How to restore prestige back to the U.S. and I.C. Titles

[Terry Gyimah]

If anything as far as the U.S. and I.C. titles go, the only way prestige could be brought back is if Ziggler and or Sheamus have lengthy title reigns with their respective belts but also seeing them defend their titles night in night out against all comers will actually make those respective titles mean something again

 

[Headman]

This is always been a big problem with a relatively easy solution. All WWE needs to do is follow these steps:

1. Defend the damn belts more often.

2. Stop having the reigning champion job in meaningless non-title matches. They're supposed to be big deals, not fodder for main-eventers and flavors of the month. Especially face champions. If they have to lose, have it be due to cheating or interference. Only under VERY special circumstances should they lose cleanly.

3. Bring back the concept of earning #1 contendership by having challengers beat other mid-carders and THEN challenging the champion. I'm so sick of "wrestler pins champ in random non-title match, immediately granted title match (and likely lose)".

4. Create stories and feuds centered around those belts that are actually creative and interesting. Imagine something like Ambrose/Rollins but with the mid-card belts as the prize. We need more substantial storytelling and less "You are champion and I want to be that so we now have beef" (though that's okay on occasion).

I'm completely against unifying the belts but it may be the only way for one of them to get the attention it deserves. Ever notice that whenever one of those belts gets hot, the other is completely neglected? It's VERY rare that both titles flourish simultaneously. It's apparent that Creative simply doesn't know how to properly book two midcard belts at the same time, and it's a shame.

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with the poster who said the IC title should take the place of the World Heavyweight Championship as the #2 belt. I actually thought that would happen once the world titles were unified, but that sadly hasn't been the case as of yet.

While all of your points were good it was #3 that really got my engine going. Actually a combination of #2 and #3. The IC champion should be a big deal. He should mainly be seen in successful title defenses or squash matches. It's the challenger who needs to be the real focus. The climb to the top is what the IC title should be about. The commentators should single out one guy for months talking about how he's been climbing the ranks and it's only a matter of time before the IC champ will have to give him a shot. This puts the fans on a journey with the contender whether he's a heel or a face. "IC champ better look out for this guy. He's on the rise!". They don't have to do a tournament or anything like that to build interest or make him earn it. They just need to book a clear and solid path to the title. And the process is repeatable. The IC champ can turn back the first guy's challenge and then they can start all over with someone else. As you said, it's so simple. How are they missing this?

 

[Terry Gyimah]

While all of your points were good it was #3 that really got my engine going. Actually a combination of #2 and #3. The IC champion should be a big deal. He should mainly be seen in successful title defenses or squash matches. It's the challenger who needs to be the real focus. The climb to the top is what the IC title should be about. The commentators should single out one guy for months talking about how he's been climbing the ranks and it's only a matter of time before the IC champ will have to give him a shot. This puts the fans on a journey with the contender whether he's a heel or a face. "IC champ better look out for this guy. He's on the rise!". They don't have to do a tournament or anything like that to build interest or make him earn it. They just need to book a clear and solid path to the title. And the process is repeatable. The IC champ can turn back the first guy's challenge and then they can start all over with someone else. As you said, it's so simple. How are they missing this?

Honestly after reading through your analysis I would definitely say that not only do you have a point and raise an interesting point but you are right but that is WWE Creative for you, they simply just do not know how to make their secondary titles mean anything anymore

 

[WBL]

You know what would have helped restore prestige to the Intercontinental Title?

Remember the Intercontinental Cup?

It was going to be an entire tournament centered around becoming the #1 Contender for Wade Barrett's IC title. They were hyping it up pretty heavily... until they threw all that in the garbage and just shoved Bo Dallas in there.

Put some ballyhoo behind the titles. Make them feel important. Hell, look at the WWF Hardcore title. That was originally just a gag. But the fervor of the matches and the emphasis on how much people actually wanted the title made it feel important, and in such made it important.