10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The World Heavyweight Championship
1. It Didn't Headline A Pay-Per-View From October 2010 To December 2013
What a fall from grace for the Big Gold Belt.
When it was the top prize on Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship nearly always headlined the big four pay-per-views. As the brand split started to fall apart, the WWE Championship pushed ahead in the hierarchy and up the card.
From Hell in a Cell 2010 when Kane defend it against The Undertaker, to TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2013 when it was unified with the WWE Championship in a match between John Cena and Randy Orton, the World Heavyweight Championship didn't headline a single PPV.
You can see why when you look at who held Big Gold over those three years. Christian, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Dolph Ziggler were hardly needle movers. Besides, with John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and even The Rock holding the WWE title at the same time, how was the WHC supposed to compete?
Fans had been crying out for the belts to be unified ever since the brand split stopped mattering. Its value wasn't what it once was, although it did get a second lease of life as the recognition belt. It was strapped to Big Show, Mark Henry, and Kane, three veterans who wouldn't have got a final run with the gold if it wasn't for WWE having two world titles.
Perhaps the ultimate thing WWE wants you to forget about the World Heavyweight Championship is that by the time the belt was retired in 2014, it was about time it went.