Well answer this, if Kostya was not lineal champ at 140 after unifying who was?
Kostya had done enough to create a new line utterly independent of "unification" of straps. Him becoming THE MAN had ZERO to do with "unifying" alphabet belts. It was ENTIRELY because he beat the top fighters in the division, Had they not owned ANY belts, Kostya would still have done that and still have created a new line. Had he NOT fought Chavez and Zab and Sharmba because others owned the belts and ebaten the others instead? It would NOT have been enough to begin a new line.

And had these silly organizations stripped him for not paying their extortion? He STILL would have been champion until he was beaten, retired, or moved up. I mean was Kostya any less a champion when the WBA and WBC stripped him? By your argument the answer is yes.