Fans were shocked when Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship on Smackdown last week, merely days before WrestleMania. As you can imagine, many fans voiced their displeasure. I must admit I also did, but for just a moment. I looked at the big picture and realized that Asuka's sacrifice is for t he greater good. Having Charlotte, who is already in the main event of WrestleMania for the Raw Women's Title against Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, join the match as the Smackdown Women's Champion, adds even more to it. After my initial hatred wore off, I thought of what this could mean. Will it now be winner take all at WrestleMania? Despite my preference of Becky Lynch winning, as well as wanting to have Asuka booked much better, I think the end result, as long as the Titles are unified, is something I'd be happy with.
Since the reintroduction of the Women's Tag Team Titles, I have mentioned, ad nauseam, that with those Titles on all shows, it is redundant to have two singles Championships in the women's division. With the addition of the Tag Team Titles and thus the need for tag teams, there aren't enough women on each show to carry two singles Championships. Unifying the Titles would fix that problem. Let's be honest; the women's division is mainly focused on the three women in the upcoming main event, and to a lesser extent, Asuka. That's only four women!
On Raw, we have the Tag Team Champions, Sasha Banks and Bayley. In opposition, they have the Riot Squad, Tamina and Nia Jax, and the rejoined Natalya and Beth Phoenix. That doesn't leave many women in opposition of Ronda! Hell, her two biggest enemies at the moment are Smackdown competitors! This leaves Raw's singles women's division, consisting of Ruby Riot, Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox, and Ember Moon. As far as credibility goes, no one gives a crap about Dana or Alicia. As for Ruby, a veteran in Mickie, and the currently injured Ember, their booking has left a lot to be desired.
Over on Smackdown, challengers for the Tag Team Titles consist of the Iconics, Mandy Rose and Sonya DeVille, and the makeshift team of Naomi and Carmella. With Becky and Charlotte now more focused on Raw, former Champion Asuka was left with only Lana and Zelina Vega, neither of which are credible opponents. Before Asuka lost the Title, there was to be a fatal four-way match to determine the new number one contender and WrestleMania opponent, between Mandy, Sonya, Naomi, and Carmella. None could come close to matching up with Asuka. It's time to have only one singles Women's Championship! What better way, now that Charlotte has introduced the Smackdown Women's Title into the discussion!
While this mainly focuses on the specifics of the Women's Title, it does apply to other Championships as well, specifically the Raw Tag Team Titles and the Smackdown Tag Team Titles, which the men of WWE are contending for. There are never enough teams, or should I say, quality teams, to make up two separate tag team divisions. This is another set of belts that could stand to do some unification as well. Let's be honest, the entire tag team division, all across the board, consists of the New Day, the Usos, and The Bar. Teams like The Revival and Authors of Pain should be up there, but their booking could have been better. The Ascension have been jokes for a long time, Heath Slater and Rhino are barely seen, The B Team is another joke, and Sanity hasn't been used at all. Gallows and Anderson are also rarely there. Then there's stupid makeshift teams like Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, along with former Champions and now enemies, The Miz and Shane McMahon. I think unifying the Tag Team Titles would be good for everyone.
While I'm on the subject of unifying Championships, let's talk about the WWE Title and the Universal Title. In my view, the Universal Title means nothing and should not be seen as a World Title. In WWE, the WWE Title is the Title! Even when Jinder Mahal held it, it was still the most prestigious Title in the company. Sure, I would probably still complain if Brock Lesnar held the WWE Title and barely showed up, but that's a different argument. Having more than one World Champion in the same company has never and will never make sense! With that being said, I think it's time to unify those Titles as well. Less is more!
While on the subject, something else has been brought to my attention. Not only do I believe some of these Titles should be unified, but I also think the brand split should end. I have never liked the brand split at any point it was instigated. Half the time, WWE doesn't care to enforce it and everyone ends up on all brands anyway, so it seems pointless. While I can understand what people believe to be benefits of the split, such as a superstar that wouldn't normally be getting the time of day to receive the spotlight, the fact that there is more than one of each Championship diminishes it. For instance, from 2002 when the split first started until John Cena was drafted to Raw as the WWE Champion in 2005, the "World Heavyweight Title," basically the old WCW Title, was on Raw. Throughout the reigns of this Title, it meant nothing to me because as I stated before, the WWE Title is the Title. Sure, we got a feel good moments such as Chris Benoit winning at WrestleMania Shawn Michaels' comeback, Christian finally winning the big one, and Mark Henry with his best run yet, but ultimately, it's not the real World Title to me.
While I can agree that without the brand split, Eddie Guerrero might not have had his reign, you must remember that because of the brand split, we had Champions like Jinder Mahal, who should have been nowhere near a World Title or main event. As I stated with the addition of the Women's Tag Team Titles and their roaming nature, we're seeing superstars more and more show up and several brands. We'll also see part-time free agents like John Cena and the Undertaker appearing wherever they're needed, not sticking at all to a strict brand split. The split is not enforced and therefore, no longer serves a purpose. For all intents and purposes, Raw and Smackdown are basically the same and only NXT sticks out as its own thing. By 2010, the split was irrelevant and finally ended in 2013 when the World Titles were unified. In the Summer of 2016, the brand split was redone, with Championships being split once again. It's time to end it again and it were up to me, I'd never bring it back. On the other side, if they're going to introduce new brands like they did with NXT UK, I can see WWE becoming a new Territory system of sorts, with those brand's main Titles being seen as regional Championships, much like World Class was to the NWA. However, I think Raw and Smackdown's brand split should end, with their Titles unifying. Less is more, after all. Having more than one of the same Title, diminishes its meaning, because we don't really know who the best is. There can only be one! When there's more Titles, they feel like participation trophies and not as important as they should be perceived as.
All of the topics are interrelated but it starts with WrestleMania's first ever all female main event between Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Royal Rumble winner Becky Lynch. It's being presented as winner takes all, which tells me that the Titles are likely to be unified. However, the same argument I started regarding the women's division applies across the board. These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them!
While I'm on the subject of unifying Championships, let's talk about the WWE Title and the Universal Title. In my view, the Universal Title means nothing and should not be seen as a World Title. In WWE, the WWE Title is the Title! Even when Jinder Mahal held it, it was still the most prestigious Title in the company. Sure, I would probably still complain if Brock Lesnar held the WWE Title and barely showed up, but that's a different argument. Having more than one World Champion in the same company has never and will never make sense! With that being said, I think it's time to unify those Titles as well. Less is more!
While on the subject, something else has been brought to my attention. Not only do I believe some of these Titles should be unified, but I also think the brand split should end. I have never liked the brand split at any point it was instigated. Half the time, WWE doesn't care to enforce it and everyone ends up on all brands anyway, so it seems pointless. While I can understand what people believe to be benefits of the split, such as a superstar that wouldn't normally be getting the time of day to receive the spotlight, the fact that there is more than one of each Championship diminishes it. For instance, from 2002 when the split first started until John Cena was drafted to Raw as the WWE Champion in 2005, the "World Heavyweight Title," basically the old WCW Title, was on Raw. Throughout the reigns of this Title, it meant nothing to me because as I stated before, the WWE Title is the Title. Sure, we got a feel good moments such as Chris Benoit winning at WrestleMania Shawn Michaels' comeback, Christian finally winning the big one, and Mark Henry with his best run yet, but ultimately, it's not the real World Title to me.
While I can agree that without the brand split, Eddie Guerrero might not have had his reign, you must remember that because of the brand split, we had Champions like Jinder Mahal, who should have been nowhere near a World Title or main event. As I stated with the addition of the Women's Tag Team Titles and their roaming nature, we're seeing superstars more and more show up and several brands. We'll also see part-time free agents like John Cena and the Undertaker appearing wherever they're needed, not sticking at all to a strict brand split. The split is not enforced and therefore, no longer serves a purpose. For all intents and purposes, Raw and Smackdown are basically the same and only NXT sticks out as its own thing. By 2010, the split was irrelevant and finally ended in 2013 when the World Titles were unified. In the Summer of 2016, the brand split was redone, with Championships being split once again. It's time to end it again and it were up to me, I'd never bring it back. On the other side, if they're going to introduce new brands like they did with NXT UK, I can see WWE becoming a new Territory system of sorts, with those brand's main Titles being seen as regional Championships, much like World Class was to the NWA. However, I think Raw and Smackdown's brand split should end, with their Titles unifying. Less is more, after all. Having more than one of the same Title, diminishes its meaning, because we don't really know who the best is. There can only be one! When there's more Titles, they feel like participation trophies and not as important as they should be perceived as.
All of the topics are interrelated but it starts with WrestleMania's first ever all female main event between Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Royal Rumble winner Becky Lynch. It's being presented as winner takes all, which tells me that the Titles are likely to be unified. However, the same argument I started regarding the women's division applies across the board. These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them!
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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