Championships belts in the WWE used to mean something, especially with their mid-card titles. Today, not so much. With the exception of the Universal Champion because of the way they booked Roman Reigns, no title in the WWE doesn’t feel important or special. That includes the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship.
Both titles haven’t been relevant in a while. Damien Priest elevated the US championship a bit in the beginning. But he isn’t doing anything relevant since. And Shinsuke Nakamura’s IC title reign has been a dud since he won it.
If the WWE wants to boost their mid-card titles up, this is what they should do
First, Priest should beat the IC Champion Nakamura at Survivor Series since they’re doing the whole Raw vs Smackdown thing again. After Survivor Series, Priest should bring back the US Title Open Challenge. He should defend the title almost every week. If not, every week. Then after a few months, he should lose the championship at WrestleMania.
I liked that explanation for Damian Priest's darker side. His character development has been dope so far.#WWERaw
— Pro Wrestling Finesse (@ProWFinesse) November 2, 2021
You might ask who should he lose it to? There are many wrestlers on the Raw roster that should be him like Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, and The Miz. But out of all the wrestlers that I named, the wrestlers that I want to take the US Championship away from Priest are Rollins or Bobby Lashley.
Rollins is my first choice. He can give Priest a great match, maybe the best match Priest will ever have. They can a type of match where even though Rollins won, it doesn’t hurt Priest. Rollins is also one of the key players in WWE today. He’s a star. He will elevate the title more because of his status. He did it before with the IC title. He can do it with the US title. If the WWE does it this way where Priest is rebuilding the title status and Rollins elevates it, this will bring the prestige back.
Bobby Lashley is another guy I would like to win the belt because he just came off from a good WWE title reign. So, he could bring the greatness of the US title back while boosting up his value again because he lose a lot in recent times.
But I rather have Rollins win because his status in the company will benefit the championship than Lashley would. But if they don’t want Rollins in the US title picture, then Lashley is a perfect second option. Balor and Styles were under consideration but I have a feeling they will face each other at WrestleMania.
What should WWE do with the Intercontinental Championship?
After Survivor Series, Nakamura should be in a feud with Sheamus once he’s back from injury. And he should be the new IC champion as soon as possible. Once he’s the champ, he should have a dominant run until WrestleMania.
That’s where he should lose the title to either Ricochet or Cesaro at the grandest stage of them all. They could have a singles match or a triple threat match it’s doesn’t because all three variations of the matches will be great.
If I have to choose who should win the IC championship, it’s Cesaro. He and Sheamus had a history together. They quickly became tag team partners shortly after their brief feud. As the Bar, they have won five Tag Team Championships. They are a One-time Smackdown Tag Team Champions and a Four-time Raw Tag Team Champions.
In 2019, they split up. No one to this day knows why WWE split up The Bar, but they weren’t mad about it because they are once again singles wrestlers. While Sheamus had success as a singles competitor, Cesaro on the other hand could not even scratch the success that Sheamus has right now. So, with the history between both wrestlers plus the story of Cesaro reaching for the brass ring, this match along with the storyline will be great.
Even though Ricochet might have a better match with Sheamus than Cesaro plus the fact that this match is a way to move up his status in the company, Ricochet is my backup option because of the build-up with Cesaro and Sheamus will be better than Ricochet and Sheamus. It’s a WrestleMania quality build.
If you think that WrestleMania is too early for Cesaro to win the IC title then that’s no problem. Do a triple threat match with Cesaro, Ricochet, and Sheamus at WrestleMania and have Sheamus retain. Then slowly build the story between Sheamus and Cesaro up for a few months and then at Money in the bank or at SummerSlam, have Cesaro finally beating Sheamus for the IC title.
If WWE wants to bring the values of the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship, they need to let Damien Priest do the US Open Challenge until WrestleMania where he can lose it to Seth Rollins or Bobby Lashley. And they need to give the IC Championship to Sheamus. Let him have a dominant run then let him lose to Cesaro or Ricochet.