Can They Be Champ? 5.29.07: Next IC, US, and X Division Champs

We all thought that MVP would win the US Title at Wrestlemania. It didn’t happen. So then we all thought it was bound to happen at Backlash. Not so much. By the time Judgment Day came around, I was actually expecting Benoit to win. But MVP has finally won the US title, so I can finally go ahead and predict who I think the next second tier champs will be. Just so you know, the second tier titles would be the Intercontinental Championship, the US Championship, and the X Division Championship.

They may not be the championships, but we love them all the same.

Well… sometimes.

Who will be the next Intercontinental Champion?

Remember when Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro were having an incredibly hot feud over the IC title? Those two were making that belt look better than it has in years. And what happened? They dropped the belt to Umaga. Now, I may be mistaken here, but I think Umaga defended the belt a grand total of one time. Ridiculous. Giving him the belt was a desperate bid to quickly raise Umaga’s stock for the Battle of the Billionaires feud.

And what did they do to Jeff and Nitro. Well, Jeff is now a tag team champion, which is fine, but it was hardly something he needed. I though his singles push was going really well, and am kind of disappointed to see him back in the tag team division. It’s good for the division, but not so much for Jeff. And Nitro? He’s all but disappeared, occasionally showing up with random (some would call it horrible) booking. Why is Nitro suddenly teaming up with Kenny? I mean, besides the obvious reason that the WWE can’t figure out anything to do with either of them. Which is ridiculous, because Nitro’s a great talent, and at a time when so many of Raw’s best are injured or getting moved around, he should be getting a good push.

I hate it when the IC belt is used as some sort of magic tool that will instantly help a wrestler’s career. That never works. If a good wrestler can defend the belt in good matches against credible opponents, then yes, the wrestler and the belt look great. But just putting the belt on someone and letting it sit on him for months without any defenses doesn’t do a damn thing.

Alright, my point is that the Umaga IC title run was a disaster. But they did eventually get the belt off him, and onto Santino Marella. Using the IC title as an immediate means to push a wrestler on his debut is frankly just as distasteful as expecting the belt to magically improve someone’s career. Make no mistake; this is a whoring of the belt.

At least Santino is defending the belt. Sure, against Chris Masters, but he’s still defending it. Speaking of Chris Masters, remember when it looked like he may have a future in the WWE? These days it’s pretty hard to picture him even holding the IC title.

So, who do I think is going to hold the IC belt next? Honestly, I expect the WWE to forget it even exists. It’s happened before; remember Ric Flair’s last run with IC belt? We’ll probably see Santino about once a month on Raw, in some lame title defense. His character has hardly been developed since debuting. They seem unwilling to waste TV time with him.

What they should do is forget this Nitro/Kenny tag team ever happened, and get a good feud for the belt going between Santino, Nitro, and Kenny. But that probably won’t happen. Santino will probably just be wrestling semi-contenders, like Masters and… uh… geez, everyone else seems to be tied up in tag teams that aren’t going anywhere. Maybe we should split up the World’s Greatest Tag Team and put Shelton and Haas in the IC title scene.

So, who will be champ?

Santino, for a long, long time. Probably until another new guy debuts that they want to put the belt on.

Who will be the next US Champion?

The US Championship isn’t in nearly as bad shape. The Benoit/MVP feud has helped make the belt good, as has Benoit’s whole run. But now we have MVP as the champ, and I think it’s safe to say he’ll be holing onto the belt for a while, and probably defending it pretty frequently. His first defense or two may be against Benoit, but at this point there have been so many Benoit/MVP matches that I think they may just skip the obligatory rematch.

So who’s left for MVP to feud with? Well, since Batista may be busy with Edge for a little bit, maybe Mark Henry will take the fight to MVP. The only problem with this is that the WWE seems intent on pushing both of these men, that I don’t think they would be comfortable putting one over the other.

And let’s not forget Finlay. He’s always good for helping to put other people over, and an MVP/Finlay feud would be pretty interesting. I can see how they could get a lot of mileage out of that. Still, I don’t think they would have Finlay take the belt off of MVP.

I would like to see Matt Hardy eventually take it from MVP. It would be a good push to his singles career, and I think a feud between those two could be pretty fun. Unfortunately, Matt is currently stuck in a tag team title run… on Raw. Still, that will probably be over before MVP’s reign is.

As for a dark horse… well, there’s the Miz. If the WWE suddenly decided to get serious about him, he could become a contender for the US title. Would they have him win it? Well, never say never.

So, who will be champ?

Matt Hardy really seems like the best choice. Still, MVP will probably hold onto the belt for awhile before losing it.

Who will be the next X Division Champion?

Sabin has held the belt for a long time now, and I think a lot of people are expecting him to drop it soon. So, who are the likely candidates to take the belt from him?

Jay Lethal seems to be in line for a comedy push with the whole Black Machismo thing. Well, I probably shouldn’t say comedy push, since Lethal is capable of putting on matches that are entertaining beyond being comical. Besides, his character is probably more over than he has been in awhile, so they may as well capitalize on it now.

Sonjay Dutt looks to be involved with Kevin Nash, so he probably won’t be near the title for awhile.

Alex Shelley looks to be getting teamed with Sabin, so I have a hard time seeing him take his belt away from him.

Jerry Lynn did win that match at Sacrifice. Maybe TNA wants to push older, established stars. Sure does beat building up new talent, don’t it?

We do have Senshi available for a title run. With Austin Starr’s imminent departure, Senshi will be done with that feud.

So, who will be champ?

I really think Lethal is the best candidate, but there are a few others I wouldn’t be too surprised to see win the belt.

I’m just going to give some small opinions on Judgment Day. Yeah, “recap” really isn’t the word, but I like the pic.

Overall, it was a pretty mediocre show. A lot of the matches that I thought had potential were either slightly disappointing (MVP vs. Benoit and Edge vs. Batista) or turned out to be more story development than a real match (HBK vs. RKO). Still, the tag team match between the Hardys and Cade and Murdoch was surprisingly great, and probably my pick for the match of the night. Cena vs. Khali, while hardly great, was better than I thought it would be. At least they smart enough to keep it short Else where, I was surprised to see Punk vs. Burke go for as long as it did. They had a fun match, but any hopes I may have had of them stealing the show seemed foolish. I have to question how smart it was to have Flair go over Carlito. Hopefully they plan to just extend the feud for awhile, and eventually have Carlito come out victorious. He kind of needs it.

Ok, I’m done for this week. Please keep sending all questions, comments, and insults to [email protected]. I’m out.

Keep the dream alive.