Would WWE Benefit from Adding Another Championship?

A recent poll on WWE.com asks fans about what championship titles they would like to see return to the WWE. Some options are more likely to succeed than others.

The new era of the WWE is bringing a lot of old names back to the company, but it doesn’t seem to be the only nostalgia that is possibly returning. Over the weekend, the staff at WWE.com posted a poll asking fans which of the following championship titles they would most like to see make a comeback.

As of this writing, the Hardcore Championship is leading with nearly 50 percent of the vote, followed by the Cruiserweight Championship, a Women’s Tag Team Championship, the World Tag Team Championship and the European Championship rounding out the list. It is highly unlikely that all of these titles will be resurrected, but it is something to talk about considering that the recent brand split is going to have a heavyweight champion for both Raw and SmackDown.

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Back in the original brand split that started in 2002, the WWE eventually developed two sets tag team championships for each show. The problem with having two teams named tag team champions is really taking a look at the WWE roster overall and deciding whether there is enough depth to have two separate tag team divisions. The honest answer to that is “no.”

While a women’s tag team championship would be something different in the company, roster depth is another thing challenging the hopes of it working out in the WWE. The most likely championships to have actual success on the WWE would be adding some singles championships to help provide more depth to all tiers of the roster – including the lower-card superstars.

With that in mind, the European Championship doesn’t really have a good chance to fit into the current WWE system. The WWE currently has the Intercontinental Championship on SmackDown and the United States Championship on Raw, so a third mid-card championship doesn’t seem like a great fit. If anything, the WWE could have Rusev change the United States Championship into the European Championship; or even have Cesaro responsible for the shift in a twist.

While most of the championship titles on this list have little chance of coming back to the WWE, one title that does make a lot of sense is the Cruiserweight Championship. The network has seen a lot of rave reviews with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament and it was announced that Raw would host the new Cruiserweight division. One would assume that means the title is going to make a return to WWE television for the first time since it was worn by Hornswoggle back in 2007.

It would truly show that the WWE’s new era is focused on the no limits type of wrestling that many of the newer talents like Sami Zayn and Finn Balor developed from. It would also be an era of wrestling that can continue the tradition of professional wrestling that brought us classic matches with the likes of Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, Billy Kidman and Juventud Guerrera.

But what about the Hardcore Championship? It’s a unique title because of how it was WWE’s response to the craze of Extreme Championship Wrestling. The question would be whether it would work in the current PG format of WWE programming.

The answer is that it could work, but it wouldn’t be the Hardcore Championship many of us grew up seeing during the Attitude Era. Having a championship that was defended on a 24-hour basis would provide some entertaining segments that could add some depth to the lower part of the roster and giving superstars that otherwise would be hard to notice something to fight for.

One of the best types of segments was seeing the title change hands five or six times where anyone, including backstage interview host Terri Runnels, holding the title – even if it was for less than a minute.

However, the definition of hardcore wrestling would be different in today’s WWE. It would be interesting to see what WWE does from here. Based on their recent online poll, the fans want to see the tattered championship belt back on WWE television.

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