Prestige of the Intercontinental Title

[Gansher]

Ever since Dolph won the Intercontinental title, I have to say it's been quite some time since we've seen an Intercontinental Champion defend the title so much! I think he's been defending it every week now. Do you guys think the Intercontinental Title is seeing a rise in prestige once again? I'm kinda seeing Dolph as making a huge statement with the title and constant defenses.

 

[newc868]

Dolph defending it more is a way to build up Dolph. The IC title still has the prestige but it needs a bit more 'current' star power to fight over it in order for it to gain more prestige. I mean Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston/MVP isn't the same as when Triple H was the champion and then Jeff Hardy won it (after Matt's interference - I think).

Winning the IC Title doesn't seem to spark the same emotion when they win/defend it and if they cared for it more then so would the audience.

Anyways - if Dolph can beat off a number of contenders with the title then it strengthens his reign. Have him beat a big name or two - Edge vs Ziggler at 'Mania maybe. Prestige comes with the history and the big names holding the titles so yeah - more big names.

 

[The Brain]

The IC title goes in streaks lately. Typically it's forgotten and often ignored on the larger ppvs. Every once in a while someone wins the title and has a good feud and it looks like the prestige will return. Then a couple months later that person will suddenly drop it to someone who doesn't defend it regularly. Too often the title is an afterthought and just like Russo said years ago becomes nothing more than a prop. I would love to see the IC title have the prestige it once did. While I think it can be used better than it has been in recent years, I highly doubt it will ever go back to the Savage, Hart, Perfect glory days.

 

[blackrose1013]

I think with the IC title on Dolph they are starting to build its prestige again. They see that it should be the workhorse title that it used to be, and with the caliber of talent on Smackdown they could have a great reawakening of the belt. Now, with that said I honestly think that it still has along way to go to get back to a semblance of its glory days.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

I think the reason that Dolph is retaining the title so often is because they are just building up Ziggler. I don't think the IC title's prestige will ever go back to what it used to be. They are probably having him the title because they can't find someone good to give it to. The people who I think of that could take it from him now are a few: Cody Rhodes, Del Rio, Drew. See the problem there? They are all heels!! Kofi probably is moving up to better things or feuds.

So, no the IC title ain't moving up in the ranks.

 

[The Crock]

Honestly, the IC Belt will never go back to being as prestigious as it once was. Remember the days of when the IC Champion was the Number One Contender for the WWE Championship? Yeah, it's been a long drop from that point. There used to be feuds like HHH vs The Rock, and Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels, they just don't have that caliber of guys fighting for the strap anymore. The title used to have a ton of honor, nowadays it is just used to build up guys for a potential main event jump. Most of the time those guys fail and then come back to the IC Belt picture. The belt has been brought down over the years. Sure, when a guy like Jericho carries the belt it has a little jump in prestige but that's only because of his history as an Intercontinental Champion (9-Time Champ).

Having a guy like Ziggler carry the belt isn't doing it many favors. Ziggler, before this, wasn't really that big of a deal, and they've used this as a springboard for him. Using a title as a springboard is obviously going to bring the prestige down. The second Ziggler is over enough to compete for the WHC he'll drop the belt and leave. That looks somewhat disrespectful to the belt, in my eyes.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

To some degree, I think that this is basically remembering the good old days as being better than they actually were. Whenever a thread is started regarding the prestige of mid-card titles in the WWE, the reigns of a certain few are always brought up like Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart & Mr. Perfect. You know, there's always mention of guys that went on to bigger and better things, guys that went on to be main eventers or "should have been" main eventers. But, lengthy runs from guys like Ken Patera, Tito Santana, Greg Valentine & Shelton Benjamin are rarely ever brought up when it comes to talking about IC title prestige and credibility. Forgettable runs from the likes of The Mountie, Bob Holly, Jeff Jarrett, Ahmed Johnson, Mark Mero, Ken Shamrock, Val Venis, Road Dogg, The Godfather and many others are also often left out when it comes to talking about prestige.

The IC title has had it's share of lackluster reigns in this decade, but that's nothing new. There have been times all throughout the history of the title, even back in the "good old days" of the Attitude & Hogan Eras, in which the title has been held by wrestlers that have been forgettable and/or mediocre. Or, it's even been held by pretty good wrestlers that just generally haven't received the level of notability or fame that guys like Bret Hart or The Ultimate Warrior have.

For many of us, the IC title held by Dolph Ziggler or Rey Mysterio or whoever will never be as prestigious as the time Randy Savage held it because many of us grew up watching Randy Savage. Not that Savage wasn't great, but guys like Savage will always hold a special place in the nostalgic hearts of a lot of fans as his matches and feuds during that time generated great memories for us as kids that we still treasure today. Overall, I think Ziggler has done a good job as IC champ so far. He's certainly defended the title quite a bit in a short span of time and, if I'm not mistaken, he has a title defense on tonight's episode of SmackDown!.