Daniel Bryan As Intercontinental Champion.

[Deleted]

That actually doesn't sound to bad to me like Randy Savage back in the day or Nakamura in current NJPW.I will be honest i haven't watched any WWE besides PPV's since Royal Rumble but him as IC champ doesn't bother me and with Cena going after the US title it seems like they may be trying to elevate the midcard titles.The only thing that seems semi bad is Reigns becoming an after thought to midcard feuds.

[kidglov3s]

But how can he rival Dolph's recent legendary run from December to January?

Is Bryan a bad enough dude to lose non title matches on tv several times a week?

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2015 13:25:57 GMT -5 @andreeethemidget said:

That actually doesn't sound to bad to me like Randy Savage back in the day or Nakamura in current NJPW.I will be honest i haven't watched any WWE besides PPV's since Royal Rumble but him as IC champ doesn't bother me and with Cena going after the US title it seems like they may be trying to elevate the midcard titles.The only thing that seems semi bad is Reigns becoming an after thought to midcard feuds.

That's a bad thing?

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2015 13:28:54 GMT -5 @kn said:

Mar 11, 2015 13:25:57 GMT -5 @andreeethemidget said:

That actually doesn't sound to bad to me like Randy Savage back in the day or Nakamura in current NJPW.I will be honest i haven't watched any WWE besides PPV's since Royal Rumble but him as IC champ doesn't bother me and with Cena going after the US title it seems like they may be trying to elevate the midcard titles.The only thing that seems semi bad is Reigns becoming an after thought to midcard feuds.

That's a bad thing?

Honestly to me no but it seems like some people really like Reigns so bad for them i guess.

[Hit Girl]

If Barrett's booking is a sign of things to come, Bryan will not benefit from winning the title.

[Lancers]

I hate the way they book midcard title feuds. It's almost always somebody beats the champ in a non-title match which leads to them becoming #1 contenders. I'll never get this line of thinking. Totally unnecessary.

[xxshoyuweeniexx]

Mar 11, 2015 13:28:49 GMT -5 kidglov3s said:

But how can he rival Dolph's recent legendary run from December to January?

Is Bryan a bad enough dude to lose non title matches on tv several times a week?

Only if President Pauly gets kidnapped by ninjas.

[Deleted]

You have way more confidence in WWE's booking than I do, OP. If Bryan and Cena win those titles I think it will be like those times they put the Tag titles on two main eventers. They belts will feel important for a month or so before fading back into irrelevance.

[Pushed to the Moon]

The IC title is now just a ticket to losing every week on Raw. It's such a shame.

[freeze Austin]

Speaking as a fan of his I wouldn't have minded it so long as WWE actually treated it as prestigious, important and a big deal, but with the comedy stuff they're doing with the title stealing (which really doesn't bother me that much if it's just Truth doing it), talking about potatoes during his match, and worst of all last night (ugh) trying to make "turd" happen, I don't think it's ever going to happen.

I just feel like they had a chance to get the idea of this over with the fans and make it work, but Vince has instead decided to blow it yet again and make a lot of talented performers look really dumb either as a means of popping himself and not-so-creative Dunn, or to protect the guys they really see as "stars" and make them seem serious by comparison. I'm not sure which motive I'd view as more disappointing.

[northernmonkey]

If it's booked well it'll be good. But given the recent track record of that belt, he'll just have a load of non-title matches that he'll lose and feuds with no real storyline behind them.

[HMARK Center]

The bright side if Bryan wins is that I don't see any chance of them going the "Bryan loses every non-title match" route with him; even if they're not pushing him as the top dog, he's still too over and at least somewhat protected for that.

The issue is what some of you are saying: once they put the belt on him (assuming he wins), would they actually go through with allowing him to rehabilitate the belt's image? Would he pull a Bret Hart and defend it regularly (say, every other week or so) against seemingly random challengers, all in an attempt to prove his worth as champion and the worth of the belt? Would he get the chance to be like Nakamura, and be treated as an attraction nearly on par with the World Title, because it's such a huge deal that a guy of Bryan's standing is holding the strap?

Or, is the outcome more what a lot of people probably fear: that WWE creative sucks at their job, may have a good idea initially on this, and then forget about it a few weeks later and basically let Bryan keep the belt as nothing more than a personal prop for his entrances (ala Ambrose as US champ)?

Again, I don't see them booking Bryan into irrelevance, but I also can't imagine having faith in them to really see it through to rebuild both midcard belts for more than a few months.

[Allie Kitsune]

I think you mean "Inturdcontinental Champion".

[Deleted]

In the past 10-15 years, the IC title has never gotten "more prestigious," it has seemed less and less like something important. No matter who they put it on or what stories they write for it.

In recent history (the last 10-15 years), the number of guys who have won the WWE title, then a midcard title, then re-won the WWE title is fairly miniscule if any at all.

It would be hopeful to say that WWE wants to put it on Bryan to elevate its status.

It would be more realisitic to assume that WWE now sees Bryan as an "upper mid card guy" for the rest of his career in WWE. He would be on the same level as, say, the Miz, especailly with the WHC title gone.

To go even further with it in the last decade only 3 of the 25 people who have held the IC title have gone on to hold the WWE title afterwards and zero in the last five years. Though, that was just a quick glance at Wikipedia, so I could be off and if I went further and further back, the trend could be the same, so keep that in mind.

Point is this is in no way a step up for Bryan and I can't see it being anything special for the IC title.

[lionheart21]

I'd be fine with this if the IC title meant anything nowadays.

[Allie Kitsune]

Mar 11, 2015 14:01:10 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

In the past 10-15 years, the IC title has never gotten "more prestigious," it has seemed less and less like something important. No matter who they put it on or what stories they write for it.

In recent history (the last 10-15 years), the number of guys who have won the WWE title, then a midcard title, then re-won the WWE title is fairly miniscule if any at all.

It would be hopeful to say that WWE wants to put it on Bryan to elevate its status.

It would be more realisitic to assume that WWE now sees Bryan as an "upper mid card guy" for the rest of his career in WWE. He would be on the same level as, say, the Miz, especailly with the WHC title gone.

To go even further with it in the last decade only 3 of the 25 people who have held the IC title have gone on to hold the WWE title afterwards and zero in the last five years. Though, that was just a quick glance at Wikipedia, so I could be off and if I went further and further back, the trend could be the same, so keep that in mind.

Point is this is in no way a step up for Bryan and I can't see it being anything special for the IC title.

As far as I'm concerned, HHH got his way when it comes to titles in the WWE. They let him go out week after week after week and preach that no title mattered except for whichever of the World Titles was on RAW (during the times when the WHC was on RAW instead of SD, it was treated as the more important one).

And so WWE treated every other title as if it meant nothing. And now they all mean nothing.

And in the "kayfabe is dead"/"there can be only one" era, everyone knows that a midcard title is a brick wall that keeps you from advancing towards being "The Guy", so a fan that wants you to be "The Guy" doesn't want you anywhere near that belt, because "The Guy" should be holding the main title.

[Crappler El 0 M]

The championship has felt more like an anchor over the past few years. In the past month it's seemed like a prop for bad comedy segments.

[walterharrow]

They no longer have the WHC, so they really should make the IC title more important and have upper mid carders and main eventers, who arent currently in the WWE title picture, feud over it. It is a simple way of giving guys something to do instead of throwing people in random matches.

Daniel Bryan as Interconinental Champion could be great, if WWE books it right. Have him win the title and decide to be a fighting champion and go on a lengthly run where he puts on great matches. That would keep Bryan strong and would help the IC title

They just need to actually make people earn a shot at him without beating him. Ambrose vs Ziggler is a number one contenders mini feud is a good idea. Build someone up from NXT by having them go on a winning streak before calling out Bryan. Make a tournament, beat the clock etc(again, that would give a lot of mid carders something to do)

[Professor Chaos]

They can have Bryan as IC and Cena as US headlining shows all year. Brock remains the champ we rarely see for another year when he gets dethroned at WrestleMania next year by Royal Rumble winner Dean Ambrose. This company would never be intelligent enough to do that though.

[Deleted]

The simple solution is to let the IC title be the workers title where it's just good match after good match for he title, but I doubt that they'd want to risk it overshadowing the WWE title. Honestly I don't see Bryan re-signing once his deal is over whenever that is, not because of his booking or anything I just get the feeling that he's pretty beat up and probably has some other life goals that he wants to accomplish away from the ring.