Championship unification
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Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.
History
In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a given promotion, or to add legitimacy and prestige to a certain title's lineage. In a title-for-title match, one of four things will happen:
- The lesser championship will be dropped.
- A brand new championship will be created (very rare, but All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Heavyweight and World Tag Team titles are prominent examples).
- Both championships retain their identity and may be defended and lost individually (Rob Van Dam holding the WWE Championship and ECW World Heavyweight Championship is a good example of this).
- Both championships will be remain active and be defended and lost together under one name, but title changes will reflect each individual title's history (WWE's Unified Tag Team Championship is a good example of this).
Notable events
- The first two prominent unifications of titles in the United States were done by Nikita Koloff. In 1986, he unified the NWA National Heavyweight Championship into his NWA United States Heavyweight Championship by defeating Wahoo McDaniel, and in 1987 he unified the (Mid-South) UWF Television Championship into his NWA World Television Championship by defeating Terry Taylor. In both cases, the unification process was started by Nikita's home promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions, upon absorbing another promotion (Georgia Championship Wrestling and the Mid-South UWF, respectively), and in both cases the titles from the absorbed promotions were abandoned.
- The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship was created with the unification of the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, the PWF World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA United National Championship, when the NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta defeated the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Champion Stan Hansen on April 18, 1989.
- The Omaha World Heavyweight Championship (a championship belt created by promoters in Omaha, Nebraska) unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship twice when Omaha World Champion The Crusher defeated AWA World Heavyweight Champion Verne Gagne in Omaha, Nebraska on July 9, 1963 and then the titles was unified again on September 7, 1963 when AWA World Heavyweight Champion Verne Gagne defeated Omaha World Heavyweight Champion Fritz Von Erich in Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha version was abandoned after absorb with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
- The AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship were unified to create the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship at SuperClash III, when the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler defeated the WCCW World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich. The WCCW World Heavyweight Championship was quickly abandoned, and later the American Wrestling Association stripped the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Jerry Lawler.
- The J-Crown, a combination of several lightweight championships from various wrestling promotions, was defended mostly in Japan and Mexico. The title has since been abandoned and all championship belts returned to their home promotions.
- The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship when WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Sting at Clash of the Champions XXVII. The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship was immediately abandoned, though the physical championship belt was used as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
- The ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship (an unrecognized title created by Tazz) was unified with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on March 21, 1999 at Living Dangerously when ECW World Heavyweight Champion Taz defeated ECW FTW Heavyweight Champion Sabu. The FTW title was abandoned when Taz continued to defend the ECW World title.
- The WCW Cruiserweight Championship was briefly unified with the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship on July 30, 2001 when Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac defeated Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman. The titles continued to be defended separately and X-Pac lost the Light Heavyweight Championship to Tajiri a week later.
- The WCW United States Championship was unified with the WWF Intercontinental Championship on November 18, 2001 at Survivor Series when United States Champion Edge defeated Intercontiental Champion Test. The United States title was abandoned, then revived as the WWE's United States Championship in 2003 by Stephanie McMahon as a SmackDown!-exclusive title.
- The WCW Tag Team Championship was unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series in 2001, when the WCW Tag Team Champions, The Dudley Boyz, defeated the WWF Tag Team Champions, The Hardy Boyz. The Dudleys won the WWF Tag Team Championship, and their WCW Tag Team Championship was absorbed into the WWF titles and abandoned. The titles had previously been held concurrently at SummerSlam (2001) when WCW Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Destruction defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon, although at that time both championship belts were held together instead of becoming one championship.
- The WCW Championship (rebranded as World Championship) and the WWF Championship were unified to create the Undisputed WWF Championship on December 9, 2001 at Vengeance when Chris Jericho defeated WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and World Champion The Rock in the same night. Essentially, the WWF Championship became the Undisputed Championship while the former WCW Championship was retired, although the championship belts used to represent the two championships would adorn the Undisputed WWF Champion for several months afterwards, up until a single championship belt was introduced to Triple H in 2002. When WWF was renamed "World Wrestling Entertainment" (WWE), the title was renamed Undisputed WWE Championship, and finally WWE Undisputed Championship. After the brand extension, which split the WWE roster into two brands (Raw and SmackDown!), the WWE Undisputed Championship served as the prime championship for both groups. The title again became "disputed" when champion Brock Lesnar announced he would only defend the championship belt on SmackDown!. The following week, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, which he awarded to former number one contender Triple H. The WWE Undisputed Championship immediately became the WWE Championship.
- The WWE European Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in July 2002, when Intercontinental 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.
- 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 abandoned soon after.
- The WWE Intercontinental Championship was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship at No Mercy when World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeated Intercontinental Champion Kane. The Intercontinental Championship was immediately abandoned, then revived in May 2003 by Raw Co-General Manager Stone Cold Steve Austin.
- The WWA World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett defeated WWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting on May 25, 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand in an inter-promotional match.
- The ROH Pure Championship was unified with the ROH World Championship when ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson defeated ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England on August 12, 2006, in a match contested under pure wrestling rules with the stipulation that both championships could be lost by disqualification or countout.
- The International Wrestling Association unified the IWA World Heavyweight Championship with the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship when the World Wrestling Council's champion abandoned the company and participated in a unification match which was recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance, in the process creating the first Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion in Puerto Rico.
- The Inoki Genome Federation version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship unified with the New Japan Pro Wrestling's version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated IGF's IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle in Tokyo on February 17, 2008. The titles are unified due to a working agreement between Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in which Angle wrestles for TNA.
- The World Tag Team Championship was unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship, in a dark match before WrestleMania XXV, when WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) defeated World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz in Houston, Texas on April 5, 2009 to become the "Unified WWE Tag Team Champions". On the August 16, 2010 episode of Raw, the World Tag Team Championship was retired and a new set of tag team championship belts for the WWE Tag Team Championship were introduced. In 2016, the WWE Tag Team Championship became exclusive to Raw (and subsequently renamed to Raw Tag Team Championship), while SmackDown created the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship; Heath Slater and Rhyno became the inaugural champions at Backlash on September 11, 2016.
- The original WWE Women's Championship was unified with the WWE Divas Championship at the Night of Champions pay-per-view in September 2010. Divas Champion Melina faced self-professed co-WWE Women's Champion Michelle McCool in a lumberjill match. McCool won the match due to interference from Layla to unify the two titles. Following the win, the Women's Championship was retired after 54 years, with the official recognized champion, Layla, being the final champion. The Divas Championship was then retired on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32 and replaced with a new WWE Women's Championship. This made Charlotte the final Divas Champion and she subsequently became the inaugural champion of the new championship. Later that same year, the WWE Women's Championship became exclusive to Raw (and subsequently renamed to Raw Women's Championship), while SmackDown created the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship; Becky Lynch became the inaugural champion at Backlash on September 11, 2016.
- The World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship to create the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2013. WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion John Cena in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to unify both championships and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The new championship retained the lineage of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship was retired, although the championship belts used to represent the two championships would adorn the WWE World Heavyweight Champion much like the Undisputed WWF Championship. A single championship belt was introduced in August 2014 to champion Brock Lesnar. Starting in June 2016 with the announcement of the new brand extension, while still using the single championship belt, the title was once again referred to being solely called the WWE Championship. It was renamed again in July that year to the WWE World Championship after champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown. The WWE Universal Championship was then created for Raw and Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016.