Add me to the list of people that don’t have much faith in a clean finish happening at TLC. I know that Triple H and everyone in the WWE has been stressing the belief that there will be one champion after the PPV. Maybe it is because of the screwy finishes to the WWE Title matches the last few PPVs. Or the WWE’s inability to put over anybody clean against John Cena. There’s just a lot of stuff not to like about the WWE and their booking.
Despite that, I do think that at some point the WWE and World Title will be unified, leaving us with one undisputed WWE Champion. Or whatever they will end up calling it. The World Title has fallen so far off the WWE’s radar that they probably needed to put it on John Cena because they forgot the Title existed. At least having the World Title on John Cena gave it a little more credibility.
I still think that the Title Unification should have happened at Wrestlemania. Even if there is a false finish in this match, a second advertised Title Unification bout won’t have the same kind of build or hype around it. But since the WWE put themselves in such a panic because of their own inept booking, we have it happening at TLC. But no matter when it happens, the following months will be a cruicial time for the WWE. By only having one Unified Champion, the WWE will have a lot on their plate. There are three things that the WWE will need to do once the unification happens.
1. Continue To Focus On The Tag Team Division
-The WWE seems to be on the right path here with the tag team division. Every week we get to see a handful of solid tag matches. And the WWE seems to do a decent job of pairing guys together that haven’t worked out as singles stars. Maybe Ryback and Curtis Axel will find new life as a tag team. Could a heel turn make Tons of Funk a bit more intimidating? For years the Tag Team Titles were nothing more than an extra prop. Half the time they were used to unite two guys that were fighting somewhere down the line (Cena/Batista, HBK/Cena).
Having the Titles on Goldust and Cody Rhodes is smart. Goldust is a veteran performer and seeing the Tag Titles associated with him is smart. What the WWE needs to do is give more tag teams an opportunity to develop their characters and have a chance to get over. Instead of getting four 5-6 minute tag matches every week, why not have two 10-12 minute matches with some promo work thrown in as well. The problem with a handful of tag teams the WWE currently has is that they are treated like low mid-card jobbers because they can’t expand on their characters at all. With so much TV time the WWE has, there is no reason all of this shouldn’t be possible. And hopefully at some point there will be more tag teams that can be put in TV main events and not look out of place.
2. Unify The Intercontinental and United States Title
-After the two main Titles are unified, this seems like the next logical step as far as the mid-card goes. If there were two separate brands, then maybe I could see a point for both titles. But that isn’t the case with the current state of the WWE. There wouldn’t be a point to have both Titles around once there is one WWE Champion. At this point it is barely even acknowledged that Dean Ambrose is the United States Champion. So why not, say at the Royal Rumble, unify both these titles and get one mid-card champion. I would presume that the WWE keeps the Intercontinental Title since that was there creation.
If this happens, then the WWE NEEDS to make the IC Title seem relevant again. The WWE needs to make their mid-card relevant. When RAW moved to three hours, I was willing to give it a chance with the hope that we would get some longer matches. That hasn’t happened. And that is the reason fans tend to tune out during mid-card matches. If the WWE built up the IC Title again, then maybe it can give some of these mid-carders a much needed jolt in their character life. The IC Title would become the only other singles title left in the Company. That alone should be enough to make it more important when it comes to the long term booking. And again, you would hope that it would get to the point where the IC Title looks important enough that whomever is holding it doesn’t look out of a place in a TV main event or something bigger.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Push New Stars
-This is something that every wrestling fan has been stressing for who knows how long. Go ahead and unify the WWE and World Title. But if you are going to do that, then you CANNOT have the same match-ups week in and week out on every single PPV. John Cena can’t be in every Title match. Neither can the likes of Randy Orton, Big Show, and even to a point CM Punk. The WWE has to be willing to get behind new guys in the main event scene. And it isn’t like they are short on options.
It seems like everyone is high on Big E Langston and Roman Reigns. Reigns has grown tremendously as a worker since joining The Shield. Big E seems to be over with the crowd. I still think he needs a little more polish in the ring, but that can come with time. Then you have Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. I don’t know if Rollins is a main eventer, but as my colleague Matt has pointed out, he could very much be the WWE’s new Jeff Hardy once The Shield is done. Bray Wyatt could emerge as a threat if given a bigger role. The WWE isn’t lacking options when it comes to new potential stars on their roster.
My biggest fear about the Title Unification is that no new stars will emerge without the World Title. We will instead get months of matches that have the same old same old in them: John Cena, Big Show, Randy Orton, Sheamus etc. I swear we could beat this topic like a dead horse because it is always one of concern in the WWE. Daniel Bryan’s recent push is the easiest example of why the WWE is the way it is.
If the WWE is serious about unifying its titles, then it needs to get serious about the rest of its roster. Because if they don’t change their ways soon, then we may get Cena/Orton #73857395320 at Wrestlemania 31.
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
