Is the nXt Title currently bigger than the IC Title?

[DraxSpago]

Depends who holds it. Like every belt. If Konnor wins the NXT belt, the belt is going to mean much less than if Samoa Joe wins it.

Absolutely true, the IC belt hasn't meant anything since Orton had it though in my opinion, then again no one cared when he lost it so maybe even that's questionable

[Sym]

It's an interesting argument, but one things for sure is that the Intercontinental title needs some love!

 

They need to do what John Cena did to the US title last year as the open challenge, accompanied by the mystery superstar and Stella in ring action made that one of the highlights of Raw for me!

 

I've been a fan of Kevin Owens and his apparent obsession with the IC strap, although he seems to have moved past that now! An Owens Vs Zayn back and forth feud over the belt may have been the one to do it, if it was sustained over 6 months or so, but I feel they are going to go the Ambrose Vs Rawlings route with these two and have their careers intertwined for the whole one they are with the company!

[HarmonicGenerator]

They need to do what John Cena did to the US title last year as the open challenge, accompanied by the mystery superstar and Stella in ring action made that one of the highlights of Raw for me!

That'd be all well and good, but then they've got to maintain the momentum they've built, and they can't seem to do that. Cena made the U.S. Title mean something again, then almost the instant he lost it to Alberto Del Bloody Rio all that work was for nothing because they lost the momentum. Now that belt's as dead as it's ever been. It only takes a couple of weeks to undo months of work, and much as I'd like the IC to be meaningful again, I can't see them doing anything different!

[Doctor Whos Next]

 If Raw had honest narration, during a bit for the Intercontinental Title it would be something like:  

 

"Here's the Miz, here's Zack Rider.   While were waiting to see what Shane McMahon says next, or to see what challenges await Roman, watch these two wrestle for this belt for a bit."  

 

The NXT title is pushed as the cornerstone of the group, to determine contenders can take weeks, and each contendership match is pushed as a huge opportunity.   But again, because NXT doesn't have the exposure of Raw, it has more appeal only in its niche market.  

[Wrasslin]

Here's the problem with the IC title. 

 

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn is an actual proper, feud with a back story and a logical reason for the two to fight. It's something a large and very vocal portion of the crowd are very into. Rather than inter-twine the title with the story, they move the Title belt away from the story. 

 

There seems to be this belief that the IC title doesn't need a narrative, as if the belt itself is enough. But if you look back at memorable IC title feuds of the past, Austin vs Owen was intertwined with the Hart foundation feud. Triple H vs Rock was part of the DX versus Nation long running feud. Even Orton vs Foley (as someone held up Orton as the last relevant champion) was part of a big comeback story, the legend killer angle and spanned across a few PPVs. That feud with that title pretty much made Orton.

 

Now what do we have? Miz has title . . . Cesaro is better at wrestling and would like to have the title . .. great.

 

Whereas we could have had Sami trying to get revenge on Owens by taking away the thing most precious to Owens.

[UK Kat Von D]

Do people think anyone who watches Raw and Smackdown don't know what NXT is? It keeps being called niche like its some underground secret anyone without the network knows of. It's referenced all the time on TV and Kevin Owens was holding the belt when he went toe to toe with Cena.

[Undefeated Steak]

The IC title is such an ambiguous concept as a title that if you have guys like Cena wrestling for it trying to give it some credibility, then it'll only ever be a matter of time before it becomes a secondary WWE title (it'd be like having the WWE and WHC belts again).

 

You could have it as an unofficial TV title where it's defended at the top/co-main event of most Raws and Smackdowns to distinguish it a bit, and save the WWE title almost solely for PPV's.

 

- - -

 

*Wishful thinking booking* - Introduce an intergender(?) tag belt. Miz and Maryse would be the first champs, naturally. Then Flair and Charlotte could win it with Flair trying to get cleared to wrestle each week, only to have his medical refused at the last minute, so he has to keep finding different replacements each week.

 

It wouldn't matter if the matches were shit, it'd some mid-card fun and something new. There's enough women on the roster now that they could start something like this.

[tiger_rick]

Do people think anyone who watches Raw and Smackdown don't know what NXT is? It keeps being called niche like its some underground secret anyone without the network knows of. It's referenced all the time on TV and Kevin Owens was holding the belt when he went toe to toe with Cena.

They know what it is but around a quarter of the people who watch Raw watch NXT so I don't think it's unfair to call it niche. Bit like ECW in the mid 90s. Sure lots of people had heard of it, maybe read about it in mags or seen them invade Raw but it was niche by Raw & Nitro's standards.

[Carbomb]

 

Why do people always measure success in chants rather than money?

Well to measure it in money, does the NXT title bring more money to the table than the IC title? What amount of tickets are sold to see each Championship defended? How many viewers would tune in to watch a big match for each title?

 

The IC title is a cog in a machine that draws a lot of money, but the show wouldn't miss a step without it. NXT might draw far less money but that title plays a huge part in the money that is generated.

 

Let's say for arguments sake an IC title match is left off a WWE event in favour of showcasing an NXT title match. Which title is more likely to bring in extra views or sell more tickets?

 

 

 

This is a pretty sound argument; definitely agree with this for the most part.

 

That said, I think it's important not to take things in isolation; everything is comprised of interacting elements and wider contexts. For example, we could ask how well the NXT title would draw and affect money taken if WWE announced that it was going to be defended on an episode of RAW. Conversely, if NXT announced to its fans that the IC champion was defending the belt on NXT, how well would it do? Furthermore, if there was a title vs. title match between both champions, would such a match draw on either show, and, if so, to what magnitude?

[pryko]

Do people think anyone who watches Raw and Smackdown don't know what NXT is? It keeps being called niche like its some underground secret anyone without the network knows of. It's referenced all the time on TV and Kevin Owens was holding the belt when he went toe to toe with Cena.

The fact the likes of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Enzo & Cass, Sasha / Charlotte / Becky all debuted, with no previous promos or anything on Raw or Smackdown, shows that the higher up's kind of expect you to know who they are, and based on all of the responses to each of those people, most people do.  I don't think it's that niche at all anymore 

[WyattSheepMask]

Do people think anyone who watches Raw and Smackdown don't know what NXT is? It keeps being called niche like its some underground secret anyone without the network knows of. It's referenced all the time on TV and Kevin Owens was holding the belt when he went toe to toe with Cena.

According to WWE's own numbers, NXT gets around 200,000 viewers on a weekly basis on the network. I can't remember what the last subscriber count was, but if you say for hypotheticals they have 1million subs, that's still only 20% of which that watch week to week.

 

Regarding the prestige of the IC/US and the NXT belts, as has been mentioned already it depends how much they want the belts to mean by how they're represented. The fact that NXT only has the one singles belt makes the person who is champion standout as being top of the pile.

Last year when Cena had the US belt they made it look like a desireable title through the open challenges, whereas the IC belt had been in a holding pattern of whoever had cutting the same promo about how they were going to bring prestige back to the title, so they were basically admitting that the IC title had been worthless for a while. Then they switched the US belt to Del Rio and then you had three switches in as many weeks between him and Kalisto.

The lack of a prolonged reign as champion also makes drags them down. The Honky Tonk Man is still the longest reigning IC champion, a guy with a comedy gimmick. Having someone, whoever it may be, break that record and become the longest reigning champion can really elevate them and the belt. Rather than being "wow, the talent in this division is so strong, anyone can win the title", the constant switches meant more of a. "For fucks sake, it's changed hands again, anybody can win the bloody thing".

[UK Kat Von D]

The NXT championship isn't defended every week so 200,000 viewers does not reflect the importance of that title. I'd be willing to bet shows that feature the title get more viewers

[WyattSheepMask]

But it does reflect NXT as a brand, for want of a better word, and hence why it is perceived to still considered niche.

[UK Kat Von D]

The weekly show is quite missable though, a lot more people watch Takeover and are familiar with the product and the importance of its main title. Their fanbase isn't restricted to 200,000 people.

 

I saw some stickers in the corner shop earlier for sale, Balor was on the packet where as the Intercontinental Champion wasn't.