When Worlds Collide

As I was watching SmackDown earlier I begun thinking about WWE having two world championships. I’ve written before that having two world titles on a combined roster dilutes the importance of both and makes it more difficult for guys to rise up the card (and has also created a company where many members of the roster have a ridiculous number of world title reigns to their name). As the show unfolded I came up with an idea that would lead to a title unification match sometime in the latter half of next year, ideally at SummerSlam.

The first step would be to have Dolph Ziggler cash-in his Money in the Bank contract relatively soon and win the World Heavyweight championship. He wouldn’t necessarily have to defeat the Big Show. ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ could lose the strap to Sheamus at Survivor Series and ‘The Show Off’ could cash-in on the new champ.

With the title on Dolph Ziggler that would place John Cena back into a world title programme. No, I’m not the biggest Cena fan either, but in fairness he hasn’t really been involved with world titles that much over the last year and he’s not challenged for the WHC for years.

Cena and Ziggler’s feud could probably be spanned out until Royal Rumble thanks to the addition of AJ and Vickie Guerrero. A match at TLC could see Ziggler retain the championship, likely by losing via disqualification or due to some form of Vickie-related shenanigans, setting up the Rumble rematch.

At the Rumble Cena would defeat Ziggler clean to become the new World Heavyweight champion. In the evening’s main event CM Punk would face The Rock. ‘The Great One’ is the heavy favourite to win the WWE championship at the show even now and I can’t imagine that state of affairs will change. This plot would see him lose. Punk would continue his epic title reign.

 

Who doesn't want to see this sight again?

 

From there there would be two options. The first would be to have ‘The Brahma Bull’ earn or be granted a rematch with Punk at WrestleMania XXIX (which would be easier to accept if Punk had cheated at the Rumble). The second is to have The Rock challenge John Cena for the World Heavyweight championship at ‘Mania.

With option one The Rock would defeat Punk in their rematch and leave WrestleMania as WWE champion. With option two he would defeat Cena for the WHC. Whichever scenario goes ahead Rock would leave Met Life Stadium with a belt. The company’s other world title would be held by either Punk or Cena.

From there Rock could appear intermittently and snipe back and forth with the other world champion about whose title is the most meaningful. Around June a champion versus champion title unification match could be agreed upon for SummerSlam. That would pit The Rock against either John Cena or CM Punk.

Admittedly the Cena v Rock match would probably be best for SummerSlam as it would put that much more distance between their “once in a lifetime” clash at WrestleMania XXVIII and the rematch. Cena has more history with The Rock than does Punk and they would feel like the natural choice for a unification bout. Personally I think Punk would be a fine choice too, and placing him in the situation would cement his position as Cena’s equal, which should be a priority for WWE.

This scenario would create a long-running storyline, have the potential to attract a large pay-per-view number, and tidy up the promotion’s cluttered championship scene. I can’t see any reason not to do it. That means it won’t happen.