I am trying to do the trick of locking all the GM skills but the one I want for my title stays as 'up' and its not working. Any ideas?
The method you describe above should work exactly how you've stated, but this feature is broken and does not currently work. This is on the table for a fix and should be seen in a following patch in the near future.
I stumbled upon the same question. How exactly is that trick to choose (force) a title working once it has been fixed?
What you do is lock all of your skills except the one you want shown, which you leave as 'UP'. So for example if you lock all of your skills and leave GM Fencing in the 'UP' position your title should say Grandmaster Warrior.