5. William Regal vs. Santino Marella - WWE Intercontinental Title (Raw 2008)
http://youtu.be/Vu8MbX88j28?t=53s Oh man, the Honk-A-Meter (or in this case, the Honk-A-Perfect-Mountie Meter). Now that was a gimmick that had potential a heel champion bragging about how he was going to become the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion, and then displaying a graphic to show his progress. It could work as comedy (as in this case) or as a serious gimmick (for example, CM Punks day-by-day title reign tracking). Sadly, Santino unveiled his Honk-A-Perfect-Mountie Meter in Manchester, England, just 50 miles away from William Regals billed hometown of Blackpool. A wicked knee trembler ended Santinos reign at 13 weeks in 30 seconds flat. If youre going to do a squash title change, thats the way to do it in a guys hometown (or home country) against a braggadocios champ. Regal would go on to hold the IC title for two months before losing it to another hometown hero, Chicagos own CM Punk, in Chi-Town.
Scott Carlson
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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.
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