5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE WrestleMania Backlash 2022

Downs…

6. PPV/PLE Secondary Title Defenses Nonexistent

Theory Vince McMahon
WWE.com

Ready for an insane stat? Since WrestleMania 37 14 months ago, the Intercontinental Championship hasn’t been defended on PPV/PLE even once. Not one title defense on a special event. Almost as bad, the United States Championship has been defended on PPV/PLE exactly twice in that same span.

That is beyond ridiculous. These are your secondary titles, which used to represent wrestlers just a step down from the world champion(s), or an up-and-comer who is being set up for big things. In the case of Theory, he’s supposed to be Vince McMahon’s hand-picked prodigy. And instead of getting a PLE match at an event with “WrestleMania” in the title, he and his US title sat in catering.

As for Ricochet, if you’re not going to elevate him or at least give the high-flying superstar a chance to succeed, then why have the IC title on him? This writer would rather they go all-in and see if Ricochet can deliver rather than this hokey-pokey, half-in, half-out approach.

But in the meantime, break out the milk carton, because these titles are missing on PLEs.

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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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.