Since the death of the Invasion in 2001, the writers have killed off many divisions in the WWE. Very few of these divisions are revitalized to keep in balance of the other show in the "Brand Extension." With these titles gone, many fans were happy because it gave the main titles more of a stance within the WWE. The main advantages of some of these titles were to bring in more talent and to give variety to the roster.

The WWF Hardcore Division was among the first of its victims. With Rob Van Dam as the last holder of the simplest belt in the whole company, it became a legitimately brutal item to hold. Unfortunately, no one in that division, with the exception of Mick Foley and The Undertaker, were main event material. The main drawback of this title was the fact that the late Crash Holly, in a storyline of arrogance, had the title defended twenty-four seven. That made for some great television but it was stale the moment Molly Holly became champion. In my opinion, that was the biggest mistake in that title's modernized legacy. After that, the title was stale and the Hardcore Battle Royal was a perfect example of the joke of a title it became.

The WWF Light Heavyweight Title once brought out the younger talent that came up through the ranks of Mexico and Japan. Taka Michinoku was the poster child of that title and gave everyone something to love throughout the whole company. Many people from south of the border and the Far East have come out to the states just to become Light Heavyweight Championship that so many regarded as WWF's most legitimate title. During the title on its inaugural month, it looked a lot like ECWA's Super-8 Tournament that made so many people famous.

The WCW Cruiserweight Championship was more long term than the Light Heavyweight Title because the Lucha Libre crowd took focus on it since masked wrestlers like Psicosis, La Parka, Damien 666, and many other masked and unmasked wrestlers actually were under contract with WCW and were not held back with their abilities. They even let the luchadores have actual two-out-of-three falls, six-man tag matches (has happened a few times on Nitro) and that gave people a lot of interest in watching other Lucha Libre leagues like EMLL and AAA. In it's later days, WWE thought it would be cool if they took the Cruiserweight monicer and make it their own title because of name value alone.

The WWF European Championship gave European fans a reason to watch as they had their own champion. Unfortunately, the only champions that I saw that were actual European-residing citizens were British Bulldog and William Regal. No one else! What the main problem was with this title was that there was a lack of European wrestlers. This is where I think the WWE should have branched a European federation for that title so it can build up to getting the overseas talent in the spotlight. But then it would spawn more and more titles so I guess nothing could have saved this belt.

With these defunct titles already listed, it was fun for these titles while they lasted. The times have changed and have moved on from these belts and so has the fans.

Today, the downhill destruction of the titles that are currently being fought for on television today. The following are my opinions on which titles are being dramatically hurt and why. Hopefully these will enlighten the marks and hate-mail is extremely welcome.

The WWE Women's Title was the best thing to happen to WWF from 1984 to 1996 when Alundra Blaze (a.k.a. Medusa from WCW and Monster Jam fame) left from WWF and put the belt in the trashcan where it belongs and should have stayed from that day on. I like the fact that women are wrestling but the way the WWE is treating this title is pathetic. The only people competing for this belt are Lita and Trish Stratus and they're both injured. What kind of competition can we have if the champion and challenger are both injured? The biggest thing they need to do with this title should be to cancel the Diva Search, call up some of OVW's Women's Division or other indy feds, and rebuild that whole division because this is getting ridiculous. There is far too much T&A in the WWE and, from what I saw in the recent months; there are better women in the independent, Mexican, and Japanese circuits that have true wrestling talent as well as the looks that are just as amazing.

The WWE Cruiserweight Title: As noted earlier, this title has become a mockery of its WCW predecessor. The only thing star that is keeping this title afloat is Paul London. The 2003 ECWA Super-8 Champion is totally utilizing this title as if he won the WWE Title itself. Now all they need to do is look onto more independent talent to contend with London for the title. More Super-8 participants, perhaps? I would love to see guys like Puma or JJ Perez or Petey Williams (if he leaves TNA) jump to WWE to go after the Cruiserweight Division and make that a stable title once again.

The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was once the most prestigious title in all of professional wrestling. Some people say it still is. In my eyes, it's dwindled as of late. I understand the fact that back in the territorial days, wrestlers have been known to hold titles in a specific region for years at a time but that time is gone and people want to see title changes more often. With Dusty Rhodes resigning from his head of booking position, maybe the fans can get what they want. Another thing that would be cool is if they have the NWA Champion defend in other NWA companies. If the title changes outside of TNA, then the TNA fans should know about it. Get the whole NWA involved. That would be really good and would completely gain interest and money for Panda Energy so they can stay happy and not lost $20 million as rumored at various news sites.

I hope some of the new fans have a good perspective of what these titles have meant and what many people can still be talking about. If you would like to see how bad some of these wrestlers wanted these titles even though they weren't the big world titles that they dreamed of as children and then again as wrestling students. The defunct titles were given to wrestlers who lived out each of those divisions as their lives and not just as a certain way of wrestling. The titles that are going downhill aren't that bad, but they need some help and I think that my ideas might be something to look for in the coming months or years as time progresses.

by Brian Bertrand..