10 Reasons WWE Might Bring Back The World Heavyweight Championship

4. The Commercial Factor

While it may seem superficial to the casual fan, the merchandising and marketing of WWE's products is one of Vince McMahon's absolute prime business concerns. In this respect, the World Heavyweight Title belt was a key performer for merchandise sales. If you wanted the proper replica, you were looking at forking out quite a sum of money. Yet people did. At any WWE live event you'd go to, you'd see grown men carrying around replicas of the big gold belt. Why do they pay so much to carry around this championship? Well, the simple answer is, it looks so damned good! It is more ornate and mature looking than WWE's belt designs. Then you've got all the cheaper kids versions of the big gold belt. Again, these have proved popular sellers. By cutting out the championship on television, WWE are potentially losing a market they've had good sales in. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter backs the point up. He commented earlier in the year that WWE were keeping the Big Gold Belt on screen (as part of the two belt unified title) because it gave the merchandising people another thing to sell. Basically, WWE's logic was, fans would have to pay for two belts to mirror the on-screen champion. So the marketability and merchandising is a concern for WWE. In tough financial times, a simple thing like having a second world title, could in fact make significant added royalties.