4 WWE Championships That Are Currently Suffocating

WWE is at an awkward time. As they build towards the worst of the Big Four pay-per-views (Survivor Series), Vince McMahon and Co. find themselves charging into battle with depleted troops.

Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Samoa Joe are all missing from WWE‘s main event. To compensate, WWE has called upon the drawing powers of the Shield in hopes of staying afloat in this dead period. Even more, WWE has employed RAW’s best heels (Miz and Braun Strowman) in order to make the Shield storyline feel significant.

However every action has an equal an opposite reaction and WWE’s tunnel vision for the Shield and Asuka‘s big debut has left the most fundamental element of professional wrestling utterly ignored: Championship belts.

Like plants, championships in wrestling need attention and ample exposure to bright lights. And if WWE’s championships were plants, they’d all be withered clumps of brown mass.

But some are far worse than others, and as irony has it, WWE’s rotting Championships are all on RAW.

The RAW Women’s Championshp

Even though Asuka may prove to be a transcendental star in WWE, the anticipation of her debut caused WWE to forget about the rest of the women on RAW.

Somehow, WWE managed to make a squash match at TLC seem more valuable than Alexa Bliss’ RAW Women’s Championship. Acts like Sasha Banks and Nia Jax have been all but neglected as they have neither a match with Asuka nor Bliss this Sunday. But Mickie James does have a Championship match, her first in nearly a decade. 

WWE seems to be fine with the idea of no characters expanding because they likely already have Bliss vs. Asuka pegged for the future. However, until the future gets here, we have little reason to care about the present

Suffocation Level: 3.5/5

The RAW Tag Team Championships

Despite being put on the line last night, the RAW Tag Titles have been all but forgotten as of late.  This isn’t entirely egregious as they took a necessary back seat to the Shield,  but it doesn’t change the fact that the RAW Tag Team Division has been neglected for months now.

Sure, Cesaro and Sheamus have emerged as a fun team, but what about the rest of the field?  When the Shield dust settles, WWE will be staring at an emaciated part of RAW. Even more, their only viable option will be to return to back to Rollins and Ambrose vs. Cesaro and Sheamus for one more squeeze. 

WWE certainly has higher ranking issues than RAW’s Tag division but that doesn’t mean it’s not a problem.

Suffocation Level: 2.5/5 

The Intercontinental Championship

As good as the Miz is, the Intercontinental Championship has been hemorrhaging value as of late. Having not been defended at SummerSlam and being involved in a forgettable Jason Jordan match at No Mercy, the title has barely been more than a prop for the Miz’s act. 

With few other options, WWE needed to the Miz and his belt to anchor the Shield storyline. It was the right call as imagining this feud without the Miz already has us snoring. However, in light of his necessary involvement, WWE lost a huge chunk of it’s upper-mid card.

Instead of seeing the Miz vs. Anyone, we have to the travesty that is Sister Abigail vs. The Demon. 

Suffocation Level: 3/5

The Universal Championshp

In WWE, the key to relevance is drama. And unfortunately for everyone, Brock Lesnar is the antithesis of drama. 

We must admit, his SummerSlam defense of the Universal Championship was near legendary, but ever since, the Big Red Belt has been more of a memory than a trophy.

What was thought to be a collision of titans, Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar at No Mercy was oddly forgettable. Even more, Lesnar likely won’t be putting his Championship on the line until Royal Rumble. 

While WWE is doing their best to fill Lesnar’s void with the Shield, eventually the Universal Championship’s absence will be glaring, if it’s not already. Scarcity is an important part of value, but Lesnar’s easy schedule is making things awfully tough for WWE right now. 

Suffocation Level: 4/5