Championship unification

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

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

[edit] Boxing

In the World Boxing Association, when a boxer holds the WBA title and also holds a world title (in the same weight division) from another major sanctioning body (the WBC, IBF, or WBO), the WBA gives special recognition to the boxer.

  • If the boxer holds the WBA title and one other title, he is recognized as the unified champion.
  • If the boxer holds the WBA title and two other titles, he is recognized as the undisputed champion.
  • If the boxer holds the WBA title and all three other titles, he is recognized as the super champion. (Middleweight Jermain Taylor was the most recent super champion.)

There can be only one unified, undisputed, or super champion per weight division. The main reason for these classifications is that, when a boxer gains more titles, the WBA allows more time between mandatory WBA title defenses.

When a boxer becomes unified, undisputed, or super champion, the WBA creates a second world title in the same weight division. Two other boxers then fight for the vacant 'regular' world title. This second title allows the WBA to charge world title sanctioning fees for what is, in effect, an interim title. Additionally, if a unified, undisputed, or super champion loses his non-WBA title(s) (without losing the WBA title), then the WBA will strip him of his WBA title.

[edit] Professional wrestling

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. This may occur in one of two ways:

  • Two participants, who both hold separate championships, face each other in a match in which the winner will gain both titles. One of the titles (typically the lower-ranking one) is then "absorbed" into the other, though this is rarely explained on-air; essentially, the smaller title is retired. The winner of the match may appear at events or on television with both belts once or twice, but eventually the smaller title is abandoned.
  • As above, but the titles are combined into a new championship, often referred to as an "undisputed" title. The championship may be represented by both original belts, or a new belt may be introduced. If a new belt is introduced to represent both titles, then when the reigning champion loses the championship belt, he actually loses all of the titles that the belt represented.

[edit] Examples

  • The J-Crown, a combination of several lightweight championships from various wrestling promotions (including the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship), was defended mostly in Japan and Mexico. The title has since been abandoned and all belts returned to their home promotions.
  • Several WCW titles were absorbed during or shortly after The Invasion angle:
  • The WCW Tag Team Championship was briefly unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship at Summerslam 2001, when the Undertaker and Kane, the WCW Tag Team Champions, defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon. The titles were re-split when the Dudley Boyz defeated the Undertaker and Kane for only the WWF titles, not the WCW titles, a month later. The titles were reunified for the final time at Survivor Series 2001, when the Dudleys, then the reigning WCW Tag Team Champions, defeated the then-WWF champions, the Hardy Boyz. The Dudleys won the WWF Tag Team Championships, and their WCW Tag Team Championship was absorbed into the WWF titles and abandoned.
  • The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was briefly unified with the WCW Cruiserweight Championship when WWF Light Heavyweight Championship X-Pac defeated Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman. He later lost the Cruiserweight title to Kidman, but kept the Light Heavyweight title (which was abandoned following his departure from the company). The WCW Cruiserweight Championship later became the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Chris Jericho as the first WWF Undisputed Champion
Chris Jericho as the first WWF Undisputed Champion
  • The WWE European Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in July 2002, when Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy on RAW in a title unification match. The European title was abandoned as a separate championship.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/a/Championship_unification.html"