Walker Stewart
- Mar 20, 2021
- 6 min read

Analysis: Does WWE Have Too Many Championships?

Updated: Apr 4, 2021

Note: This article was originally posted on Blade Job Pro Wrestling.

"You get into this business to win championships and make money. Everyone knows that the wrestlers with the gold make the green. It's science." -Arn Anderson

In professional wrestling, titles are often sought after by any and all who enter the industry. As Arn Anderson once famously stated, championship gold serves as an avenue for building professional wrestling stars and having those stars represent your brand. There is no doubt in my mind that people heavily associate wrestlers like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock with World Wrestling Entertainment due to their victories of multiple titles within the company - including the WWE Championship. Back in those days, WWE only boasted a meager seven championship titles in the company. At least... considered meager to today's standards. In 2021, WWE now boasts a total of twenty championships within its domain. Today, it's time for an open and honest conversation. Does WWE have too many championships under its banner?

Let's set the scene. In 1999 (a year often considered to be the pinnacle of professional wrestling popularity,) the WWF contested seven different championships within company ropes. Even in 1999, the WWF was incapable of consistently booking all of the championships they had at the time. For example, we look to the case of Duane Gill. Gillberg won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship on RAW Is War from Christian. Gill would go on to hold the championship for 448 days, and he would not defend the championship throughout that time until he lost it to Essa Rios on Sunday Night Heat. We had a man holding onto a championship for well over a calendar year before losing it in a throwaway match on Sunday Night Heat. While, yes, this may have been an outlier for the company at the time, this would soon become the norm in WWE.

To understand the subject further, we have to take a look at why the WWE now holds so many championships. Could the source of our championship oversaturation be the purchase of WCW and the first brand split? When WWE first established SmackDown on April 29, 1999, it soon became understood that we need more championships to populate the second show so the company didn't have to stretch their roster thin. Two years after the implementation of SmackDown, WWE purchased its rival company, WCW. When WCW was purchased, WWE adopted the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, WCW United States Championship, and the WCW Tag Team Championship. Within this period, WWE would retire the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. This would bring WWE's total championship count to 10. The tag team, United States, and world championship belts would be unified with other titles in the company by 2002, bringing the number back down to 7.

One year later, on March 25, 2002, WWE would officially enact the brand split. While SmackDown may have already been a separate product, they now would have a completely separate roster. This would mean the debut of separate championships. Spawning from the brand split, WWE debuted the WWE Tag Team Championships, the WWE United States Championship, and Big Goldy himself, the World Heavyweight Championship. The WWE European Championship and WWE Hardcore Championships would become defunct within this time period. 3 years later, WWE would begin a third brand (a sort of "developmental brand" for the company;) a not-so-spiritual successor to Extreme Championship Wrestling known as ECW. With this, the debut of the ECW Championship would occur. This would leave the WWE with 9 championships by the end of 2006.

In 2008, the WWE Divas Championship would debut and the WWE Women's Championship would be retired in 2010. The World Tag Team Championship and ECW Championship would also be retired in 2010. This would leave WWE with 7 championships, just as they had in 1999.

"The WWE has been the top place for so long that they can do whatever they want and it won't harm them. That being said, yes, they have too many championships. It just feels like having a lot of championships for the sake of doing it." -Referee Clark Feldman

Well, it appears that the purchase of WCW and the original brand split didn't impact the oversaturation of championships within WWE... so what else could it be?

In 2012, WWE began the NXT brand, a developmental territory that was to replace Florida Championship Wrestling. This would lead to the addition of NXT's world, tag team, and women's championships over the next year. Almost a year after the addition of the NXT Women's Championship, the WWE women's revolution was enacted which saw calls for equality in women's wrestling to be enforced. This would lead to the retirement of the WWE Divas Championship, and the debut of the WWE Women's Championship. WWE would retire the World Heavyweight Championship after it was unified with the WWE Championship (effectively ending the brand split.) This left WWE with 9 championships.

In 2016, it was determined that WWE would be re-enacting the brand split between RAW and SmackDown. This time around, WWE would make brand-specific championships for the purpose of the brand split (rather than being them around naturally as they did in the early 2000s.) In 2016, WWE debuted the WWE Universal Championship, WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, and WWE SmackDown Women's Championship.

Later on, WWE looked to hold a tournament filled with the independent wrestling scene's best cruiserweight wrestlers - the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. The winner of this tournament would end up being given a WWE contract and would win the newly debuted WWE Cruiserweight Championship. This would eventually lead to the start of a fourth weekly television show in 205 Live. Keeping with the theme of tournaments and eastern expansion, WWE established the WWE United Kingdom Championship and held a tournament filled with the United Kingdom's standout independent talent. Afterward, the NXT North American Championship would be introduced as another singles championships defend in NXT. This would leave WWE with 15 championships.

With the establishment of NXT UK as an official fifth brand, WWE would introduce the NXT UK Tag Team Championships and the NXT UK Women's Championship. Later in 2019, as a result of the women's revolution, WWE debuted the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships to be defended on any brand in WWE. Afterward, the WWE 24/7 Championship, the NXT UK Heritage Cup, and the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships would be added to the fray. This gives WWE a total of 20 championships under its domain. With all of this being said - how did we get here? What is the true root of WWE's championship hoarding?

It appears as though WWE's obsession with creating new championships stems from a number of different things. In some regards, WWE feels that every new brand must have a full set of world, women's, and tag team championships associated with it. In other regards, WWE likes to introduce new championships to ensure a huge pop or to send a message to its audience. For example, there was no true reason to introduce NXT Women's Tag Team Championships, but they did it just to do it. There is no necessary reason for the WWE 24/7 Championship to exist, but it exists to this day - and for what? WWE introduces championships to fill space on new brands, to enact good faith within women's wrestling, or just to "shake things up." This leads to WWE neglecting certain championships and for wrestling fans to often forget who holds which belts. If fans are forgetting who holds the prizes within your company, it delegitimizes those prizes. Lack of legitimacy leads to a lack of interest from fans. It's that simple.

So, the question stands, does WWE have too many championships? Currently, I would say yes. However, there is a way in which WWE could maintain the number of championships they have and change my answer to the question. If WWE wants to keep the championships they have and restore legitimacy, the company needs to book champions on the show. When was the last time I saw the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions on the show? I genuinely can't remember - and that's not a good thing. I don't believe this is killing the industry by any means, but it definitely showcases how lackluster championship titles in WWE have become. Nowadays, it feels like everyone has one, and none of them matter. This, however, is just my analysis.

It's a wrestling analysis.

Did I miss something? Do you agree/disagree with a take of mine? Let me know in the comments below or reach out on Twitter @BladeJobPW!

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