Pro Wrestling Lineal Championships

[RDT]

Voices of Wrestling once looked to figure out who the true Lineal WWE Champion is. This is copied from their site. I feel like it would be great if WrestleSmarks was the new home for Lineal Championship history.
​

What would happen in the professional wrestling world if non-title matches did not exist? What would happen if every time a Champion stepped into the ring in a one on one match, the WWE Championship was on the line?

Criteria:

1. WWE Title could only change hands in singles (i.e. one on one) matches (more on that in a second)
2. WWE Title can not be lost by countout or disqualification (keeping with the traditional rules of pro wrestling)
3. WWE Title could be lost by pinfall, submission, or by a match stipulation.
4. WWE Title could be lost by Referee Stoppage
5. WWE Title could not be lost in an Multiple Man (Triple Threat, Elimination Chamber, etc) or Tag Team Match
6. WWE Title must be defended (i.e. wrestle a one on one match) every 365 days.
7. The Linear WWE Title is not bound to the WWE. If the champion loses anywhere (Japan, another territory, etc.), they lose the Linear Title

The Multi-Man Match Conundrum: Any multi-man matches (Triple Threat, Fatal-Four Way, Elimination Chambers, etc.) Any match that involves more than one opponent opens the champion to a degree of luck to retain the title.

Inactivity/Retirement on Lineage: What happens if someone wins the Linear Title and then becomes inactive, retires, or dies? If you were the linear champion, you had to defend the title within 1 year of winning it (i.e. a singles match.) If the champion failed to defend within that one year window, the Linear title would go to whoever the active WWE champion was at that time.

Some extra notes: I'll be primarily using Cagematch to go through this. Note that Cagematch is not perfect and older cards are added to the database often, which can change the course of a Lineal Championship. Video proof and other forms of proof will override a Cagematch result. Cagematch has some quirks about how they go through match results. If a match result does not indicate a countout or DQ, I will assume it was a finish via pinfall or submission. Also, for 2/3 fall matches, for the title change no winning falls can be decided by countout or DQ. Also, while Voices of Wrestling first posted about this idea, their history has a lot of errors (although they end up at the right place for when they finished).

Last note: Most, if not all major championships merge into the WWE Championship (including most older major championships, e.g. WCW Title). Because of this, the WWE Championship will always be the first on the list.

I plan to do a tons of championships (I've done a lot of them but I am going over them currently.). I will update this post with changes. I am using the pdfs here, so to avoid loading issues.

***

WWE Active

Spoiler

WWE Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Cody Rhodes (Since 4/7/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal Championship

WWE Lineal World Heavyweight Championship (2023 Version)
Current Holder: Gunther (Since 8/3/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal World Heavyweight Championship (2023 Version)

WWE Women's Championship (Began as RAW Women's Title at Wrestlemania 32)
Current Holder: Nia Jax (Since 8/3/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal Women's Championship

WWE World Women's Championship (Began as Smackdown Women's Title at Backlash 2016)
Current Holder: Nia Jax (Since 8/3/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal World Women's Championship

WWE Lineal Intercontinental Championship
Current Holder: Cody Rhodes (Since 4/7/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal Intercontinental Championship

WWE Lineal United States Championship
Current Holder: Cody Rhodes (Since 4/7/24)

Spoiler: WWE Lineal United States Championship

NXT Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Cody Rhodes (Since 4/7/24)

Spoiler: NXT Lineal Championship

NXT Lineal North American Championship
Current Holder: Bryan Danielson (Since 8/25/2024)

Spoiler: NXT Lineal North American Championship

AEW Active

Spoiler

AEW Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Jey Uso (Since 8/23/24)

Spoiler: AEW Lineal Championship

AEW TNT Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Adam Copeland (Since 3/20/24)

Spoiler: AEW TNT Lineal Championship

AEW International Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Bryan Danielson (Since 8/25/24)

Spoiler: AEW International Lineal Championship

ROH Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Adam Copeland (Since 3/20/24)

Spoiler: ROH Lineal Championship

TNA Active

Spoiler

TNA Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Zack Sabre Jr. (Since 8/17/24)

Spoiler: TNA Lineal Championship

TNA X-Division Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Mike Bailey (Since 9/24/24)

Spoiler: TNA X-Division Lineal Championship

Other Active

Spoiler

NWA Lineal Championship
Current Holder: Jey Uso (Since 8/23/24)

Spoiler: NWA Lineal Championship

 

[Death By Looch]

Quite interesting, even though it's pointless to do it, if you pretty much arbitrarily put own rules on it, which make the whole result way less interesting overall. That rule about it has to be a 1-on-1 Match takes away a lot, in my mind. It would probably way, way more interesting (and wackier) to see how the lineage would look like, if Multi-Men matches (obviously not Tag Team matches or similar types like that) would be taken into consideration.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

I used to do a thread like this back in 2020-21 along with other things that were contested in matches

I found that all of them converged on Edge around the time he retired, and eventually they all ended up on Roman

Roman is now the owner of a load of things, like the right to star in a Japanese shampoo ad, Kane's mask, Christian's unused IC title shot that he had to retire before taking, the custody of Dominik, the right to marry Lita, and the title "Best in the World".

Cody's going to take a BUNCH of shit at WM is what I'm saying

 

[Death By Looch]

the custody of Dominik

Cody winning Dominik at Mania

 

[RDT]

Quite interesting, even though it's pointless to do it, if you pretty much arbitrarily put own rules on it, which make the whole result way less interesting overall. That rule about it has to be a 1-on-1 Match takes away a lot, in my mind. It would probably way, way more interesting (and wackier) to see how the lineage would look like, if Multi-Men matches (obviously not Tag Team matches or similar types like that) would be taken into consideration.

It would likely be less interesting if they weren't 1 on 1 matches, as multi-man matches are usually the best way for the lineal title to escape the same lineage as the actual title.

The biggest arbitrary rule is the 1 year defense rule. There's a fork where Warrior could continue with the title into 1995, but I do think that will eventually merge with the WWE Title (WCW World Title merges with the WWE Title pretty quickly, in case Warrior gets to the Havoc 98 match with Hogan as WWE Lineal Champ).

I used to do a thread like this back in 2020-21 along with other things that were contested in matches

I found that all of them converged on Edge around the time he retired, and eventually they all ended up on Roman

Roman is now the owner of a load of things, like the right to star in a Japanese shampoo ad, Kane's mask, Christian's unused IC title shot that he had to retire before taking, the custody of Dominik, the right to marry Lita, and the title "Best in the World".

Cody's going to take a BUNCH of shit at WM is what I'm saying

Yep. The AEW World Title is most interesting to me at the moment, although that feels destined to merge with the WWE Title eventually. I'm curious to see how long Rollins' title avoids that merger too. Still, should be fun to track.

 

[Smart Marx]

CM Punk told y’all he was the REAL World’s Champion. Still undefeated.

 

[Death By Looch]

CM Punk told y’all he was the REAL World’s Champion. Still undefeated.

Until he comes back from his injury to lose against Dominik in his first one-on-one without getting the win back.

 

[RDT]

Updated with the NWA Lineal Championship (beginning in 1948) - It merges with the AEW Lineal Championship when Moxley beats Tanahashi, which of course means it is currently in the hands of CM Punk

 

[RDT]

Added the 2023 version of the World Heavyweight Championship (Seth Rollins) and the IC title (Roman Reigns)

 

[RDT]

Lineal US Title added, Roman Reigns is your current champion

 

[RDT]

Added the two current WWE Women World Titles, IYO SKY is the Lineal Champion for both as they merged without interruption at Wrestlemania 34 when Charlotte beat Asuka

 

[Smart Marx]

I feel like the TNA championship would be a fun one to look at.

 

[RDT]

I feel like the TNA championship would be a fun one to look at.

I plan to do all major (and minor) titles.

 

[RDT]

Went ahead and did the TNA Title since it was mentioned. A completely wild ride that barely had any title changes in TNA proper. And a major American singles title that doesn't converge to the WWE Title!

 

[Smart Marx]

Went ahead and did the TNA Title since it was mentioned. A completely wild ride that barely had any title changes in TNA proper. And a major American singles title that doesn't converge to the WWE Title!

That’s awesome. I had a feeling it was gonna be a fun one.