Is the United States Championship more valuable than the Intercontinental title right now?

[mike adamle]

Antonio Cesaro just had a hell of a reign with the United States title, followed up with a fun reign by Kofi, and an awesome win by Dean Ambrose, who's been beating main event caliber talent for the last few months since his debut.

I'm looking at the Intercontinental Title reigns from Big Show's reign until now, and honestly, the Big Show's reign was probably the last one treated as an important title win, being that it was his WrestleMania moment and all.

You had Cody Rhodes, who won when Big Show accidentally stepped through a table, and Cody had one match where he defended the belt in a tuxedo for some reason. But I will give Cody this, he brought back the white strap that made it important... pretty much for his reign only though.

Then Christian won it and to me it felt like a step down for him after having the awesome WHC feud with Orton the previous year, I barley remember this reign.

Then Miz won and he and Kofi had an interesting feud, but nothing that really stood out.

Then Kofi beat Miz so Miz could turn face and Barrett could beat a face for the belt. Kofi to me is the definition of transitional midcard champion. He wins the IC and US belts just to lose them to heels they want to give the belt to, without making another heel lose to em in the process.

Wade won it for the second time from Kofi and I don't remember him doing anything with it except losing it to The Miz at Mania. I think he had a good match with Sheamus on Raw during this period, but I don't think the IC belt was ever even mentioned, and he lost.

The Miz did nothing with his 2nd reign as he lost it right back.

And Wade hasn't done too much with this reign either.

What do yall think?

[XL]

As of Extreme Rules, the US Title is more important as it is around the waste of one of the guys involved in the biggest push of the last 12 months. The IC Champion was on the Pre-/Post-show panel.

Like so many things in WWE, their importance is interchangeable at any given moment.

[whiteyford]

What XL said, the guy holding it is a prominent figure on tv every week compared to a guy who isn't really.

[Heisenberg]

It's hard to take other Smackdown titles seriously when they are not EXCLUSIVE to their brand these days. I understand that they can do whatever they want with merging shows/talent, because that helps the RAW showcase out a bit in times of needing star power.

[BizarroKing]

I honestly felt Big Show's IC title win was pointless other than to give him a wrestlemania moment, especially considering he lost it back to Cody right afterward in one of the dumbest ways to lose a title...

[XL]

When was the last time an IC Title win actually meant something?

[Rammsteinmad]

When we were still marks who didn't criticize everything.

[el bobbo]

Does The Miz look like a fish to anyone else?

[el bobbo]

I'm watching this opening segment of Smackdown right now and they are doing a pretty good job of building up the feud between Miz and Wade, with Fandango in the mix. Too bad no one watches this.

[el bobbo]

These fake boo's and cheer's are really jarring compared to what goes on on RAW.

[The CHT]

The demise of the IC title is sad. It used to be that if a guy got the IC strap, it was an indication of bigger things to come or the guy was at the very least entertaining as hell, especially from the mid 80s to the early 90s. Seems like 2009 was when it really went to shit and started getting held by guys stuck in a hold position.

[Shindig Jeff]

yes

[Mr. Nerfect]

At the moment, but it will change when someone suited to the IC Title happens to be holding it while someone else is being given a courtesy US Title run. At the moment, Dean Ambrose is one of the hottest things in wrestling, so him holding the US Title really matters. Wade Barrett, as fantastic as he is, has never really been suited to the IC Title. He's always come off as a heavyweight player. The Miz is also an odd fit for the IC Title scene. He should really be going after the World Heavyweight Title to complete his Grand Slam.

The stuff with Fandango on SmackDown was pretty excellent, though, I must say. We're probably heading towards a Triple Threat IC Title match at Payback, where putting the IC Title on Fandango is probably the wisest move, since he's a mid-carder that could really use the belt. It's arguable that the IC Title should have been involved in the Jericho/Fandango feud around WrestleMania and Extreme Rules, but whatever. Fandango would probably make a pretty serviceable IC Champion, and I'd looking forward to one-on-one matches with Wade Barrett, The Miz, Chris Jericho, Sin Cara and R-Truth during his potential reign. None of them seem really suited to take the title from him, so Fandango could spend a few months as champion, and maybe even head into WrestleMania as IC Champion, if something better doesn't come along for either Fandango or the title.