WWE unveils new 24/7 Championship

On Monday night, Mick Foley unveiled the 24/7 Championship, the latest addition to the WWE’s collection of prizes.

During Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, WWE announced that Mick Foley would be appearing on the next night’s episode of Monday Night Raw to unveil a new championship belt. Foley arrived during the third hour of Monday’s show with the belt in tow and revealed its purpose: It is the company’s new 24/7 Championship.

The rules are simple: Whoever holds the title is subject to defend it at any time, any place, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Any Superstar is eligible to hold it (though it’s unclear at this time if it will prove to be an intergender belt), be they from Raw, SmackDown Live, 205 Live, NXT or NXT UK.

The first champion was crowned by way of a scramble match — whoever grabbed the belt first would be champ. The contenders were a motley crew of WWE’s deep roster, including Mojo Rawley, EC3, Cedric Alexander, Eric Young, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Titus O’Neil, among others. O’Neil ultimately grabbed the belt, becoming the inaugural 24/7 Champion.

The reign was short-lived, with Robert Roode emerging to attack O’Neil and win the belt, then sprinting to the back in an attempt to evade the horde of wrestlers seeking his title. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on if Roode will drop the belt on the same night. What is clear is that the 24/7 Championship will have a lot of social media potential, an area in which WWE excels.

There are still some unanswered questions about the championship, such as the intergender one raised above and whether it will only be defended on television on Raw (or, as Foley seemed to indicate, on Raw’s third hour).

However, it’s clearly a way for WWE to get some of their lesser-used Superstars involved in an ongoing storyline. It is also a nod to the old Hardcore Championship, which was also contested under 24/7 rules.