Three Championships that the WWE Needs to Bring Back

Championships are what every participant in every sport strives to possess. They are things worth fighting for and, once captured, solidify a person’s legitimacy in that particular sport. Each sports organization, including the NFL and MLB, has various championships that represent specific accolades in the sport. World Wrestling Entertainment is such a “sport” that currently has a number of championships that represent different divisions. These titles include the World Tag Team Championships, United States Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Divas Championship, and the two top prizes, the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships. Though these are the only titles that the WWE is using right now, they aren’t the only ones that have ever been strapped around the waist of a worthy competitor. Other distinctions that have been retired over the years include the Hardcore, European, and Women’s Championships. There is just one problem here, however. Some of the titles that the WWE has done away with should most certainly still be in the picture and, after careful consideration, I have selected three retired championships that the WWE desperately needs to bring back.

Now tell me, what wrestling fan doesn’t enjoy a good match with tables, chairs, two-by-fours, thumb tacks and various other painful objects? Years ago, the WWE not only had Hardcore matches but a championship that represented this specific niche in professional wrestling. Names like Mick Foley, Raven, and Jeff Hardy all held the Hardcore Championship at some point during the title’s tenure. So where is this title now? Well, after Rob Van Dam won it in August of 2002 it was “unified” with the Intercontinental Championship and never to be seen again. In my opinion, that was a very bad move. This was one of the titles that defined the Attitude Era of the late 90s/early 2000s and always served as a source of entertaining matchups and rivalries. It’s no secret exactly why the WWE decided to eliminate this title from its ranks. Once the company decided to go in the PG direction, such a title that was based around bloody, violent matches would no longer fit into the product. So as a result fans were denied that source of excitement. Now, with the PG Era in full swing, there is little chance that the WWE will resurrect this bygone championship, but I believe they most certainly should. It’s supposed to be all about what the fans want, isn’t it? And fans would undoubtedly be pleased if this title was brought back into the picture. Certain wrestlers on the current WWE roster, such as Alberto Del Rio, Jinder Mahal, and Wade Barrett would fit into this category fairly well. It would give them another title to fight for when they are out of the main title picture and not involved with IC and US championship rivalries. In short, the Hardcore Championship assured that element of chaotic wrestling that most wrestling fans traditionally have liked to see. Tables, chairs, Kendo sticks, trash cans, and the like have been staples of pro wrestling for some time and now we just don’t see enough of that anymore. Rebirthing the Hardcore Championship would bring back that specific part of pro wrestling, please fans, and allow other mid-card superstars to better establish some sort of legacy for themselves.

In my opinion, the WWE did a terrible injustice by retiring this championship. If there was ever a championship that the WWE retired but should not have it’s this one. What’s even worse is that it was Vickie Guerrero that stripped Hornswoggle of the title and declared it defunct in 2008. The smaller wrestlers that just don’t fit into the World Heavyweight title realm need something unique to their division to fight for. I mean think about it, wrestlers like Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara, and Evan Bourne (even though he may be on his way out of WWE) will most likely never be WWE or World Heavyweight champions. So how do you at least give those guys some sort of credibility and ability to say they held a singles championship at some point in their career? Bring back the Cruiserweight title! It is a prestigious treasure that dates back to the days of WCW, giving it, for me at least, a nostalgic characteristic as well. And I would definitely like to see something along the lines of Sin Cara versus Justin Gabriel with this championship on the line. It just seems right, and this particular gold belt should be brought back immediately. Don’t waste any time with this one, WWE.

The Divas division is represented by one title at that is, naturally, the Divas Championship. This butterfly belt is in fact the replacement of the now retired Women’s Championship. But once upon a time, another honor represented this division: the Women’s Tag Team Championship. There were only a handful of tag teams that held these titles, including Velvet McIntire and Princess Victoria in 1983. The title, however, was abandoned in 1989, never to really be spoken of again. This title should not only be brought back, but it should have never been retired in the first place. It is somewhat demeaning to the Divas to eliminate one of their championships when they only had a couple in the first place. It almost shows that they are not worthy enough of that much title match airtime. That is quite the contrary. It’s not hard to imagine the validity of recent female duos like “The Divas of Doom” Beth Phoenix and Natalya or Michelle McCool and Layla, aka Laycool holding a women’s tag team championship. It would have given them so much more prestige to their careers and would have produced a different type of championship excitement to the WWE. Not to mention the fact that it would show that the Divas division is not just about sexy bodies and pretty faces but competitive, championship-worthy women.

There are other titles that could arguably be reborn, such as the European and Light Heavyweight championships. To me they just don’t represent as significant a distinction as the three aforementioned titles. So in a time when it seems the WWE has as few titles as ever, even bringing one of those three belts back would benefit the brand. More titles mean more to fight for and more to boost careers. So with that I say to the WWE “bring back at least some aspect of a forgotten era and resurrect at least one, if not all, of these championship belts!”