Championship Unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.
In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a given promotion, or to add legitimacy and prestige to a certain title's lineage. In a title-for-title match, one of four things will happen:
- The lesser championship will be dropped.
- A brand new championship will be created (very rare, but All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Heavyweight and World Tag Team titles are prominent examples).
- Both championships retain their identity and may be defended and lost individually (Rob Van Dam holding the WWE Championship and ECW World Heavyweight Championship is a good example of this).
- Both championships will be remain active and be defended and lost together under one name, but title changes will reflect each individual title's history (WWE's Unified Tag Team Championship is a good example of this).
Noteable Unifications
- 1963 - The Omaha World Heavyweight Championship with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship
- 1986 - NWA National Heavyweight Championship into the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
- 1987 - UWF Television Championship into the NWA World Television Championship]]
- 1988 - The AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship were unified to create the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship
- 1989 - NWA International Heavyweight Championship, the PWF Heavyweight Championship and the NWA United National Championship
- 1994 - The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
- 1996 - The J-Crown, a combination of several lightweight championships from various wrestling promotions (including the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship), was defended mostly in Japan and Mexico.
- 1999 - The ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship (an unrecognized title created by Tazz) was unified with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship
- 2001 - The WCW Cruiserweight Championship was briefly unified with the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
- 2001 - The WCW United States Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship
- 2001 - The WCW Tag Team Championship was unified with the WWE World Tag Team Championship
- 2001 - The WCW Championship (rebranded as World Championship) and the WWE Championship
- 2002 - The WWE European Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship
- 2002 - The WWE Hardcore Championship was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship
- 2002 - The WWE Intercontinental Championship was unified with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
- 2003 - The WWA World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
- 2006 - The ROH Pure Championship was unified with the ROH World Championship
- 2007 - The IWA World Heavyweight Championship with the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship
- The IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship unified with the NJPW's version of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
- 2010 - The WWE World Tag Team Championship was unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship
- 2010 - The WWE Womens Championship was unified with the WWE Divas Championship
- 2013 - The WWE World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship
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