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Update on “WWE Championship” Replacing “WWE World Heavyweight Championship” And What It Means

TJR Wrestling

This past Monday on Raw, WWE decided to stop using the term WWE World Heavyweight Championship when talking about the richest prize in the company. Instead, Dean Ambrose was referred to as the WWE Champion that holds the WWE Championship. It’s basically just the removal of “World Heavyweight” when talking about the champion.

If you go to the 2:18 mark in this video from last night’s Raw, you can hear Lilian Garcia refer to Ambrose (after he won the match) as the WWE Champion whereas in previous weeks they would have said WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

What it means is that the rumors from last month may be and that WWE is planning on bring back a second World Title to the mix, which could be called the World Heavyweight Title as it was from 2002 to 2013. Once again that’s not confirmed, but it is expected that both Raw and Smackdown will each have World Champions following the July 19 brand extension.

It should be noted that on last night’s edition of Raw, while they did refer to Ambrose as the WWE Champion, it still says “World Heavyweight Champion” on the title. I doubt that’s going to change even if the company and the announcers stop saying the “World Heavyweight” part.

It was a John Cena vs. Randy Orton Ladder Match at TLC 2013 that unified the two titles to form what would become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I can remember them doing a poll around the time of the match asking fans what they should call the title. Fans voted for “WWE Unified Championship” name, yet the company went with WWE World Heavyweight Championship because really, the fans don’t matter when it comes to things like that. Sorry, but it’s true.

It took them eight months to finally create a new title, which was given to Brock Lesnar on the night after he won the WWE Title from John Cena following SummerSlam 2014.

While it’s unlikely that WWE will send out some press release or make a big deal out of the name change, if you go to this page on WWE.com it lists it as the WWE Championship. Apparently it said “WWE World Heavyweight Championship” recently.

As for the World Heavyweight Title, which is affectionately known as the “Big Gold Belt” going back to the NWA and WCW, I always thought it was an impressive looking title. I think it’s great that the World Title is bigger in size than the other titles. It’s supposed to be the most important title and if it looks the part, the fans are going to believe it too. That’s why I have always thought that it belongs.

To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t bother me if they have one or two World Titles as long as the booking is good. Titles are part of the story, but the story is more important than the title. Plus, the kid and teenager in me still wants the Winged Eagle title to return.

I know that they won’t bring it back because they like having the WWE logo featured prominently on the WWE Title today, but I think it’s the coolest title that they have ever had for a WWE Title.

Does this title name change bother you? What are your thoughts on two major titles? Feel free to comment below to let us know your thoughts.