Opinion: Why the Intercontinental Championship needs to be vacated as early as possible

I definitely liked the idea of a wrestler not necessarily defending the title belt on all Pay-Per-Views. I have no clue what might have prompted WWE to make this move, possibly more attention and promotion towards Live Event Pay-Per-View Super Show-Down happening in Australia. But the idea was great.

There are a total of 8 Title belts in WWE right now. This includes both the brands RAW and SmackDown Live. The idea that every title has to be defended in a Pay-Per-View ensures 8 matches which are already assured, and this takes away the scope of other great non-title storylines like Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton in the recently concluded Pay-Per-View Hell in a Cell.

An 8 match card is big and anything more than 8 matches pushes other matches in the kick-off show, which hardly gives any importance to those bouts. And WWE can only do away with less non-title storylines which are bad for the WWE Universe. Let’s face it, we are in a way tired of storylines which has the title on-line because it only involves two wrestlers for a very long time and steals all the limelight from other great storylines and talented wrestlers in the roster.

Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura did not defend their Intercontinental and US Title respectively at Hell in a Cell. While Nakamura’s unchallenged US Title kind of makes sense because a storyline involving the US Title would have been a lousy work compared to the interesting storyline already established on SmackDown Live but Rollins’ unchallenged Intercontinental Title poses great problems.

WWE has three big events lined up till November. Australia Super Show-Down where The Shield will take on Dogs of War in a Three man Tag-Team Match, Survivor Series where Seth Rollins' match is yet to be announced and the returning Starrcade where The Shield will be taking Dogs of War again in a Cinncinati Street Fight. Considering all the matches that have been announced, it's quite clear that Seth Rollins might not be defending his Intercontinental Title in two of the next three big events or Pay-Per-Views. This causes a problem because all the three belts on RAW seems to reside with these 6 wrestlers alone. The fact that Seth Rollins will not be able to defend the Intercontinental Title when he takes on Dogs of War as part of The Shield, will not do any good to the coveted title.

Yes, defending a title shouldn't be a Pay-Per-View rule always, but completing overshadowing the title will take everything away that once held value for the Intercontinental Title. And truth be told, the next Champion shouldn't be someone from these 6 wrestlers. Otherwise, we are back to where we started.

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