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Why Cesaro Should Be the Next WWE Intercontinental Champion

By Jay Sichler

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The Swiss Superman, Cesaro, can bring prestige back to a now irrelevant championship.

For twenty years the Intercontinental Championship was considered a stepping stone to becoming a future WWE Champion. Competitors such as Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Triple H, and Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Intercontinental Championship and used it to help solidify them as future world champions.

The title was once known as the working man’s belt because of the reputation it gained of being the title used to help display the best workers and matches on the card. This was proven especially true in the mid-to-late 1980’s when superstars like Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude had matches that outperformed the main events which usually featured Hulk Hogan.

However, since 2005 the championship’s name and reputation have dropped with no names such as Ezekiel Jackson, Curtis Axel, Drew McIntyre and Big E winning the belt. The title also has not had a championship bout that could be regarded as memorable since its last top champion Randy Orton faced Mick Foley in an incredible hardcore match for the championship at Backlash 2004.

WWE tried to fix the problem it was having with both their mid card titles (United States Championship being the other) earlier this year at WrestleMania 31 when John Cena won the United States Championship and Daniel Bryan won the Intercontinental Championship. This idea has been fantastic for resurrecting the United States Belt as John Cena has been arguably having the best matches in WWE this year defending the title against Kevin Owens, Rusev, Wade Barrett and Cesaro.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the Intercontinental championship, as Daniel Bryan injured himself right after winning the belt. He was eventually forced to vacate it.

Ryback then won the title in a forgetful Elimination Chamber match. Then just like Bryan, Ryback became injured and the title has not been defended in almost 2 months.

Before Ryback got injured, he was planning on defending it against The Miz and the Big Show in what was becoming a rather boring and uneventful feud. Compared to Cena, who was involved in a fantastic feud with Kevin Owens and is now going to be facing Seth Rollins in the main event at SummerSlam with both the WWE and United States Championship on the line.

SummerSlam is the second biggest pay-per-view of the year and if WWE wants to try to save this close to dead championship it should be defended in a marquee match. If I was booking, I would strip the title off of Ryback. There seems to be no timetable on his return and him keeping the IC Title is only hurting it. Also, The Miz and Big Show feud was doing nothing to help him or the title, no one cared and no was ever going to care.

I would then have Cesaro and Kevin Owens fight for the vacant championship at SummerSlam. Cesaro and Owens feud has been entertaining and these two are on the cusp of being main event talents. Adding the Intercontinental championship into the mix would help elevate them and the title. If given the right time, these two could steal the show at SummerSlam. Their match could also bring back meaning and importance to the championship. People are going into SummerSlam to see Undertaker and Brock Lesnar but they could leave remembering Owens and Cesaro’s classic battle for the Intercontinental Championship.

I would book Cesaro to win the match, as I feel Kevin Owens should be consistently in the main event picture going forward. He doesn’t need a mid-card title to help him get over.

With Cesaro as champion, I would have him do a weekly open challenge. However, if Cena remains champion after SummerSlam, I would have him do them on SmackDown.

SmackDown is moving to the USA Network in September. WWE has said once this happens they are really going to invest in building up the blue brand again. Having a title match every week will help draw viewers to the show. Cesaro has a reputation on putting on classic matches, and with a forum like SmackDown, he could put on top matches every week with the Intercontinental Championship.

This would help bring prestige back to Intercontinental Championship as just like the United States open challenge it would draw mid card talents to challenge Cesaro every week showing how important the Intercontinental Championship is. It would also help elevate Cesaro, as he’ll be seen as putting on great matches which carry meaning as well.

It would help the mid-card division and Cesaro in developing him into a future main event star. This would also give SmackDown a segment every one would tune in to watch each week.

How would you book the Intercontinental Championship going forward? Please leave your comments in the comment section below. Like, share, or find me on Twitter @JaySichler.

Next: Why WWE Should Sign Shinsuke Nakamura

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