I See No IC Title Match

The old WWF Intercontinental title

By Kevin Hunsperger

We are 8 days away from Wrestlemania, arguably the biggest day in wrestling, and no Intercontinental title match has been announced.  Friday night on SmackDown! Wade Barrett won the belt from Kofi Kingston.  I don't know if they're waiting to do a last minute announcement or if there won't be a title match on the card.

This is disappointing to me.  Look at the lineage of the IC title. It was once considered the WWF's second most important belt.  The holder of it was the number one contender to the world title.  Heck, 21 years ago at Wrestlemania VI, it was Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior who beat World champion Hulk Hogan.  That's how much value was placed on the belt.

Think back to other Wrestlemania IC title matches.  Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage stole the show at Wrestlemania III with their title contest.  Roddy Piper and Bret Hart had a great showdown at Wrestlemania VIII, and Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels tore the roof off Madison Square Garden when the hooked up in a classic ladder match for the Intercontinental title.

Now think to recent years.  JBL and Rey Mysterio went about 30 seconds in their IC title match at Wrestlemania 25.  At last year's Wrestlemania Drew McIntyre was the champ, but didn't defend the title.  At least he was on the show and a part of the Money in the Bank match.  The same can be said about Wrestlemania 24 when Chris Jericho wrestled in MITB and didn't defend the belt.

You get the picture.  A title that was once revered and held in high regard now seems to be an after thought.  But you could probably argue that most titles these days are treated like a prop and have little prestige.  I guess there's still time to add an IC title match, it's sad to me that the card isn't completely in place already though.

Oh well, we'll see you in Atlanta in 8 days.  Peace out.