Jim Ross on Title Unification and is it Time for New Belt Designs All Around?

There have been rumors flying everywhere regarding whether or not the WWE plan on absorbing the US title into the Intercontinental title and the World Heavyweight title into the WWE title. Jim Ross apparently has been getting blitzed with e-mails as to whether or not this is going to happen and this is what he had to say in his latest blog post:

Emailers are hitting me with the rumor that WWE is preparing to unify ALL their titles. I have no idea if that is accurate or not but I doubt it. I see the WWE Title and the World Title remaining as well as the Intercontinental and United States Titles. I could be dead wrong on the latter two. Perhaps having only one tag champion and one womens champion will allow those two, specific title to mean more and earn more focus. Time will tell on all this 'net gossip as I certainly don't know the long term direction of any of the titles. 

I do think that fewer titles will make the one's that are being utilized mean more. I recall the days of Jim Crockett Promotions, among other wrestling promotions, when it seemed that there was a glut of titles many of which meant nothing....or less.

This is really disappointing for those, such as myself, that have been asking for this to happen. This would also lead me to believe that they don't have plans to absorb the Smackdown and Raw rosters into one and do away with the brand extension model. As to what he says about the Tag Team titles and the Women's title, I don't think anyone cares about either of them. The only time I can ever recall the Women's title meaning anything was when it was around Trish Stratus' waist. They've killed the Tag Team division with horrific booking decisions, so if they really think they can salvage some sort of credibility for those belts by merging the titles, they are even more out of touch than I thought.

Merging the shows would mean doing away with the draft and they don't want that. It would also mean that they would HAVE to merge the belts and one should never underestimate merchandise sales in decisions made by WWE brass. So instead of that, how about giving the belts a new look? They've changed the design of the Tag Team titles already; now it's time for the Women's, U.S. and Intercontinental belts too. 

The United States championship has had the same look since 2003 and the Intercontinental belt has had the same look since 1998. I think it's time for a change. Personally, I was always a huge mark for the white leather belts back in the early 90's that I remember Warrior wearing. They bring a belt like that back and it would sell great for them. What's a good reason to continue with the designs they have now? The World title design will never change and rightfully so. I would give anything to see them change the design of the WWE title but it will be a while before I get that wish. What do you think? If they won't unify should they give us some updated designs?