How credible is the IC belt right now?
 

Seriously, for the past two years we have mostly agreed upon the failing prestige of the IC gold and how it's no longer as credible as it once was.

But look at it now. For the past year Jeff Hardy has brought some serious credibility to it with some lengthy reigns, and as a fighting champion weekly. Also, being one of the top faces on Raw hasn't hurt either, as he gets the pop of the night and steals the crowd just about every week.

And if his reigns, popularity, and match quality/frequency hasn't been good enough, the fact that he's on a roll and a half lately is HUGE. He's the IC champion and he's been going nuts lately, he just went over HHH, arguably the top name in the company..CLEAN. Now he's facing the WWE champion presumably while IC champion.

The IC belt right now might be the most credible belt going. I mean, he's been picking up cleaner wins over more credible stars than Orton or Edge. In a kayfabe sense, he might be the top ranking belt. I noticed in the Power 25 he was ranked #2 (not that that means anything but it indicates how he's been being pushed on the brand).

So what do you think? Best IC champion in a long long time. In fact, with him as #1 contender for the title he might be the most prominent IC champ since...who's the last person to do that, Warrior??

Jeff Hardy and Umaga brought it up to its potential I think. I hope Jeff faces off at WM vs Edge in a Title for Title match, maybe even a ladder match.

Before I read this thread I had to think of who the IC champ was.

Well aside from the opinions I put forth in that post, I think he's ABSOLUTELY the best IC champ since 04. More accurately, he's likely the best IC champ since 2000 or 1998 (Jericho, Angle, The Rock)

He's certainly the best in a long time

That's clearly your fault.

Was only a couple of months ago that certain people were saying that the belt had no real credibility and required a Mr Kennedy run to bring it back to a decent level. Jeff Hardy was champion then as well. I think the quote was 'the belt NEEDS Mr Kennedy right now'.

My goodness, how things change. Or is that stay the same?

I wasn't referring to you BDC.

A year ago I'd have called you an idiot for saying that. But... fuck, it's true.

Kennedy needs the IC title right now. The title does not need Kennedy.

Kennedy would be a good IC champ. Back when he was hot as hell after the MITB and the draft to Raw I felt that the IC belt was just okay, and that it could have benefited from Kennedy just as much as Kennedy could have benefited from it.

Now, he's tailed off but I think Kennedy woul still be a good choice. Jeff's a great champion tho

Jeff Hardy has really stepped up with his in-ring work since his return and especially since he got the IC title. He's definitely got a specific type of charisma to him that isn't identifiable to too many people. I feel that his offense in the ring is a bit too all over the place at times though. He'll need some work before he can be expected to carry a company. His pairing with the IC title has indeed not only helped him but it has helped the credibility of the belt itself. Part of this is in part to Umaga as well though. Who would've thought that Hardy and Umaga would compliment each other's styles so well in matches?

I think Darth's comment just about sums this up.

"Kennedy needs the IC title". If the IC title had NO credibility then NO ONE would need it. Obviously, if we feel that someone needs this title, we have a new-found respect for it.

Recently, some posters have suggested to bring back past titles e.g. Hardcore, European etc. If they did this, it would only water-down the value of the mid-level titles and reduce their credibility.

IC and US titles are clawing their way back up the respectability ladder, lets not send them crashing back down.

Now that jeff is going to challenge for the wwe title, imo that lifts the credibility of the ic title since he's champ, and if they continue to book the ic title this way in future , then that can only be good.

</>

I always thought that the IC title should be held by guys that you thought had a chance to be WWF champion eventually as well. When guys like The Rock, Triple H, Ken Shamrock, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and a few years before that with Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc, had the IC belt, they had the feel of a main eventer, even though I guess they were technically in the upper mid card.

That being said, it seems recently as the belt had become merely a stepping stone for the WWE title instead of a credible belt on its own. Want to make Randy Orton a main eventer? Just strap the IC title around him for a while until he gets the feel of a main eventer. Eventually the prestige of the title wore off with that sort of thinking. Guys like Umaga and Jeff Hardy, as of late, have kept the title reasonably close to the main event scene, rather than giving the belt to someone like Paul London, who would defend the title on Sunday Night Heat.

The problem with RAW right now is that there plainly just are not enough wrestlers on the roster to stabilize an upper mid card, meaning it's hard to maintain consistent credibility to the IC belt at this point in time. I'm trying not to get the roster split involved in this, but it's hard not to when trying to contemplate an issue like this.

Good point. :y:

The problem with RAW right now is that there plainly just are not enough wrestlers on the roster to stabilize an upper mid card, meaning it's hard to maintain consistent credibility to the IC belt at this point in time. I'm trying not to get the roster split involved in this, but it's hard not to when trying to contemplate an issue like this.

You're right about it being the fault of the roster split, its just not the same when the company is split int wo.

Kennedy could carry the IC Strap into a massive fued and make it look like it's bigger than any world title.

You are incorrect.

If you mean someone holding the IC and WWE title at the same time, Warrior did that. I think that's all tho

You know, I hope Jeff does it. But realistically they'll probably have him lose the IC title right before, or right after (if indeed he does win the WWE title, and happens to be IC champ at the time)

Jeff will be a grand slam champion btw. I believe....he was european champ right?

Got to love Jeff didn't have the title on when he came down for his promo tonight. Clearly it's EXTREMELY important.

Yea I just checked. He's been IC, Tag, European, LightHeavyweight, Hardcore champion. If he wins he WWE title he's won all their in house titles ever offered, except womens.
Of course they've had the US and Cruiserweight titles, and the World. But they're the WCW belts.

Grand Slam Champions, as far as I'm concerned, can ONLY be considered as such for holding the WWE, IC, Euro and Tag champions.

Anything else is just four titles because, at this point, there are 9 titles in WWE and they get whored around like Lita at her goodbye party.

When Warrior won the WWF(E) Championship he had to vacate the IC belt. When HHH beat Kane it unified the titles. I think the former is more likely if Jeff does win at the Rumble, though doing so would invoke a mention of the Warrior so he will probably just drop it first.

No Mercy 2002.

Well that would include Jeff if he ever wins the WWE belt. That also includes HBK, HHH, Jericho, Angle, Eddie Guerrero and RVD. By that criteria, those are the grandlsam champions.
The only other person to be a grandslam champion technically is JBL, although I don't consider him one because I agree with you about the criteria.

See, this is it. Sure, Jeff Hardy has, to my surprise, become something quite good recently, but what good is being the IC Champion is the WWE pretends the belt doesn't even exist.

Honestly, I hope a heel costs Jeff Hardy his match at the Royal Rumble, and does so because Jeff is making the IC Title look like crap. I don't care if it's Carlito, DH Smith or Charlie fucking Haas. There needs to be a wake-up call to Jeff being IC Champion.

To be honest, I'd love for Randy Orton to up the ante in their Royal Rumble match, and request that the IC Title be on the line. Fuck, if the WWE truly cared about the belt, they'd have had it on the line during the match at Armageddon. What the WWE was basically suggesting there, was that being in the WWE Title division is more important than being IC Champion. It creates the impression that there is a huge field between being WWE Champion and being IC Champion, when really, the WWE would be best served to making the IC Title look like a silver medal.

You may actually be getting more absurd.