In my opinion it was at No Mercy 2002 when WWE came up with the "awesome" idea to merge the IC title with the WHC. Ever since the IC title hasn't been involved in any high profile feuds.
What WWE needs to do is something like the Two Man Power Trip. During that era the IC title was portrayed as nearly on par with the WWE title. If we had two high profile heels or faces join forces like Triple H and Austin did, it could bring back the prestige to the title. Then they should have the belt actually defended on PPV. The same thing could be done for the US Title on Smackdown.
The IC title began to lose prestige firstly around the time it was no longer called the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, then it came back to some class and then dropped again in credibility after Shawn won the European title from Bulldog. I liked the European title at the time. Bulldog and Owen had a good final match in the tournament for it and then Shawn winning it and not defending it somehow affected the IC title. Austin helped it little and then threw it in the Hudson dropping it again. Val Venis, Road Dog, Chyna, Billy Gunn, Albert, the Godfather, and Santino's first reign didn't help. Dean Douglas' short reign didn't help but if it was Shane Douglas it would have. It's amazing how much a name changes things. Then the title was dropped and that obviously affected it. The length of matches also affects it while some IC matches have been short in the past even on some well known PPVs, you also had good 25 min to 45 min IC matches with two credible wrestlers. I can go on forever. I don't think the title is a joke at all though, Paterson, Muraco, Valentine, Santana, Savage, Steamboat, HTM, Rick Rude, Warrior, Hening, Bret, Michaels, Piper, Ramon, Jarret, Austin, Owen, RVD, Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho, Angle, Storm, Hardy, Edge, Booker T, Orton, and some more are definately worthy former IC champions. These guys were all good enough to be IC champions. Although all of them didn't eventually become Worls Champions all of them with the exception of Paterson, the Hammer, HTM, Ramon, and Storm should have been. The IC title is supposed to be a stepping stone for a future world champion but KOR and MIB might take a little bit away from the importance of the IC title.
