Is it time for WWE to merge the Titles?

[Keith]

It seems more and more than the rosters of both raw and smackdown are becoming merged with often the same wrestlers appearing on both brands. The issue with the seprate brands
idea now is that WWE don't have the depth of roster than they did in 2002 when this whole thing kicked off. Since that time they have introduced too many championships which mean that
the midcard titles, women's and tag have suffered. Clearly they don't have enough hours of TV or ppv time to really make the lesser titles count as much as they should.

So it is time IMO to merge the U.S. and Intercontintal Titles with the IC Title being the one which stays as it has the history as a WWF/WWE belt. And it is time for there to be only one
world title. Now this is more risky as a guy like Shamus has been allowed to shine as a result of focusing his world title reign mostly on SD where he can not be over shadowed by the likes of
Cena, Punk, HHH and Lesnar. But for the credibility of WWE and its top title then there can only be one top belt.

Having done these two things I would return to the rule that who ever the World/WWE champion is and whoever the IC champion is can appear and defend the belt on either brand.

So you have four titles which is about the right amount for me.

 

[Andrew]

With the nXt belt being on NXT.

I'd scrap the US Championship and have the IC defended on both shows.

FFS 1,000th RAW has the IC being defended not the US... So yeah.. Scrap the US.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

The titles are fine as they are. Recently the IC, US, & Tag titles have been seeing more focus, and the tag division has actually been rebuilt.

The seperate World Titles help the house shows more than anything. The champs only have to work half of the shows that they would have worked before 2002, which helps keep the talent from becomming exausted.

The IC/US merge I could live with, but is there really a point to merging those 2 to introduce an nXt title?

 

[We Are Legion]

Having both the US and IC titles the way they are is fine. WWE and WCW both made it work with two midcard belts (IC and European for WWE, US and Television for WCW). TNA also manages fine with two midcard belts (X-Division and Television). WWE should not combine these titles and downsize their abundance of titles simply for the sake of it. Both of these belts can still be used.

The real problem is having two world titles, which is completely unnecessary particularly when the brand split isn't even being enforced anymore. It was definitely necessary in 2001 when there were two clearly split brands and the roster was overloaded with more talent than the company could handle. That hasn't been the case for many years.

Which title is more prestigious? The WWE Championship, right? If that's the case, why would you ever waste your time contending for the World Heavyweight Championship? Who really wants to try that hard to be the second best? It used to be because the World Heavyweight Championship was restricted to Smackdown, but if that's still the case, why am I seeing Sheamus on Raw every week now? Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever.

And then you have Punk and the WWE Championship which WWE never has a second thought about bumping down from the ppv main events in favor of whatever match John Cena is in. Perhaps WWE would second guess those decisions if there was only ONE champion, as there is only ONE John Cena. That would really force them to ask themselves, "What is more important, the WWE Championship, or John Cena?" Back in November 1997 when a certain Canadian left the company following Survivor Series, the WWE Championship was CLEARLY the most important thing in the company, not the biggest star in it. After all, that was Vince McMahon's biggest reason to explain his decision in Montreal that night.

I know I'm all over the place with this, but I have ran down the notion of two world titles for the past 3 years and it's far past the time to merge them. Absolutely no reason there should be two at this point.

 

[Keith]

No I think you make a very good point. In theory no one wrestler should be more important than the world title (of couse I am not agreeing with what Mcmahon did to Bret Hart but that is a different debate).

Have to say through it is debateble weather WCW really did make two midcard titles work. The U.S. Title often held highest regard as it was seen as a true steping stone to the world title, but the Television title too often just seemed like filler to me. Certain people people like Arn Anderson and Stunning Steve benifted from it but many times it just came across as a opening card title which was maybe one level above jobber zone. And the TV title is totally pointless in TNA so that is where your argument falls down.
The european title worked at first when it had a sense of identiy and a theme, but they never really followed through on that and just seem to lose interest. To me the WWE'S U.S. Title is just a watered down version of the IC Title and it lacks idenity.

 

[zigglerHEEL]

Having them all is fine... it's the way they are used that bothers me... When is the last time Santino defended the US Title, it's been months. Also there's no reason that someone with a little more draw isn't wearing that belt. There are 10-15 guys on the roster who could realistically be in a WORLD title picture, why not have the strap on one of them to give it more credibility. I love that Christian has the IC belt (wish he would defend it more). If it were me, I'd get the US title on D. Bryan, or Cody, or even Wade barrett when he returns. Barrett could get huge heel heat being from Wales and mocking the "U.S." Title, it's cheap but it's proven to work. I actually don't mind Santino because he serves a purpose and he's over, but to have that title on him (and for this long) discredits it completely.

 

[Keith]

Yeah Barrett would be the perfect U.S. Champion if pushed how you suggested. He is not ready for the world title yet but he could lift the profle of the U.S. Title and it could be a way to get him a decent winning streak too.

 

[Chris]

I would rather them merge the two world title instead so there's only one top guy, and holding that title would mean more. At this point the WHC is where the IC title used to be anyway compared to the WWE title. This way, they could still keep both belts, though one would definitely been seen as more prestigious, such as how the US was to the TV Title in WCW or the Intercontinental was to the European. Either way, holding either title should mean something, in a perfect world at least.

 

[Deezy]

The titles should have been merged 2-3 years ago.

The US and IC title have no prestige and the WHC replaced both of them as the secondary title.

Merge em all, there are far too many titles.

 

[Mr.Mayhem]

The Roster is thin , there is hardly any star power and by removing title from smack down, it wouldn't really help WWE at all . Smack Down has been suffering alot from lack of ticket sales to low ratings and even thought its not really that credible , but WHC has been treated as a stepping stone to WWE championship, which is not a bad idea . As for US and IC title , they are fine too . It give midcard guys to do something , there are many guys in midcard and by removing a title , most of them will have nothing to do . SO there is no point in removing the titles . But titles should be given to more credible and future of company not santino .

 

[Rated R Superstar]

I'd honestly like to see Otunga with the US belt, WWE truly needs to rehash his and Santino's feud. Or maybe have Otunga feud with Christian, and have Barrett come in a squash the fuck out of Santino and take the belt off him.

 

[Mr.Mayhem]

I'd honestly like to see Otunga with the US belt, WWE truly needs to rehash his and Santino's feud. Or maybe have Otunga feud with Christian, and have Barrett come in a squash the fuck out of Santino and take the belt off him.

Outunga would be a great addition to list of jobbers squashed by Ryback . He is green as fuck and there are guys who deserve to elevated more than outunga .

 

[Keith]

Yeah I agree the guy has a decent look that is about all. He would struggle to grace the internet belt.

 

[Johnny Ace]

Hell yeah they should bring the titles together, like mentioned previously they should of done this 3 years ago. I don't even know who the US Title Holder is right now...(google search...oh yeah, Santino Marello). Why have 2 titles when there is only one brand now? Also not to mention the thin roster. The prestige of the IC title has gone way down and there should only be 1 midcard title as well.

 

[Cena's Jeans Shorts]

I see only one real reason to keep the flimsy brand distinctions and plethora of titles, which is for the sake of the house shows. There still seems to be distinct brand splits as far as those go.

Long term, when the economy is a bit more robust and the WWE gets out from under some of the new debt accrued for their expanding media ventures, they'll further expand the separate rosters that tour house shows separately. It's something they'd done for ages, having two different crews working shows, the bigger brand working the bigger venues, the "b" crew working the smaller cities.

For the sake of promotion, it's good to have some titles as a draw, even if the value of these titles are a lot more watered down in recent years.

I also think it's a good thing to have a second world champion that can share some of the brunt of publicity work that the top guys are expected to do. If you have one champion that doesn't want to do shows like Comic Con, or isn't as into the glad handing side of things, you have a second guy around like a Sheamus that will pick up the slack.

In reality, could they do the same thing by having say Punk as WWE champion and Sheamus as IC champion? Probably so. But if those two are holding the titles, that means you don't have the promotion of a shiny title to use with the development of guys coming up.