Re: The US and IC belts - If they go through w/ unification

[Joe Neglia]

Will they also have an eye on going back to just the one "underneath" belt as well? Will both serve a purpose if the WWE and WHC titles are unified?

[wakko]

I'd unify them, it's not like they are using both of them anyway. When did Ambrose last defend that title? If they focus on the IC belt, the US belt is nothing, and vice versa. Unify them too, and get it over with. Then the cruiserwieght title can return (wishful thinking I know).

[mrbananagrabber]

It'd be interesting to see; a genuine mid-card battling over a midcard belt that means something. Give the smaller guys like Yoshi the Cruiserweight title to fight over. Could work.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

IC Title for guys like Miz, Dolph, Del Rio, etc.

Create a TV Title for the lower card.


And some might take this as a joke, but I think the U.S. And IC Titles should be unified by Kofi and Dolph.

[Deleted]

I'd rather they just make one or the other (Intercontinental title seems more likely given how the two titles have been booked in recent memory) become a lower card title. I think four titles is way too few with a roster of the size they have, and really the way the titles are spread out now there's virtually no reason for guys like Hawkins and 3MB to be employed in kayfabe because they're not getting anywhere close to the US or Intercontinental titles.

Though I'd way, way rather have the Hardcore title back than the Cruiserweight one. We could use way more crazy brawls than we get, and I've always hated the idea of a Cruiserweight division.

[SEAN CARLESS]

They should bring the hardcore belt back. That was the best lower midcard plot device ever, and produced some of WWF's best comedy organically. Two birds with one stone.

[Deleted]

Unify the Intercontinental and United States Championships.

Bring back the European title and give it to Damien Sandow.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Pro: It'd mean the midcarders have less to do, which will force them to actually write compelling storylines instead of 'I WANT YER BELT'

Con: Of course it wouldn't do that, we'd just have all the midcarders wrestling each other for no reason.

[BitterAF]

Bringing back the Hardcore title would have watered down hardcore matches week after week on PG television. Do people really believe this would be beneficial? Will having 4 title changes a week help people tune it? For a meaningless title that hasn't been around for 10 years? I would bet no.

I also don't understand when someone says get rid of either the IC or US and bring back or create xxxxx. Get rid of one title to create a new title with no history or bring back a title that means less than the title that was gotten rid of. The US title meany something in WCW. It is sometimes important now. The IC title meant something from 79-01. Then it didn't exist, came back, and is sometimes important.

How about one step at a time. If the top two titles are unified at TLC or after, why not wait and see how that affects the mid card titles?

[BigWill]

Unify the US and IC titles and midcarders will have even less to do than how it is now, because the WWE doesn't know how to have a midcard angle that doesn't revolve around a title.

[sunnytaker]

hopefully the IC title steps up and becomes what the WHC ended up being. the #2 belt for guys they're looking to possibly one day move up to the WWE title status and something to keep the upper card guys not currently feuding for the WWE title something to keep busy while not trying to pretend it's a "world" title like they do with the WHC.

US title becomes the one midcard/upper midcard title which may be better for it since the IC and US champs would no longer be interchangable like they have been.

so WWE title- main eventers
IC title- uppercard guys/unused main eventers- where it's not looked as a huge step back for a ME guy to be IC champ anymore though this build up will take time- probably need someone make a Punk-like run with the belt to reestablish it to this level.
US title- top of the midcarders/unused uppercarders

[SEAN CARLESS]

Nov 27, 2013 8:11:08 GMT -5 BitterAF said:

Bringing back the Hardcore title would have watered down hardcore matches week after week on PG television. Do people really believe this would be beneficial? Will having 4 title changes a week help people tune it? For a meaningless title that hasn't been around for 10 years? I would bet no.

There wasn't a lot of "Hardcore" to the hardcore title matches during its peak. It was basically just a fun, "Falls count anywhere" title that gave people like Crash Holly something to do. It'd be perfect for guys like Tyson Kidd , Ryder, etc.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

I could really go either way on it. If they do just have one I preferred they keep the IC belt as it is rooted in WWE. Even if the belt has been treated like crap a bunch in the last 14 years or so.

[Deleted]

Nah I think they'll have WWE title, IC title, US title, in that order of importance. The IC title gets a boost, the US title moves into the IC title's slot.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Nov 27, 2013 8:11:08 GMT -5 BitterAF said:

Bringing back the Hardcore title would have watered down hardcore matches week after week on PG television. Do people really believe this would be beneficial? Will having 4 title changes a week help people tune it? For a meaningless title that hasn't been around for 10 years? I would bet no.

The Hardcore Title would be fun. But I wouldn't bring back the 24/7 rule. Just give the belt to someone like Dolph who can put on his goofy gimmick matches every week or Cody who can just do his Disaster Kick off of random objects.

I also don't understand when someone says get rid of either the IC or US and bring back or create xxxxx. Get rid of one title to create a new title with no history or bring back a title that means less than the title that was gotten rid of. The US title meany something in WCW. It is sometimes important now. The IC title meant something from 79-01. Then it didn't exist, came back, and is sometimes important.

Exactly. The U.S. Title meant something in WCW. It's a WCW relic. If the WHC is gone, then the U.S. Title should be gone as well. Also, the U.S. belt was traditionally an upper midcard belt equal to the IC belt. Some fans aren't going to like the idea of the U.S. belt getting demoted. I understand the importance of a lower midcard title, but at the same time, keeping the U.S. Title for that purpose is setting the wrestlers up for an unfair backlash. Some fans will not accept the idea of a belt held by Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes being contested by Tyson Kidd and Fandango. People would just complain about "those worthless jobbers dragging the title down" or "WWE disrespecting the U.S. Title's legacy by putting it on a scrub". Hell, people said the same thing about Santino, and he was actually red hot and mega over when he won the title. Bringing back the European Title or creating a new title to fill the lower midcard role will avoid this backlash and allow the lower midcard to thrive.

There are a lot of guys in the lower card, who I'd love to see pushed and winning gold, but I wouldn't wish the U.S. belt on him if people were only going to complain about it.

[RI Richmark]

Nov 27, 2013 10:01:28 GMT -5 SEAN CARLESS said:

Nov 27, 2013 8:11:08 GMT -5 BitterAF said:

Bringing back the Hardcore title would have watered down hardcore matches week after week on PG television. Do people really believe this would be beneficial? Will having 4 title changes a week help people tune it? For a meaningless title that hasn't been around for 10 years? I would bet no.

There wasn't a lot of "Hardcore" to the hardcore title matches during its peak. It was basically just a fun, "Falls count anywhere" title that gave people like Crash Holly something to do. It'd be perfect for guys like Tyson Kidd , Ryder, etc.

It was fun when it started but it got boring fast. It ended up as a bunch of midcarders trading the belt two or three times a show. (Shawn Stasiak had 15 regins combined they lasted less than a day.) Eventually the belt lost any and all meaning and it was thankfully retired.

As for the original question, I don't see the need to unify the IC and US belts right now. The roster is big enough to support 2 midcard titles.

[Andrew is Good]

I hope so. Right now, the Intercontinental Title is an albatross. Big E is f***ed, because when they need to heat up a heel, they'll beat him into powder, and when they realize they've been beating him so much, they'll beat him more and eventually they'll put the belt on somebody else so they could hopefully do something with the title. I'd say they should unify the titles, and I guess keep the IC title because the only reason the US Title isn't the same is because they're pushing Dean Ambrose a little bit, and even he started losing a lot more once he got that belt.

One positive is with one mid card title, WWE won't be tempted to job out one of their champions to heat somebody up. It's worse when both champions are either heels or babyfaces, because in that case, if they're trying to heat up a guy like Cena, Punk, Del Rio or Orton, they only have a certain number of strong heels or faces to heat them up with. So when both champions have the same alignment, it's more likely that at least one of them will be losing, and those loses continue because he's known for losing, it's like a known formula. And because they don't push a lot of guys and a lot of guys seem to be constantly beaten, they look at a champion and think, hey, they have a belt, beating them won't hurt them, and then you just beat them and this goes on. At least with one mid card title, it helps look at that person and say, well, maybe we could beat somebody else this week and keep this one guy strong.

[Chip]

I'm all for it and have been wanting it much much more then a unification of the world titles. At least with the world titles the damn things are still involved in story lines and are defended on PPV. With the midcard belts it seems creative only has the attention span for one at a time. So whilst we are all excited to see Big E climb the ladder and rip the IC title from Axel's hands, most of us have forgotten that Ambrose, the US Champion even has the f***ing belt. When the time comes for Ambrose to drop the belt, it'll get a storyline then and the IC title will blend into the background. At least with one belt, maybe, just maybe creative would have the attention span to have continuous story lines for the midcard and it's respective belt.