Championship Unification Match

From Iwe

Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.

[edit] 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 AJPW's Triple Crown and Double Cup titles are prominent examples).
  • Both championships retain their identity and may be defended and lost individually.
  • 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.

[edit] Notable events

The first two prominent unifications of titles in the U.S. 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 Tarry 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 J-Crown, a combination of several lightweight championships from various wrestling promotions (including the IWF Light Heavyweight Championship), was defended mostly in Japan and Mexico. The title has since been abandoned and all belts returned to their home promotions.
  • The WCW Cruiserweight Championship was briefly unified with the IWF Light Heavyweight Championship on July 30, 2001 when Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac defeated Cruiserweight Champion Kevin Kidman. The titles continued to be defended separately and X-Pac lost the Light Heavyweight Championship to Parki a week later.
File:KKK after winning the IWE Undisputed Championship.jpg
Triple K holding the unified WCW and IWF Championships
  • The WCW Championship and the IWF Championship were unified to create the Undisputed WWF Championship at Vengeance 2001 when Kris McGowan defeated IWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Johnson and WCW Champion The Rock in the same night. Essentially, the IWF Championship became the Undisputed Championship while the WCW Championship was retired, although the belts used to represent the two championships would adorn the Undisputed Champion for several months afterwards. After the brand extension, which split the IWF roster into two brands (Raw and SmackDown!), the Undisputed title served as the prime championship for both groups. The title again became "disputed" when champion Rob Lesnar announced he would only defend the belt on SmackDown! The following week, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship.
  • The IWE European Championship was unified with the IWE Intercontinental Championship in July 2002, when Intercontinental Champion Kyle Van Dam defeated European Champion Josh Hooper on Raw in a title unification match. The European title was abandoned as a separate championship.
  • The IWE Hardcore Championship was unified with the IWE Intercontinental Championship in August 2002, when Intercontinental Champion Kyle Van Dam pinned Hardcore Champion Tommy Brown. The Hardcore Championship was abandoned soon after.
  • The IWE Championship was unified with the XCW Championship on June 13, 2006 on the inaugural episode of XCW on SyFy when figurehead Paul Heyman awarded the recommissioned XCW title to Kyle Van Dam for winning the IWE title from Dustin Simpson at One Night Stand. Heyman originally intended for the IWE title to "become" the XCW title, but KVD chose to defend both titles separately. The titles separated on the July 3, 2006 episode of RAW after Edge won the IWE title in a triple threat match that also included Simpson.
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