Last night Jeff Hardy won the Intercontinental title, again. My big question is, why?Does this help Jeff Hardy or hurt Johnny Nitro? Hardy has held this title before – hell he beat Triple H for it! He is a well established name in the WWE who has been over like crazy since his return. This brings me back to something Jake Roberts once told me. “If you’re really over – you don’t need a belt – unless you’re trying to put that belt over”.
Nitro was starting to gain credibility in the eyes of the fans as Intercontinental champion. Then he drops it cleanly to a guy many feel should be sitting in the tag division or even moved up to the World Title picture.
I loved Hardy’s victory speech, (muffed as it was) where he said he was now the hunted, and rhymed off the names who would now be chasing his title. The nice thing is, it gives a sense of competitive parity. The problem with that is that Nitro is now on the back burner.
I don’t want to come off as the world’s biggest Nitro mark. I happen to think the guy has a ton of charisma, in ring ability and that mystical “it” factor. He reminds me a lot of a young Adam Copeland.
If the powers that be decided it was time for Nitro to drop the title, it would have been smart to lay it on a guy like Super Crazy. Nobody is buying Crazy as a legitimate Raw midcarder. His two wins against Skinny Chris Masters mean very little when Masters has been off TV for so long.
Hand the belt to Crazy. The WWE is always looking for more latino stars to push. They also love the underdog story, as evidenced by Rey’s entire run. Let the guys around the title be used to either a) elevate the champion or b) elevate themselves with long chases that result in near misses.
Carlito is still considered part of the I-C title scene, and I personally think he should be the next to step up and feud with Cena. Of Course, they’re both babyfaces right now – but dammit, it’s time to turn Cena heel anyway. Carly can do it.
I’m interested to see what happens with this Jeff Hardy run – but I’m having visions to the late 90’s when EVERY midcarder held the belt for a minute. Road Dogg, Marty Jannetty, Godfather, Val Venis, and on and on.
I hope they don’t start hotshotting the belt around here so that everyone gets a taste. The entire division can be elevated on the strength of one great champion. To me, they had that man in place. Let’s see what his successor does.
9 comments: on "Why is Jeff the champ?"
Nitro was gaining credibility? Is that why there was dead silence in the arena during his entrance last night? No cheers, no boos, nothing - just the echoes of the last notes of this entrance music heard before it was cut off. Credibility means winning singles matches (one-on-one) without outside interference, which I have never seen him do. He may well be a talented commodity, but the bookers are booking him like a turd.
Nitro was gaining credibility, but very slowly; his matches were starting to become somewhat stale as far as the finish. Never any real O's, just Melina interfering, then Nitro does something quick to get the pin.
How does the WWE fix this? Well, for once, this is a time where they should let history repeat itself. Get rid of Melina
(just for a while), put him into a feud with someone he has a lot of history with (hmm...isn't Joey Mercury getting back from rehad soon?) or someone who has credibility and isn't doing anything (i.e. Mr. Benjamin), preferably with some title on the line, then after that feud dies, let him turn back into a heel again and slowly elevate him to main events. Otherwise, Nitro may end up in a creative roadblock.
thank you adam thank you this has some how turned into super smark central what ever happend to just enjoying the show
I appreciate everyone's comments but take exception to "super smark central".
This is an OPINION website.
We created this site to share our opinions (and sometimes actual fact) about the industry we all love.
I'm not shitting on the switch - just merely illustrating a few things to be considered.
"what ever happend to just enjoying the show"
Tennessee Williams once said, "One cannot enjoy the show without understanding and examining it on every level and from every angle."
hardy vs edge would love to see it cena back on smackdown love it more jerico love it best kcstarr myspace.com/kcstarr33
I don't think it was years off hand...
but Kane won it from Edge and the belt was then "retired"
and thanks for 'gettin it' bullie
Big Daddy (and everyone else),
Didn't the IC belt disappear after HHH beat Kane for it and 'unified' it with the World Championship title?
I remember this cuz I have the 2002 No Mercy PPV on DVD...that's when it happened.
I think the IC division on Raw is the best thing going for the WWE right now. I love any division with a lot of potential champions. The number of competitors in a division, who could reasonably attain the title, not only adds intrigue, and suprises (like the Hardy victory), but also lends such a belt more legitimacy. Not to mention, wrestlers like Hardy, Carly, Nitro, and Crazy add a ton of O's making this fun to watch. Hell I'd like the division to get even bigger with the addition of Shelton to the mix.
If we look at all the other belts on Raw and Smackdown (barring perhaps the women's belt), none has this level of competition. Main eventers are spread FAR too thin. So we see belts juggled between Cena and Edge, and disasterous main event pushes after only a few years in the company (i.e. Cena, Orton, and Batista)
If those main event pictures were as stacked like that in the late 90's - Austin, Rock, HHH, Jericho, Undertaker, Angle, ect., or really any other point in WWE history. I dont think we'd complain as much about how played out Cena was. (Though if this were any other point, Cena would ALSO be in the IC title hunt!)
Im usually pretty snarky about the WWE now adays, but I dont see the point in complaining about a good division, loaded to the brim with good solid competitors, putting on many good matches. Does Hardy deserve a main event spot? Could he help save it? Yeah, probably. Should Nitro have lost so suddenly? Maybe not. But those are minor details in a bigger picture. Hardy will prove himself with this belt and if he does well, he'll get the big one when the time is right. Nitro losing now isn't that important. We all know he'll get the belt again later on (maybe several times)
More importantly is this heavy IC division is entertaining and is setting the stage for the future of the WWE. Many of these rivalries we see carrying out now are going to continue into the main event picture. Just give it time.
I looked it up.... Kane won the I-C title from Jericho on September 30th 2002 in Houston on an episode of RAW.. and then saw it retired on October 20th of 2002 following a match with Edge.
The title was off WWE programming until May 18th 2003 when Christian won a Battle Royal at the Judgement Day PPV.
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