Time for the U.S. and Intercontinental Champs To Step Up

[BigBombB]

All this focus on the Intercontinental title has been great, they have enough quality up-and-coming talent to make it a big highlight of the show again, and with Barrett out it is the top singles belt in the company...or it would be if not for U.S. champion Sheamus. Sheamus had a long run as a top dog and is now holding a midcard belt, it is being elevated by association.

It seems WWE is finally really serious about pushing Barrett and making him seem on the same level as Sheamus would be a great way to do that. The two of them vying to be the Main Event of Payback would be awesome. Thanks to their opponents, it wouldn't hurt their individual matches at the PPV either. RVD is already a definite Hall of Famer, he doesn't lose anything if the focus is pulled off of him, and Heyman has the ability to keep the focus on Cesaro even if Sheamus and Barrett are beefing.

Then imagine the extra outrage that could be invoked if Stephanie denies them both by saying "my husband Triple H is on the card, of COURSE you two aren't going to be in the main event!" So suddenly you'd have the huge dynamic of Sheamus vs. Barrett, Sheamus and Barrett both having issues with the authority, Heyman promoting Cesaro as if the real honor is being able to face his client on PPV, and RVD fulfilling his role as top level enhancement talent. Everybody wins.

Do you think the midcard belts should be promoted higher up the card now that Bryan is out?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Here's the thing about mid-card champions: they're supposed to be in the middle of the card. I just don't understand what this obsession is that some people have in which they feel that everybody and everything should be pushed as if they're in the main event. As of right now, until some more time goes by, I think we should be thankful for what we're getting out of the mid-card titles thus far. Knowing Vince the way we do, and the man does seem to get a bit scatterbrained sometimes, he might pull the plug on this next week.

I'm gonna make a bold statement, well maybe it's bold, in that I personally think that if Triple H was the one with the final say, the IC and US titles would be in a much better spot and would have been for quite a while now. Vince is known to get occasional bouts of schizophrenic booking in which he'll lose interest in something or try to change it around right when they're smack in the middle of things. Some reports allege that as much as Trips loves Vince, he drives him up the wall sometimes. The mid-card titles are a perfect example of that because we've seen stop & go pushes for those titles and champions so many times over the years that it's hard to not be cynical or skeptical whenever it looks as though more prominence is being put on them.

As I said, let's just see if things continue to go in the right direction for a while. If so, then MAYBE some more focus can be put on the mid-card titles.

 

[BigBombB]

I just noticed I made a typo...should be "with Bryan out" not "with Barrett out", sadly too late for me to fix

As for the midcard titles not being important enough, I think the idea that they're as important as the person that holds them is true. If Big E and Dean Ambrose were champs right now I might buy into "no, you can't do that" but Barrett has been lingering around the top of the card for a good long while, so has Sheamus, its a great chance to make them seem more important while also giving the midcard belts a temporary boost.

 

[Pedigree1]

I think once Trips takes full charge full time the Mid-Card titles will be very important. The way the IC title used to mean.. Vince has a lot of great ideas,but he has been known to change his ideas the night of the show or before the match begins.. As much Power as Trips has,Vince has the final say so.. I know Vince loves Trips and Vice Versa,but Vince has to drive Trips up a wall at times...

Its like indeed stop N go with the Mid-card titles.. There Important there not important. Again once HHH takes charge,those titles will mean something again..

 

[THTRobtaylor]

They seem to be very close to pushing Barrett as a face and frankly there is no better time or way to do it than have Barrett come out and insert himself into whatever Title scenario is created using the old byelaw that the IC champ is the #1 contender. He can beat RVD onthe way, as a former "guy who combined titles" RVD would set that up nicely... Then it's all about can Barrett win the IC and World titles to be the first to hold 3 belts... Of couse he won't "quite" get there, but the IC title is then re-established as meaning a lot more than "just a title for guys with nothing else to do..." it IS then a stepping stone to the World title picture.

Sheamus is fine but I think he is now in the role that Orton found himself in for a couple of years... his push has cooled but can be reheated at any time, but he is better served in the mid card helping bring along some other talent right now.

 

[Notorious718]

Here's the thing about mid-card champions: they're supposed to be in the middle of the card. I just don't understand what this obsession is that some people have in which they feel that everybody and everything should be pushed as if they're in the main event.

I don't think that the midcard titles should be pushed as if they're in the main event but I do think that feuds involving them should be more storyline driven. All I've seen out of people holding these belts consists of little more than beating an opponent then beating the next opponent and so on until they drop the belt. Then the cycle repeats itself.

That's boring. I can't care about the midcard titles or the people that are holding them if they're treated this way. I can't get emotionally invested in feuds for the midcard titles when it hardly feels like there's anything at stake. It would be nice to have some sort of emotional connection to the people fighting for these titles especially if the midcard belts are going to be stepping stones to the main event scene for some of these guys.

 

[laodaron]

The writers need to step up, not the champs. The problem is that the WWE only has a few really great story tellers, and then about 90% of the rest of them are just good in ring workers.

 

[L@RISANO]

So far so good for Barrett's IC Reign,tbh.

He won it via a tournament which placed some focus on the title, and now, in another 'challenge' he has gotten a credible challenger for the next PPV. I think the WWE are handling it well enough since Mania, and hopefully, they can push some storylines using the belt, especially with Daniel Bryan out injured. It might be a good time to put a bit extra focus, and maybe, Bad News Barrett could build himself enough to become part of the Main Event, as that is essentially what the IC Champion should be pushed towards when given the belt.

As for the US Belt...as long as Sheamus defends it at every PPV, having a storyline feud isn't really required for what is essentially the lower card belt,tbh. Especially if the other MidCard belt(IC) isn't getting such attention either.

 

[kadroan]

The writers need to step up, not the champs. The problem is that the WWE only has a few really great story tellers, and then about 90% of the rest of them are just good in ring workers.

I agree. The champs are talented but they need to work on doing long term booking better for the mid card champs.

They really need to take advantage of Main Event and Smackdown to boost the storylines for the US and IC champions, it's not like you'll see Cena/HHH/Orton on every Smackdown and Main Event, plenty of time for expose for the champs

 

[spaldoni]

I have always loved the US and IC titles. They use to be prestigious workhorse titles. The title holders use to be number one contenders to the world title. The US and IC matches on the big cards stole the show many times. In the old days if the world champ wasn't on a house show the US and IC title matches were the main event. I'm loving it right now that the WWE seems to be putting more importance on those titles. You have two solid performers holding the titles right now. I hope they keep pushing those titles. A program is always more interesting when a title is on the line. You have plenty of mid card talent to keep those titles hot and fresh.

 

[kadroan]

Here's the thing about mid-card champions: they're supposed to be in the middle of the card. I just don't understand what this obsession is that some people have in which they feel that everybody and everything should be pushed as if they're in the main event. As of right now, until some more time goes by, I think we should be thankful for what we're getting out of the mid-card titles thus far. Knowing Vince the way we do, and the man does seem to get a bit scatterbrained sometimes, he might pull the plug on this next week.

I'm gonna make a bold statement, well maybe it's bold, in that I personally think that if Triple H was the one with the final say, the IC and US titles would be in a much better spot and would have been for quite a while now. Vince is known to get occasional bouts of schizophrenic booking in which he'll lose interest in something or try to change it around right when they're smack in the middle of things. Some reports allege that as much as Trips loves Vince, he drives him up the wall sometimes. The mid-card titles are a perfect example of that because we've seen stop & go pushes for those titles and champions so many times over the years that it's hard to not be cynical or skeptical whenever it looks as though more prominence is being put on them.

As I said, let's just see if things continue to go in the right direction for a while. If so, then MAYBE some more focus can be put on the mid-card titles.

I agree. I'll be so glad when HHH gets more influence than Vince. I don't expect the US and IC titles to ever main event WrestleMania or anything like that but the time for those belts to be more important than ever was this past Fall when Brock was gone.

However, Ziggler took advantage of his air time, establishing himself as one of the best IC Champions ever and Rusev has been a dominant US Champion.