Wrestlemania Week Day Two: Whatever Happened to the Intercontinental Championship?

The once great WWE Intercontinental Championship

On the last episode of Smackdown, Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
My first reaction was "who cares". Winning the IC title doesn't mean squat anymore.


This is allegedly one of the most prestigious titles in sports entertainment history and 10 years ago you could make that argument. The wrestlers who fought for that title (Chris Jericho, Chyna, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero) engaged in great feuds and years before that it was a stepping stone for the next generation of heavyweight champions, the likes of Bret Hart, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, The Rock and Triple H. It's worth noting other great IC Champions like Razor Ramon, Ricky Steamboat, Macho Man, The Ultimate Warrior and Mr. Perfect.


Nowadays? Sometimes the title goes undefended (house shows excluded) for months. Other than a seven-minute reign designed to boost Edge's resume, the last four IC Champions have gone nowhere in terms of main event status and Barrett is in danger of making it five. In terms of Wrestlemania, other than a 20-second romp between Rey Mysterio and JBL, you have to go all the way back to 2002 to see the IC title defend at the company's top show. Given Barrett's current storyline I doubt that trend will change this year.


So what happened?:


--WWE doesn't care about second-tier titles: You think the way the IC title being treated is bad? Look at the tag team division. What a disgrace. Anyway, when you have two world heavyweight champions (no, this is not boxing) I imagine it's hard to make the second tier titles matter. Speaking of which...

Not every IC champ has gone
on to greatness.

--United States Championship: One of the last reminders of WCW has apparently overtaken the Intercontinental title as the top second tier title, which makes it the skinniest kid at fat camp. The Miz was U.S. Champ for the majority of 2010 and since he was also a Tag Team champion and Mr. Money in the Bank, the belt was rarely defended. But the Miz isn't the point. It's pretty obvious that Smackdown is treated as a second-rate show and if the U.S. title is on Raw and the IC title is on Smackdown, well, you get the picture.

--Money in the Bank: Remember when I said the Intercontinental Championship used to be a stepping stone for future main eventers? Well, that has been replaced by a briefcase that grants the holder a heavyweight title shot whenever they want. Edge shocked everybody when he cashed his briefcase in. Rob Van Dam set up his title shot in what is possibly the best non-Wrestlemania Pay-Per-View ever. Then Edge did the exact same thing he did last time. Then CM Punk did the exact same thing. Twice. Then Jack Swagger did the exact same thing (you can see it all here. Then WWE decided one Mr. MITB wasn't enough, so they created a new PPV where Kane and The Miz won their respective show's briefcases and did the exact same thing nearly every other MITB winner has done. I showed you those yesterday.

Being a longtime wrestling fan it's hard to see a title that generated so many great matches and so many great rivalries fall by the wayside. When WWE deactivated the title a few years ago it should have stayed that way. Because the way it's being treated now is just pathetic.

Out.