Wade Barrett Is The *NEW* WWE Intercontinental Champion

[Jack-Hammer]

On Raw last night, one day removed from WrestleMania 29, Wade Barrett got his rematch for the IC title against Miz. Miz won the title at the WM pre-show. They had a great match but I honestly never expected Wade Barrett to regain the title.

The crowd last night was packed with smarks, who are very frequently supportive of heels, so it's no surprise they were firmly behind Wade Barrett. What bugs me is that they bothered to take the title of Barrett in the first place and I can't honestly think of or see a reason why. Playing hot potato with a title is one of my biggest pet peeves in wrestling, even if the title hasn't been treated as though it's all that important over the past few months.

Wade Barrett's a talented guy and I can only hope that the third time's a charm for him. Now that WrestleMania is over, I just hope that WWE gets back on track and uses its mid-card champions again. Yes, yes I know we're going to have all the usual "the titles don't mean shit" posts and all that junk. Granted, at this particular time, they really don't mean shit but it's surprising how easy that can be turned around.

 

[Spawn of Kane]

I too was suprised at Barrett regaining the title. The only reason i can fathom for Miz winning in the first place, was to give a little nod to Ric Flair, given the last few weeks he has had. Winning with the figure 4 at WM, was a nice touch. Other than that, i'm baffled as to why else the Miz was given such a short reign.

 

[thomasgj]

I actually loved this, it was so unpredictable. The hot-potato thing is fine when it's used as a rarity. Not everything has to be so formulaic when it comes to feuds or title reigns. The former champ losing to the new champ in a rematch because the champ is nearly invincible coming off their title win has been seen many a time before, this is something fresh.

 

[Jaffa]

I don't get the whole titles changing frequently thing bugging people however I know some do. For me it shows how two guys feuding are really equals and there matches can go either way which I think shows competition within the division but once again I know others disagree with me. Having said that I am a little surprised but I don't think oh no that's terrible that as I am very much interested as to what happens now whether the feud ends by the end of next weeks Raw or at Extreme Rules.

 

[TeddyCJD]

The only possible reason i can think of for taking the title off Barrett at Mania, was purely because of this ''undefeated'' thing The Miz has going at WrestleMania. Maybe WWE were thinking that at some point down the line, that could be a selling point for a future Miz match at WrestleMania. Either that...or WWE simply realised how badly they fucked up and decided to fix it straight away!

 

[WWE4EVA!]

What was the point in even giving The Miz the championship just to take it off of him 24 Hours later, they should have just left it on Barrett and has Miz win it some time in the future. But they have humiliated The Miz by doing what they did.

 

[future admin]

Frustrating would be a word that comes to mind here. I too am on the same boat Jack-Hammer, playing hot potato with the titles frustrates me to no end. I'm not sure what they've tried to achieve with The Miz' title reign, was it just for one extra stat, or does it mean something. I'm almost sure they'll have a match at Extreme Rules, but with this feud you don't really know.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

So, Miz won it on Mania because of his "streak"(ignore the fact that he lost on Mania 25 but in dark match) just so he can lose it next night. Great booking WWE...

 

[smarty_jannetty]

I think the decision made to have the title change may have been to have something significant to get the crowd going for the show straight away. Glad Barrett regained though, Miz is just embarrassing to watch

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It was a very simple way to get last minute PPV buys from those on the fence as to whether to order the show. A title change on the pre-show leads them to believe anything can happen, which it then didn't of course.

The Hot Potato aspect of it doesn't bother me so much, Miz got his "mania moment" but Barrett has done well enough with what he's been given to keep the title a bit longer... I personally would have booked Barrett to win at Mania but lose to Jericho last night, only for Fandango to hurt Jericho and cause the long awaited title tournament or a ladder match at MITB. If anything the "extra stat" thing applies more to Barrett, being a 3 time IC champ doesn't make him any better than a 2 time champ...

 

[mojmass]

It didn't bother me that barret lost his title at wm (considering miz undefeated streak at wm) and again it didn't bother me to see barret recaptured the title.
what bothered me is that he had the rematch only 1 day after he lost that's ridiculous. playing hot potato with titles is sometime ok but not this hot.

 

[andrewp488]

Pointless really if barrett goes back to being champ why give it to miz undefeated streak if so he could have won by countout or dq still a win or tribute to flair why not get barrett in the figure 4 after the match and get barrett to tap out there flair is still respected and miz can come out and cut a promo saying that if the match continued he would be champ and it keeps feud going so the way they did it is pointless

 

[DX Mols]

I hate to say it but neither Miz nor Wade has any real heat right now. Face Miz sucks and Wade just isn't given the chance to shine. I thought by now he'd be a Main Eventer, but he just seems mired in the midcard (see also Cody Rhodes, Damian Sandow, and Antonio Cesaro).

 

[Geeklectic]

This is a long shot theory, but what if this is a reaction to the Cena/Rock finish at Mania?

If Rock was legitimately injured during his match could they have changed the outcome mid match to put the strap on Cena? If he was supposed to walk out of Mania with the belt and they changed that because of a real injury maybe that lead to the Rock's decision to not notifying them that he was leaving and not showing up on Raw until the last minute.

Miz and Cena are the two biggest media guys for the WWE so maybe they felt like since Cena would have the WWE Championship that they needed a heel with a belt and the Miz wouldn't need it for promotional reasons?

Again, I fully accept that this is a far fetched theory, but it is the first theory that popped into my mind.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It was a waste of time. The Miz won the title and that's fine. But why not use him as a transitional champion so he could put over somebody like Fandango or Langston? Another Wade Barrett IC title reign isn't for me. He's already become a Kofi or Ziggler with their mid-card title reigns. They all merge into one, I can't remember a thing about them and I will now greet his matches with even more of a shrug than usual.

 

[rekon59]

I'm guessing they put it on Miz for buzz purposes.

And while they could always edit the match out, in the last batch of NXT tapings, Barret was defending his IC title in one of the show's main events (I think the one to air next week), so they wanted that to still make sense as well.

 

[FlairFan2003]

At first glance no, it doesnt make much sense. However, it was a major surprise, no one saw it coming, and it does keep this feud and Miz as a character interesting as we move towards Extreme Rules and basically re-start WWE after most major angles reached their point and culminated at Mania. With that in mind, it wasnt bad booking, it was a good idea, with the next PPV we will see exactly what WWE has in mind for Miz, plus more time for Barrett to further his character as top level heel. Could a world title feud vs Cena be in his future ?

 

[Kelso1ftw]

I think its stupid to think that if the only reason they had Miz win at Wrestleamania because he is undefeated and they wanted to keep it that way. No one would ever take that winning streak as seriously as they do with the Undertaker, the only other person who ever had a winning streak at mania played into a story-line was Edge when he faced Taker and that wasn't even commonly known at the time.

Glad to see Barrett with it though, hope they actually give some quality time for him to build some sort of steam with it and actually feud over the title with someone. I could definitely see them throwing someone like Christian in the mix since he is suppose to be returning very soon, Jericho could also be a very logical choice but he won't be sticking around as long. Otherwise they could always go with the usual suspects and possibly give them a chance to do something meaningful with Kofi or R-truth.

 

[xsKiitz]

I actually loved this, it was so unpredictable. The hot-potato thing is fine when it's used as a rarity. Not everything has to be so formulaic when it comes to feuds or title reigns. The former champ losing to the new champ in a rematch because the champ is nearly invincible coming off their title win has been seen many a time before, this is something fresh.

I actually really agree with this.

It's not like any title has been hot potato'd recently. None of you (myself included) expected Barrett to retain it on Raw. I was really surprised when he hit the bullhammer and didn't mind that he won. It makes Miz and Barrett seem so similar in skill and that they're almost equals. It makes for a very good fued know ing that it could go either way. Very good match and finish.

 

[TheLittleOne]

i believe an audible was called during the bout, the crowd just was too Pro - Barrett..anti- miz.. i feel miz would have gained no heat with a win in that environment without turning heel or atleast acting slightly more attitude - ish.. its obvious MIZ doesnt know how to be a face...

barrett looks stronger, and Miz does NOT look weaker since u can see the clear accidental headbutt botch which led to the miz's demise... no 1 should be able to kick out of a bull hammer elbow after that..

 

[Kizzani]

And this is the reason why WWE is so Pathetic. TNA has their own reasons they start with Dix and end with Hogan. I once remember sitting in front of the TV 1/2 hour prior to Raw, smackdown and even PPV. Now I find it easier and more intelligent to head to wrestlezone.com 1 hr after the event and read what happened. This way no time is wasted on commercials, WWE ongoing ******-ism that is "Be a Star". ( better advice teach your kids to not be a wuss). The same old same old taker again 21-0 he'll be 70 years old trying to go 30-0 and guess what I don't care who WWE throws he will win...From the Wheelchair. Barrett a proven World title guy gets the drop to IC world and Instead you get the talentless lisp filled swagger and his cohort that hasn't had a semi good promo since he got there.
Wrestling has become more and more of a joke, I always thought when I was younger that one day my son and I would go to wrestling events, I you to attend 3 a year now I am down to 0. So last week I bought season tickets for the NFL for my son and I. I doubt my son will ever watching wrestling.

Oh well WWE you will be around for awhile but really you have been buried alive along time ago.

 

[HBsam31]

This one came as a huge surprise to me. I thought Miz would get more than a one day run. I guess maybe that is the reason they did it, to surprise people. I am glad the title is back with Barrett and I hope they push him a bit harder as IC champion. The potential is there for him for sure, they just need to use it.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The only possible reason i can think of for taking the title off Barrett at Mania, was purely because of this ''undefeated'' thing The Miz has going at WrestleMania. Maybe WWE were thinking that at some point down the line, that could be a selling point for a future Miz match at WrestleMania. Either that...or WWE simply realised how badly they fucked up and decided to fix it straight away!

His match on the pre-show of WrestleMania is irrelevant in terms of his winning streak there. Pre-show matches don't count.

 

[Azane]

seeing a WM title reversal on free TV brings back some of the anythng can happen feeling that's been missing.

 

[GameOver]

Why is the feeling, why give it to someone only to lose it 1 night later. Then again the title change was only on the internet anyway.

My guess is they had no idea what to do and just decided to give it to the Miz so he gets a win again but on the flipside Wade is now a 2 time IC champ aswell.

Who would care about a Miz undefeated streak at mania and if WWE did they woulda had him on the actual card. The only other person who that gimmick worked for (besides the Undertaker) was Edge who was 5-0 til he faced The Undertaker.

On the same level as why have Ziggler cash in on RAW and not the global stage of WrestleMania which had guarenteed global audience watching. Then again in that case the RAW crowd was awesome and it was a much better response then he would've gotten at Mania that had one of the quietest crowds in my memory. can't think of a quieter Mania crowd either way it's about time he atleast got the strap and hopefully they let him keep it for more then a few weeks.