Lashley is IC Champion Again

[Deleted]

And I love it.

Sucks for Finn, and I'm sure it's gonna be unpopular, but I'd rather the belt be on a memetic man than a guy who refuses to eat a single carb.

[Deleted]

I can't remember the last time I even slightly cared about the Intercontinental title. I guess maybe the Ziggler / Miz feud but even then by the end of that feud I was sick of it and that was more about Dolph proving he could get the job done than the actual title itself.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Balor will do his paint gimmick and win it back at WrestleMania. I did initially think of Cena as a possibility, with the IC belt being one of the only singles belts he hasn't won yet, but I think he's going to do Angle's retirement match.

[chrom]

Ho hum

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2019 22:08:44 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I can't remember the last time I even slightly cared about the Intercontinental title. I guess maybe the Ziggler / Miz feud but even then by the end of that feud I was sick of it and that was more about Dolph proving he could get the job done than the actual title itself.

I was really enjoying Seth's first reign. Ever since that ended, the IC Title's been about as worthless as the US Title.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

If this leads to Demon Balor at Mania, I'm okay with it.

[MolotovMocktail]

Putting a death grip on the Universal Title apparently gives them license to ping-pong the midcard belts every week. Another issue with modern WWE these days.

[Deleted]

I'm not surprised. At the end of WM we're going to have at least 6 of the 10 titles belonging to faces and that's not counting the IC so we gotta have the heels hold some of the titles. This one being Lashley's makes sense to me from a balance perspective.

Here's the breakdown that I expect at the end of WM

WWE Title - Kofi (Face)
Universal Title - Seth (Face)
Raw Women's - Becky (Face)
SDL Women's - Asuka (Face)
IC Title - ?
US Title - Joe (Heel)
Raw Tag - ?
SDL Tag - ?
Women's Tag -  B&HC (Face)
Cruiserweight - ?

That's at least 5 titles belonging to faces, not sure about the rest but either way you gotta not only balance things but also have a good amount of defending champions. Joe, Asuka and B&HC are keeping their titles. Anything beyond that? Who knows.

[RI Richmark]

I actually like Lashley as a dominant IC Champion. Especially with Lio back as his mouthpiece. Just keep him away from Corbin and McIntyre and let him do his own thing.

[Deleted]

Cool. I like seeing Lashley wreck people.

[Deleted]

I forgot that Balor was even IC champ until he showed up wearing the belt. That belt used to mean something, now it’s useless.

[Starshine]

I think the SmackDown belt is closer to what the classic IC belt actually was. The current iteration of the IC belt is more like the European belt, or Hardcore belt. One of the more pointless ones no one actually cared about.

[Deleted]

Good.

They messed up the Lashley/Lio storyline when they had Lashley kick his ass and become SUPER SRS. I want the hypeman and The Almighty back to their original best. Do more backstage segments. Give Lio the live mic again and let him go to town.

This whole generic “look mean and be as boring as possible” thing isn’t working for me.

[Welfare Willis]

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

We could've had Demon vs. Beast, but we're wasting Demon Balor on this.

A step up from Corbin at least...

[kevin]

Mar 11, 2019 22:19:13 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

If this leads to Demon Balor at Mania, I'm okay with it.

The demon is to similar to the normal character for me. Finn should stay face but the Demon needs a heel turn.

[Mozenrath]

Mar 11, 2019 23:10:30 GMT -5 @akeemresurrection said:

I forgot that Balor was even IC champ until he showed up wearing the belt. That belt used to mean something, now it’s useless.

It always seems to wax and wane. Like, you get the Dean Douglas goofy shit, but then Jericho, Angle, and Benoit putting a lot of emphasis on it mere years later. Though, it's hard to figure out who could save it now. You'd figure Seth or other main eventers wanting it would have done that, but that was almost as dreary as this feud.

[Sir Woodrow]

Mar 11, 2019 22:07:23 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

Alpha, Ritath ethcaped!

[Deleted]

Mar 12, 2019 3:01:41 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Mar 11, 2019 23:10:30 GMT -5 @akeemresurrection said:

I forgot that Balor was even IC champ until he showed up wearing the belt. That belt used to mean something, now it’s useless.

It always seems to wax and wane. Like, you get the Dean Douglas goofy shit, but then Jericho, Angle, and Benoit putting a lot of emphasis on it mere years later. Though, it's hard to figure out who could save it now. You'd figure Seth or other main eventers wanting it would have done that, but that was almost as dreary as this feud.

I feel like your best bet would probably be Miz gunning to break the records as a face, since he's done well with the belt in the past, always treats it like a huge deal, and would be covering some new ground with it, but I really feel like at this juncture he should be above it.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Mar 12, 2019 2:53:12 GMT -5 kevin said:

Mar 11, 2019 22:19:13 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

If this leads to Demon Balor at Mania, I'm okay with it.

The demon is to similar to the normal character for me. Finn should stay face but the Demon needs a heel turn.

The Demon should wrestle a much different, aggressive style to get across that this is Finn’s dark side.