5 Biggest Missed Opportunities From WWE Extreme Rules 2019

When Finn Bálor won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 35, his fans were understandably elated. Not only did it give him a well-deserved moment on the Grandest Stage of Them All, it finally seemed like the-powers-that-be were starting to listen to the fans. That is, until we all remembered that the Intercontinental Championship hasn’t truly meant something in a very long time.

Well, after Bálor's loss to Shinsuke Nakamura, we can safely say that it still doesn’t mean anything.

Despite Finn’s best attempts, his title reign never amounted to much and, while the idea of a program with Nakamura presented interesting possibilities, it was doomed to fail from the moment that we discovered it was going to take place on the Kickoff Show.

Like we’ve come to expect from these two talented stars, their match was strong – but it doesn’t matter, simply because WWE already knows what they’re capable of and they still placed them on the pre-show. This could have made a great addition to the card and a gimmicky stipulation could have added to the Intercontinental Title drama. Unfortunately, the-powers-that-be clearly didn’t think so.

No matter how strong the competition is, neither the champion nor the belt will be given the time or space they need to develop if the company doesn’t consider them important enough to put on the main show – a show that contains multiple variations of matches we’ve all seen before. As a result, Nakamura, Bálor and the Intercontinental Championship will all continue to languish in mediocrity, when they deserve so much better.