Is WWE Unifying the Titles?

Is WWE Unifying the Titles?

WWE has been on a roll lately, with some great matches and storylines. But one thing that’s been missing is a unified champion. Could WWE be unifying the titles soon?

WWE’s recent title changes

WWE has been making some changes as of late. They unified the Universal and WWE World Heavyweight titles, making Brock Lesnar the champion of both. This has many people wondering if WWE is unifying all their titles.

WWE Universal Championship

The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two world titles for WWE’s main roster, alongside the WWE Championship on Raw. The current champion is “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, who is in his first reign.

Wyatt won the title by defeating Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019. This was the second time that the Universal Championship was contested at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Jewel event, with Brock Lesnar defeating Braun Strowman to become its inaugural champion at the first Crown Jewel event in November 2018.

The title was introduced on July 25, 2016, in a promo aired during Raw by then Raw General Manager Mick Foley, who claimed that there were no world champions in WWE at that time and announced a new championship named after WWE’s flagship television program Raw. The following week onRaw, then-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2016 WWE draft, making him SmackDown’s first world champion.Ambrose defended the title against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam on August 21, but lost the title back to Ziggler two days later on SmackDown Live.Ziggler held it for 51 days before losing it to AJ Styles in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on October 30; Styles became only the second person to have held both this title and its predecessors (the former World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship), after Lesnar. At Survivor Series on November 20, 2016 Team Raw (which consisted of Rollins, Owens, Reigns and Jericho) defeated Team SmackDown (which consisted of Strowman, Orton Roode and Shane McMahon) in a 5-on-5 traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match. As per stipulation team Raw would get to choose one member from team SmackDown to face for an opportunity to become Universal Champion which they chose AJ Styles who then went onto defeat Rollins later that night making him only second person ever to hold both this title along with its predecessors (the former World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship), after Brock Lesnar.

WWE Championship

For the past few years, WWE has been criticized for having too many titles and not enough focus on individual championship stories. This led to a lot of “title inflation” where the value of a title win was lessened, and titles changed hands multiple times in short periods of time. WWE has responded to this criticism by unifying a number of their titles recently, leaving fewer overall titles but with each one carrying more prestige.

The most notable unification occurred at WWE Crown Jewel in November 2018, when WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins defeated WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a winner-takes-all match to unify the two titles. The Universal Championship had only been around for two years at that point, while the Intercontinental Championship dates back to 1979.

Similarly, at WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defeated WWE Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to unify the two women’s titles. These two titles had only been around for a year at that point, as they were created when WWE introduced a brand split in 2016.

With these recent unification matches, there are now only four total world championships in WWE: the WWE Championship (on SmackDown), the Universal Championship (on Raw), the NXT Championship (in NXT), and the NXT UK Championship (in NXT UK). This is down from a high of seven world championships just a few years ago.

While there are still a number of other championships in WWE (including mid-card titles and women’s titles), these recent unification matches have helped to streamline the company’s overall championship picture and make each title feel more important.

WWE United States Championship

The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE’s main roster, along with the Intercontinental Championship on the SmackDown brand. The current champion is Samoa Joe, who is in his first reign.

The United States Championship was originally established as a regional championship within the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1949 with The King’s Crown being awarded to NWA Chicago wrestler Lou Thesz. The title quickly became firmly established as one of the NWA’s three major regional titles, alongside the original World Heavyweight Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. When WWE rebranded its main roster as Raw and SmackDown in 2002, it split these titles (along with other then-active championships) between them and created new secondary titles for both brands from scratch; among these was the United States Championship.

Over the years, WWE has unified the US title with several other titles including the Intercontinental and Hardcore Championships, but currently it exists independently as one of WWE’s primary championships.

WWE’s future title plans

WWE has been unifying the titles as of late with WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar being the only champion holding two titles. WWE Champion AJ Styles is the only other champion with a secondary title. WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz are the only champions not to have a secondary title. With WWE constantly unifying the titles, it’s safe to say that they’re planning on doing away with the separate titles.

WWE Universal Championship

The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two world titles for WWE’s main roster, alongside the WWE Championship on Raw. The current champion is Brock Lesnar, who is in his second reign.

Unifying the titles

In December 2018, it was rumored that WWE was planning to unify the Universal and WWE Championships, with then-WWE Champion AJ Styles losing to Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. However, these plans were apparently scrapped as Styles retained his title at the event.

WWE Championship

WWE’s current plan is to unify the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship, making them both one title. The plan is to have this happen at some point in the near future.

WWE United States Championship

The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two secondary championships for male wrestlers in WWE, complementing the WWE Universal Championship, which is exclusive to the SmackDown brand. The current champion is Andrade, who is in his first reign.

The title was established as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on January 1, 1975, by then-National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW). The title was initially defended within MACW until 1981, when Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), another NWA member, began promoting its version of the title; this version was defended in JCP’s other territories as well. When JCP split from the NWA and became World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1991, it retained ownership of the championship. As a result of WCW joining the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) in 1992, the WBF world heavyweight champion would also defend their championship under WCW’s banner until WCW left the WBF that same year. WCW later merged with Vince McMahon’s World Bodybuilding Federation-promoted Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) to form The Alliance in 2001; at that point, both organizations ceased to promote their own separate versions of the title and instead unified them as a single championship for their joint promotion. In 2002 after The Alliance’s dissolution, WWE created an inaugural United States Champion by holding a tournament; following WWE’s unification of its two top titles for male performers into the Undisputed WWE Championship that same year, it de-emphasized the United States Championship and ceased recognizing it as one of its world championships.

The title was then reactivated and reestablished by WWE in July 2003 as a singles championship for SmackDown!, one of WWE’s rosters at that time; it has remained active since then and is currently defended on all live events and programming promoted by WWE. As a result of WWE branding changes in 2011 and 2016 respectively, it was briefly renamed twice—first as simply United States Championship without “SmackDown!” being mentioned anywhere on its title belt design from August 2011 to December 2013, then as “US Title” from July 2016 until September 2017—before reverting back to its original name thereafter.

The championship has been held by forty-six different wrestlers; Booker T has won it six times overall – including twice while transgender wrestler Gail Kim held it under her previous ring name “Lauren Williams” – which makes him both wrestler with most reigns and most defenses in history – while John Cena holds record for longest individual reign at 380 days set during his fifth reign. Randy Orton have won three times – including once while separated from Raw – which make him second most successful wrestler overall behind Booker T with four total victories if not counting Daniel Bryan’s tournament victory making him only third most successful if so counting Bryan – while Chris Benoit hold record for shortest individual reign at 22 days set during his second reign.