10 Superstars Who'd Benefit From A Return Of The World Heavyweight Championship

This Sunday at WWE's latest pay-per-view event, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will be defended in a TLC match between Roman Reigns and Sheamus. It's hard to believe it's already been two years since the prestigious prize was merged with the World Heavyweight Championship at the 2013 instalment. The idea to merge the two titles had been thrown around for years and many factors prevented it from coming to fruition: two traveling live event circuits, the Brand Split, a large talent pool among them, However, as time progressed and the roster grew thinner and thinner, the world title gradually became neglected by management and was ultimately an afterthought. Thus, it wasn't a terrible move to unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships at TLC 2013, as it can be argued it's made the lone world title belt more meaningful. At the same time though, there are several Superstars who can no longer count on any opportunity to win, let alone contend for a world championship. It likely isn't anything in the cards right now, but a return of the Big Gold Belt might do wonders for the careers of these ten men.

10. Alberto Del Rio

When Alberto Del Rio re-signed with WWE in October, he was likely looking to be pushed as a major attraction on the roster, not relegated to midcard status in another feud with Jack Swagger. Granted, he's holding gold at the moment, but the United States Championship is nowhere near the same level as the World Heavyweight Championship. The Big Gold Belt eluded Del Rio for the first few years of his WWE career, though he finally captured it at the start of 2013. He reigned as world champion for the better part of the year as both a babyface and a heel, but once his run concluded, he was never again pushed at the main event level. This was around the time the two titles were merged at TLC. Del Rio's latest WWE run has been lackluster to say the least, but perhaps it's because fans are used to seeing to him competing against the elite for major world titles. And of course, SmackDown was where he initially made a name for himself; on Raw, he's always been lost in the shuffle.