WWE: United States, Intercontinental Championship Revitalized

As recently as a few years ago, WWE’s secondary championships were diluted in value. The past few years, the Intercontinental Championship and United States Championship are being properly spotlighted with elite performers.

It has been a long time since both midcard championships in WWE have been thriving simultaneously. These secondary championships — the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship — are more than simply an intermediate spot on the card. They are the championships for up and coming talent to have a run with before being at the top. The titles also serve as a golden prize for legendary veterans that need a valuable feud.

But perhaps most importantly, both the US Title and Intercontinental Championship are seen as workhorse championships. The superstars battling for them must be able to deliver in lengthy matches when needed. Due to great overall depth in the WWE, the midcard is clicking on all cylinders.

The importance of thriving midcard championships is valuable. After all, not everyone can be a world champion. The intermediate realm of these championships have been boosting fresh talent effectively. Even NXT has created its own secondary championship, the NXT North American Championship. For a while, talents like Velveteen Dream and Adam Cole would have only grudge matches to keep relevant. Now, with the North American Championship, a deeper NXT roster has more options.

The current United States Champion is the charismatic daredevil Jeff Hardy. He is in the middle of a program with Shinsuke Nakamura, who spent the past several months challenging for the WWE Championship. It is not a downgrade for Nakamura to focus on the US Championship. The King of Strong Style is ascending as a foreign heel character. After all, Nakamura claims to “no speak English”. The end game should be for Nakamura to capture the championship and mock the United States.

On the June 25 edition of Raw, the show closed with a 25+ minute classic between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler. In the absence of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, the Intercontinental Championship has thrived in the spotlight. The world champion being part-time has been a blessing, if you look at it a certain way.

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Rollins and Ziggler showed why they are two of the best inside the ring. These two have some of the best cardio in the WWE. They can perform crisply all night long. This performance resulted in WWE booking an Iron Man Match between the two at Extreme Rules. This is an even bigger stage for the Intercontinental Championship to shine.

Additionally, some of the best performers in WWE have been winning midcard championships and providing a boost to the titles. The last four Intercontinental Champions have been Ziggler, Rollins, The Miz, and Roman Reigns. All four men are former world champions, something that makes the midcard more important overall.

Also, besides Jeff Hardy, the last handful of US Champions include Bobby Roode, Randy Orton, and Jinder Mahal. Even Seth Rollins won the US Title roughly three years ago — while he was already WWE Champion. This could highlight the versatility of these superstars that can slide up and down the card without flinching. Or it could mean that there’s not as big a gap between the secondary titles and world titles as there once was.

Next: Does Jeff Hardy Have Another WWE Championship Run in Him?

WWE keeps signing the best in the world. In the current landscape that includes part-time champions, midcard championships need to be just as strong as world titles. WWE has the deepest roster to help buffer the midcard.