WWE Continues To Devalue The Intercontinental Championship
The WWE continues its systematic efforts to diminish the importance of the Intercontinental Championship. Although it is heralded as the championship just below the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the booking decisions leave fans in no doubt the huge gulf between those belts. Where the world title is the most sought-after prize in the industry, the IC retains the reputation as the strap for those that cannot hope to rise in a one-championship system. One is the main event, the other is forever confined to the mid-card.
This situation has been confirmed over the past week on WWE programming. On last week’s edition of Smackdown, champion Dolph Ziggler became the latest victim to fall to the unstoppable run of Rusev, in spite of a spirited performance. This was followed by another defeat on RAW, falling to the RKO of Randy Orton in another fantastic match. And, as of the recording of this week’s episode of Smackdown (SPOILERS), he suffers a third consecutive defeat to the boot of Seth Rollins.
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These run of results are extremely disappointing, considering the recent exposure the secondary title has received in the past couple of months. The feud between Ziggler and The Miz gave the belt a new lease of life due to the quality of their bouts. Although the championship switched hands more times than necessary in the pursuit of shock value, it did help keep the title in the crowd’s imagination, rather than be a forgettable prop. The pair traded victories, got Damien Mizdow and R-Ziggler involved, and generally impressed in the pursuit of the title. The belt seemed important again, a prestigious championship that was heatedly contested for. But, all of that success has been somewhat derailed by Ziggler’s regular defeats in non-title matches.
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That is not to say that champions should always win non-title matches or maintain unbeaten runs until they lose the belt. Indeed, Sheamus’ consecutive losses to Miz on RAW have done a great deal to progress the intensity of the feud and put his US title in jeopardy at Hell in a Cell. In the same vein, if the Usos were to get victories over Gold/Stardust in the run to their title defense, that would be fine too. As would be Paige defeating AJ Lee, or even Cesaro defeating Ziggler on TV. The reason why these are acceptable compared to the aforementioned results is that they progress a story and add flesh to a feud.
Conversely, if Ziggler is fed as enhancement talent to the main event stars in the company, it devalues the title in the grand scheme of the WWE hierarchy. Ziggler was often employed in this role prior to winning the title, and due to his ability to make others look great in the ring, it is unsurprising that officials would look to him to continue to fill this gap. But, now that he holds the Intercontinental Championship, he should be protected from these defeats by sticking others in his place. It’s not as if the company is bereft of non-champion mid-carders, like Kofi Kingston, Adam Rose and Big E.
Let’s face it; the sheer number of times Ziggler has been Curb-Stomped for a three count in the last few months, Seth Rollins should have been Intercontinental Champion three times over. Same goes for Randy Orton. These victories though just cement the idea that the secondary championship has no value to any superstar above the mid-card. Main event stars like Rollins, Orton, John Cena and Dean Ambrose don’t take these victories and employ them as reasons to challenge for Ziggler’s title in the way a Cesaro or Bo Dallas would. For them, the IC title is beneath their interests and would derail a pursuit of the World Championship, the only belt that actually matters.
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It seems ridiculous that a belt that once helped propel the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Triple H and Randy Orton into the World Championship picture is now essentially the prize for those who don’t have the capacity to make the main event in today’s WWE. It is no longer a prestigious stepping stone or the “workhorse” belt, despite the excellent superstars that wear it or the fantastic matches they put on. It is simply a concoction of leather and gold that adds a few extra words onto their introduction. It’s the pinnacle for those in a separate tier of also-rans and nearly-men, whilst those at the top would seemingly be disgraced to be wearing it.
To rescue its dwindling reputation, the company should be protecting their champions, ALL of them, by making it a big deal if they are defeated and the implications that suggest. Keep the Intercontinental Champion away from main event talent that you want to be winning more often than not, no matter how good they are in the ring. The WWE has many superstars that they can thrust into those matches, so Ziggler has no need to suffer these losses. Instead, give him the chance to regularly defeat some guys lower down the card, like Heath Slater or Fandango, rather than make him the prey to the megastars.
In the end, the Intercontinental Championship should be treated as a remarkable achievement, as that will keep fans interested in it, whether it is fought for exclusively by mid-carders or not. But, if it continues to be a prop that is ignored by the main event stars when they get a seemingly forgone victory over the champ, it will not maintain the successful lineage that precedes this environment. Otherwise, the Intercontinental Champion might as well be re-titled “King of the Jobbers”.