The Intercontinental Championship has been killed again?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ever since Christian randomly won the belt off of Cody, it has been hotshotted a few times with no real significant buildup or storylines.

It's become the "HERE, TAKE THIS SO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO!" title.

I'm not saying that it's Christians fault, but have to say at least when Cody Rhodes held it, he kept it for some time and defended it successfully on some occasions.. but now, no build up or storyline? What's the point? Might as well bring back the previous design.

[Jack-Hammer]

The title has stumbled to some degree since Christian won it. However, I think Kofi's done a good job as champ thus far. His feuds with Miz & Barrett have resulted in some great matches, Kofi's been getting some mic time in which he's done a pretty solid job overall and Kofi is sort of the ideal mid-card star. I think he could potentially be more. I'd like to see him get an opportunity to try and become more.

As for a storyline, it's been basic & simple since Kofi became champ. Sometimes that's the best. Challenger sees Champion and wants to be where he is. In order to do that, Vhallenger needs to beat Champion and take his belt. Challenger wants to be the new Champion because of the added fame & wealth being Champion will bring him. It's simple and it's logical.

I've never really understood why people get so worked up when mid-card titles are treated as mid-card titles. The main event straps get the most attention & acclaim, and rightly so. That's why they're main event titles.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Originally Posted by Jack-Hammer

I've never really understood why people get so worked up when mid-card titles are treated as mid-card titles. The main event straps get the most attention & acclaim, and rightly so. That's why they're main event titles.

I agree with this statement you made, it doesn't tick me off why they do it, since it IS mid card title, what I mean, some midcarders that do get the strap, it gives us a chance as fans to view them how they can work with a title, if they can carry such a title before they (eventually) move on to the main event scene (if they do), kind of like how it was used in the mid 80's. Obviously in Kofis case, he is A MIDCARD WRESTLER for life IMO, he is best at it.

[hatehabsforever]

I agree with the basic premise of what Jack is saying, except I do feel that even the mid card titles, especially the Intercontinental Championship, should be treated with a little bit more prestige than it has been, rather than simply being hot potatoed from person to person as a stepping stone to the main event or as a trial run for a potential main eventer.

Christian had a decent title run with the IC strap. Sure it was still a mid card title, but it felt like it meant something more than it has over the last few years. Same goes for the run of Cody Rhodes. Kingston's run has been decent, but it just hasn't seemed to have the same significance with him as it has had with the aforementioned guys.

I hope the IC title is not treated like a training tool on the road to Wrestlemania. Have the title go from Kingston, to some other dude, back to Kingston, to a couple of other guys, etc., etc., while they try to ascertain who will be the major players at WM. I get the whole notion that it is a mid card belt and as such, has less prominence than the main event titles. And rightly so. But I hope it doesn't regress into being a meaningless prop, rarely defended on PPV or even abolished for a period of time. Let Kingston have a strong run with the title, and have the fans and the wrestlers themselves care about it again. Or give it to someone else and have them do it. I don't expect it to be on the same level as the WWE Championship or the WHC Championship. But I do expect it to be treated as it deserves to be treated.

[RicSpade]

Here is the key difference in mid card titles, Antonio Cesaro has maybe a solid 10 minute match once or twice, but the matches have meant more on the IC side, Kofi winning the title off Miz was a highlight on Main Event. The IC title or the champion has been given more then just a 4 minute squash over Santino or 3mb. And more importantly when the title has been defended on PPV it has been a solid match. Just think of all the possibilities with other superstars if any of them hold the title. Kofi, Miz, Barrett, Benjamin (if he makes his return), Shield, all these guys and more if done right can have solid matches (Barrett especially in recent weeks) and giving the right amount of TV time can make the belt as important as it was pre and mid attitude era,

[Steve-O-Matt]

Hmmm... I think you're expecting a bit much. Cody and Christain did a great job boosting it and ever since then the title has been pretty valuable. Take a step back and look at the reigns, sure they aren't as long as Cody's reign, but that's not the point. The IC title has been working, it's helped Christain stake his claim, Miz to stay relevant in the main event and it's helped Kofi move back over to singles competition.

The title is high right now, I don't know why you think it's fallen, every reign so far has been justified. It'll take a lot for it to fall again... Such as a certain Italian wrestler winning it, that would take a LOT off of the title and whom-ever the champion is at that time. So as long as there are no silly title reigns for a while at least, then it should work out completely fine!

I also hope Wade can win it soon, I think he could use it a lot more then Kofi at the moment, I want Kofi to lose it so he can win the Royal Rumble or something, don't judge me, LOL.

[Brother Love]

Originally Posted by Jack-Hammer

I've never really understood why people get so worked up when mid-card titles are treated as mid-card titles. The main event straps get the most attention & acclaim, and rightly so. That's why they're main event titles.

If you think back to the 80's & 90's, there was some legitimacy to these titles. Yes the heavyweight titles gets more attention and acclaim, but guys also made it a point to go after the intercontinental/U.S. championships as well. These belts used to be a stepping stone to the heavyweight championship. Guys would take pride in going after these titles and more than likely, the guy holding one of these belts would eventually go after the world heavyweight championship. Now it seems as they put these titles on guys just for the sake of putting the gold on someone (anyone) with very little thought being put into it.
Today guys just sort of skip over going after the intercontinental/U.S. championship and go right after the world title (Ryback would be the latest example of this).

I don't think people get worked up that they treat these titles as mid-card titles, they get worked up when they treat these titles with as much respect as the divas title. Between Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and Saturday Morning Slam, they have more than enough time to feature both of these titles (and the tag team titles) and give them the respect they deserve.

[sdelfin]

I completely agree with the thread starter, Ruthless-RKO. I've been repeating the same points in regards to the IC and US titles many times and in many places. Except I'll go one further, Ruthless-RKO. The problems started when Cody, who had a very good first reign, lost it to Big Show and he got that pitiful run that ended when he got "put through" that table. Cody's second run was awful. Though random, at least Christian's return was well received and he had some momentum, but his reign was terrible as well. And Miz winning the belt was for no other reason than to have a title change happen on Raw1000.

Too often this year, the "champions" would lose non-title matches on TV, which does nothing for the image of the champ or title. After a strong week or two, Christian lost to Alberto Del Rio(who squashed the US champ three times on Raw in the span of about two months, why not put the US title on him then?) and Christian also lost a non-title match to Cody Rhodes, from whom he had just won the title(money in the bank qualifier?). I guess Cody forgot that he had just recently been obsessed with trying to regain the title from Christian. Miz as champ had a losing record on TV, both in singles and overall. Kofi didn't fare much better.

What I don't understand is how people defend it and accept it as okay because it's a mid-card title. Let's use the US title as an example. They inexplicably gave it to Santino, and his long, abomination of a reign was basically him jobbing to guys like Del Rio over and over, and then beating David Otunga once in a while to somehow look credible. The only guys Santino beat were the bottom-of-the-barrel guys. A championship only means as much as the people who hold it. If the champs look like losers, then it's not a championship. Being a mid-card champion means the champ should be able to beat most of the mid-card guys(even Del Rio) most of the time, and look credible against the top guys consistently. Look at how they booked the titles when guys like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, and Steve Austin held them. That's the template to use. The secondary titles, when they meant something, used to add buys to PPVs and add to the ratings. I can't imagine casual fans(what WWE needs) and former fans would be more likely to stick with the product when they see the championships, like many other things, don't make sense.

[Mustang Sally]

Intercontinental is the mid-card championship. If you look through the list of IC champs, they include almost exclusively people who existed at mid-level at the time they held it. Yes, there have been main eventers who held the belt, but they were functioning in the middle at the time they wore it....i.e., men like CM Punk and Big Show. Show had it just this past April, but at that time, he was still a good guy, going nowhere in particular and functioning too much as a happy giant to care. Punk wore the title on '09, when he was still far from attaining the status he holds today. At the time, it was probably a nice step in his progression.....honestly, I don't even recall it.

I can remember when the IC title was a bit more prestigious; namely, back when Ultimate Warrior wore it, shortly before beating Hulk Hogan for the world title.....and what did Warrior do when he won the world belt? He abandoned the IC title, which gives a good indication of how lightly regarded that title came to be.

There's no problem here; I think it's understood the IC title is geared for guys who aren't at the top, yet are popular and effective enough that holding a belt gives their matches a little more oomph than if they were ordinary, non-title affairs.

Therefore, there's no "killing" of the IC title going on......the belt is what it was meant to be.

[sanefan_har]

You have the Money In the Bank. You have a certain number superstars who are just pushed to the WWE/WHC title picture (Khali, Ryback etc)(Speaking of which you have 2 Main event title belts). Then you have jokes like Santino Marella winning the Mid-Card titles for God knows why. This is exactly why any aspiring superstar wouldn't say "Well, I would like to hold the US/IC title for a while you know".

As such this leaves WWE Creative and the superstars with little to work on. Add in the fact you have 12 PPVs a year. The reigns can't be taken seriously when there's a 50% guarantee that the guy will lose his belt within the next month. Also, Vince, from what I've been seeing, isn't remotely interested in the mid card belts. He's happy having come up with the idea of pairing Khali and Hornswoggle.