WWE: 6 Ways To Improve The Intercontinental Title's Prestige

6. Book Longer Title Reigns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urCN9oKcmZ4 The IC Title was a big deal in the early to mid 1990s. When guys like Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Rock held the IC Title it really meant something. Part of the reason was because they had long title reigns. Things started to unravel in 1999 when they stopped booking the IC Title as an important possession. Perhaps we can blame a guy like Vince Russo as a factor in the creative process around that time. He left in late 1999, though, so it's not just him. The short title reigns continued after he was gone. Did you know that from 1999 to the end of 2001 there were 35 IC Title changes? In other words, there was an IC Title change nearly once per month for three years. That's brutal. You can't be telling fans that this title means something when there's a title change that often. It was basically a prop at that point. The longest IC Title reign of all time was when the Honky Tonk Man had a 454 day title reign that started all the way back in 1987. In the 90s, Mr. Perfect had the longest reign that went 280 days starting in 1990 and The Rock's 265 day title reign started in 1997. Since the 2000s, Shelton Benjamin had a 244 day title reign that started in 2004 and Cody Rhodes had a 236 day reign in 2011. In order to make the title important again, fans need to see longer reigning champions that defend the title often and want to be IC Champion because it means something. Right now that's not the case.