The Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All The Times…

The Intercontinental Championship. When was the last time that title had any meaning to it? Sure, prominent superstars held the belt on occasion from Randy Orton to Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho, but the title always seemed to be an afterthought. Did the WWE think tossing a title no one cares about on someone people like would suddenly give the title meaning?

Well, it didn’t work.

Such a shame. That title used to mean you were one step away from superstardom. It was the company’s second most prestigious title. But it became an afterthought in 2002 when Eric Bischoff got rid of the title during his reign as GM. The WWE had no interest in a mid-card title.

The title was resurrected a year later and passed from wrestler to wrestler, often with no rhyme or reason. I don’t know about you, but I frequently forgot who the IC Champion was.

And then something amazing happened in the summer of 2008. Santino Marella won the Intercontinental Championship for a second time in his career. This time, it meant something — not only for him, but for the championship. For the first time in a long time, the IC Title was getting face time on TV every week. The braggadocios Santino Marella decided that he would beat the Honky Tonk Man’s 64 week reign as IC Champion.

We had the pleasure of seeing Santino each week, announcing that he was one week closer to breaking the 64 week record. His promos were a riot. Santino was on his way to becoming the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all the times!

But something awful happened. William Regal, a man who every wrestling fan should respect for his skills, won the title. Any other day, this would be no big deal. But what is Regal going to do with the title? 

What was the point of taking the title from Santino?

So Regal could win the title in England in front of his home crowd?

So Regal could be the champ for  two months and not even defend the fuckin’ thing?

Only in the last few weeks has the title been defended on RAW. Before I wrote this, I couldn’t even recall the current IC Champion. I had to look it up on WWE.com.

I don’t get it. We had something GOOD with Santino. And it was taken away. For WHAT? Santino was actually doing something with the IC Title that hadn’t been done in YEARS. Santino had the ability to make the second tier title important by bringing fame and respect. 

“Santino Marella is champion of all the land masses that protrude above sea level… also known as the continents. Which means, Santino Marella is the champion of… PLANET EARTH!”

The WWE is building towards a CM Punk vs. Regal feud. The feud will deliver, no doubt, but it could’ve been done without the title. Before Santino had the belt, the championship didn’t matter. So what makes the WWE think it will matter for this feud? Will it add credibility to the feud? Will it add interest? Based on the last eight years of IC Champions, no. This afterthought will be no different with Regal vs. Punk…

Meanwhile, we’ve got Santino and Beth Phoenix, the Woman’s Champion, who could have easily been on their way to becoming the most engaging power couple since Triple H and Stephanie McMahon; dare I say even better?

Mr. McMahon, were you afraid that the ever increasing popularity of a second rate champion would overshadow the far less entertaining John Cena? It’s too late to unleash the Honk-a-Meter again, but next time you have a shining star doing something meaningful with a secondary title, build on that success!