Championship unification: Encyclopedia - Championship unification

Championship unification

Championship unification or championship consolidation are professional wrestling terms which mean the act of combining two separate championships into a single title. This may be done to consolidate the number of championships in a given promotion or to add legitimacy and prestige to a certain title's lineage.

Championship unification - Types of Unification

Championship unification can be done in a variety of ways:

• One wrestler who holds a lower-ranking championship may face a higher-ranking title holder for his belt. If the higher-ranking champion wins, nothing changes; if the lower-ranking champion wins, he wins the higher championship and often vacates the lower championship, and a tournament or such is held to crown a new champion for the lesser title.
• Alternatively (and less commonly), two wrestlers, who both hold separate championships, face each other in a match in which the winner will gain both titles. One of the titles (typically the lower-ranking one) is then said to be "absorbed" into the larger one, though this is rarely explained on-air; essentially, the smaller title is retired. The winner of the match may appear at events or on television with both belts once or twice, but eventually the smaller title is abandoned.
• Two wrestlers, who both hold separate championships, face each other in a match in which the winner will gain both titles. The titles are then combined into a brand new championship, often times referred to as an "undisputed" title. The championship may be represented by both original belts or a new belt may be introduced.
• Two wrestlers, who both hold separate championships, face each other in a match in which the winner will gain both titles. Both belts are kept following the match, and the champion may be referred to as holding both of the original titles rather than a new, unified title. Usually in these instances, the champion will eventually lose one of the titles independent of the other (thus retaining one title while losing the other and therefore "deunifying" the championships).

Championship unification - Intrapromotional and Interpromotional Unification

Championship consolidation may be done as a means of lowering the number of titles in a given promotion (it is generally thought that the fewer titles a promotion has, the more prestige each carries). Usually, title unifications occur within a promotion, however sometimes two different promotions will unify their titles to create an "undisputed" or "interpromotional" championship, to be defended and contended for by both groups. Interpromotional title unification also may occur if one group wishes to raise the prestige of their title by associating it with a larger, more known federation.

Championship unification - Examples of Championship Unification

Some examples of title unification:

• The J-Crown, a combination of several lightweight championships from various wrestling promotions (including the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship) which was defended mostly in Japan and Mexico. The title has since been abandoned and all belts returned to their home promotions.
• The WCW International Championship was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship when World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated International Champion Sting at Clash of the Champions XVII. The International Championship was immediately abandoned.
• The WWF European Championship was briefly unified with the WWF Intercontinental Championship on two separate occasions before the former's final retirement. The first time came when European Champion D'Lo Brown beat Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett to unify both belts. Brown still carried around both belts during his reign, and the two titles were still considered separate championships. This unification lasted until Jarrett defeated Brown for both belts again the following month with help from Mark Henry; Jarrett turned over the lesser European title to Henry as a reward. The second time came when European Champion Kurt Angle defeated Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho. Angle referred to himself as the "EuroContinental Champion," though this was never an actual title and the two championships were still officially separate. Angle later lost both titles in the same match to different men; at WrestleMania 2000, Angle fought Jericho and Chris Benoit in a three-way match for both titles. A stipulation stated that getting the first pinfall in the match would win the Intercontinental title, while getting second pinfall would result in winning the European title. Benoit pinned Jericho for the Intercontinental title, and Jericho pinned Benoit to win the European title, resulting in Angle losing both titles without being pinned.
• The ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW World Television Championship were unified when TV Champion Rhino defeated World Champion The Sandman at Guilty as Charged in January 2001. Both championships were abandoned upon ECW's demise soon after.
• The WCW United States Championship was unified with the WWF Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series 2001 when US Champion Edge defeated IC Champion Test. The United States title was abandoned, then revived in 2003 by Stephanie McMahon as a SmackDown!-exclusive title.
• The WCW Tag Team Championship was briefly unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship at Summerslam 2001, when the Undertaker and Kane, the WCW Tag Team Champions, defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon. The titles were re-split when the Dudley Boyz defeated the Undertaker and Kane for only the WWF titles, not the WCW titles, a month later. The titles were reunified for the final time at Survivor Series 2001, when the Dudleys, then the reigning WCW Tag Team Champions, defeated the then-WWF champions, the Hardy Boyz. The Dudleys won the WWF Tag Team Championships and their WCW Tag Team Championship was absorbed into the WWF titles and abandoned.
• The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was briefly unified with the WCW Cruiserweight Championship when Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac defeated Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman. He later lost the Cruiserweight title to Kidman, but kept the Light Heavyweight title (which was abandoned following his departure from the company). The WCW Cruiserweight Championship later became the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
• The WCW World Heavyweight Championship (by this time known simply as the "World title") and the WWF Championship were unified to create the WWF Undisputed Championship at WWF Vengeance 2001, when World Champion Chris Jericho defeated WWF Champion Steve Austin. After the brand extension, which split the WWF roster into two brands (RAW and SmackDown!), the Undisputed title served as the prime championship for both groups. The title became "disputed" when champion Brock Lesnar announced he would only defend the belt on SmackDown! The following week, RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff announced the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, which may or may not be the original WCW/World title (for more on the lineage dispute, see the page for World Heavyweight Championship).
• The WWE European Championship was unified for a third and final time with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in July 2002, when IC Champion Rob Van Dam defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy on RAW in a title unification match. The European title was abandoned as a separate championship for good.
• The WWE Hardcore Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in August 2002, when Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam pinned Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer. The Hardcore Championship was immediately abandoned.
• The WWE Intercontinental Championship was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE No Mercy 2002 when World Champion Triple H defeated IC Champion Kane. The Intercontinental Championship was immediately abandoned, then revived in May 2003 by RAW Co-General Manager Steve Austin.
• The WWA World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when NWA Champion Jeff Jarrett defeated WWA Champion Sting on May 25, 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand in an inter-promotional match.

Categories: Professional wrestling championships | Professional wrestling slang

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Championship unification", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki