Has the WWE Universal title lost its prestige?

With the WWE having two major brands, it offers the scenario where we see two headline champions. In the blue corner there’s Daniel Bryan representing Smackdown, while in the red corner there is Brock Lesnar representing Raw.

Lesnar has run roughshod over the Raw division over the past couple of years, so much so that if you were a bookmaker you would be offering incredibly long odds for someone to get the better of him in a wrestling match.

But where the Smackdown brand has what are known as ‘fighting champions’ – stars who are prepared to put it all on the line at any given opportunity, the same cannot be said for that of the 41 year old Lesnar.

With his part-time deal allowing him much more flexibility in terms of schedule, it is ultimately the fans that suffer. For the simple reason that if you are a fan of Raw’s weekly episodes, then you are witnessing what for all intents and purposes is a part-time champion.

Gone are the days when the top title used to be at the centre of the show each week, now there are just fleeting appearances from Lesnar and these are ones where he doesn’t even tend to break out in a sweat.

Why, because Paul Heyman his legendary mouthpiece does all the work. All Lesnar has to do is stand next to him in the ring while looking incredibly menacing and once that particular segment is complete then he can go off and count his not so hard earned money.

It also means that the Raw show suffers as a result, when Lesnar is champion the product for use of a better term just seems to go through a holding pattern. No-one moves up or down the card as the likes of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose seem to be in a constant state of career limbo.

That however is not Lesnar’s concern, especially as he is arguably the only legitimate star that WWE have on their roster. Something that their ace manages to exploit incredibly well when it comes to contract negotiations.

This additional leverage that Lesnar has managed to engineer also allows him to potentially fight in the UFC, potentially giving us the prospect of someone holding both WWE and UFC belts at the very same time.

However, the perils of UFC are a lot tougher and it is not something where you can just turn up and play. If Lesnar does pursue the ultimate route, then once again his focus on being the WWE Universal champion will only diminish further.

It is a title that has only been in existence for a couple of years now and although you could argue that less defences actually gives it more prestige, it seems now as things have swung the other way as it is almost becoming a forgotten entity in the world of professional wrestling.

How can they situation be resolved? Quite simply Lesnar needs to fall on his sword at next April’s Wrestlemania. There are many superstars capable of being the king of the Raw brand, it just depends if the powers that be finally decide to put their faith in one of them.