US Title and IC Title eventual unification as well?

[The Rick Jericho]

If the top titles will potentially become one, maybe the same thing should happen to the two mid card titles?

The IC title was completely cold during the Nakamura era. And Priest is a dead act with the US title.

Is it time to merge these titles again, like they did in 2001?

[Deleted]

Of all the titles across both shows IMO these are the two that should not be merged.

[Deleted]

If anything, the top titles merging would make keeping the US and IC Titles around even more necessary IMO.

The talent is still there for a solid US and IC Title division. It's really not f***in' hard to make both titles feel important again.

[Nosnorb]

Nope.

[4real]

Wouldn’t be completely against it but it’s always a case of the booking. Doesn’t matter how many titles you have if the booking is bad.

[fw91]

I don't think so, but perhaps one should be demoted for the lower-mid card and one reserved for the upper-mid card?

[TheMediocreWarrior]

Feb 26, 2022 12:16:07 GMT -5 fw91 said:

I don't think so, but perhaps one should be demoted for the lower-mid card and one reserved for the upper-mid card?

I feel that WWE could return to the number of men's titles they had in the Attitude Era, with the US Title becoming the TV Title/European Title level. They should unify the tag team titles if Vince isn't going to care enough to have teams for two divisions.

They should even go back to hot potato of the midcard titles, because why not? As we've seen in recent years, long reigns mean nothing without consistently good booking. There are one or two month title reigns in the Attitude Era that were more meaningful than any reigns from the last two or three years.

[Deleted]

Feb 26, 2022 12:07:28 GMT -5 4real said:

Wouldn’t be completely against it but it’s always a case of the booking. Doesn’t matter how many titles you have if the booking is bad.

Yeah, I don't know why people think this stuff will make the product better.

They've got (or at least had before all the releases) a roster to justify 2 champs. They just don't make good shows anymore.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

WWE is not merging any titles. It's not happening. None of them will be merged, because the petty quid pro quo "if they get this we want this too" going on between Fox and USA will have WWE needing to keep the belts spread out. It's not a feasiable choice because the idea of having the set, specific champions on those shows as a reason to tune in is part of what the networks were promised and what they want.

And on a layer beyond that into creative stuff, it's not going to actually make a better show. The people who are currently failing to do anything with the current titles would be the ones responsible for booking a purported unified title. How can we expect them to do literally any better with a unified 'now it's serious' title? THe problem isn't how many titles there are or what they are, it's creative. It's always just been creative.

[HMARK Center]

I've always thought the idea of having two separate top titles in a single promotion was asinine; I thought they had the right idea when they had a single champion who'd go on both shows, but then have the IC and US belts serve as the de facto top "brand titles" or whatever.

But yeah, with Fox and NBC both involved I don't see any way they actually go through with unifying their top belts. Whichever network lost its top prize would throw a shitfit, even if having two top belts is just dumb.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Honestly, these are the only two titles I wouldn't unify. Each brand needs an exclusive Championship, to represent the top guy (theoretically speaking, at least). That said, there's no way the WWE and Universal titles stay merged for very long, because as stated, the networks won't go for it.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind the two sets of titles if they still did brand-exclusive PPVs. Because it just wouldn't be feasible to fly four or five people back and forth two or three nights a week to work both shows, plus the PPV (yes, they're doing this with Brock now, but he's not wrestling on TV, so it's a little different). But if the PPVs are cross-brand, I would just split the title feuds between the two shows and make the World, Tag and Women's titles unified.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Feb 26, 2022 20:10:02 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

WWE is not merging any titles. It's not happening. None of them will be merged, because the petty quid pro quo "if they get this we want this too" going on between Fox and USA will have WWE needing to keep the belts spread out. It's not a feasiable choice because the idea of having the set, specific champions on those shows as a reason to tune in is part of what the networks were promised and what they want.

And on a layer beyond that into creative stuff, it's not going to actually make a better show. The people who are currently failing to do anything with the current titles would be the ones responsible for booking a purported unified title. How can we expect them to do literally any better with a unified 'now it's serious' title? THe problem isn't how many titles there are or what they are, it's creative. It's always just been creative.

In fact, I would build on everything you said and add that less titles is essentially a handicap against creative. No matter how badly booked your titles are, the visual of someone carrying around and defending a title is always going to mean something. Even the shitty ass 24/7 title has given acts like Drake Maverick circa-2019, Reggie, and Dana Brooke some sense of accomplishment. Having less titles does not automatically make the remaining ones mean more without good booking behind them, but it does mean there's less people even getting so much as the baseline rub from holding a piece of metal and leather and less motivations for people to actually have matches on the show.

That's not to say that each brand should have 8 titles each like Raw and Smackdown are both Invasion-era WWF, but you are making things harder by not having seperate world, midcard, women's, and male tag titles regardless of how little depth there is in some of the divisions.

[Mozenrath]

Do you remember when the IC title absorbed the European title and Hardcore title and made it mean more? Me neither! It accomplished basically nothing, was absorbed into the world title, and then broken up from it again when WWE realized it doesn't quite work like that.

[HMARK Center]

Feb 27, 2022 1:39:43 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Feb 26, 2022 20:10:02 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

WWE is not merging any titles. It's not happening. None of them will be merged, because the petty quid pro quo "if they get this we want this too" going on between Fox and USA will have WWE needing to keep the belts spread out. It's not a feasiable choice because the idea of having the set, specific champions on those shows as a reason to tune in is part of what the networks were promised and what they want.

And on a layer beyond that into creative stuff, it's not going to actually make a better show. The people who are currently failing to do anything with the current titles would be the ones responsible for booking a purported unified title. How can we expect them to do literally any better with a unified 'now it's serious' title? THe problem isn't how many titles there are or what they are, it's creative. It's always just been creative.

In fact, I would build on everything you said and add that less titles is essentially a handicap against creative. No matter how badly booked your titles are, the visual of someone carrying around and defending a title is always going to mean something. Even the shitty ass 24/7 title has given acts like Drake Maverick circa-2019, Reggie, and Dana Brooke some sense of accomplishment. Having less titles does not automatically make the remaining ones mean more without good booking behind them, but it does mean there's less people even getting so much as the baseline rub from holding a piece of metal and leather and less motivations for people to actually have matches on the show.

That's not to say that each brand should have 8 titles each like Raw and Smackdown are both Invasion-era WWF, but you are making things harder by not having seperate world, midcard, women's, and male tag titles regardless of how little depth there is in some of the divisions.

Yeah, while I hate there being two top belts, and while I think they don't currently have the roster size or the booking chops to handle having two women's or tag belts, "more belts = bad" isn't the automatic some people think it is. NJPW has a much smaller roster, and while there have been valid criticisms over the years of their lack of focus on their tag divisions it still makes a show like Wrestle Kingdom or Dominion feel like a huge deal when nearly every match is for a title. ROH had a smaller roster before their current situation, yet had a Mens' World, Womens' World, TV, Pure, Tag, and Six-man set of belts, and it honestly worked fine.

[Tiffany Stratton's Daddy]

Even though they haven't put much effort into the mid-card scene, no.