At WrestleMania 38, Roman Reigns unified the WWE and Universal Championships, defeating Brock Lesnar in the Night Two main event.
The title unification came just over eight years after WWE had unified the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships (TLC 2013,) which was 12 years after unifying the WWF and WCW titles (Vengeance 2001.)
From the moment the title-unification match was announced this year, the response was mixed, to say the least.
Even some in the industry have expressed displeasure with the decision, including Drew McIntyre
Now, six months (and one day) later, we ask: did WWE do the right thing?
The Good
On paper, WWE’s decision to unify the titles makes a lot of sense.
AEW, the NWA, Impact Wrestling, and virtually every other promotion in the world have one singular top championship which all wrestlers aspire to win.
While WWE boasts a roster arguably bigger than any other company, the idea of a singular World Champion remains the same.
It’s hard to say that a wrestler represents the very best in your company when there’s someone who gets the same praise on the other brand.
With his victory, Reigns became WWE’s sole champion and settled once and for all who the more dominant star is.
Sure, Reigns had been dominant, entering WrestleMania on day 581 of his Universal title reign, but Lesnar had always been considered just as big a star, if not bigger.
Very rarely can there be two top stars of an era.
We also can’t fault WWE for wanting a high-profile match at WrestleMania, which this certainly was.
An argument can be made that the unification was necessary, to add some much-needed stakes to Lesnar and Reigns’ third WrestleMania outing.
Fans had seen the Beast and the Tribal Chief battle plenty of times before, almost always for a World title, so nothing new would have been created with a third performance.
Instead, the unification gave WWE something new to promote, and seven years into their feud, new was needed.
The Bad
If WWE’s decision to unify the titles made sense on paper, it didn’t work in terms of the fall-out.
Not long after his win, Reigns would compete far less for WWE, and it would be confirmed that his new contract with the company would mean far fewer appearances.
In September, Reigns had just one televised match, and had zero in August, hardly the figures of a champion.
And yet, WWE had invested so much in Reigns by that point, that taking the title off him was impossible.
Now, fans have to wait months to see title defenses from the Tribal Chief, leaving a disgruntled viewing audience.
Sure, the Bloodline has been awesome, but as social media is proving, the collective patience of fans is wearing thin.
It’s not just audiences who aren’t pleased with the prospect of the one title, as folks at the USA Network are said to be unhappy.
We can hardly blame them. Reigns is, after all, a SmackDown Superstar first, and on TV, he makes far more appearances for Team Blue.
Reigns on Raw does happen (and will next week) but it is much rarer with the USA Network losing one of their biggest features, the WWE Championship, and getting a handful of appearances in return.
If the USA Network is unhappy, then we imagine the roster themselves aren’t too thrilled either.
Sure, the idea of two World Champions both being the ‘top guy’ may not have made sense, but it gave some names a chance to shine.
Can you imagine that Daniel Bryan, Christian Cage or Mark Henry would have been given the opportunity to be World Champion, had WWE only had one title in 2011?
All of these stars were deserving of title reigns but at a time where John Cena and CM Punk were dominating the WWE title picture, it’s far more likely that the likes of Cage, Bryan and Henry would have been coming up short at best.
The Future
WWE has one Undisputed Universal Champion at this time, but it may not have one for long.
Not long after Reigns’ April victory, it was reported that WWE had plans to introduce a new, second World title.
There’s no word on whether that plan is still the case, but it was reported more recently that WWE is working on new title designs, including for their richest prize.
However, it wouldn’t be just one championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal title, but two belts like we have currently, implying that the titles could be separated once again.
We can’t forget a recent report that WWE finds the Reigns situation ‘complex’, wanting two World title matches at WrestleMania 39, but are against Reigns taking a loss before then.
Was it Right?
Ultimately, none of us have the decision power to unify or deunify WWE’s titles.
In April, that power rested solely with Vince McMahon, but rests in the arms of the likes of Triple H, Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon.
But was it right? The majority of people seem to think no, and that a second World title is only fitting for a WWE roster this size.
Will Reigns carry on as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion for much longer, only time will tell, but from what’s been reported, the unification of April 2022 was a huge moment WWE will praise as ‘history-making’ that they are eager to undo.
