For the second week in a row, WWE unveiled a brand new championship on Smackdown. And for the second time in two weeks, fans were left very confused about WWE’s title lineage.
Last week, it was Roman Reigns who was handed what is known as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. It looked a lot like the other two titles Reigns was already walking around with, except this one has a gold backdrop behind the WWE logo.
On this week’s edition of Smackdown, Asuka, who entered the night as the Raw Women’s Champion, was also handed a title with a gold backdrop (on a white strap).
Each event looked like it was supposed to be something definitive: Reigns carries one title around instead of two, and Asuka is now the WWE Women’s Champion.
There’s a couple of big problems, though: There are other champions in the company.
Reigns is the “undisputed” champion. Meanwhile, Seth Rollins is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The world title’s mere existence should mean Reigns is no longer an “undisputed” champion. Right? According to WWE’s extremely flawed logic, nope.
And Asuka is now the WWE Women’s Champion, but what about the Smackdown Women’s Champion, Rhea Ripley, who wasn’t even on Smackdown Friday night because she was drafted to Raw? Is Rhea now the Raw Women’s Champion? Is she still the Smackdown champ? Does she get a new belt altogether?
On top of that, Asuka’s new title also says “undisputed” on it. Does WWE not know what that term means? I mean, the company had serious trouble with the understanding of what the word anniversary meant in regards to WrestleMania 25 back in 2009, so … maybe?
Also, Charlotte Flair is back and is suddenly challenging for the title — again. There wasn’t even a mention of Ripley. She’s just carrying a blue belt on the red brand for nothing, apparently.
All this did was create more confusion about WWE’s title lineages. And the craziest part about it is that it seems like WWE has no intention of clearing any of this confusion up. It’d be one thing if nothing was announced during the television segments if there was some sort of clarification after the fact. It could be as involved as a press release or simple as a tweet. At this point, anything would suffice.
Instead, we have received none of that. WWE is seemingly content with having an undisputed champion combining the lineage of two titles — both of which are still listed on Reigns’ profile on WWE’s own website — while a third world title is just out here in the wild. No word on whether the WWE Championship, which dates back to 1963, is being merged with the only seven-year-old Universal title or anything. Just ignore those details, I guess.
WWE seems perfectly fine with the Raw Women’s Champion becoming the WWE Women’s Champion during an episode of Smackdown while the Smackdown champ sits at home.
It’d be one thing if this level of confusion was beyond WWE’s control, but it is obviously 100% within the company’s sway. Remember, this is all make believe. This is the world WWE literally created.
Because of that, people may argue that title lineages shouldn’t matter to fans Just watch and enjoy the product. But the reality is, it does matter to them. It also matters to people like me who cover the industry’s day-to-day happenings.
It should matter to WWE as well, as it only adds to the prestige of whatever title the company is presenting. It only makes it more inspiring that someone could win a title that we could trace the direct lineage back going back 60 years. That sounds amazing to me, but not to WWE, I suppose.
WWE is no stranger to playing fast and loose with its title lineages. Take the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship for instance. According to WWE.com, the Raw Team Team title’s lineage dates back only to 2002, when it was introduced as the WWE Team Championship on Smackdown. The Smackdown Tag Team titles go all the way back to the good old days of … 2016, when the second incarnation of WWE’s brand split was launched.
The WWE World Tag Team titles, which date back to 1971? You know, the same titles that were held by the Hart Foundation, Legion of Doom, Demolition, the Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, among others? You know, the ones that multiple generations of fans grew up with? Mere relics that are lost to history.
Again, all of this is according to WWE’s own website. This is the history it wants us all to recognize. Your own memories be damned.
It is honestly mind-boggling. There is no real rhyme or reason to WWE’s aversion to recognizing its own history — a history its fans pay a monthly fee to have access to via Peacock or WWE Network. It’s almost like WWE is ashamed of it despite airing weekly documentaries about its own history on A&E.
Maybe WWE will clear this whole thing up in the coming days, weeks, or maybe even months. I could easily see Ripley getting a new title similar to Rollins’ belt so the Raw brand’s title match.
But based on how this company typically operates, I wouldn’t put it past it to just lazily ignore it and hope you do as well.