The goal of every WWE Superstar has always been to be a world champion. It's supposed to be the pinnacle of greatness in the wrestling world, but over the past year, WWE's storylines involving its top titles haven't been as interesting as those based around the Intercontinental and United States Championships.
If you look at the current list of champions, it's easy to see why the IC and U.S. titles might be more coveted by those in the locker room than the Universal and WWE titles. Brock Lesnar is barely around to defend the Universal Championship, and Jinder Mahal's reign as WWE champion has many fans scratching their heads while wondering how it happened.
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Then you have The Miz and Kevin Owens. The A-Lister has made the Intercontinental Championship more prestigious than it has been in years because the passion he displays when talking about what winning the belt means to him is as real as it gets.
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Most wrestlers grew up watching wrestling every week, and some of their favourite Superstars never held a world title. Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, and Owen Hart are just a few examples of former IC Champions who never won a World Heavyweight Championship in WWE. They may have held the top title in other promotions, but WWE doesn't always acknowledge accomplishments outside of its own walls.
The Intercontinental Championship has been known as the workhorse title for years. The WWE champion typically defends the title exclusively at pay-per-views, but the IC champ puts his belt on the line more often, so fans have an exciting main event at non-PPV shows.
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Stars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr Perfect and The British Bulldog helped elevate the Intercontinental title through hard work and top notch wrestling. When they were defending the strap, you knew it was going to be a great match.
There have been periods when the title wasn't as coveted due to bad booking, but it has gone through a resurgence in recent years. It all started when Cody Rhodes brought back the classic design used during the '80s and '90s.
In addition to the nostalgia effect, the belt Rhodes reintroduced to the world just looks better than the previous one. Even though the design has nothing to do with the performance of the champion, it reminded fans of a time when winning the Intercontinental Championship meant a lot more.
The past few years have been an especially strong period for the title thanks to booking several former world champions to win it and the efforts of Superstars like The Miz. He has made it his mission to be the greatest IC champion of all time, and with the way things are going for him, he might just accomplish his goal.
As far as the U.S. Championship is concerned, it's revitalization began when John Cena won the strap from Rusev in March of 2015. His weekly open challenges for the title produced some incredible matches with the likes of Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Neville and Stardust.
This was a guy who had already won over a dozen WWE Championships and was making a midcard title look like the most important thing in the world. Even Cena's biggest critics were praising his efforts to restore the belt to its former glory.
The list of champions since Cena lost the title has definitely helped continue the momentum he built up. Kalisto and Rusev feuded over it for several months, and former world champions like Chris Jericho, Alberto Del Rio and Roman Reigns made it feel important just by pursuing it.
Jericho's reign had more to do with his feud with Owens, but he had some good matches as champion. He also made a point to mention how it was the one belt that had eluded him for his entire career, and as a completionist, he wanted at least one reigns so he could complete his resume.
However, Owens is the man responsible for making it SmackDown's most interesting title. His monicker "The New Face of America” makes him a heat magnet in the United States because he is from Canada, and he has started holding his own open challenges by defending the title against Chad Gable on the June 20 episode of SmackDown.
KO is an extremely talented wrestler who can make any opponent look better. Some people like Vince Russo choose to criticise his weight, but he has proven himself to be a great athlete with just as much endurance as the guys with six-pack abs and veins popping out of every muscle.
Mahal has made big improvements since winning the WWE Championship, but he still has a long way to go before his greatest detractors feel like he deserves to hold what should be considered the most prestigious belt in all of wrestling.
As far as Lesnar is concerned, his disappointing reign has more to do with how WWE schedules his defences than anything else. Every other champion is expected to defend their title at least once every 30 days, but WWE just ignores that rule because Lesnar is a big draw who negotiated a very limited schedule for a ridiculous amount of money.
The Intercontinental and United States Championships are supposed to play second bananas to the WWE and Universal Championships, but with champions like The Miz and KO doing such great work, it's hard not to see them as superior to the top champions in the company.
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