Something's seriously wrong with Summerslam this year if there's no IC title match. Over the years, the Intercontinental Title matches on Summerslam gave us some of the most memorable moments in all of wrestling...
1988 - The Ultimate Warrior FINALLY ended the reign of the "greatest IC champ of all time", the Honky Tonk Man.
1991 - Bret Hart beats Mr Perfect in a classic that launched the Hitman's great singles career.
1992 - The British Bulldog beat The Hitman on his home turf.
1995 - Ladder Match II with Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, Shawn retains.
1997 - Despite having his neck broken in a sick piledriver by Owen Hart, Steve Austin beats him for the IC title
1998 - A classic IC ladder match between HHH and The Rock. Surprisingly, it's been relatively forgotten lately, but those who saw it, couldn't forget it.
As you can see, much of the classic moments that took place at Summerslam, happened for the Intercontinental Championship. Now it seems that the current champ, Christian, doesn't even have a match at Summerslam at all! What does THAT tell you?! Agree? Disagree?
"Friendship - The art of using somebody to your advantage so that they can help you succeed in life. Once they can no longer help you, they are no longer your friend." Brock Lesnar, Philosopher
Totally agree. Summerslam and the IC title have always gone hand in hand. There just seems to be something wrong with the U.S. title being defended, but not the IC title.
And the matches you listed were jus tthe tip of the iceberg. Warrior/Rude in '89 was a very entertaining match back when I was a wee lil' tyke. Last year's RVD/Benoit match was pretty good, and the list goes on.
And the Hart/Perfect match at '91 is STILL my favorite match of all time, whether you are talking about IC title matches or not. I wasn't even a big Hart fan going in, but that those two got me so into the match that I was a huge Hitman mak by the end of it. Brilliant.
I guess they wanted to keep the title matches to a minimum so the card wasn't all title matches, thus making the titles seem less important (though not even being on the card makes it seem much less important). And they had to make room for high quality matchs like 'Taker/Albert, of course And I don't even know who they would have had Christian face. Hurricane maybe?
"The Universe is shaped exactly like the Earth- if you go straight long enough you end up where you were."
The night of the show, I'd have Christian come out with a tumbler containing wrestlers' names from both brands and have him say he'll choose his own competition. Have him pick someone good like Spanky or Dragon and bam, you'll have at least one good match.
I'm so glad they brought back that ultra prestigious Intercontinental Title. I mean it's just so important. No offense but if it's being feuded over by Christian and Hurricane, they need to throw it back in the closet.
WWE changed its formula a long time ago. I believe, around 1999 or 2000 is when everything was scrapped entirely.
With the sole (and strange) exception of SummerSlam '93, the IC Title match used to be the big midcard blowoff match. It used to be that the main event faces would win the World Title at WrestleMania while the midcard faces would win the IC Title at SummerSlam. And this old formula significantly helped the elevation of midcarders to the main event. Looking back on such things as Bret beating Mr. Perfect and Warrior beating Rude, those wins made people look at those guys a different way and took them more seriously. It didn't always work out (Davey Boy), but when it worked, it worked very well.
But, since titles are basically meaningless these days, it doesn't really matter who wins what title and when anymore. That's a big reason why everything is heading for the shitter, since there's no structure aside from "This McMahon is more important than you."
Let's be fair. The only reason Christian is the champ is because Booker is too hurt to defend it. It's a recent development; there's been no time to build up to a meaningful SS match.
It doesn't help that the RAW main event packs five names into one match. Any one of those challengers could have raised the status of a Christian defense and possibly elevated the title a bit by association after winning it. Not that I think any of those guys needs to hold a belt; they're already over. But the IC belt has been muddled by the endless Christian/Booker feud. Again this PPV could have blown off that feud had the injury not occured.
I propose an upset win by a midcarder needing some purpose: Rico, Rodney Mack, Lance or, my pick for other reasons, Ric Flair.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
It doesn't bother me since Booker's injury threw a wrench into the plans.
What *does* bother me is that Hass/Benjamin aren't defending their tag belts. Use SS to blow off the program w/ Rey/Kidman, as well as do the Kidman heel turn.
No Cena, either. Wow, that feud w/ Taker did wonders for him, huh?
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffIt doesn't bother me since Booker's injury threw a wrench into the plans.
What *does* bother me is that Hass/Benjamin aren't defending their tag belts. Use SS to blow off the program w/ Rey/Kidman, as well as do the Kidman heel turn.
No Cena, either. Wow, that feud w/ Taker did wonders for him, huh?
Seeing as though it looks like there will be four matches for each brand on this PPV (5 would be nice, but the card is looking to be a lot of fun so I won't complain), we're all gonna whine about someone being left out. Cena's feud with Undertaker went into the last couple weeks leading into Summerslam, so he gets left out. Where's the people complimenting WWE on having Matt Hardy on the show?
Caped Boy: Excuse me, ladies. You may remember me as the guy who came to dinner a few weeks ago with underwear on my head. My name is Keith Stat from Milbourne, New Jersey. State bird, the mosquito. And as you may have heard I am recently a crowned class B dungeon-master. So if any of you would like to play D&D today, please speak now or forever hold your peace. [He chuckles, and there is an awkward silence at the table.] Caped Boy: Anyone? Alexa! [Alexa gives him a withering glare.] Caped Boy: Maybe you would like to join in? We do need a druid, and you have definitely cast a level 5 charm spell on me. Alexa: In your dreams, douche-bag! Caped Boy: Douche-bags are hygienic products, I take that as a compliment. Thank you. [Keith walks off] Alexa: Ewww!
I don't think people would whine about certain guys being left off the show if the lineup were filled with usefull names. Yes, Matt Hardy is finally back on PPV, but when you've got A-Train and Eric Bischoff filling slots (I'll let Shane go; they're building him for Kane to destroy) then there is a problem. With rosters as deep as they are right now you can't fit everyone who deserves a spot on the show...taking up spots with useless Velocity crap doesn't help matters.
There's no point in throwing out a meaningless IC title match now when other matches actually have a build. It's no great loss, considering the state of Raw and the fact that Christian is pretty dull to watch most of the time.
As previously stated, the injury of Booker T probably screwed things up as well. At least the U.S. title match looks good.
I agree that the IC title should be defended ... but Christian needs to be built up a credible champ and he really has no one to feud with in order to do that. And that the WWE's fault for not elevating more midcarders.
And plus I guess that the WWE didn't want Summerslam to be all title matches ... I suppose they tried to book it by having the secondary singles title from one show defended and the tag titles from the other defended (thus the reason Haas and Benjamin aren't on the card) ...
www.deargodwrestling.com ... putting the "DEAR GOD" back into wrestling ..
It all goes back to longterm booking, or the lack thereof. They should have had this stuff planned out at least a month or two ago. Cena's not on the card because he was doing something up until 2 weeks ago? They could have ended that feud earlier, and started building to something else.
Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDIt all goes back to longterm booking, or the lack thereof. They should have had this stuff planned out at least a month or two ago.
Actually, the 'longterm' booking indicated that they were staying with the Christian/Booker T feud, with Test/Steiner involved, but that was messed up by the condition of Booker.
Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDIt all goes back to longterm booking, or the lack thereof. They should have had this stuff planned out at least a month or two ago. Cena's not on the card because he was doing something up until 2 weeks ago? They could have ended that feud earlier, and started building to something else.
The problem is a lack of vision and foresight.
Or, run it up to SS, where Cena gets the win over Taker.
Where's the people complimenting WWE on having Matt Hardy on the show?
Hey, great, he's facing the guy w/ 1 leg. Terrific use of Matt Hardy's character. We heard all this talk about how management was pleased w/ Matt after his feud w/ Rey, and how he'd be in line for a push, but here he is facing Gowan, after appearing in the meaningless APA brawl the previous PPV.
I hope you'll excuse me if I don't give the WWE a standing "o".
Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDIt all goes back to longterm booking, or the lack thereof. They should have had this stuff planned out at least a month or two ago. Cena's not on the card because he was doing something up until 2 weeks ago? They could have ended that feud earlier, and started building to something else.
The problem is a lack of vision and foresight.
Or, run it up to SS, where Cena gets the win over Taker.
Where's the people complimenting WWE on having Matt Hardy on the show?
Hey, great, he's facing the guy w/ 1 leg. Terrific use of Matt Hardy's character. We heard all this talk about how management was pleased w/ Matt after his feud w/ Rey, and how he'd be in line for a push, but here he is facing Gowan, after appearing in the meaningless APA brawl the previous PPV.
I hope you'll excuse me if I don't give the WWE a standing "o".
It is a terrific use of Matt Hardy's character. Picking on the smaller opponent, being a general dickhead, etc. etc. I'm sure at least a few people have to agree on that. Look at the heel heat he's been getting for goodness sakes.
Caped Boy: Excuse me, ladies. You may remember me as the guy who came to dinner a few weeks ago with underwear on my head. My name is Keith Stat from Milbourne, New Jersey. State bird, the mosquito. And as you may have heard I am recently a crowned class B dungeon-master. So if any of you would like to play D&D today, please speak now or forever hold your peace. [He chuckles, and there is an awkward silence at the table.] Caped Boy: Anyone? Alexa! [Alexa gives him a withering glare.] Caped Boy: Maybe you would like to join in? We do need a druid, and you have definitely cast a level 5 charm spell on me. Alexa: In your dreams, douche-bag! Caped Boy: Douche-bags are hygienic products, I take that as a compliment. Thank you. [Keith walks off] Alexa: Ewww!
I was going to talk about the Hardy/Gowen match being off but there is already another thread on it. But I will say that either Vince is actually trying to put out bad product or the whole creative crew at WWE has gone completely incompetent. It's the actual wrestlers who still care who are doing their best to put on a good show despite the writing. It's like a cook still trying to make the spaghetti taste good even though he knows it's going to be thrown against the wall to see if it sticks.
(edited by OndaGrande on 21.8.03 1757) LEARN IT, KNOW IT, LIVE IT!
Personally it doesn't bother me too much at all. My main concern at the joint PPV's is the quantity of title matches. The more there are the less value they have. There's already four on this show and thats probably just about right.
Had they substituted the IC with the US title someone would have complained about the fact that Eddie wasn't involved defending his US title given he is on such a hot streak.
The IC title is cold right now as there is no major program revolving around it. Titles don't make good matches, wrestlers and feuds do.