10 Things WWE Must Do In 2017
2. Have The Royal Rumble Winner Challenge For The Universal Title
The Royal Rumble is the next main roster pay-per-view on the horizon for the WWE Universe. As per tradition, the winner will challenge a world champion for their title at the “Grandest Stage of Them All,” Wrestlemania. Since the WWE and World Heavyweight championships were unified 2013, the rumble winner has only had a single option for a Wrestlemania match as there was only one world title. That all changed in 2016 with the brand split, as RAW introduced the Universal Championship as its top prize. Now the winner of the Royal Rumble will have their choice of champion to fight at the top PPV of the year.
Smackdown boasts the WWE Championship as the top title of the brand; the championship is steeped in history as numerous past and present legends have held the prize around their waste. Juxtaposed to the historic title is the Universal Championship. Unlike the WWE Championship, RAW’s primary championship will be making its Wrestlemania debut at the thirty-third installment of the yearly program. As such, it needs every bit of credibility WWE can provide in order to establish the title as a top crown. One easy way to accomplish this is by having the rumble victor choose the Universal Title as their target above the WWE Championship. The impact of such a decision would be made even more impactful if a Smackdown wrestler won the rumble, only to cross-over to RAW to compete for its top title.
The WWE has made such a decision before. During the original brand split, 2002-2011, two world titles existed for all but one year (2002). Of all the winners of the Royal Rumble during those years, only one opted to switch brands for his title change. That man was Chris Benoit. In 2004, Benoit won the rumble and crossed from Smackdown to RAW to challenge Triple H for his World Heavyweight Championship.
WWE would be wise to employ this strategy again to create an unforgettable moment; and an exciting Wrestlemania match.