Intercontinental Championship!!

[Prince Vee]

I thought there's gonna be a lot of thread about this topic but surprisingly not anyone had started it..

From the main page, the reports stated that Daniel Bryan can be out of action for 5 to 6 weeks obviously missing both Extreme Rules and Payback PPV. It'll already put a dip in the match card for the Extreme Rules But this thread isn't concerned about this!

Who will be the next Intercontinental champion? WWE wanted to bring back the prestige to the IC title which was once held by the likes of Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, Rock, Triple H and many other Old school legends. That's why they let Daniel Bryan to win that title at the grandest stage of them all Wrestlemania!

With Daniel Bryan injured for two PPVs who'll get to hold the title next up? I don't sew Dolph Ziggler or Dean Ambrose to grab the title for now. But Sheamus and Bad News Barrett can be a good option.

But the question is will they still try to bring back the prestige to the title? Will the creative give us any legitimate feud for the IC title? Give me your opinions!

Cheers!!

 

[jamallo]

I just posted about an idea for the title in de Daniel Bryan's health topic.

My suggestion was to have an extreme chamionship scramble match for the IC Title with the likes of: BNB, Sheamus, Ziggler, Ambrose and Harper.
All of these men are capable of delivering a great match and all of them could very well win the match, which gets more people interested in it. They could allways try to let a big name participate in de match, like a returning Jericho, to even further the interest in the match and the title.

 

[MCMG]

I'd have his relinquish the belt so he can focus on his recovery. There shouldn't be any extra pressure and the WWE can actual get on with their programming. An interim champ would work but if Bryan's injury is unpredictable then it would be pointless.

I'm all for having a Barrett/Sheamus/Ziggler triple threat for the title. Especially because we then don't get the ridiculous "kiss me arse" match. Indeed, a triple threat could be really good and I'm sure they would get decent time given it is two matches combined into one.

There is an argument to be made that they should add Neville. There is a decent enough connection given he wrestled Ziggler on Raw and was kicked in the face by Sheamus. It could easily be Bryan's pick for the match and it would guarantee the fans get into it. A fatal-4-way would possibly steal the show, thus giving instant momentum for the belt.

If they are to strip Bryan off the belt then I'm all for Sheamus getting it. He has been booked strong and has some decent momentum. Indeed, given Cena is the other mid-card champ this would give a better balance. Ziggler, Ryback, Ambrose, Neville are just some of the names he could feud with. In an emergency there is Sandow, Henry, Swagger who are all reputable (to an extent) and even someone like Balor.

Take the belt off Bryan and put it on Sheamus. He is a top quality talent who can carry the championship. Plus, the best thing about a heel champion is a babyface can beat them, right? So looking forward to Summerslam or wherever, someone like Ambrose, Balor or Bryan himself can win the championship.

 

[OYDK]

If it's just a concussion that's keeping him out, they better keep the title on him. If Lesnar can miss months on end as WWEWHC than Bryan can miss 2 PPV's as IC Champ. It would be ridiculous to strip Bryan of the title on Raw and than have him return 4 or 5 weeks later with nothing to do. I guess they can strip him and have him come back and win it again but... again, pointless.

If it's the neck issue than I agree, get it off him and let him focus on his recovery. If that were to happen, I see another sort of scramble match between most of the Mania Ladder match participants. Post- Extreme Rules can feature the battle to see who gets into the Scramble match and Payback can crown a new IC Champion. I can see a few feuds intermingling if this were to happen, mainly; Ambrose/Harper and Sheamus/Dolph/*Neville.

 

[Prince Vee]

If it's just a concussion that's keeping him out, they better keep the title on him. If Lesnar can miss months on end as WWEWHC than Bryan can miss 2 PPV's as IC Champ. It would be ridiculous to strip Bryan of the title on Raw and than have him return 4 or 5 weeks later with nothing to do. I guess they can strip him and have him come back and win it again but... again, pointless.

If it's the neck issue than I agree, get it off him and let him focus on his recovery. If that were to happen, I see another sort of scramble match between most of the Mania Ladder match participants. Post- Extreme Rules can feature the battle to see who gets into the Scramble match and Payback can crown a new IC Champion. I can see a few feuds intermingling if this were to happen, mainly; Ambrose/Harper and Sheamus/Dolph/*Neville.

In my opinion its good if WWE strip off the title from Daniel Bryan. They back bring back the prestige if the Intercontinental Champion who's the top babyface of the company disappears with the title for 6 weeks!

The concept of Scramble match for the title at Payback will be a cool idea! But the thing is if Daniel Bryan comes back and wins the title right away, all the hard work put on by the Champion who won at the Scramble match will become just absurd. One should hold the title for a while and at least defend it in multiple PPVs!

Cheers!!

 

[sMark]

I think the idea about "WWE bringing the prestige back" to something is complete BS, tag team division, smackdown, divas, lowcard, ic title - how many times over the years there were news WWE will do 180 on 1 of these things and make it great again, and still nothing happened. Last time IC title meant something was 2001 before the Invasion angle, there you had Jericho vs Benoit in ladder match at Rumble and Kane vs HHH in a chain match at Backlash, can't remember anything significant done to this title since.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Not another "scramble" scenario... it's been done.

I think they'll revisit an old angle this Sunday that plays into Bad News' strengths and alllows a new "proper" feud to be set up for him.

Anyone remember In Your House 4?

That was a few days after Shawn's infamous "Marine Incident" and he was battered to a pulp, unable to defend the title. In what could now be seen as a "punishment" move, they made him go out and vacate the title to Dean Douglas. Who used the "forfeit" rule to become Intercontinental Champion. Why Punishment? They could have done it without Shawn but they made him do it... to someone he clearly despised... It's arguably the first time Vince said "you fucked up, you pay the price" rather than letting someone else carry the can.

However there was a sting in the tale and Dean was quickly told he would be defending that night, against Razor Ramon, who quickly beat him to take the strap. The trajectory of the belt didn't change, just the person holding it. In reality the belt never left the Kliq for more than 10 minutes but the direction the title took was different to the intended one, which was Champion v Champion at Mania against Diesel.

In April 2015, Bryan is not in the same situation where a mistake has cost him the title, it's just bad luck. But it fits with his opponent to deliver the "Bad News" that he has to come out and forfeit the title to him. The heat Barrett would get is worth not using Bryan cleared or not... then comes the shocker...

Cena's US Open is more than handling the "bringing prestige" aspect to the midcard, so they can afford to take a risk with the IC title and set up an interesting feud. The "forfeit" is a perfect Stephanie moment and a way to get Barrett into the Authority, arguably to replace Kane... but the match is something Trips can throw in there or Kane could do as his final "act" in the Authority...

Instead of Razor coming out, I can see it being Neville who comes out and stuns Barrett for the IC title.

Think about it, Neville has been "holding his own, but losing by inches" to top guys in recent weeks so it makes sense he could upset Barrett with the element of surprise. On paper he's not really much different to Bryan, great worker, has the underdog appeal and the fans like him so far. It might take the IC in a different direction than intended but it can feed into this anti-Underdog alliance that Barrett and Sheamus seem to be going for. Neville keeps upsetting the odds and Barrett and Sheamus get more and more frustrated, perhaps even splitting and feuding themselves. It also allows for Finn Balor to debut as part of the feud as Neville's "back up" - We've never seen a Brit v Brit feud much less British & Ireland vs Britain & Ireland.

It can add one more "reign" to Barrett's tally, that allows him to get nearer to Jericho's 9 - the obvious time to feud them and the match quality Neville would bring would be comparable to what Bryan would, if not better as Bryan can't "go 100%". If he can hold it long enough then it sets up a return for Bryan that might allow a "dream match" of sorts, or at least allow Bryan to return and not be as high flying as Neville would carry that aspect.

Losing Bryan is a blow, but could be a blessing in disguise for both the IC title and Neville who is more than capable of doing some good things with that belt...

 

[Navi]

The IC title can miss a couple of PPV's and no one will really care. God knows the WWE title missed quite a few PPV's last year and while some like myself thought that was crap, quite a number of fans didn't seem too mind all that much. They actually liked it.

The problem is deeper than just missing a couple of PPV's though. There has been conflicting reports about Bryan's health. One minute it's his neck, then a concussion, then he's banged up. I don't think we've been told the truth yet, because they don't know themselves.

if he's going to be out longer than 4-5 weeks or requires further surgery, then get the belt off him and give it to someone else. If he's coming back and is healthy enough to wrestle, then leave it on him. Until they know for sure what the problem is, to me this is just a bump in the road, that they can get around. There are enough of the roster left to put another match in if needed.

 

[Prince Vee]

The problem is deeper than just missing a couple of PPV's though. There has been conflicting reports about Bryan's health. One minute it's his neck, then a concussion, then he's banged up. I don't think we've been told the truth yet, because they don't know themselves.

Yes this is the major concern than the IC title, isn't it? Daniel Bryan's health eh? I hope he should take any more risks in putting his body over the horizon when he comes back from the injury. Either he should change his skill set (obviously he got tons left in his arsenal) or he should hung up his boots. Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of Daniel Bryan, I had achieved really a lot in his pro-wrestling career so he should take more care for his health now!

Cheers!!

 

[Vanilla Midget]

If the idea is to build the IC title back up to its prominence, keeping it on Bryan isn't the answer. Keeping the strap on Bryan sends the message that Bryan's reign and Bryan himself, are above the title. A title needs a healthy defender, WWE has set a precedence of injured champions vacating titles. Whatever the precedence is, should be followed, otherwise does anything matter?

That aside my next major point is the health of the champion. We don't know exactly what is affecting Bryan at this time. My gut reaction says that Bryan should go home and rest. He needs to think about his future, he may want a family some day, and he doesn't want to be raising a child from a wheelchair if he can help it. I'd rather miss another year of Daniel Bryan, knowing he's healthy and safe, than rush him back now. All this talk about hurt guys suing the company, it's time to start giving these people the time off they need. Let Bryan come back for MITB or Summerslam. Let him chase the IC title then.

The champion isn't bigger than the championship and the promotion isn't bigger than the health of its performers. There's a lot of promising potential champions and feuds. Sheamus and Ambrose seem to be the most likely to hold the title after Bryan.

 

[chuckmdubya]

As far as the title goes, it should be simple. Put it on the dude who is most overall most popular mid carder. Guys like Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Ziggler, etc... Have them feud with their heel counterparts, add personal hatred between the two opponents and voila, we have an interesting IC title picture.

But Daniel Bryan, IDK, he might be wanting to move on if this injury is significant or if it endangers his bad neck injury. Even after nearly a year of hype, he returned from his injury and it is obvious that they don't want to bet the far on his future. So the way it looks now, he will toil around the mid card, getting great crowd reaction and never make it back to the top. It may end up being an unfortunate story about a great performer that injuries greatly harmed his career, very similar to the career Curt Hennig had and the one he almost had.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Guys like Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Ziggler, etc...

Yes, putting the belt on a midcarder is pretty much what they have to do because I doubt they can spare another main event performer to drop down to midcard and handle the business of defending the IC title.

John Cena was a good choice to do it because he needed a (fan mandated?) break from the main event scene.....and Daniel Bryan was a good pick because they seemed to be breaking him away from the top of the card; whether that was due to his injuries or the fact he had operated there long enough isn't really known.

But of the three guys chosen in the above quote to assume the mantle, I would omit Bray and Ambrose because they wouldn't wear title belts as well as some guys; they're strictly individuals with agendas other than winning titles. I would sooner like to see Dolph Ziggler as the IC title holder.....he would look better holding the belt aloft in pride than Wyatt or Ambrose.

One more thing: Daniel and Cena are both good guys and I can sooner see this "prestige restoring" process being carried out by faces. Having heels cheating their way to victory every match is hardly the way to boost the standing of the midcard belts.

 

[MartialHorror]

I say go ahead and allow him to keep it. The United States title missed a few months without injury and was fine. But if he vacates, hmmmm....

Barrett would be a bad choice because he's been booked as a loser. He took down Miz and I think that was the first real victory he's had in months. Sheamus wouldn't be a bad choice, but I'd personally have Ryback and Bray enter the midcard title scene. Sheamus was U.S Champ for too long, so I don't care to see him wear another belt this quickly. I also wouldn't mind Ambrose, Harper or Rusev getting if it booked correctly.

 

[OYDK]

But of the three guys chosen in the above quote to assume the mantle, I would omit Bray and Ambrose because they wouldn't wear title belts as well as some guys; they're strictly individuals with agendas other than winning titles. I would sooner like to see Dolph Ziggler as the IC title holder.....he would look better holding the belt aloft in pride than Wyatt or Ambrose.

While I understand the argument that Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt's gimmicks don't necessarily need a championship, do people really want to see somebody like BNB or Dolph Ziggler hold it again? Personally the way I see it is, we already know what we're going to get with guys like Ziggler, BNB, Miz, etc. as IC champ, because we've seen relatively the same title runs for the past 5 years from them. Decent matches, decent builds, but feuds usually relegated to the undercard. The run probably wouldn't be terrible, but I do think it would be very, very stale after a month. I'd like to see somebody new hold the title such as an Ambrose or even Ryback if they put him in there.

 

[kumarjtk]

actually I don't want to see ziggler kiss sheamus arse. wwe please get rid of that match and make fatal 4 way match with likes of sheamus vs ziggler vs bnb vs nevile. I agree to sheamus win that match.

but wwe won't care anything. they make Ziggy kiss the white arse. they may also make bnb vs Nevile.

 

[kadroan]

I thought there's gonna be a lot of thread about this topic but surprisingly not anyone had started it..

From the main page, the reports stated that Daniel Bryan can be out of action for 5 to 6 weeks obviously missing both Extreme Rules and Payback PPV. It'll already put a dip in the match card for the Extreme Rules But this thread isn't concerned about this!

Who will be the next Intercontinental champion? WWE wanted to bring back the prestige to the IC title which was once held by the likes of Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, Rock, Triple H and many other Old school legends. That's why they let Daniel Bryan to win that title at the grandest stage of them all Wrestlemania!

With Daniel Bryan injured for two PPVs who'll get to hold the title next up? I don't sew Dolph Ziggler or Dean Ambrose to grab the title for now. But Sheamus and Bad News Barrett can be a good option.

But the question is will they still try to bring back the prestige to the title? Will the creative give us any legitimate feud for the IC title? Give me your opinions!

Cheers!!

I guess there will be another battle royal for the title just like last year when BNB had to relinquish the title because he was injured.

I think Sheamus will be the next IC Champion. They seem to be pushing him and this feud with Ziggler, a former IC champion, is a stepping stone for him to be taken seriously as an IC title contender.

 

[MartialHorror]

So does anyone know what's going on? Have they officially announced that Bryan can't compete? They've been talking about this for awhile, but as of the last RAW, they will still saying it might happen (I haven't seen Smackdown). If the match doesn't happen and they don't announce it, that's kinda messed up.

 

[Radical]

Personally, no Superstar really wants to be injured, especially when they have a title and I guess WWE creative don't love it when the guy they put the title on gets injured but it DOES often lead to a more interesting build if they have to strip the guy of the title and then have a tournament or a multiple-challenger situation.

Maybe because I'm such a fan of real sports, but I just always find it more interesting when there is a qualifying tournament or set of matches leading to a Championship opportunity.

For the case of the IC title, if Bryan is stripped of it, having a tournament would be good or maybe a series of qualifying matches for a Fatal 4 Way or rare 6-Pack Challenge match at Payback would help super charge interest in the IC title after it being held back because it's champion is injured.

As long as the tournament or championship match features any and all of: Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Luke Harper and could include Ryback, Bray Wyatt and Sheamus, the build up and matches should be good!