10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The World Heavyweight Championship
2. They Unified The Intercontinental Championship Into It
It's hard to believe in 2023 that WWE used to think they had far too many championships.
A few weeks after the World Heavyweight Championship was handed to Triple H, WWE decided to get rid of the Intercontinental Championship. It was a belt that had been around since 1979, but it was time for it to go. Madness.
At No Mercy 2002, Triple H faced Kane to unify the belts. The Game won and the IC title was no more. What a shame; the worst thing is that it was all part of the Katie Vick storyline! WWE had already unified the European and Hardcore straps into the IC title, so just like that Raw only had one men's singles championship.
Bruce Prichard has confirmed that Vince McMahon is the one who thought there were too many belts, but to go down to just one on Raw was absurd. What were midcard wrestlers meant to hold on their way to the top? Think of it like this: imagine the matches that wouldn't have ever happened without that belt.
Eventually, they realised it was all one big mistake; the Intercontinental title returned in 2003 and order was restored to a brand where you either challenged for the top prize or fought for nothing at all.
It's no wonder Triple H had matches against Bubba Ray Dudley, The Hurricane, and Spike Dudley around this time; who else were they meant to challenge?