I'm watching No Mercy 2002 in its entirety for the first time now. A few thoughts so far
I know Raw had 4 titles at the time compared to Smackdown's 2 (until the tag titles came about) but retiring the IC title to make 3 titles per show may be the stupidest thing they could have done. I had no idea they did this.
Merging the IC/Hardcore/Euro titles into the new WHC made sense at the time. Gave that title credibility.
And adding a new world title inevitably devalues the secondary titles. It's just the nature of the beast. There will ALWAYS be a pecking order when it comes to titles and they will never have two world titles that are considered to be on the same level, even if the WWE desires such. In the fans mind, one world title will always be perceived as more valuable than the other.
We are seeing it right now. The US and IC titles were elevated once HHH took over creative. But with the addition of the new WHC, those two titles have lost a bit of luster, in particular the IC where Gunther seems less important on Raw with a larger roster than he did on SD. Theory went from defending the US at WM and now can't even get on the SS card.
IMO, the new WHC is basically what the IC title was back in it's hey-day when WWE/WWF ran two towns a night, and the IC champ would headline one of the two towns. Even the way they call it the "workhorse title" harkens back to the IC belt of the 80s and 90s.
With a Universal Champ, WHC, and NXT champ, I'd argue they don't even need the US, IC and NA titles with everyone crossing over brands on a weekly basis. Do they really need 6 men's titles across 3 brands?