enigmaax wrote:
What I said (or meant) is that it took nearly 10 years for a former IC champ to become World Champion. The IC belt was implemented in 1979. Patterson, Muraco, Santana, Valentine - these guys all held the title and never won the World Title. Savage was the first former IC champion to become World Champ and that was in 1988. (Pedro Morales had been World Champ about a decade earlier, but didn't go on to win another one after his reigns.)
In 1992, Bret Hart became just the 3rd IC champ to go on to win the World Title (Ultimate Warrior was the 2nd).
Between Savage and Hart, you had guys like Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Kerry Von Erich who were main eventing cards all the time but who would never win the World Title.
After Hart, you're getting close to the mid-90s (which is what I said) where yes, Michaels and Diesel used it as a stepping stone, but you also had the Mountie for 2 days, Jeff Jarrett a few times but for no more than 3 months, Ahmed Johnson for less than two months, Goldust a couple times for no more than 3 months, and Marc Mero for a month.
From there, even guys who did go on to World Titles after winning the IC(Triple H, Austin) weren't typically given long reigns. If you're wearing it for a month, they aren't testing you as a champion. And by that point, it wasn't being used as it was in the 80s - on a B-card running at the same time as an A-card.
I agree with you about DiBiase, who didn't get either belt but made them a lot of money with his top level feuds. As for Honky Tonk Man, you said he wasn't good but there was no one better. Well, doesn't that make him good at something? Yes, it is called "making money". Again, the whole purpose of the IC belt at the time was to have a main eventer capable of making money with a second level lineup. He was a main eventer with the deck stacked against him and still pulled a shit ton of money in. Hogan wasn't a good wrestler either. He was a character people liked who got all the best stories, but that doesn't change his impact.
I don't disagree about Punk because that was the whole point. He had a little cult following and they put the strap on him without really developing his character. So when he suddenly went from guy who does cool moves to guy who has to carry a show, he wasn't ready for it. All the momentum he was building was undercut because they didn't actually establish him as a championship contender, they just threw the belt on him. They've done that with a few people and it isn't how they used to do things. As a result, I don't think there's as much prestige in the World Title, since you now have 15 guys walking around as former World Champions. Its a fine line because its cool that anyone can beat anyone on a given night, but it also makes title changes less special when they happen.
I misunderstood your first point but get what you are saying, not that I feel it is very relevant to the topic.
Once they got to around 1990 or so, they stopped having split shows for the most part. The Honky Tonk Man was not bringing in money for the WWF. He was pretty garbage in the ring. The only thing he had going for him was his gimmick which people hated. And because there was no one else around at the time, they didn't take the belt off of him. Top faces in 1989 were Hogan and Warrior and after that there was a big drop off in fan support for anyone, outside of maybe Jim Duggan. Perfect probably could have been champ but he was very badly injured before losing the belt to Hart and didn't wrestle for over a year I believe so that killed his momentum. Rude left the company and for that he wasn't going to be champ. Kerry von Erich could have made it to the big time but he sadly passed away.
Back to the point, the whole purpose of the IC belt in the 90's was A) it was basically the belt for the best wrestlers on the show and B) gave those guys a chance to prove themselves to see if they could be the WWF Champion. No one cared or has ever really cared for Jeff Jarrett. The fact he was a world champion is sickening and show how awful WCW was. They gave Ahmed Johnson a shot but he was hurt too much and Mero got overshadowed by Sable so he wasn't going anywhere.
HHH, Rock, and Austin didn't need long reigns as IC Champion because they became so over with the crowd that they were propelled to the main event. And at that time again, they weren't running two shows anymore so how they used it in the 80's is irrelevant. During the 90's and early 00's, it was a stepping stone and a test to see if guys could be the top dog in the company. Do you really believe Mero, Johnson, or Jarrett would have ever become WWF Champion with guys like Hart, Michaels, Undertaker, Austin, Rock, and HHH around? I sure don't.
Back to Swagger now, they gave him the ECW Title for a long time and he was good in the ring and had that persona to get him over. He was a very good choice to win MITB and is perfect to be on SD! where there is not as much pressure as there is on Raw.
