10 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Extreme Rules 2019

5. IC Title Still The Bridesmaid

Shinsuke Nakamura Finn Balor
WWE.com

One of these days, the Intercontinental Championship will be treated like the workhorse secondary title it was for so long.

But in watching Finn Balor lose the title to Shinsuke Nakamura – both solid wrestlers, mind you – you couldn’t help but note that Balor hadn’t defended the title very much during this three-month reign. Sunday’s kickoff show (yes, they were relegated to the “people are still filing in” slot) match was only Finn’s fourth televised defense, with zero PPV main shows and zero defenses on SmackDown, where the title is housed.

A defense on Raw, a televised live event and Super Showdown were the only other matches where the IC title was on the line this spring and summer. And then it changes hands on the kickoff show. That’s embarrassing, and unforgivable.

Maybe things will change with Nakamura holding the title, but we won’t be holding our breath… but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.