The Piledriver Report 09.23.10: Title Unification

TWO SEPARATE BELTS

I was never a big fan of the WWE having two separate brands when the two brand system was first instituted. My biggest complaint with separate brands was that with a RAW brand and a SmackDown! brand, each show lacked depth. There would be four to six top guys, and the rest of the roster on each brand was filled with bottom feeders. In the old “one brand” system, it just seemed like there was more depth.

Maybe that had to do with the fact that titles were more relevant years ago. You had a group of wrestlers battling for the World title. Then, you had a group of competitors that were a step below who feuded for the Intercontinental championship. Those wrestlers could easily advance into the World title group, because the Intercontinental title gave these men the rub and credibility that was needed to be taken seriously as a main eventer.

In the two brand system, wrestlers who would be considered for the Intercontinental championship level were now inserted into the World title reign. This left mid-card performers left to fight for the Intercontinental and United States championship. The positive in this is that more sports entertainers have a chance to “capture” a World championship.

BEFORE THE BRAND SEPARATION

When I first started watching wrestling, the WWF’s title surrounding the World title meant a several year title reign by the top face, followed by a few week reign by a heel, and back to another several year reign by a baby face. While this made the face look incredibly strong, it meant that there would be a roster filled with wrestlers that would never have the chance to call themselves World Champion.

Look at some of the men that littered the WWF roster in the eighties that never held the World title because Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan dominated control of the belt. Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, John Studd, Don Muraco, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Rick Rude, and Curt Henning just to name a few. In today’s WWE, each one of these men would have easily held one of the two World titles. Pre-Attitude Era, holding the World title meant that you belonged to an exclusive club. A club where the best of the best still didn’t necessarily mean that you would be the World Wrestling Federation champion.

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING

While I would hope that all of these deserving men would get their due and win one of the WWE World titles if they were around today, history shows that this wouldn’t necessarily be the case. There have been eighteen different wrestlers to hold the World Heavyweight championship since the title was created in 2002. Only nine of these wrestlers won their first WWE World singles championship by capturing the World Heavyweight title. During that time, there have been thirty-eight title changes. Out of the thirty-eight title changes, ONLY nine wrestlers called the World Heavyweight championship as their first WWE World singles championship.

The WWE World title lineage hasn’t been much better when it comes to creating new stars since the advent of a second World title. Only 7 wrestlers won their first World title in the WWE during this time as the WWE World champion. There have been thirty-two WWE World title changes since the World Heavyweight championship was created. Only thirteen different wrestlers have held the WWE World championship during this time.

Between the two championships, there have been seventy title changes. Thirty-one different wrestlers have captured one of these titles. That means that almost FOURTY title changes took place amongst wrestlers who won the one of the WWE’s World titles previously. Only sixteen of the seventy title changes involved wrestlers who won their very first WWE World singles after the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship.

This is a huge problem. The creation of two brands, and two World titles should have meant that the WWE would be creating more stars. Instead, the WWE seems to always fall back on the same core group of wrestlers, Edge, John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton, the Undertaker, and Batista, to hold on to the two World title belts.

Occasionally, the WWE give a new wrestler a chance to run with the ball. CM Punk, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Junior, John Bradshaw Layfield, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Jeff Hardy were all given a World title push. In the past, these wrestlers would havee probably never moved past the Intercontinental title level. Instead, a second World title gave these wrestlers a chance to show that they could carry a brand as the top star.

Unfortunately, the WWE always seems to go back to their core six wrestlers in the end. To me, this is proof that it doesn’t matter that whether the WWE has one World title or two. While a new wrestler here or there may break through to capture the World championship, in the end, the WWE will go back to what they are most comfortable with. That’s being the select group of main event wrestlers the WWE always seems to turn to.

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER?

Hopefully, if the WWE does unify the two World titles, it will be a change for the better. With fewer titles, perhaps each title would be strengthened. One major benefactor if there are fewer titles would be the Intercontinental championship. Instead of having two main event groups fighting over two World titles, you would have the best of the best fighting for the lone WWE World title. The rest would battle for the Intercontinental championship. With higher profile guys fighting for that belt, the Intercontinental title would become more valuable, and will hopefully be viewed as the belt that is the stepping stone to the WWE World title. As opposed to being a mid-card championship that it is viewed as today.

Right now, it seems like Triple H, John Cena, or Randy Orton are in every major World title match. Part of the reason for this is that with two World titles, you can have fresh matches for one World title, while the other title stays stagnant and stale. If the WWE decides to go with only one World championship, they will be forced to keep things fresh. If the WWE featured eight straight months of a Cena/Triple H/Orton combination main event World title matches, the fans will be bored. The WWE will be forced to feature new players, because they don’t have a second World title match to lean on.