“This is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen.” That was Jesse “The Body” Ventura commentating during Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s WrestleMania III match for the Intercontinental Title. This match was one of those “perfect recipe” situations. Great wrestlers, great drama, great commentary, and a great crowd. So what happened to the importance of that belt?!
Besides having those two hold the title, many greats in wrestling have also had it. Guys like Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The British Bulldog, Razor Ramon, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge and Chris Jericho. Not a stinker in the bunch.
So, seriously, what happened? How has this title become something that was once seen as the next stepping stone to the Heavyweight strap to the doobie of professional wrestling to be passed about the room? I intend to find out...meaning blame someone.
Perhaps it was when the belt was handed to Shane “Dean” Douglas by HBK in ’95. No? Maybe when Ahmed Johnson beat Goldust for it. Getting warmer. I could even say it was when Chyna beat Jeff Jarrett for the title in ‘99. See, I can sit here all day trying to blame a certain wrestler for what has happened to this once prestigious title. I can blame bad storylines, injuries or whatever. But what it really comes down to is slapping it onto someone for a quick fix.
When they gave it to Santino during his debut to further Vince’s feud with Donald Trump and Bobby Lashley I was like, “Okay, let’s see where this goes.” Umaga got it back to lose it to Jeff Hardy who lost it to Jericho who lost if to Kofi who lost it to Beth Phoenix (during that intergender match) who lost it to a sick Regal who lost it to CM Punk who just lost it to JBL. Christ, its like reading the bible! Begat, begat, begat!
This belt should not be used to further someone else’s feud. The McMahon/Trump feud got this funky ball rolling and it seems to have never stopped. Punk got the belt back from Regal only to lose it to JBL a month or so later. Now JBL is promising big things for the title. This makes me nervous.
Maybe he could bring it to WrestleMania and actually put the damned thing on the card. We feared that since Punk was in Money In The Bank match as the champion, this would not happen. Now it can. But who will JBL even face if it does? Almost everyone is booked already. There is almost no time to get a feud going that would mean anything. Umaga was a dominant champion but him and JBL against each other couldn’t draw a bridge. Maybe Santino to get back what he thinks is his. I’m not sure what they could do and that sucks.
This belt needs to get back the respect it once had. Guys used to beat each other bloody for this title. Now it’s a glorified TV Title and that just isn’t right.
3 comments: on "Making Intercontinental Monumental"
How about when they actually got rid of the IC belt for a little while? I think they unified it with the WWE title at one point. Triple H VS. Kane I think. That sucked balls.
how are new fans to the fed expected to see a title we've all grew up loving as the stepping stone to the big one. like you say, to many punks are aloud to hold it who have done nothing for the belt, then again not been aloud to do anything with the strap either.
my opinion is that none of the belts really mean anything anymore, far to many changes from the top belt to the womens, i rele hope this changes
I dont see why people wonder how to make newer fans see thing in a new way. The question answers itself. You give the belt to someone you actually want to be a huge future star and put them in feuds with wrestlers that are on the same path to stardom. As much as I like Legacy Rhodes and DiBiase would be better off as singles fighting to make the belt important again.
Post a Comment