Minor news items that don't deserve a thread

[Winston]

Would actually be a decent angle for Rusev to replace the US Title with the European Title for the time being. Definitely all for that.

 

Been done a long time ago when Lance Storm done something similar in WCW but it would still be quite fresh in 2014. Also decent for nostalgic reasons for the Euro Title to make a brief return. I really enjoyed it back in the day, was very underrated.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Winston

[bAzTNM#1]

Definately a great wee title until around 1999. It really felt like a main event belt when it was passed between Bulldog, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels. Even when Triple H got his turn, it still felt big in terms of importance.

Edited December 14, 2014 by bAzTNM#1

[Winston]

The European Title was really good up until around Bradshaw won it. Jericho, Angle, Guerrero, Regal, X-Pac, Val Venis all had decent runs with it. 

 

Honourable mention to Mideon (can't remember if he was naked at the time!)

Edited December 14, 2014 by Winston

[Dr.PeterVenkman]

The European Title was really good up until around Bradshaw won it. Jericho, Angle, Guerrero, Regal, X-Pac, Val Venis all had decent runs with it.

 

Honourable mention to Mideon (can't remember if he was naked at the time!)

I'm pretty sure Jericho only held it for a day, Guerrero dropped it to Saturn in a nothing match, Val Venis only won it to drop it to Angle, wouldn't count those as decent runs

 

Last time I remember the Euro title meaning anything was D'Lo beating Mark Henry for it in '99

Edited December 14, 2014 by Dr.PeterVenkman

[tiger_rick]

How do they not get that the heat is in Rusev carrying the US title? If you want a bigger angle, then either have him wear it upside down or have it crudely modified and a Russian flag stuck on the front. Don't bring back this shite. If for jobs other reason than no fucker in Europe likes Russia either!

[Your Fight Site]

I liked how when Rusev won the title, WWE made a big song and dance about how you don't have to be American to win the U.S. title. Completely overlooking that he beat an IRISH man for the belt.

 

Sheamus even had a promo (either not long before or after) with Stephanie where she was threatening him with voiding his visa because of a technicality or something.

 

Just odd, odd logic to base a website article on.

[ninevisions]

 

The European Title was really good up until around Bradshaw won it. Jericho, Angle, Guerrero, Regal, X-Pac, Val Venis all had decent runs with it.

 

Honourable mention to Mideon (can't remember if he was naked at the time!)

I'm pretty sure Jericho only held it for a day, Guerrero dropped it to Saturn in a nothing match, Val Venis only won it to drop it to Angle, wouldn't count those as decent runs

 

Last time I remember the Euro title meaning anything was D'Lo beating Mark Henry for it in '99

 

 

Far as i'm concerned D'Lo Brown is the one of the few guys who made the European Championship mean something in a mostly American company, He carries a (or THE) Euro Title around with him on the UK tours.

[King Pitcos]

For a while, the Euro title was great. It was designed to be a big draw on the Euro tours/PPVs, and it went basically from Bulldog to then spending eighteen months with and around DX. Not bad going at the time. It died as a major concern when Shane McMahon retired it after beating X-Pac for it. That feud/match might well have been its high point, but the retiring of it was the end. When Mideon found it in a bag or bin a few months later, it became a worthless low-level title, only having any value to bump up a resume or make someone a Eurocontinental champion. Of course, they didn't need the European title as a Euro draw by then, because the promotion had exploded in popularity and sticking Rock or Austin on the bill was more than enough.

[FLips]

Personally I think there's more heat in publicly denouncing the US Title and bringing the Euro title back. Carrying the US title around has already sailed in terms of getting heat, next step is to tell everyone it's worthless.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Yeah, you'd sort of have to actually give a shit about the US title to get mad at Rusev here. Which nobody does.

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

Maybe a side topic, but how would you make people care about the IC and US title?

[King Pitcos]

Same thing I'd do to make people care about the rest of the midcard. Write actual storylines and rivalries around them, rather than Dolph Ziggler vs Luke Harper happening on TV eight times in six weeks then happening again on the pay-per-view. Essentially, it's a case of finding a way to fill five hours of TV a week without repeating the same, long, wrestlingforwrestling'ssake matches over and over. Easier said than done, considering that your big names are doing the talking to sell their PPV matches and you've got to provide X amount of no-language-barrier wrestling content per show for your international viewers... And a roster with little to no depth, so it's not like there are two hundred lads in the locker room providing near endless fresh matchups that you can keep short.

 

Not have every fucker doing the "I'm going to carry it with pride and bring prestige back to it like Mr Perfect, Shawn Michaels and Ultimate Warrior" promo that they've all been doing for years now. To my recollection, every Intercontinental champion in the last four years or more has done that same routine, with the exception of Harper and possibly Miz during his last stint because he has been doing the movie star gimmick. And none of them have brought that prestige back to it, so chances are that talking about old names all the time probably isn't doing the trick.

 

Rusev as US champion is a great idea, it's just been lost in the shuffle with the Survivor Series team and then the problem they had after Survivor Series where there's literally nobody else they could put him against except Swagger again -- every other babyface on the roster is either too far above being crushed by Rusev (or at least in the midst of a current push/angle that doesn't permit it), or too far below being a vaguely worthwhile opponent for him.

 

One solution would be to have the likes of Ambrose and Wyatt feuding over the Intercontinental, but that has the twin problem of potentially dragging them down, and whatever elevation it gives the title being lost anyway when it's back to Kofi vs Fandango a few months later.

Edited December 14, 2014 by King Pitcos

[neil is brill]

Edit - Didn't read the whole thread. That'll teach me. 

Edited December 14, 2014 by neil is brill

[Glass Smash]

Maybe a side topic, but how would you make people care about the IC and US title?

 

Well for the last 4 months WWE has made the WWE Championship itself seem like it's not important so I don't think they really give a fuck about the IC and US titles at the moment. That's probably why they play hot potato with them. Just to remind people that those titles are still there, not that many people care these days. The days when the Intercontinental title meant anything are long gone which is a shame really. 

 

I still love the background story that they came up with for introducing the IC title to the business that Pat Patterson had allegedly won it in Rio de Janeiro during a tournament.

[PunkStep]

Buddy Rogers beat Antonino Rocca in a made-up tournament to become the first WWWF Champion as well, didn't he? And didn't they claim that took place in Rio too?