Championship Unification

**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
* 2017 - The GFW Global Championship was unified with the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
* 2017 - The GFW Women's Championship was unified with the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship
* 2021 - The IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship
* 2022 - The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was unified with the NXT North American Championship in WWE.
* 2022 - The NXT United Kingdom Championship was unified with the NXT Championship
* 2022 - The NXT UK Women's Championship was unified with the NXT Women's Championship
* 2022 - The NXT UK Tag Team Championship was unified with the NXT Tag Team Championship