SHAM

Is the WWE World Heavyweight Championship a sham?

by
WWE

Is the WWE World Heavyweight Championship a sham?

By Legacy Hughes-Martin (aka MFG Deez)

 

WWE has an image problem with its newest championship title. Triple H introduced the World Heavyweight Championship on the April 24th episode of Monday Night Raw and the wrestling world immediately had questions.  At this point, the brand split had already been announced and it was assumed that only stars drafted to RAW would have the opportunity to compete for the new world title. It was later announced that there would be a tournament held involving both RAW and Smackdown stars to crown a new champion. Has WWE already made the World Heavyweight Championship a sham?

 

 

The Tournament and Brand Split

With a 1,000-day title reign on the horizon for Roman Reigns, it’s been abundantly clear for a long time that a brand split needed to happen, and Roman needed to be on one show. With Roman being primarily a Smackdown star and having a death grip on both the WWE and Universal titles, RAW was in desperate need of its own top prize. With a main title absent from RAW, the U.S. title had to step into the top spot as the title to have on Monday nights. Guys like Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and Austin Theory had done a good job in the meantime raising the prestige of the U.S. title, but for all intents and purposes, those men are main eventers deserving of more than essentially a mid-card title.

 

 

Having a tournament for a championship title is almost always a good idea and entertaining for fans…if it makes sense. Following the draft, WWE had a golden opportunity with RAW where they could have raised the value of the entire RAW roster. WWE could have held a tournament with only RAW stars and the tournament would have felt more credible. Maybe there weren’t enough stars on RAW to have a twelve-man tournament. Here are a few stars that could have been in the tournament excluding stars who are out injured:

The current RAW side of the bracket

  • Cody Rhodes
  • Finn Balor
  • Seth Rollins
  • Shinsuke Nakamura
  • The Miz
  • Damien Priest

 

Stars who should have been considered for the other side of the bracket

  • Bronson Reed
  • Gunther *
  • Dominick Mysterio
  • Matt Riddle
  • Xavier Woods
  • Kevin Owens
  • Sami Zayn
  • Braun Strowman
  • Ricochet
  • Chad Gamble

 

*Gunther may have not been available

 

 

While its understandable that some of these guys would have had no chance of winning the tournament, just being in the tournament would have boosted some of the stars mentioned above.

 

 

 

Consolation Prize

Another issue with the World Heavyweight Championship is what it represents. Triple H described the new title as a workhorse championship that will always be defended. The opposite of the WWE Undisputed Universal title. Since Roman Reigns has practically beaten everyone, many fans and those who cover pro wrestling view the World Heavyweight Championship as a consolation prize. It’s a natural thought to have, considering that most of the WWE roster has already kneeled in front of Roman Reigns’ throne in the last three years. The RAW roster has a long road ahead to legitimize the World Heavyweight Championship.

 

 

Seth Rollins

The favorite to win the World Heavyweight Championship must be Seth Rollins…. Right? I mean, there is no possible way that WWE will allow a Smackdown star to become the World Heavyweight Champion right after they just had a brand split…. Right? Seth Rollins is very likely to win this tournament and it’s very predictable. While watching the May 8th episode of Monday Night Raw, I thought it would have been an excellent swerve to have Finn Balor win the RAW side of the tournament and subsequently win the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. Seth winning left a lot of fans with a feeling of inevitability about who will become the champion.

 

 

Despite being predictable, the WWE must have Seth Rollins become its “inaugural” World Heavyweight Champion. Allowing a Smackdown star to win the championship undermines both the brand split and the title itself. Furthermore, it will give off the impression that nobody on Smackdown has the guts to challenge Roman Reigns. The champion on their own brand. It would make the World Heavyweight Championship a sham. In a way, the tournament to crown its first champion has already done that.

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