Is it possible for someone who has been WWE or World Heavyweight champion to have a truly successful reign with a mid-card title like the Intercontinental or United States title? The United States title seems to be doing moderately well, but the Intercontinental championship has gone to hell. It has absolutely zero value anymore, no prestige, no fan support, nothing. People within the company avoid it like it's the clap or herpes. You almost feel bad for a guy when he "wins" it. It desperately needs a major re-packaging, which is why I asked the question of whether or not a I.C./U.S. title run is possible for a former WWE/World Champion. The I.C. and U.S. titles should either:
A.) For some reason or another, be taken away from the company. Either have whoever has the title(s) be "injured", "retire" for a bit, or something else that will as a result vacate the title, thus creating the need for a tournament. I know that this was done not long ago at all for the Intercontinental championship. It is for this reason that I don't recommend the WWE go this direction. If they were to do so, then at least they should have people in the tournament that are upper-mid card level. I couldn't have cared less who won the I.C. tournament last time.
B.) Go the route of the tag titles and be unified before the United States championship before it suffers the same fate as the Intercontinental championship. You know it will eventually happen if something isn't done. The United States championship has never been at that high level of stature that the Intercontinental title once was. So, how long can it really be before it is viewed as another nothing title. Hell, in my opinion it already is a nothing title. The only reason more people don't bring it up is because like me, they think of the I.C. title first because it was once a huge honor to hold that championship. Yeah, the United States title created some buzz when it was first brought in, but not so much now.
C.) Have someone that is a main event level guy win these titles. This is the way that the WWE should go, thus the topic and question - can it really be done? I think that this is what the WWE is trying to do with Rey winning the I.C. title. I just don't think that is enough though. No disrespect to Rey, but he isn't exactly the right kind of guy to bring prestige back to the title. He might bring some interest back to it, especially from the young kiddies, but that's about it. For this idea to truly work, they need someone like HBK, Edge, Jericho, maybe even the Undertaker. Someone who has been around long enough and done enough within their careers to where people would actually care about the Intercontinental or United States title if one of them were to have it. The only problem is that it would seem almost disrespectful to them if they were to be put in a storyline for the I.C. or U.S. championship. This is especially true if they were to use veterans like Michaels and Undertaker who have accomplished so much in their careers. I think it is hard to argue against the idea that having a veteran as I.C./U.S. champion would do nothing but good for that title. However, doing so would almost hurt their career. It would take a special superstar to be able to pull it off without it hurting their standing.
In any case, the WWE should take more care with these titles. They need to put more time into them. Allow more air time, better storylines, longer feuds, longer title reigns, involve superstars that are actually over with the crowd - all of this would help the current situation that the Intercontinental championship, which was once regarded as a great accolade, is faced with. It would also do a sufficient amount of good in maintaining (or better yet raising) the prestige level of the United States championship.
A.) For some reason or another, be taken away from the company. Either have whoever has the title(s) be "injured", "retire" for a bit, or something else that will as a result vacate the title, thus creating the need for a tournament. I know that this was done not long ago at all for the Intercontinental championship. It is for this reason that I don't recommend the WWE go this direction. If they were to do so, then at least they should have people in the tournament that are upper-mid card level. I couldn't have cared less who won the I.C. tournament last time.
B.) Go the route of the tag titles and be unified before the United States championship before it suffers the same fate as the Intercontinental championship. You know it will eventually happen if something isn't done. The United States championship has never been at that high level of stature that the Intercontinental title once was. So, how long can it really be before it is viewed as another nothing title. Hell, in my opinion it already is a nothing title. The only reason more people don't bring it up is because like me, they think of the I.C. title first because it was once a huge honor to hold that championship. Yeah, the United States title created some buzz when it was first brought in, but not so much now.
C.) Have someone that is a main event level guy win these titles. This is the way that the WWE should go, thus the topic and question - can it really be done? I think that this is what the WWE is trying to do with Rey winning the I.C. title. I just don't think that is enough though. No disrespect to Rey, but he isn't exactly the right kind of guy to bring prestige back to the title. He might bring some interest back to it, especially from the young kiddies, but that's about it. For this idea to truly work, they need someone like HBK, Edge, Jericho, maybe even the Undertaker. Someone who has been around long enough and done enough within their careers to where people would actually care about the Intercontinental or United States title if one of them were to have it. The only problem is that it would seem almost disrespectful to them if they were to be put in a storyline for the I.C. or U.S. championship. This is especially true if they were to use veterans like Michaels and Undertaker who have accomplished so much in their careers. I think it is hard to argue against the idea that having a veteran as I.C./U.S. champion would do nothing but good for that title. However, doing so would almost hurt their career. It would take a special superstar to be able to pull it off without it hurting their standing.
In any case, the WWE should take more care with these titles. They need to put more time into them. Allow more air time, better storylines, longer feuds, longer title reigns, involve superstars that are actually over with the crowd - all of this would help the current situation that the Intercontinental championship, which was once regarded as a great accolade, is faced with. It would also do a sufficient amount of good in maintaining (or better yet raising) the prestige level of the United States championship.
