What do you do with the IC & US titles....?

[CyberPunk]

....your WWE midcard titles? Wrestlemania is over, and this one was hands down one of the best Manias in a long time. I enjoyed it thoroughly, from start to end, including the pre-show. We had feel-good moments, moments of nostalgia, moments of shock and awe, great stories, everything. But there was something missing. Yes, there was no Intercontinental or US title match.

For the record, this Mania had total of 8 matches, out of which 3 matches were for the titles. WWE World heavyweight championship, WWE Diva's Championship, and WWE World Tag Team Championship were on the line. But there was no match for either the IC title or the US title. And while it's a small gripe for otherwise a great show, it bugged me that these titles were not featured at all during Mania. And consider this, the IC champion as well as US champion were on the card. Having said that, where are the midcard titles headed? Even on the road to Wrestlemania, there was barely any use of the midcard titles. While IC championship was defended, I think, once on Main Event, US title was even barely mentioned. So what's the future of these two titles?

Now, I know that titles are simply props. However, over the years, these props have created memorable moments. Who'd forget Razor Ramon's match against Shawn Michael for the IC title at WM 10, or Ricky Steamboat's match against Randy Savage at WM 3? Now I know, those moments are difficult to create, but they were created with the help of a heated rivalry over a midcard championship. Now that we have only one world title, the necessity of elevating one of the midcard titles is even more.

How do you do it? First of all, write something for your midcard champions. Give them a program to work. Let them showcase their talents. They have hours of weekly programming and with WWE Network, they have more outlets to show. And I refuse to believe that it can't be done. If WWE writers can come up with great stuff for Shields and Wyatts, they can certainly do something for the midcard titles. If 2 midcard titles are too many, unify them. Create a story for that. Put people who can talk and wrestle together for the titles and create a story. What has been the follow up to the Big E - Ambrose interview for the unification of the titles?

Second, you want your talents to want the titles. There are so many upper midcard and main event caliber talents without any program. I was happy to see Shaemus and Del Rio fighting for IC title couple of weeks ago. Let them go after it again. Not that they are doing anything relevant anyway.

The titles which were used to elevate talent have become dead weight now. It's about time they started doing something with the midcard titles. Put the IC title on Bray Wyatt and let him use it to not only elevate himself but anyone who goes after him. May be he can use it like the 'holy grail' thing (what Taker used to do with WWE/WHC).

So here's my question to you. What do you think should be done with the midcard titles? How do you use them from here onwards.

Please, no spams.

 

[TheICChampion]

Well, first of all, they've gone so long without much, if any at all, importance on the mid-card titles. They have a long way to go to make us care about the IC or US titles. I get that they should be unified, but then that only means there's one less belt to not care about. I would, first of all, take the titles off of Big E and Ambrose and give them to two guys who maybe have had a rivalry in the past that people remember. It looks as though Barrett has turned face, or at least the fans are trying to turn him face. I'd say have Barrett win the US title in, say, a 3 or 4-way match. The same night, Sheamus wins the IC title from Big E. Turn Sheamus heel and give them both quite a bit of momentum by defending their titles at a minimum of every 2-3 weeks. I can't stress this enough. MAKE SURE THEY EMPHASIZE HOW IMPORTANT THE TITLES ARE TO THEM AND THAT LOSING THOSE TITLES WOULD BE EQUAL TO LOSING A FAMILY MEMBER. Then, by October, have them start defending their titles against each other, neither one being able to take the other's. Then they finally have to settle it once and for all in a No-DQ Title Unification match at Survivor Series. I would pay to see that. Hell, substitute Barrett and Sheamus for 2 other guys. Just follow that same storyline. Make sure the fans can't possibly tell who would win. It would make it a lot more interesting if, like I said, the fans know the 2 guys have had a long, exciting feud (or at least more than one great match against each other. Just, please, not Del Rio).

 

[L@RISANO]

Personally, I'd leave it as it is atm, as there are quite a few storylines being continued or just begun done as of Last RAW....

What I'd do is when the rumoured Ambrose and Rollins turn on Roman Reigns happens and ends, where thereafter, Ambrose and Rollins will probably spend some time as a tag team :-

I'd have Rollins win the IC Championship at say, Night of Champions(I am assuming the feud between the Authority and the Shield and all its extensions that started last night, will end with an HHH vs Roman Reigns to put the latter on his way to the Main Event).

Then both guys, who after NoC, would be the US and IC Champions respectively would stick together, and defend the titles against challengers as time goes on....then around or after the Royal Rumble, restart the talk of the MidCard title unifications, and make them split with Rollins going face and Ambrose staying heel...and then have their Final Feud match at Wrestlemania 31 in a MidCard Title Unification match.


I am sure the feud itself between Ambrose and Rollins would be brilliant. But adding the 2 MidCard titles into the mix, would make it even more of a spectacle,lMO.

 

[Softcore Holly]

They have some work to do, that's for sure. Having Orton/Batista not give a crap about winning the tag titles wasn't a good start. Of course we don't need to believe that they would settle for tag team gold, but they didn't need to outright and say that they didn't want it.

Anyway first thing I would do is have Ambrose get cheated out of the US title by the Authority. This makes the title at least a small part of the main storyline, which is a huge step above where it's been for months. This is also a good opportunity to push one of the mid-card heels by making them a new Authority henchman. If it somehow ends up with Reigns winning the title back for his team all the better.

IC has a lot of options since Big E isn't involved with....any6thing. One idea is trying to do what they did with Axel, except with a much more interesting guy in Cesaro. For one thing I really hope that Heyman isn't going to be walking around hugging a broken statue piece during Cesaro's matches, so the IC title would be much better there. And the combination of Cesaro's great talent along with Heyman's mic skills will help bring attention to the IC title. Of course that all means nothing if they continue the crappy formula they've been doing with the title (Mid-carder earns #1 contender, loses, rise, repeat) so hopefully they get some actual feuds in there to help make the IC title actually worth caring about.

Tags are in a rough spot since all the decent-good heel teams either turned face or split. Or in the Wyatts' case they just don't seem to care about gold. Seriously you know the division looks awfully sad when the best heel team is either RybAxel or the Outlaws. I heard Ascension's coming up so that will hopefully help spice things up. They might give Swagger a new partner after his feud with Cesaro is done, chances are that paring won't be nearly as good as the RA were but maybe they'll make something good out of it. And what ever happened to that Miz-Ziggler team?
Even after they get a better balance of face-heel teams they still don't get any real feud time, so that's something I really hope would change as well.

 

[Kent420]

Why not give Bray Wyatt the intercontinental title... Everyone is all about this guy right now, myself included. You can get some good story lines with Wyatt's and whoever you put against him... It would bring the intercontinental title back to life, make people really want to see the belt be defended ever night.. It would bring some prestige back to one of my personal favorite belts..

 

[chicagokmc]

Why not give Bray Wyatt the intercontinental title... Everyone is all about this guy right now, myself included. You can get some good story lines with Wyatt's and whoever you put against him... It would bring the intercontinental title back to life, make people really want to see the belt be defended ever night.. It would bring some prestige back to one of my personal favorite belts..

Bray has talked about everything during his time in WWE except winning titles. A title would make him part of the structure and his whole gimmick is based on being on the outside, by choice.

The obvious choice to me is to get it on Cesaro while he is hot and let him be the one to make the belt mean something.

 

[Doctor Awesome]

It's a crying shame that these belts have lost relevance, most notably the IC Title. It seemed a few years ago that they were working hard to elevate it once again but in the last year plus both champions constantly lose on tv or the belts aren't even mentioned. At this point, merge them the best way possible and to truly restore prestige treat it similar to WCW's TV Title and have it defended on television regularly. Enough w/the non title matches where the champ loses. It does nothing for the title or the champion. Right now prime cantidates to wear the gold and back it up with work rate would be: Cody, Sheamus, Del Rio, Cesaro, Barret, Rollins. Guys w/some credibility that could help up n comers with good, quality tv and ppv matches that have purpose.

 

[JJ15776]

It's true, titles really are just props. And it's also true that most special moments involving the titles could have and would have happened without them...the only exception being the ladder match, since you can't have a ladder match without something to hang. But how many people actually remember that Steamboat-Savage was even for the IC title, for example? It's but a small detail in a wonderful story. So those were very good points by the OP.

Here's the problem, I think, with the WWE. They don't really have a midcard. At least, not a meaningful one. They have a huge main event that takes up all the time available, then a bunch of fringe main eventers trying to get into the main event, then they have curtain jerkers and jobbers to the first two groups. Unfortunately, the first two groups are both too good for the midcard titles and the jobbers are the would-be midcarders. So you're putting these midcard titles on guys that aren't given much meaning, and rightfully so because they're so far down the card.

I'll give you two solutions:

A)Bring back the brand split. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to go back to the 80's or 90's to find a time when the IC and US titles were prominent. Just 7 or 8 years ago, they were both fixtures in big matches and big feuds involving talented workers...and I believe the brand split was a big reason why. Like I said earlier, they have so many main eventers and near main eventers...right now, they take up all the time on both shows, because so many of them are on both shows. If you split them up, they're all only on one show, and that frees up a lot of time on the rest of the show for the guys who are lower on the roster.

B)This one is probably more realistic, and can be done with or without the first one happening. Put some distance between the main event and the rest of the roster. It seems like everybody is mixed in with the main eventers these days. Bray Wyatt is the perfect example of this. Why is he feuding with John Cena? Let him go after Big E Langston and whichever title he has(?), if he still has it(?). (If you don't think Wyatt's character would go after titles, fair enough, I'm just using him as an example of the type of person I'm talking about.) Don't get me wrong, Wyatt isn't out of place in his feud with Cena by any stretch, but you don't have to rush guys into the main event as soon as they're over enough to be main eventers. Those guys that are over enough to be main eventers but haven't been put there yet are the perfect guys to hold the midcard titles...but once they start mixing in with main eventers, the perception is they're too good for the midcard titles and giving them a midcard title seems more like a demotion for them than a positive for the title. Not to mention, those guys will help the other midcarders get more over just by feuding with them over the midcard titles. Think about Edge and Randy Orton, Benoit and Jericho and Angle, Rock and Austin, Rock and Triple H...rather than getting rushed into the main event, they were all allowed to really establish themselves as midcarders and had memorable feuds with other midcarders as a result. And, of course, the midcard titles were usually involved in those feuds.

TL;DR the problem is the nonexistent midcard more than how the titles are used. Fix the midcard, fix the titles.

 

[Caldwell205]

Bray Wyatt does not need a title to be relevant, certainly not the IC or US titles, which have been nothing but props for several years now.

If you want them to be relevant, they need to be defended and treated as relevant.

 

[RManske2]

I keep thinking they should just combine the IC and US titles into one and make fewer championships so, in theory, they end up meaning more. Just have the top guy (the champion), the guy set to break out (the mid-card title) and the tag team belts.

Plus they should just put more of a focus on the belt. With Raw, Smackdown, and Main Event, whoever this is should be featured on television frequently defending the belt against any and all competitors. By featuring it you'll automatically put more significance into it since it will be visible on television and PPV's.

 

[RedRegan1005]

First things first I would get rid of the U.S. Belt by having a unification match. Then I would get back to show casing the Intercontinental Championship talent. Spend more TV time building up good story lines and feuds for the IC Title. Show that people want the IC belt and that it means a lot to them in order to make the title feel important again. Something that would help elevate both the IC and the people fighting for it would be to have the Intercontinental Championship matches be the main event match on raw. If the WWE wants it to be taken seriously then they have to treat it seriously! No short five minute title matches, and protect whoever is holding the belt. You Mid card champion shouldn't be taking non-title loses every week! So keep the Mid Card champ and World Champion, or World Title contenders away from each other as far as one on one matches go. When they feed the US or IC champ to who ever is about to have a match for a World title it just makes that wrestler and the belt they have look small and weak. Go listen to guys from the 80's and 90's talk about the Intercontinental Title, and how much it meant to win that title. To them that was a huge step for those guys, because it was considered just one level under the WWE championship. Many past guys thought of it as the Work horse title. Being the IC Champ meant you would go out into the ring, night in, night out, and bust your ass in the ring and put on good matches. Thats what the WWE needs to highlight, and bring back to the Mid Card titles today. Showcase that the guys holding this title are some of the most talented guys the company has too offer. If the WWE treated the Mid Card and it's titles, the way they use to in the 80's and 90's WWE wouldl have more established and over talent then they would Know what to do with. WWE use to make sure that whenevr they had people on TV no matter what part of the card, they made sure they atleast had a legit storyline to work with. When wrestlers, no matter where on the card have a legit storyline to work with it helps them keep the corwd interested, and get over. When the just send guys out for random matches just to get them on TV but have no real story for them, its tough for them to get over, because the crowd has been given no reason to care. If you want the crowd to care about the Mid Card titles, and to take them seriously, then the WWE has to care about them and take them seriously!!!

Sorry if i went off on a rant there, but the Mid Card title problem is my biggest problem with wrestling today.

 

[MC_Live]

There's one huge step that WWE needs to take with it's mid card champions. When they're in matches, they need to WIN! With the exception of about a two month run where Big E was winning non title matches, the IC and US Champions have lost virtually every non-title match they've been in for well over a year. Barret did it. Kofi did it. Axel did it. Big E and Ambrose have done it. Hell, Ambrose barely ever wins a 1 on 1 match. I love him, but think about it. When has he actually pinned someone in a singles match? Has he ever even pinned a challenger in a title match? I think the only way he's ever defended the championship was by DQ. With the exception of Ambrose literally every mid card champion in recent memory has almost ruined themselves by winning the championship. Axel, Miz, Kofi, Barrett, Swagger, Ryder, even Big E now. They all won the belts, and became useless losers.

Ambrose has been champion for 11 months. That means he's only weeks away from being a 1 year champion. That is a HUGE accomplishment for any champion, and WWE doesn't even recognize it. And Big E is around 6 months. That'sstill a long reign now a days for any champion. They need to capitalize on stuff like that.

Here are a few steps you take. First off, the Champions can rarely lose. That way, when they do lose, it means something. These guys are champions, not losers. They're suppose to be the second and third best guys in the company behind the WWE World Champion. Next, everyone needs to talk about the titles. Champions and challengers need to give promos talking about how important the championships are, and how they would do anything to be champion. Make it seem like people want to win these titles, and then make it actually worth while to win them. Next, you have to start mixing the card up a bit. Take mid card guys and make them interact with main eventers. Say Big E has a big run, and loses the IC Title. Build him up into a challenger for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. And what about former main eventers? Guys like Orton and Batista can't always be in the WWE Title picture. Take guys like Orton, Sheamus, Batista, have them feud for these titles. They don't even need to win. Just their involvement would be enough to elevate the titles.

As for a specific program? Well, there's a few ways to go. For Dean Ambrose, have him start bragging about being a year long champion, which officially makes him the longest reigning and most dominant champion in the company. This angers the authority, who start lining up challengers for him. He starts beating the guys they throw at him, like Del Rio, Barrett, Christian, and Jack Swagger. Have him defend the title literally every week. And then, when it seems he's unbeatable, Cesaro comes in. He says that he was the longest reigning United States champion in 5 years until Ambrose came along. He's mad that Ambrose took away his milestone, and he wants the title back. They have a main event title match on RAW, and during the match Triple H pedigrees Ambrose and Cesaro steals the title. Start building him up, and give him big matches. Ambrose then feuds in a main event feud, and keeps proclaiming that he is a former year long United States Champion meaning that hey, holding that belt can move a guy up the ladder.

As for Big E and the IC title belt, hold a number one contenders mini tournament. Tournaments always make people believe that winning matters. You have Big E come out and say that he wants to be the best, and that means that he will be challenged by the best. This sets up an 8 Man tournament. Before the tournament, I would build up Titus O'Neil and Damien Sandow. The tournament would consist of Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Titus O'Neil, and Christian. Titus beats Sheamus in the semi's where Dolph then beats Sandow. Titus beats Dolph in the finals, and goes on to beat Big E for the Title at either Money in the Bank or Summerslam. Titus is great on the mic, and I think he can be a huge star given the right opportunities. I think this is a good base to build everything upon. Just keep stating the value and prestige of each title. Have them defended on RAW and SmackDown, and make them main events. If the WWE World Champion is on a show and that show is main eventide by an IC or US Title match, wouldn't that elevate the championships? Just make people believe that these titles are big accomplishments.

 

[OYDK]

The first thing they should do is get rid of the US Championship or unify the IC and US titles quickly. There is really no need for the US title anymore, now that there is only one World title and the brand rosters have all but evaporated and nobody sees the US title as legitimate anymore anyway... It's time to have one set midcard division going for one title and one set main event division going for one title, I'm sick of WWE wasting the midcard talent on worthless US title belts and feuds because the fans don't care. Unify the titles, put it on Reigns, Cesaro, hell even someone like Randy Orton just to give it instant prestige.

Main event a RAW with a huge IC title match or build a personal feud between two guys like Reigns and Ambrose or Orton and Batista... There are many things WWE can do, I believe they're just biding their time right now however

 

[LoudClearVoice]

What I think they need to do is create some great feuds and main feuds, involving the IC title and/or US title. Maybe even give a big name star the IC belt and have him put over an up and comer. Something, anything, to draw interest in the midcard title scene and interest in the belt.

Bring Jericho back and give him another run with the IC belt and have him drop it to Reigns or Cesaro or something. Hell, maybe give Orton the IC belt.

WWE needs to elevate these titles, because it will help the midcard guys get over.

 

[kadroan]

I'd give the titles to more prominent wrestlers, ones who compete in more significant matches as solo wrestlers unlike Ambrose who competes in more tag matches and Big E who doesn't get a decent reaction from the audience and gets lost in the shuffle with the other midcarders.

I like the idea of Sheamus/Del Rio competing for the title but as we can see on Sunday, they got lost in the shuffle as well. Somebody like Cesaro, who is starting to pick up steam again and got Heyman backing him up.

As far as Ambrose, unless they make the US title a target in their feud with The Authority, where somebody like Kane/Batista/Orton targets it somebody like Bray Wyatt should take it since he'll be competing in big matches from here on out.

 

[CyberPunk]

Just for the fun of it, I looked up last few champions in last 3-4 years. What I observed was really disturbing. None of the IC or US champions from last 3 years are any more relevant than they were at that time (I am not counting Dean Ambrose because his relevance has nothing to do with US title). Now, I am not saying that as soon as someone wins IC or US title they should be put in main events. But none of these (namely Kofi, The Miz, Barrett, Santino). There is a possibility that Cesaro might go on to do bigger and better things, but his US title run did nothing for him. And that's what I've been trying to point out.

These midcard titles are not featured in feuds, they are not featured in storylines. No one seems to be wanting the titles. As many people have already pointed out, they have to start building feuds around these titles. Unify them if necessary. Make IC title the rightful #2 title in the company. Stop jobbing your mid-card champions out in pointless matches. There are so many possibilities with your talent and titles. Explore them.

 

[lil steroid meat]

It's very simple really.

Make the IC Title the main belt for Smackdown. Treat it as the WHC in it's final days where Ziggler, Del Rio, Sheamus, etc. were competing for it. The upper midcard/brink of main event belt. Give it stories, have wrestlers come out and cut promos for the programs for the belt. Use it as testing waters to see if someone can carry a WWE WHC program. This is the second most important title in the company and to kick off this "new era" of the belt, I say a main eventer should get a run with it. Maybe Daniel Bryan does a double reign with the World and IC Title with Cesaro or Reigns going over him for the IC Title.

As for the US Title, make it the lower midcard belt. To be honest, they should really rename it the Television belt, just so the title holder has an excuse to be on TV each week. The WWE TV Championship, where you must defend it on one of the four programs (RAW, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars) each week. Make it for lower midcarders and hell, you can unofficially make it for the cruiserweights too since there are a lot of high flying guys who aren't doing anything except the occasional gimmick match spot. This is the belt for the lower midcarders and the guys who just go out there and put on great matches, not necessarily masters on the microphone or overly charismatic, they just put on quick, entertaining matches that are fun for the in person crowd and the people at home.

TL;DR:

IC Title - Treat it like the World Heavyweight Championship in it's final days before unification. Second most important title in the company with actual feuds, promos and programs. Top belt of Smackdown.

US Title - Rename it the TV Title and let lower midcarders and cruiserweights compete for it and just go out there and put on entertaining matches. Must be defended weekly on one of the four WWE TV programs (RAW, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars). Good for upcoming stars because it guarantees television time. Perfect for a Zack Ryder type of wrestler.

 

[H33LTurn]

I think its about time to drop the US Championship. The truth is every time the titles change hands, one of the two champions becomes relevant and the other barely defends his title. WWE is obviously not capable of booking two prominent midcard champions, so they should settle for one.

Of course, this could be remedied by having the titles regularly change hands to whoever is the most relevant midcard superstar at the time. Right now, it only makes sense to have Big E drop the IC title to Cesaro and Ambrose drop it to someone like Barrett, Wyatt, Ziggler, Henry, or Rhodes. There are so many midcarders who would use the title right now, and unfortunately, not having titles change hands regularly does de-value them. WWE needs to get out of the era where champions can hold on to the belt for a year or more and instead embrace the fact that everything is more fast paced now, including who the fans care about.

 

[akathelaw]

Here's a thought:

Stephanie McMahon announces on Raw that from this point going forward, only wrestlers who have previously won the United States Championship may compete for the other 2 singles Championships. So, in order to compete in a title match for the WWE WHC or the Intercontinental Championship, you have to have been US Champ at least once. Previous IC or WWE WHC champs will be grandfathered into US Title status even if they've never held it, just to be fair. Over time, this would create an entirely new and very interesting dynamic for new talent.

Wrestler A is new to the roster, and knows he can beat Wrestler B who is the Intercontinental Champ. Too bad, he has to win the United States title first from Wrestler C, the guy with the unbeatable submission hold.

It's just a way to refresh the setup of the midcard championships, but it also makes the US title a true "rite of passage" in the WWE from then on. It's probably a crazy idea, but it could be cool.

 

[TempestH]

The Intercontinental and United States Titles should be unified. While we do need more belts for the roster, the IC and US Titles are on the same level and are practically interchangeable.

WWE should unify the IC and US belts, leaving just the Intercontinental Championship for hot rising prospects like Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, and for former World Champs like Miz and Ziggler who won't be back in the World Title picture with just one belt, and create a new championship so that lower ranking talents like Kofi and Fandango have something to aim for as well.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Here's a thought:

Stephanie McMahon announces on Raw that from this point going forward, only wrestlers who have previously won the United States Championship may compete for the other 2 singles Championships. So, in order to compete in a title match for the WWE WHC or the Intercontinental Championship, you have to have been US Champ at least once. Previous IC or WWE WHC champs will be grandfathered into US Title status even if they've never held it, just to be fair. Over time, this would create an entirely new and very interesting dynamic for new talent.

Wrestler A is new to the roster, and knows he can beat Wrestler B who is the Intercontinental Champ. Too bad, he has to win the United States title first from Wrestler C, the guy with the unbeatable submission hold.

It's just a way to refresh the setup of the midcard championships, but it also makes the US title a true "rite of passage" in the WWE from then on. It's probably a crazy idea, but it could be cool.

What If someone wins Money in the Bank or the Royal Rumble? Do they have to win a midcard title to get a title shot then?

I'm not a big fan of your idea, no offense. It just seems to me to be forcing an issue in a completely wrong way.

I think a better way would be to make the US title more like the TV title and have it defended every week, and have the IC title treated as the unannounced replacement for the WHC on Smackdown and the other shows like Main Event.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The fact that we did not have an Intercontinental or US Championship match at Wrestlemania is not that big of a deal. Keep in mind that WWE still has Night Of Champions as a PPV brand. I'd put it as currently the #6 show, or so. Other than Money In The Bank it is the biggest deal of the newer PPV brands due to the gimmick of every single title being on the line. This is the only show where the midcard, tag team, and divas belts MUST be on the line. At any other show, these belts can shuffle in turns of which one(s) get a title match at a PPV event. Wrestlemania included. The title holders absolutely needed to be in some type of capacity at the show that, bare minimum. Big E was in the Andre Battle Royal and Dean Ambrose was in a 6 man tag team match. At least they were not left off the card, which would have been a bit of an issue. I was fine with this, they were featured on the card which gave the belts exposure.

Now then, as for the future of these two titles? There are two answers. One is what I have wanted to see happen since the unification of the two world titles, and still hope to see happen. Then there is what probably will end up happening instead. What I would WANT to see happen is for the Intercontinental Championship to get the #2 belt treatment that it should have gotten once the World Heavyweight Championship got unified with the WWE Championship. Upper midcarders can and should be going after it. If you aren't in the main event tier, you should want the Intercontinental Championship. If you're a true midcarder you should want the US Championship, and it should be used as a belt for wrestlers lower on the card getting far more exposure and title matches than it has in the past year.

What we as fans want is not always what we get. The Intercontinental Championship was the #3 belt back when the World Heavyweight Championship was still around. Now with the world titles being unified, that makes the Intercontinental Championship the #2 belt. So, why has WWE not made feuds that previously would have gone to the World Heavyweight Championship be for the Intercontinental Championship? Former WWE Champions or former World Heavyweight Champions with nothing else to do could do a ton of good for that belt's prestige being brought back.

As for the US Championship, it has slowly been made to look pointless. I am sad to say that Ambrose's reign has not been what it should have been. I'm glad he's still holding the belt and approaching an entire year as US Champion, but it should have been far more memorable than this. I would not be surprised if they retired the US Championship at the way things have been going. Merging it with the Intercontinental Championship before deactivating it is likely the route they will end up going in. If so I hope they save that for Night of Champions for obvious reasons.

 

[mace87]

For too long now we have seen the IC & US titles underused and undervalued by the WWE. Ambrose has had the US title for close to a year and hardly even defended it and although the IC title has been defended more often it hasn't really mattered. My first question is do people care that little about the history and heritage of these titles? My second question is how would you build stories to involve them more?

Here are my suggestions for both from now to end of 2014 forgetting what may happen at Extreme Rules.
IC title
Bad News Barrett has had 2 good wins over Mysterio & Kingston since Mania so is on a bit of a role have him start a rivalry with Big E with them facing off at Extreme Rules. Barrett seems over with the fans with his current gimmick so he could win the title their and have a solid run with rivalries against Ziggler, Del Rio, Sheamus & Christian. At Summerslam he could defend it against Reigns where he loses the title and Reigns wins his first singles title. Reigns could then battle Bigshow, Ryback & Alexander Rusev to give him strong challenges that he over comes until TLC where he drops the title in a fatal 4 way ladder match against maybe RVD, Adrian Neville & John Morrison(I put Morrison here for personal reasons as I was a big fan of his in 2011 and could see him having a Jeff Hardy type rise to the top) where Neville could win. (Reigns losing here opens him up to a bigger push going into Mania.

US title
Ambrose could start off by defending the US title against maybe Kane at Extreme Rules with Kane claiming that Ambrose is a disgrace as US champion and no longer deserves the belt but Ambrose can go over Kane to prove it wasn't that he wasn't a fighting champion it was that no one stepped up to face him. Cesaro could then win the title from him beginning a potential push for him where he could hold it against people like Wyatt, Sandow, Henry & Axel. At Survivor Series Cesaro could drop the title to Sami Zyan as the 2 have had some insane matches on NXT. (Like with Reigns this would free him to move up to the next level as both would have had solid title runs and steady pushes in 2014 culminating in Maybe Cesaro or Reigns winning or close to winning the 2015 Royal Rumble. (This also caps off good rookie years on the main roster for Sami Zyan & Adrian Neville plus give Barrett some in ring credibility again which he needs after injuries ended his previous pushes).

Do you like the sound of these ideas or can you think of anything better to do with the IC & US titles? (Obviously the creative team needs to put good story lines around the titles to add to the interest).

 

[GoatfaceKiller]

I can think of one good thing to do with those titles. Unify them into 1 (effectively removing the US Title altogether), and then create a Television Title...which would be a belt that's required to be defended on a regular basis. This title could serve as both a launching pad (for newcomers making their way up from NXT) and as a buffer title (for guys similar to Zack Ryder, Miz, Kofi - guys that are just kinda languishing in no man's land as far as pushes or storylines goes). I think this would be good for business...IF the WWE keeps tag teamers and faction wrestlers away from the TV Title, for the risk of it not being defended due to overlying storylines/angles is just too great.

 

[rbv13]

I never fully uderstood the point some individuals stand by in unifying the IC and US titles only to create a new title. They already have two storied championships. They need to just better highlight them.

The only positive of creating a new title would be the excitment in crowning a new champion but even that can be achieved with the current set up.