The illusion of a prestigious championship is caring about a title change. It’s feeling sadness when a face loses their title. It’s becoming angry with despair when a heel wins. It’s the grandeur of a superstar standing above the rest. A great champion makes fans care enough to tune in for them. They sell merchandise, and replica belts are worn to emulate heroes. Fans look back on the titles with happy nostalgia, as they remember the superstars who held the championships high with pride.
Today I’m looking at the status of all WWE’s current titles. How has management treated some of the old favourites since introducing the new? Which talents have helped or inadvertently harmed how we perceive them? Will WWE introduce more avenues for success? Or would it not make sense to cut back so title matches are more special? Many questions to answer, so let’s begin with WWE’s World title equivalents.
Universal Championship
You know where I’m going with this? Yes, its part-time status has severely affected how we care for it. And it’s not simply about hating Brock Lesnar (for his contract), as much as it is WWE allowing Monday Night Raw’s biggest prize to be featured so infrequently. Looking at it from another perspective, would fans be upset if The Undertaker only defended it twice a year? They sure would. A brands champion’s weekly appearances is expected, and to not give the title the exposure it needs could be seen as robbing paying consumers and full-time talent. The title is only defended on PPV, often taking up the main event slot as a special attraction. WWE has booked the Universal Championship as the #1 of any brand in recent times.
You might have wondered how part-time it’s become since Finn Balor was crowned the inaugural at Summerslam 2016? As of this writing, active for 804 days. Add Brock Lesnar’s reigns and the two times it was vacated, you get 523 days. This means 65% of its existence has been spent on a part-timer or vacated (not including Goldberg’s time). Let that sink in. How can WWE expect the “universe” to get invested in its still relatively young title when it’s not around? Do they have a specific reason? And why does it take precedence over the most valued title in the business? Whatever happened to it being a representation of the WWE Universe?
Remember last year when Lesnar defeated AJ Styles in champion vs. champion? We should expect the same result this year. I’ve not even gone into how the title’s booked. I’m sure you’re aware of the extremely short, “Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks” style matches we’ve been seeing. So much time and effort has gone into promoting these huge encounters, yet when it comes down to the nitty-gritty there’s little to be desired.
I could probably harp on and dissect every title match, but that’s another day altogether. The most dominant Universal Champions have been Brock Lesnar and Goldberg .. on a show which features many young, athletic, and charismatic full-timers putting their bodies on the line all year. Who’s more deserving of the accolade? This is the seemingly never-ending dilemma leeching any potential the title’s had since its introduction as an “equal” to the WWE Championship.
WWE Championship
Many greats have held the WWE title. We’re aware of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and there’s too many others to list here. I remember the first brand extension when the World Heavyweight Championship (Big Gold Belt) was introduced. As a young fan I felt having two major world titles in the same company was counter productive. And I still do, even more so. Imagine if AJ Styles was the #1 guy? Imagine if he was WWE Champion over Lesnar? Reigns? Strowman? What if he was the main event at PPV? What if he was the poster boy defending the most coveted title in the main event of Wrestlemania?
While AJ’s had the biggest year of his career .. it’s safe to say he’s not had the same level of promotion than the Universal Champions. One issue he’s faced is being on Smackdown Live with a smaller roster, so he’s not had the same exposure because the brand struggles to draw fans like it did. This is more to do with WWE keeping most of their major storylines and surprises for Raw; so there’s less anticipation.
When WWE brought the brand split back, Smackdown got a stacked roster and often did better than Raw with an hour less per week. It probably still does to many, but it’s not “must-see” (not that I’m saying Raw is). Monday nights are more unpredictable, while Smackdown is about the matches. One week after it reached its 1000 episode milestone with an average tribute of nostalgia, Smackdown quietly went back to being just another WWE show.
Luckily AJ’s put in some great work with his rivals this year, giving us competitive title matches conveniently placed in the middle of stacked cards to not “steal the show”. In these times it seems the demotion of the WWE title has been accepted, much like when John Bradshaw Layfield ruled over Smackdown. But we know AJ is the consummate professional, and he doesn’t care where he is on the card so long as he can do what he does best.
That’s all well and good, but I’m positive many fans would prefer a champion like him being the #1 guy. They might even buy a PPV, subscribe to the network, or get a ticket to see something like that in person. Management has such an incredible reliance on the already established legends that AJ has to make do with what he’s given. And so do the many who believe he deserves better.
So while the WWE title has played second fiddle lately, it’s been through it before and survived. I might be one of a few, but I’m a firm believer a World Championship should be the only one. So long as the Universal title exists on a show deemed more important, it cuts the importance of anyone who holds them by half. Could you imagine if there was another WWF Champion in Bruno Sammartino’s era? Or Hulk Hogan’s? Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels? Their legacies would not have been as great. They would’ve never been able to claim they were the #1 champion of their generation.
Although the title jumped around a lot in the Attitude Era, it remained the #1 title fought over by Hall of Fame worthy names on the same show; whether it be Raw or Smackdown. Splitting rosters and introducing duplicate titles has severely diminished the feeling of grandeur. No one can ever truly say they’re the best, not til they hold titles from both shows and unify them.
Intercontinental & United States Championships
I have to give it to WWE for reviving them in the past few years. Open challenges from John Cena, Seth Rollins, and others have put extra emphasis on them. For a very long time they were only given to mid-carders years away (or not at all) from major success, and often wouldn’t be defended or even seen on PPV. The United States title still struggles though. It’s more like .. a prop to give to someone officials want to use later in the main event scene when there’s an available spot. It keeps them kinda relevant, but not too much. The Smackdown Women’s Championship has become more important with Becky Lynch and Charlotte’s feud, so that may be contributing to the lack of airtime given to Shinsuke Nakamura; who doesn’t have a natural rival at the moment.
The Intercontinental title has a totally different story thanks to the part-time Universal title. It’s been rejuvenated as the #1 title on Raw. It’s hard to deny the claim, as the best full-timer is often the guy holding it. Seth Rollins could easily have been a multi-time Universal Champion by now, but instead he’s settled for IC reigns. Talents lack of options has inadvertently helped the title return to a time when it was highly regarded for crowning the best “worker”. The WWE title was for draws like Hulk Hogan, while the IC was for athletes like Mr. Perfect & Bret Hart. In 2018, the Intercontinental title is one of the only championships we can say has grown in stature.
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Women’s & Tag Team Championships
I’m all for the women’s revolution, and I applaud the efforts shown at Evolution. However, there’s an issue with the divisions and I’m sure others have picked up on it. I believe the best talent are spread too thin throughout their many rosters. Not only that, but how many singles titles are there now? Four? Yes, there’s four single women’s titles (Raw, Smackdown, NXT, NXT UK) and no tag titles. It certainly makes women’s tag teams something to be avoided.
It creates a competitive singles environment, but yeah .. who is #1? Who is leading the women in WWE? Ronda Rousey? Becky Lynch? Shayna Baszler? Shayna’s got as much right to call herself the best over Ronda or Becky having won it back at Evolution. Should Becky be #1 because she beat Charlotte? Or is Ronda #1 because she’s the main event? We go to Survivor Series, where WWE might (it could be a draw ..) tell us who their #1 woman is. But is it right? Should there be a defined #1 and #2? Do we want to know? What’s the point in finding out if the winner does not get both titles? Why can’t a wrestler win both and work both shows til they are defeated?
And it’s the same for the men’s tag titles. How many are there? Like the women’s division, there’s four spread out across Raw, Smackdown, and NXT. 205 Live didn’t get any, and neither did the women. What if WWE introduces tag belts for them as well? What’s that like .. another four at least? Can fans keep up with what’s been defended? What if they go one further and introduce 6-man tag titles? Or intergender tag titles for Mixed Match Challenge? Where does it end?
Other Championships
The concept of 205 Live was good initially, but it feels 20 years too late. Speaking of which, WCW’s Cruiserweight division gained plenty of support for the work they were doing, and I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten close to what they did. Trying to box smaller guys on to one show hasn’t worked because it’s not must-see. With no big names, and WWE’s habit of sticking title matches on pre-shows .. its potential may never be reached. Neville, Enzo, and Aries brought another level in their own way (whether you loved or hated), but since their departures it’s been hard to care.
Buddy Murphy’s win in Australia may have been the biggest, most talked about moment in the divisions history since Enzo Amore won it. How bad is that? The Cruiserweight title has a long way to go if it wants to be taken seriously. Only Lio Rush, Drake Maverick and The Lucha House Party have broke through the glass ceiling so far.
As for the NXT North American Championship, it really needed care and attention to become a suitable secondary achievement to the much sought after NXT title; which almost always gets its holders promoted to the main roster. Essentially, it should be the stepping stone to the NXT title .. but we’ve yet to see this. Yes, it’s a young title which has only been held by Adam Cole and Ricochet so far, but it seems both have (even though Ricochet complained Cole never defended) rarely put the title on the line. And it’s probably nothing to do with them personally, but because the show is only an hour long so they don’t have the time. Speaking of which.
I’m 100% invested behind the WWE UK Championship, and I’m proud of Tyler Bate for being the inaugural. Even more so for “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne being the longest reigning champion (of any title) in the company today. The UK Championship tournaments have been fun, and we finally got ourselves the brand promised a couple of years ago; with legend Johnny Saint as General Manager. While Dunne has been all over the world defending it, a big part of me wishes we could’ve seen more defenses on television.
Almost all of his matches are must-see, and he’s a young lion making a name for himself with the UK brand. He’s not a part-timer, but it feels like it when it comes to defending the belt. The issue is there’s not many viable contenders outside of Tyler Bate and Zack Gibson, so it’s up to the NXT UK brand to build someone up to dethrone him. Luckily there’s only one UK Champion, and Dunne is deserving of the honour. I hope they let him be on Raw again one day.
Conclusion: I’m all for having nice things and fully appreciate WWE’s efforts to expand their product, but sometimes you wonder if having too much of a good thing isn’t so. Part of me feels they wouldn’t be satisfied til they have live wrestling shows running around the clock 24/7 on the WWE Network, and we’ll be there each day trying to decide what to watch with our time. It’s already a reality for many, as we have lives and other things to do. There’s alternative wrestling promotions offering all kinds of different shows to pick from as well. The question I should be asking is: Why are WWE expanding it’s programming so much?
It feels to me like they’re preparing for the post-Vince McMahon era. He, Triple H and others are doing everything they can, while poaching the best talent to maintain dominance. They want everything to end with them, and they want to be who everyone aspires to work for from a young age. More divisions are likely to spring up, along with new titles and WWE Network specials. They’ll go to more countries other than Australia and Saudi Arabia for glorified house shows. WWE are laying the foundation of a machine so powerful that no other promotions will ever be able to break it down.
To WWE management, championships are simply a status to be earned. They’re creating a ladder of achievements for the toughest and hardest workers to move up. You win an EVOLVE or Progress title, and you could find yourself working in NXT. Win the NXT title, and you’ll very likely move up to Raw or Smackdown. Win a mid-card title, and you could possibly go to the top for the Universal or WWE title. WWE has even shown Impact Wrestling that talents who succeed with them can also “move up” (to NXT usually). WWE remains dominant, and having many championships gives everyone something to aim for. Talents are less likely to leave if they have something to work toward. They create hurdles for talents to get through to prove they’re worthy of being in the spotlight at Wrestlemania.
The downside is like what I said earlier .. you end up with the best talent all over the place. You need at least a few draws on each show or they’ll fail to make money. You can’t put all the biggest stars on the same show, or many won’t get the chance to achieve anything. But if they’re all on the same show .. it would be exciting television to see who proves they’re the greatest.
As for NXT, I firmly believe it isn’t “development”. Many skilled veterans who went through there would be insulted if you said they were. It’s another platform for them to make up a character, or to refine aspects of one they used elsewhere away from the main roster spotlight. Tomasso Ciampa is certainly not being developed, he’s been ready for ages. Main roster championships would mean a lot more if we didn’t have excellent workers like Ciampa & Gargano showing everyone up in the so-called “development” territory. The fact that many former NXT talents miss it so much, is proof they prefer the efficiency it has when looking after their talent and championships. NXT knows how to make them look great.
We should know by now that Vince does things his way and we should accept it. He’s never really cared for how a title is perceived, he’s only really cared that it’s shiny enough to make the talent look like a champion. He learned a long time ago a great character like The Undertaker doesn’t need to have a title to get over. The fact of the matter is, the importance of all titles dropped significantly since the first brand extension. When they scrapped it and unified the two World titles, it got better with champions like Seth Rollins breaking through. The reign made a star out of him. Less is more sometimes.
I’ve gone on a bit longer than expected so cheers for sticking with me. I believe the answer to the question is subjective, and there’s some who will welcome more titles as WWE expands its programming. There are others like me who question who the best really is, and no amount of champion vs. champion matches will quell my curiosity. There’s some who enjoyed Brock Lesnar winning again; even if it means the title is part-time again. At the end of it, I’ll keep doing my best to assume AJ Styles is the #1 guy because that’s who I personally believe should be. Maybe WWE prefers we pick our personal favourites instead of forcing it down our .. oh wait, they still do that. Speaking of Roman, wishing him the best to return soon. Hopefully gets the Universal title back so we can have the luxury of seeing it on television across the shoulder of someone deserving in 2019. Thanks for reading.
