WWE unifying the WWE and Universal Championships is not a good idea
WWE announced yesterday that the Champion vs. Champion Match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns will now be a Unification Match. This means that whoever walks out of the main event as the winner will hold single unified championship.
While there are some positives to unifying WWE's two top titles, the company's history with unification and the product's current landscape suggest that this may not be the best idea.
To properly feature the unified championship, its holder will have to appear on both brands regularly. This is only a good thing if Reigns is the champion.
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Brock Lesnar, while he's had a great babyface run, is likely still part-time. His historical habit of holding a championship hostage will only be amplified if the belts are unified. If Lesnar disappears with the unified title, both RAW and SmackDown could be left without a top championship for weeks or even months.
And without a proper title scene, one of WWE's biggest weaknesses will be highlighted.
There will be a spotlight on WWE's shoddy mid-card
In theory, unifying the titles would create more room for WWE to highlight the United States and Intercontinental Championships. The issue there is that WWE has booked those titles so poorly that they have little meaning or prestige at the moment.
While Damian Priest has had a decent reign, the last time the United States Championship felt truly important was back in 2015. This was when John Cena was doing the US Championship Open Challenge every week.
As for the Intercontinental Championship, its last great era was back in 2016-17 when The Miz and Dolph Ziggler went to war over it. Seth Rollins' 2018 run was also decent, but that was four years ago now.
But there's a much larger issue than the two mid-card titles. With Vince McMahon content to only put his best foot forward with one storyline at a time, it's become clear that there's no one the company views as big enough to dethrone Roman Reigns.
WWE needs another credible main eventer
Winner Take All. Championship Unification.
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Outside of the WWE/Universal Championship story between Reigns and Lesnar, everything is hit or miss. This has been most evident with their hot potato-esque handling of the WWE title. Since the new year, it's gone from Big E to Lesnar to Lashley, and now back to Lesnar.
This shows that outside of Reigns, everything is secondary on the show. If they were to unify the two main titles, we would be seeing the same thing every week. Look at SmackDown from 2011-16 as a prime example.
It's been made quite clear throughout his Universal Championship reign that Roman Reigns is 'the guy' and no one is on his level. While there have been some close matches, they've been few and far in between. When Roman walks out of WrestleMania with those titles, it might get even worse.
There are superstars on the roster that could be built up as credible challengers. Established stars like Drew McIntyre, for example. Or developing stars like Damian Priest, Austin Theory, and Bron Breakker in NXT 2.0. But none of them are going to beat the Tribal Chief anytime soon. WWE has built a monster heel without any intention of toppling him.
The hero's journey is the foundation for all storytelling, and sports entertainment is no different. It is incumbent upon Vince McMahon to build a hero that fans can believe is the guy to finally dethrone Reigns.
Until then, due to the title unification, The Head of the Table will likely hold every top men's championship in the company, and fans will have no choice but to acknowledge him. Week after week, month after month, year after year.