How to make the WWE Championship relevant by WrestleMania 35

When the WWE brand split occurred in 2016, most observers were hopeful that the company had learned from the mistakes of the  previous incarnation. One of the key issues had been the difficulty in maintaining the status of two world championships.

Despite starting its run with prominence on WWE RAW, the World Heavyweight Championship soon descended into secondary title status once it made its way over to SmackDown. A similar pattern seems to be in motion for the formerly untouchable WWE Championship, but there are still some scenarios in which the company can rescue the titles relevance by the turn of the year.

Once it was established that the WWE Championship was being positioned as SnackDown Live’s top belt, the writing was on the wall. The Universal Championship on RAW has already been elevated to prominence, having been held by legends Goldberg and Brock Lesnar.

In the same timeframe, the WWE title was held for 6 months by career jobber, Jinder Mahal. Some prestige has been reestablished since AJ Styles won the belt from Mahal at the tail end of 2017, but the Championship rarely headlines any pay-per-view events.

Styles is currently embroiled in a promising feud with fellow TNA alumni, Samoa Joe, and this looks set to continue at Hell in a Cell. While AJ has done his best to reignite some interest in the title picture, his second run as champion has become stagnant and was irreversibly harmed due to the poor program with Shinsuke Nakamura.

On the other hand, Samoa Joe has established himself as one of the most compelling heels on the main roster and would prove an excellent choice as a successor to Styles.

With Joe as champion, the creative team would need to book Joe as an insurmountable obstacle for his challengers. All of the major babyfaces from the blue brand should try and fail to topple the Samoan Submission Machine from now until WrestleMania 35.

That is until the return of the ultimate babyface and the set up for a dream match years in the making. Samoa Joe vs John Cena has been talked about as a WrestleMania fantasy match for a long time and what better way to return the company’s oldest title to relevance than by having Cena win his record breaking 17th world title on the grandest stage of them all.

An alternative scenario and one that already has had some groundwork laid is to add the WWE Championship to the feud between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. Following their outstanding match at SummerSlam, the two are set to team up with their respective wives to battle in a mixed tag team match at Hell in a Cell. And it has also been announced that they will fight for the number one contenders spot at Super Show Down in Australia this October.

Should Miz go on to earn a shot at the title, and finally win a thoroughly deserved second reign as champion, it sets up an enormous WrestleMania match for the championship. Bryan’s glorious return after coming out of retirement could be sealed in an all-time great ‘Mania moment by reclaiming the WWE Championship from his arch nemesis.

This is the type of moment that could close the show next year in New York, and finally ensure the WWE Championship returns to its rightful status as the company’s top title.