U for UNIFICATION

Back in the invasion days, the proliferation of titles was reaching insane levels with the WWE championship, WCW world Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental title, United States Title, Cruiserweight Title, Light Heavyweight Title, Hardcore title, WWE Tag title and WCW Tag Titles.

The recent trend of the day tends to be Unification.

History tells us us that result of a plethora of unifications and de-unifications, is the re-invention and re-introduction of previously prestigious world titles under their previous moniker, with none of the prestige of the original title.

Here is the History of the Unifications that we have seen thus far:

- In November of 2001, Edge defeated test to unify the US and interconinental titles under the intercontinental banner. The tag titles were unified the same night as the Dudley boys became undisputed tag champs.
- At Vengeance in December 2001, Chris Jericho defeated Stone cold Steve Austin to become the First ever Undisputed world champion.
- In July 2002, The European title was folded into the intercontinental title, In august of 2002, the hardcore was also compartmentalized into the IC title as well.
- In October 2002, The Intercontinenatl title was unified with the WWF world title, but the title picture also expanded as the brand split spawned a set of tag straps for smackdown.
- However this became undone again as the brand split again splintered the title picture, and the WWE title was split off and the WHT was introduced to RAW in september 2002.
- The IC title did a re-appearing act in May 2003 in a battleroyal by RAW GM Stone cold Steve Austin.
- Shortly after the US title was brought back as a smackdown-exclusive minor title July 2003.
- Due to the pathetic utilization of talent, the cruiserweight title has fallen by the waste side.
- After many years of 2 tag titles and no teams, they finally realized the tag division was weak so at wrestlemania 25, they once again unified these titles, but what took so long is beyond me.
- Now after years of two women's titles that were totally superfluous, they have successfully unified those titles.

The title picture is finally streamlining. But don't hold your breath.

Now I heard rumors that they are planning on unifying the WWE and world titles at Wrestlemania 27. Any excitement I have over this is equalled by an overwhelming sense of trepidation, mostly over how this will be booked, but more so over how long it may last. There is the potential to do a repeat of the Vengeance PPV (the PPV where Chris Jericho became the first ever Undisputed World Champion), where each champion faces an opponent and then the winners face each other to unify their respective titles.

These are the kinds of ideas that casual wrestling fan's curse me for, but I know I'm not alone especially in this forum. However were several months away from 'mania, and the world title picture is fuzzy at best.

Here would be my fantasy booking for this Wrestlemania.

Randy Orton, screwed out of his world championship again my the Miz at TLC, Orton goes on a one man rampage and tries to destroy the Miz, This rampage results in Orton being suspended. But it doesn't stop. After attacks on the Nexus amoung others, The RAW GM sets up a long gauntlet in which he must destroy the Nexus amoung others in order to get into the Rumble, after entering he then wins the Royal Rumble and goes on to challenge the Miz for the WWE title.

On the Smackdown side, the injury to the Undertaker is making them think twice about what is happening for their main event. "The Streak" is always a prominent feature of Wrestlemania these days. Whether or not Taker will be able to return from his shoulder surgery in time will determine what will happen here, and is the probably the reason why Kane is in a holding pattern as World Champion. This feud is not over. Unfortunate. Kill me. Why they can't get the title off Kane even using the distraction of Taker to do so, then they can get this over with. If Taker vs Kane is Wrestlemania, they are totally making a mistake. If the title goes on Edge which almost always never lasts long, its not a bad decision. You're almost always guaranteed a great match with edge.

However, the final match should always be a marquee match up, and Orton vs Edge is on paper a good match. Orton fighting back to win the rumble, then take out the Miz and then Edge would just blow the roof off the place, especially since Orton is so hot right now. If Taker is healthy, I see a match vs Cena for the streak as a huge match. But time will tell. But as we all know, a week is a long time in the wrestling business. 4 months is an eternity.

Apparently a new WWE championship belt has been ready since last November, indicating that they have been waiting for something in order to unveil it. Could this unification be the event they are waiting for? And if the unification is what they are waiting for, it would be the proper venue.

What would be your ideas for such a unification if it should occur?