WWE to Reportedly Retire Major Championship Belt After Raw?
The WWE has been rife with the talk over the last year of changes to championship belts, with perhaps the most notable change the amalgamation of the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship belts late last year.
Well, since Randy Orton became the first ever WWE World Heavyweight champion after defeating John Cena, the WWE has persisted with having the champ carry around two belts. But it seems those plans are about to change, after the actions of John Cena, amongst others, on Raw. Marc Middleton of WrestlingInc reports:There's speculation that WWE retired the World Heavyweight Title belt or the "big gold belt" on Monday's RAW.
As seen before the main event, WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena met Ric Flair on the stage and let him raise the "big gold belt" in the air. Cena then told Flair to keep the belt and Flair left with it.
Several fans pointed out that JBL made a reference to there only being one title earlier in the show.
OK, so this may not be earth-shattering news, but it is still an important step for the WWE moving forward. So far it has felt silly having one champion carry around two belts, for a whole host of reasons.
First and foremost, it keeps the possibility alive that the WWE are going to split the two championships at some point in the near future, a move that would be highly controversial, in all fairness. With the likes of Randy Orton and John Cena perilously close to touching Ric Flair's all-time record of world title victories, it was well overdue that the WWE went back to one major championship.
And as we're mentioning Flair, that leads nicely to the next point. If the move to just one championship belt has transpired, then it's fitting the WWE let Flair take the "big gold belt" home with him.
Simply retiring the belt and letting it waste away would have been a shocking move, so it was a nice touch for Cena, the man who is close to overtaking Flair, to hand over the belt to remind everyone who is the all-time record holder in terms of world title victories.
Again, it's not massive news, but it's certainly a smart move on behalf of the WWE.
