Welcome to yet another edition of The People’s Column. First of all, I have to say how nice the new and redesigned Inside Pulse looks. Widro and the gang have done a bang up job and have my compliments. Right now at itswilltime.wordpress.com you can read about Chris Jericho’s potential departure and what it means for WWE and participate in our ongoing discussion of the greatest moments in Raw history.
This week a huge rumor came out. It said that WWE plans to unify the WWE and the World Heavyweight Championships at Wrestlemania. There are quite a few implications to this rumor. To begin to deal with what they mean, we have to look back at the history that has lead to two World Championships in one company. Then we must look forward to where this could lead WWE and the Raw and Smackdown brands.
In December 2001 WWE had just finished the disastrous “invasion” storyline where fans finally got to see WWE vs WCW, then got that idea watered down and absolutely killed. In the wake of this situation, there were two World Championships in the company, the WCW and WWE Championships. It was decided that those two championships would be unified for the first time in history. Chris Jericho would be the man to unify those championships, becoming the only man to beat The Rock and Steve Austin in one night.
There would be a Unified WWE Championship for about nine months. The last one would be Brock Lesnar, who decided he would become exclusive to the Smackdown brand (the brand extension happened halfway through the Unified Championship era). Since Lesnar went to Smackdown, Raw was without a champion. The World Heavyweight Championship was then revived and presented to Triple H.
Since that time there have been two World Championships, one on each brand (aside from a few weeks in 2005 where Smackdown had no champion and Raw had two). The championships usually split the main event slot at pay per views and are treated as equal titles in WWE. They have the same level of posterity. They are held by many of the same superstars. They both count towards the total World Championship reigns of the talent. With two titles, WWE has set up a system where there are truly two highest prizes to reach for.
If these titles are unified, WWE will have a problem on it’s hands. Will they have this champion be exclusive to one brand and completely leave the other brand in the dust? Will they decide to allow this champion to be on both shows? If they do so, what traveling crew will they be a part of? What house shows will they be on? If there are two brands, but only one highest prize in the game, will there be a point to the brand extension?
Taking this thought a step further, will WWE end the brand extension if there are two championships? This is a scary thought for anyone who likes to see wrestlers employed. WWE has created two viable brands. Although one is dominant, the other still makes WWE a lot of money. They would have to eliminate half of their roster as a company if they decided to eliminate the second brand. This would hurt the wrestling business as a whole. Beyond the employment issue, would WWE be able to create twice the programming with the same roster? Look at the so-so average product of WWE Raw and imagine if the show was always on twice a week instead of once. That means that there are an average of eight shows in between each pay per view.
If they go the route of the traveling champion in between two distinct brands, each brand will occasionally lose the centerpiece of the promotion for an extended period of time. This could also take away the idea of a rivalry escalating through repeated pay per view main events, since each brand will only have a number one contender every other month.
I am honestly torn about this idea. I really do support the thought that there is only one top title in the promotion. Having just one prize makes every World Championship match seem more important. On the flip side of there are two brands, it makes sense that there will be two titles. I also do not want to see the brand extension end (and please do not barrage me with comments about how they ignore the brand extension anyways, because that is not the issue you think it is).
In the end, I am curious to see if WWE does do this. Even more than that, I am curious to see who they choose to unify those titles. I do believe that John Cena will be in this match and could see them putting him up against The Undertaker, making that match both title unification and the streak. Of course that match without the title(s) on the line would be enough to main event Wrestlemania. Perhaps John Cena and Jack Swagger or CM Punk could also be in this match. One never knows until the time is upon us. I also wonder where this puts important milestones in WWE like the Royal Rumble, which usually guarantees a championship match at Wrestlemania.
Whatever WWE decides to do with this (and it could be nothing) will be interesting going forward. They have an opportunity to make history here, regardless of what the choose to do. This could possibly be the end of an era in WWE.
That’s all this week folks. Make sure to check out itswilltime.wordpress.com for thoughts on Chris Jericho’s possible departure and the greatest Raw moments in history. I’ll be back Monday with another 10 Thoughts on Raw. Until then, be well.
