"World" Title(s)?

[BigCrippyZ]

It does seem like that they're pushing the WWE title as the "World" title as of late, and RAW definitely feels like the "A" show for the last several years, at least in terms of promotion, stars, etc.

I'm not trying to bring up all of the reasons, flaws, debates, complaints or arguments about WWE's writing, storylines, etc., in the past few years. That being said, I'm honestly curious about what you guys think about the "world" title situation.

I understand that things have changed since the purchase of WCW, "Invasion", etc. However, what do most of the "hardcore" wrestling fans think? Do you guys feel that there should OR needs to be only one "World" title, regardless of whether or not it's defended on both shows, etc.?

Feel free to discuss or ellaborate...

[#1-norm-fan]

It's terrible. The titles have no prestige anymore so the whole "Give Jack Swagger a title run because we have two 'world championships' and can afford to randomly throw one on some guy to try to get him over quickly" idea doesn't bring them up. It just brings the title down.

There should be one undisputed world champion and the "brink of the main event" guys should be fighting for the brand specific US and IC titles to bring those up before going for THE big one.

[Lock Jaw]

United States Champion
European Champion
Intercontinental Champion
World Champion

Would make sense for 4 titles. Just make the IC title a bigger deal, fairly quick.

[#1-norm-fan]

Wait, would the European title be brand specific too? Just to even out the brands, if you were to have a 3rd tier title on one show, I'd say bring back the TV Title and put it on the other.

I feel like one world champ who represents the company as a whole, brand specific IC and US champs, and tag champs and a women's champ who represent the company as a whole would be the least messy way to go.

[Mercury Bullet]

They need to go back to the Undisputed title only. Even in a fake sport, the more belts the more watered down the prestige is (see Boxing). 1 world title, IC title, US title, Women's title, tag titles. Thats it.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Give NXT a World Title too.

[kareru]

they should have

Raw champion
Smackdown Champion
World Champion

it makes sense

[whiteyford]

I think if they enforced the brand split having two world titles would sense but either way they are only as prestigious as they are booked to be. When RVD held the TV title it was pushed as a meaningfull championship on par with their world title, same with the IC belt when Austin & Rock were feuding over it, if the title is booked to be important and not just a prop then it will be.

[Shisen Kopf]

They should have WWE champ, IC champ, tag team champs and that's it maybe a hardcore belt. I am correct on this. Thank you.

[Nicky Fives]

Raw & Smackdown should both have 2 Titles (WWE/IC vs. WH/US) and and NXT should have there own midcard title

[RiX1024]

This is not boxing with their multiple titles, stick with one belt and one champion.

[PHBro]

They should have 5 belts or maybe 4 belts or maybe 3 but only 2 isn't enough and 6 is to many.

[MoFo]

I just see the WHC as the equivelent of wat the IC Title used to be.

Smackdown is garbage and doesnt need a World champ.

[GD]

I personally believe that the WWE should have only one World Championship because there have been way too many World Champions ever since the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship. Hence, with only one World title, only those who deserve it shall get to hold it. Which shall also make the Intercontinental and United-States titles important (again) in the process.

So if they decide to unify the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship, I hope they recognize the new Championship with the big gold belt instead of the spinner belt.

[XCaliber]

With the current format I actually prefer having 2 since if it came down to 1 we'd probly see a title change every single month like when the brand extension began.

[XL]

My objection to scrapping one of the World Titles was that we'd be left with a massive Main Event roster with virtually no upward mobility, but with HBK and Edge retired, Taker and HHH part-time and a few people having lost value (Kane) I'm not sure that would be a massive problem now.

Legitimate Main Event Calibre Talent

Cena (who doesn't need to be in the title picture to be a big deal)
Lesnar (as above, plus around for a year)
Punk
Jericho (probably gone by the summer)
Orton


Arguable Main Event Calibre Talent Who Can Be Cycled Into/Out of The Title Picture

Alberto Del Rio
Christian
Kane
Mysterio
Big Show
Mark Henry
Miz


On The Cusp

Ziggler
Barrett
Rhodes

That doesn't seem all that over-crowded.

[Emperor Smeat]

Rather they kept 2 since they have a pretty large roster and the way they've ignored Smackdown for most of the Brand Era, the World belt has worked out great as a belt for upcoming stars to have before moving to RAW.

The WWE would need to shed a chunk of their roster if they had just 1 belt or else it'd be too cluttered in the main event.

[#1-norm-fan]

Well considering most of the guys they have in the "main event" aren't anywhere close to being that level yet, I don't think it would be too cluttered. Just have guys like Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, etc feuding for their brand's IC/US title while the guys like Cena, Lesnar, Rock, Jericho, Punk and Orton can do the main event scene.

[Rock Bottom]

Scrap the WHC and the US title.

Tired of it.

Impossible to get so mahy belts over. People have to believe that these titles are to die for. Can't do that with a million belts. Would be good timing too. Give Show a nice long IC run, so that when someone beats him for it, they've "beaten the giant" for the IC belt.

[Lock Jaw]

They need more belts. They should work a 17-belt tiered system.

[Tommy Gunn]

It's not as watered down as it was when they had the ECW title too, which they treated as a main-event type belt.

[Swiss Ultimate]

What if everyone had a belt and they couldn't lose them except at Night of Champions?

[#1-norm-fan]

What if the only way to lose a title was through someone else opening up a lock box containing your title?

[#1-norm-fan]

lol. Nah. That's just silly.

[Shisen Kopf]

I said it before many years ago, maybe at rajah even. But instead of belts there should be a championship hat. The winner gets a tophat.

[Dukelorange]

Being that they have a Raw Supershow, it makes more sense to have one World title and then have the mid card branded titles. I think someone said this already, but I was too lazy to read... I apologize

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've actually been wondering lately how confusing it must be to casual fans who come in and are told that CM Punk is the WWE Champion and Sheamus is the World Heavyweight Champion. Now, if they kept SmackDown! talent on SmackDown! and RAW talent on RAW, then I would have absolutely no problem with each brand having its own World Champion. But as it stands right now, I kind of wish Brock Lesnar would just unify everything (he was the man who essentially forced the need for two titles by signing exclusively with SmackDown! back in the day).

[#1-norm-fan]

Having one world champion who goes between brands and represents the best in the entire company, an IC Champion who holds the top title bragging rights on Smackdown and a US Champion who holds the top title bragging rights on Raw instantly brings up the credibility of all the titles. That and not giving the titles to under-qualified people just to try to get them over of course.

[Rock Bottom]

ijs

Used to be a guy got his hands on a belt after a while "climbing through the ranks," and the belt solidified that they had "arrived." Fuck, the IC belt was more over than the WHC title is now.

Now you don't know what the hell it even means if someone is champ.

[#1-norm-fan]

Pretty much what he said.

The IC Title in the 90's was way way WAY more over than the World Title is now and there seems to be no urgency to fix that.

[Rock Bottom]

The belts used to be epic. I mean, Money Inc. vs. The Steiners for the tag belts. They changed hands how many times in that feud, and yet, the titles were still massively over. I honestly can't remember the last time I gave a shit about the tag titles. Was it around the time Taker/Show were feuding with Rock/Foley? That's a really long time, and that's with four singles wrestlers.

Or, the IC belt. Piper dropping the belt to Bret with the handshake and hug or whatnot. Moments like that are huge.

You know the last guys to really get the WHC over, to me? Chris Benoit and Triple H. And Benoit had it for like, a month, maybe?

I dunno. Clusterfuck of thoughts here. Just so watered down.

[#1-norm-fan]

Benoit had it til SummerSlam. So like 5 months. And even as someone who wasn't a Benoit fan, the title still was much more credible then than it is now. Triple H hogging it up was actually great for business. How nuts did everyone go when they thought Jericho won it that night on Raw? There's no way you could replicate that today.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The belts used to be epic. I mean, Money Inc. vs. The Steiners for the tag belts. They changed hands how many times in that feud, and yet, the titles were still massively over. I honestly can't remember the last time I gave a shit about the tag titles. Was it around the time Taker/Show were feuding with Rock/Foley? That's a really long time, and that's with four singles wrestlers.

Or, the IC belt. Piper dropping the belt to Bret with the handshake and hug or whatnot. Moments like that are huge.

You know the last guys to really get the WHC over, to me? Chris Benoit and Triple H. And Benoit had it for like, a month, maybe?

I dunno. Clusterfuck of thoughts here. Just so watered down.

Money Inc lost it, got it back and then lost it. It was all live events though. So, it's like it didn't really happen.

They had that great Tag Team Steel Cage match on the Summerslam Hype show.

[Tom Guycott]

It's terrible. The titles have no prestige anymore so the whole "Give Jack Swagger a title run because we have two 'world championships' and can afford to randomly throw one on some guy to try to get him over quickly" idea doesn't bring them up. It just brings the title down.

I'm going to veer this a little off-topic and mention that this is true of pretty much every title right now. The only championship being actively feuded over right now is the I.C., and that is almost being overshadowed by the storyline of "embarassment". The titles anymore are almost nothing but a prop and a "thank you". This is EVERY title from the top to the tags.

I remember Ausitn saying something about "You should be in this business to try to be the World Heavyweight Champion. If you're not trying for that, what the hell are you even doing here?" It's like nobody is trying to win titles, and that they are a secondary byproduct of the story they may be involved in. The last I recall this happening is the Punk/Cena feud... they built that bitch like the be all end all. Now, it's just some hunk of metal Punk drags to the ring while he has match after mach with Mark Henry (who's being scouted by Abraham Washington) while being distracted by Jericho's rants about Punk's family... Oh yeah, and the title's on the line, by the way. And this is the one with the most prestige at the moment.

In another thread there was complaining about how the tag team champions were beat by some random team of former heavyweight champs. Now, I get the point that two "smaller" guys don't really appear weak losing to a couple of former heavyweight champs. However, the point is that they are supposed to be current champs. They are champs with a manager, no less, and they STILL happen to lose to two people who have no "chemistry" and nothing in common. They're not defending against anyone, even with a barebones division. It's like they're only champions to keep them away from TNA.

Having all the belts around could be beneficial... if they mean shit. So, back to the two bigs: they need to be showcased more. Having Daniel Bryan lose in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania and Punk/Jericho be severely overshadowed by Taker/Hunter and Rock/Cena makes them seem like afterthoughts. Having Bryan become U.S. champion "as an apology", or Kingston beocme I.C. champ without ever defending it meant nothing.

Long and short: the number of belts are fine. Better booking just needs to happen. Even something as small as making random matches title defenses for the lower tier stuff. The WWE & WHC don't need to be unified. They just need to be focused on properly.

[dingdongyo]

stop holding title matches every 15 seconds. pay per views only. done.

[Gertner]

Guys, the only true world title is the ROH World Title.

[MoFo]

You know the last guys to really get the WHC over, to me? Chris Benoit and Triple H.



King Booker, IMO.

[Shisen Kopf]

Guys, the only true world title is the ROH World Title.

Doesn't one of the ring crew guys have the belt this week?

[Gertner]

Doesn't one of the ring crew guys have the belt this week?

I heard Clox is artistic combating for it this week.

[XL]

Benoit had it til SummerSlam. So like 5 months. And even as someone who wasn't a Benoit fan, the title still was much more credible then than it is now. Triple H hogging it up was actually great for business. How nuts did everyone go when they thought Jericho won it that night on Raw? There's no way you could replicate that today.
I'm confused. You were talking about HHH hogging the title in 2002, then you reference the reversed title win for Jericho in 2000.

Please clarify.

[dronepool]

The Smackdownship needs more credibility these days.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The Royal Rumble Winner has challenged for the World Heavyweight Title at the last three WrestleManias. That doesn't mean as much as it should, but still.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The Smackdownship needs more credibility these days.

It's last champion is the best wrestler in the world. Is that credible enough for you?

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Regardless of the outcome, Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules should be a fantastic match, and the hopefully hot Chicago crowd will breathe a lot of life into it. It'll be a great edition to both men's future DVD releases and another "History of the World Heavyweight Championship" DVD.

[#1-norm-fan]

or it will end in 36 seconds.