. I don't like that idea. Everybody that said this is way they had a brand split it totally right.

 

[Razor]

What if WWE decided to unify all their belts.How do you feel the landscape of the WWE would be changed?

You can't have the titles unified and still have 3 shows. That title picture would be fucked up beyond imagination. Instead of having 3 title feuds spread out over 3 shows, you're going to have 1 WWE title feud on one brand and 2 feuds on the other brands. No one is going to care about the other two because the title isn't involved.

It could gives a bigger more wide open mid-card roster, and bigger main event picure also. We wouldnt have to see Orton defend the title against HHH every month. Thoughts?

The mid-card won't be open because the main-event will still be main-event talent. They'll just be feuding for no reason now, instead of feuding over title standing.

The main-event picture will actually shrink, as I stated above. You'll suddenly have one major title feud, instead of 3. And don't think any new feuds will start because there is only one title. It'll still be the same main-event talent.

 

[cawsnallthis]

Actually, I like the idea of ECW being for feuds only. It allows it to return to it's roots somewhat and you could promo the show better on Raw and Smackdown. You got a problem with me, buddy? Well, let's take it to ECW on Tuesday if you've got the sack for it. People could stalk each other around the building. With 3 feuds, that would be 6 guys, plus cronies, which could give the opportunity for others to cross paths and start new programs. Plus, you could still use it to break in new talent. I'm Joe Blow and I'm here to announce my presence with authority, want some, come get some, blah, blah, blah! Hell, it couldn't be any worse than what they have been doing with the brand.

 

[P. Nut Butters]

I'd like the idea of no ECW completely. Now, that sounds brash as all hell... but I've thought the idea of unifying titles and even brands to a singular roll isn't a bad idea. Sure, the draft was a good idea, but like every angle and idea in wrestling, it does get to run it's course and as much as the draft tries to stay fresh, it just ends up breaking a lot of guys, making a few here and there but leaving the main event scene for the same six or seven guys.

Drop ECW: Superstars is worth watching more than ECW. To me, it's the best show WWE has right now.
Give WWE Superstars ECW's slot: I don't think you can get that everywhere.
Unify and multi-brand the titles: It would give a title much more prestigue and meaning.
Roster Splits: I don't know if they should abolish the RAW/SmackDown! split at the moment, but in time to come, it might prove a good move. I know, immediately, people will say "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!?!?" and yes, I am aware of people's concerns that a large portion of the roster would be burried and have no TV time but if you think about the Main Eventer's all getting hurt and hurt again recently, the WWE would have no choice but to build more characters up to fill voids and keep the show running. Perhaps it would also motivate the roster to work harder.

Unifying the titles is a great idea. They should also bring back a lower-level title like the European title.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There is a large amount of dead wood on the roster that could be comfortably cut...

The end of a roster split would not be a bad thing at all and would WWE as an entity would revert to its 1990/91 model, where it had loads of wrestlers under contract who weren't even in contention for a title... and it worked...

WM 7 had 14 matches... Thats a massive roster right there, especially when they all were not on that card!

All it meant was in those days was WWE built feuds better and used more talent as openers... that is gonna be the fate of a lot of guys used to a bigger push if this happened... some would leave for TNA, but that again trims the fat and isn't a great loss...

Cut 4 PPV's a year and you have a viable model...

 

[default12234]

in my opinion i believe that all the titles should be unified keeping the wwe title, intercontinental, world tag team titles, womens, and bring back the cruiserweight, and possibly even the hardcore championship even though it was somewhat pointless but would add to the entertainment. i still do believe the brands should be separate, but if your a champion then you shall fight on all 3 brands thus creating better feuds. and i do like the idea of ecw being just a feud show or hey just get rid of it all together lol

 

[P. Nut Butters]

... and possibly even the hardcore championship even though it was somewhat pointless but would add to the entertainment.

I don't think the WWE would seriously bring back the Hardcore title, at least not while they're PG. If they did, it would be so watered-down that it would be a waste of space. In my opinion, the ECW title is the closest thing to the Hardcore title now in WWE.

Also, I was thinking... what happens if WWE does this? Where does it leave the ECW roster... except for perhaps Christian, none of those guys are WWE title worthy and most of them, except for maybe Swagger or Dreamer and a few others are even Intercontinental or Tag Team Title worthy. So it might be a case of also keeping the ECW title.

 

[blair4107]

I disagree. I like that the tag titles are unified but the rest really aren't that overbearing since they are on specific shows. I cannot agree with the thought of merging the major titles but I would agree with bringing back a lower level title for ECW, I know the show is short but when you only have the ECW title it feels like the majority of the roster, those not fueding for the title, aren't really doing much more than trying to escape ECW, which depreciates it.

Ending the roster split at this point wouldn't really serve any purpose. The roster has grown to a huge number - Raw has 35 Superstars, Smackdown has 35, and ECW has 22 (pretty sure). For those not wanting to do the math that's a total of 92 wrestlers, quite a few wrestlers that wouldn't benefit from this. They have just 34 more wrestlers/others than TNA and 3 times as much tv air time.

Besides we just have to face it, not only is ECW not the old ECW but Raw and Smackdown are not our old Raw and Smackdown, respectively. The product has changed too much and gone too far to go back. Raw is no longer a War Zone and Smackdown is no longer the home of good ol' poontang pie. To end the roster split now would make all the progress of the last 8 or 9 years pointless. Fake competition has entered the WWE now and it is here to stay, we should think of ways to improve it not dismantle it; our favorites are becoming legends and that's great, except that legend means you're getting old and sadly won't be around forever, it's time to start looking to the future and build, as I'm sure WWE is looking to do.

As for bringing back sole-show ppvs I would terribly disagree. I remember the ppvs following the roster split and they weren't that great usually. The problems are that a lot of the time it felt like they were filling the ppvs with boring matches also what happens when they stack one show with better talent or matches? The ppv sales start to fluctuate more because some people around the world don't get all of the shows. I assume someone lacking MyNetworkTV access isn't going to want to buy most Smackdown ppvs because they won't be as involved. Also that means shows go sometimes months without a major match or title change, since title changes on weekly shows is rare. Let's try to remember that they brought back the World Title for a reason.

 

[Deadman Disciple]

I dont see the point of 2 womens titles, ive always thought the womens title should be shared over the 3 brands like the tag titles are now.

I also think (as stated in a previous post) that the IC & US belts are somat that mid-carders can shoot for, but abolishing the cruiserweight division was a mistake, I miss those high-flying matches that we used to see, but maybe because of this PG crap the high flyers have to be toned down, but we have X-division of TNA which DO have great matches from time-to-time.

 

[King Patrick Star]

In my opinion, unifying the current Titles and absorbing the WCW Original Titles would be the way to go. Adding 3 defunct WWE Original Titles is the next step. If the Championships are to be assigned a brand, I think the format should be Raw having the WWE and Women’s Title, Smackdown would be the home of the Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles, and ECW should be the home of the European, Hardcore and Light Heavyweight Title. This will draw the lines and define the levels of importance to each show, unless of course this is not what the WWE wants to portray (NEWS FLASH, THIS IS HOW WE SEE IT NOW!!). If not, then just have the Champions show up on all three brands so that everyone is happy.

As far as the number of PPVs, I say one PPV a month on the 4th Sunday of the month, period. As a matter of fact, I would actually make all the PPVs in the Night Of Champions format. After all, it’s a PPV. No more free Championship matches. The “Main Attraction” matches (Feuds with no Titles involved) can be used on TV. This gives the Champ an advantage with Wrestling only on PPVs and makes the Title mean something a little more. We never saw Hogan in a match on Saturday morning back in the 80s and early 90s, he just did a lot of talking. This also makes the $40 a month worth it. If I’m going to pay $40 for a Wrestling show, it better be for something I don’t normally see on free TV. 7 Championship matches plus one more “Main Attraction” match, like a number one contender’s match for one of the Titles or something, a month, for $40 sounds like a good deal to me. That’s not just $5 a match, that’s basically $5 a Championship match. Doesn’t that sound like a steal??

 

[sharpsh00ter23]

It could actually work, they just need more stables to put some of the other stars that are not getting noticed as much. That would alleviate a lot of the flash firing that seems to be hot in the streets right now. Think about it, back in the Attitude era people like X-Pac were actually something because he was involved in a strong stable.

They could do the same thing with someone like Evan Bourne who has outstanding in-ring abilities, but isn't going anywhere. If they brought back the European title in the mix too, then someone like Bourne could capture it...or even let him have the Cruiserweight title. They don't have near enough variety with the title feuds. Everyone is already sick to death of Orton having to fight HHH, Batista, and Cena.

They need to have the Intercontinental Champ be in line for the top title. Honestly, I think the IC champ should get to choose which championship he wants to go for, just like the Undertaker did after he won the Rumble a couple of years back. That would shake up the mix as well.

I agree with matty256. I also think that there should be more "stepping stone" titles that lead to the WWE and WHC. If there are, then they should be treated as such. I really think that people like Cena, HHH, Batista, and even Orton should be knocked down to the Intercontinental/U.S. level just to make it to where it is once again a quest to reach the top rung and grab that brass ring. It would make things interesting.

that is a smart idea from King Patrick! PPVs in the Night of Champ format? That would be great. You really shoudn't be on a PPV unless you have a title or a #1 contender for one.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Thank you, sharpsh00ter23. I’m going to go a step further into detail.

I think the WWE Champion should hold all three belts, but like the WWE Tag Team Champions are holding two. I think the Mid – Card Champion should also hold both the Intercontinental and United States Titles and the Female Champion should also hold both the Women’s and Divas Titles. That will give the 4 Top Titles the look and feel of great importance as Champion, much like Boxing Champions. Then I would add the European, Hardcore, and Light Heavyweight, represented by one Belt each.

Yet another idea, Inter - Brand Stables!! Picture this a stable consisting of WWE / World / ECW Champion, Randy Orton with Three Belts, Intercontinental / United States Champion, Christian, WWE / World Tag Team Champions, Edge and Chris Jericho, and Women’s / Divas Champion, Natalya, with Two Belts each. That’s a Golden Team right there.

 

[Mr_Ab_Fab]

the titles should be unified simply because it gives the titles more importance! there are so many titles flyin around at the moment that it is hard to use them to say who the best wrestlers are! in theory the ic champ should be one of the top guys not a guy breaking through who would like to be a champ like kofi or mvp! the unified titles should be defended on both shows therefore givin eeach show the top superstar at least twice a week! i also thikn matches should not just b based on fueds but on the powers that be saying this will be a good match with some feud

 

[King Patrick Star]

Yes, we all have to same idea with a different way to go about it. If the WWE went back to basics and went back to the WWF Attitude Era set of Titles, I believe things would be a little better at least enough to make it fresh again.

 

[jrazor34]

heres my idea....i do like some of the other ideas but, i think wrestling was much better in the 80's and early 90's you start a feud, it goes on for about 2-3 months then ya move on to the next one. of course thats when territories were somewhat still around. i can remember the wwf/e coming to my hometown 6 times a year and sometimes tv tapings, now im lucky if it comes 2 times every 5 years...lol

anyway there is too much concentration on storylines and less wrestling. the rejoining of the brands can work if done like in the 80's and 90's

and maybe even cut back the ppvs. they used to have just wrestlemania. then came summerslam, survivor series, and royal rumble. i think they should go with those 4 major old school ones. go back to the way survivor series used to be.

maybe even keep night of champions as the ppv between WM and summerslam.

with alot more wrestlers now as opposed to then. have 1 world champ, keep the IC and US titles, keep 1 tag title, 1 womens title, and maybe even bring back the cruiserweight title.

or even as someone suggested make a form of the legends title like tna has. then you can dump the cruiserweight title and US title, and even make it look like the winged eagle belt from the late 80's early 90's

back in the day, i saw the light heavyweight title as maybe a form of a world title but for the smaller guys.

the IC title used to be a big deal back then also.

anyway thats my ideas for now.....i do have others but will start a new thread for those.

 

[Saddler The Great]

I disagree. I like that the tag titles are unified but the rest really aren't that overbearing since they are on specific shows. I cannot agree with the thought of merging the major titles but I would agree with bringing back a lower level title for ECW, I know the show is short but when you only have the ECW title it feels like the majority of the roster, those not fueding for the title, aren't really doing much more than trying to escape ECW, which depreciates it.

Ending the roster split at this point wouldn't really serve any purpose. The roster has grown to a huge number - Raw has 35 Superstars, Smackdown has 35, and ECW has 22 (pretty sure). For those not wanting to do the math that's a total of 92 wrestlers, quite a few wrestlers that wouldn't benefit from this. They have just 34 more wrestlers/others than TNA and 3 times as much tv air time.

Besides we just have to face it, not only is ECW not the old ECW but Raw and Smackdown are not our old Raw and Smackdown, respectively. The product has changed too much and gone too far to go back. Raw is no longer a War Zone and Smackdown is no longer the home of good ol' poontang pie. To end the roster split now would make all the progress of the last 8 or 9 years pointless. Fake competition has entered the WWE now and it is here to stay, we should think of ways to improve it not dismantle it; our favorites are becoming legends and that's great, except that legend means you're getting old and sadly won't be around forever, it's time to start looking to the future and build, as I'm sure WWE is looking to do.

As for bringing back sole-show ppvs I would terribly disagree. I remember the ppvs following the roster split and they weren't that great usually. The problems are that a lot of the time it felt like they were filling the ppvs with boring matches also what happens when they stack one show with better talent or matches? The ppv sales start to fluctuate more because some people around the world don't get all of the shows. I assume someone lacking MyNetworkTV access isn't going to want to buy most Smackdown ppvs because they won't be as involved. Also that means shows go sometimes months without a major match or title change, since title changes on weekly shows is rare. Let's try to remember that they brought back the World Title for a reason.

I totally agree with u...the WWE would have to let go of so many superstars....and plus, with this unification idea, it would be hard for so many of the young talent to get to main event status...like for instance, if the Miz is struggling to get main event status on raw atm, how the hell would he get it without a brand split? Also, up and coming superstars who get title reigns would be bashed much more...e.g. could u imagine the IWC hatred over a face Cm Punk if he had a unified title in a non brand split???? Like a comment above said, WWE should be focusing on improving product, not abolishing it all of a sudden. The problem is not the amount of talent in the WWE or brand splits, its how the idiot writers book the stupid ass boring as hell feuds, and not giving the good future talent any opportunities.

 

[BigDaddyDawg]

If you'd unify or consolidate the titles, you'd be erasing what the brand split was invented for - to give more wrestlers a chance to hold titles and be in the spotlight.

Consolidating titles would eventually lead to consolidation of shows to one or two, which would mean a lot of talent would never get the chance to fight for titles and just be mid- to low-carders for life and eventually let go. It would revert back to the way things were... not in the way of production or performance, but of backstage politics and holding younger guys down. That's a reason why the brands were split to begin with - to give more people a chance and to have different main-event pictures than the usual 3 or 4 guys for years and years and years.

If you think the backstage politics of the 90's and before were bad, think of how it would be now if you consolidated titles. The younger stars who finally get up to the big time would get knuckled under by the established talent afraid of being shown up, which would lead to the younger stars either pushing through it or getting frustrated and leaving. Less opportunities. That'd be like any corporation taking important job positions and consolidating them. What would that normally lead to? Layoffs and more cutthroat environments. Same applies here.

As has been said in earlier posts, consolidating the brands is not the way to go unless you want to make massive layoffs and screw up the careers of quite a few people. Improving the product on the existing brands is the way to make things better for everyone.

 

[Sasori]

I think it would be good, because every division needs one champion! If theres 2 are they really champions? I think it's ******ed to have 2 belts for each division unless it's the tag team division! And WoW Matty we have very similar sigs Lol.

 

[KennedyKennedy]

I agree that the woman's titles should just be unified into the woman's championship which would be defended and challenged for on all brands, although only the champ can appear on a different show.
As for the IC and US titles I think that for now they should stay seperate as right now the divisions are great and very entertaining plus it would be better if the shows had one title they could be guaranteed on their brand.
The tag titles are already unified and I hope they stay that way but made into one set of belts.
As for the ECW title, we all know that it's not a real world title and is used mainly to promote new talent (Swagger, Christian, Lashley) and veterans (Chavo, Kane, Dreamer), I love how the ECW title is used as it really is good to see young talents get an opportunity to shine with a main event title and established veterans get their re-push to see if their worth another shot at glory. I think that it is worth keeping separate for now as it is filling out a job which no other title is doing and so is worth keeping around.
The world titles on the other hand, should be unified. It should be that the one world champion will the undisputed, best wrestler in the company, and the world at that time. Winning a world title in WWE isn't what it used to be like as now it changes hands very commonly and two times as much because their are two titles. I think they should unify these titles at WM next year and have the WWE Undisputed Champ go on show to show, defending his title and facing new challengers from all brands.

In my opinion, the titles should go like this:
No brand (can be defended on all shows)
Undisputed WWE Title
WWE Tag Team Championship
Woman's Championship
RAW
US Title
Smackdown
IC Title
ECW
ECW Title