The Intercontinental Championship match is atrocious

[Messiah]

It was brought up in the other thread but what was the WWE thinking with this match? I could understand if it was packed with stars, but come on. Sin Cara? Stardust? ZACK RYDER?!

This should have been Owens/Zayn. That alone is money. WWE has done a lot of things booking-wise that tells me they are lazy as heck, but there might not be a better example than this match. The inclusion of Cara, Stardust (as much as I love love love Cody Rhodes as a performer), and Ryder in this match makes no sense.

[Circled Square]

But burying the midcard titles is proud WrestleMania tradition now.

The New Day is going against the league of memes btw, which is another disaster.

[Hanley!]

What makes it even worse is that Sin Cara, Ryder and Stardust were introduced into the feud as jokes. The gimmick was that three guys wanted a shot against Owens and he said he'd arrange a triple threat match to see who won the privilege to face him. Instead of those three talented guys, he picked Sin Cara, Stardust and Ryder. Three guys the cowardly heel wasn't afraid to defend his title against. And now they're in the damn match.

They buried these guys, literally right before they were announced as title contenders at the biggest show of the year.

This company genuinely just doesn't know how to book anymore.

[Circled Square]

What makes it even worse is that Sin Cara, Ryder and Stardust were introduced into the feud as jokes. The gimmick was that three guys wanted a shot against Owens and he said he'd arrange a triple threat match to see who won the privilege to face him. Instead of those three talented guys, he picked Sin Cara, Stardust and Ryder. Three guys the cowardly heel wasn't afraid to defend his title against. And now they're in the damn match.

They buried these guys, literally right before they were announced as title contenders at the biggest show of the year.

This company genuinely just doesn't know how to book anymore.

Agreed. It's baffling, the decisions they make are unbelievable.

[Viazon]

Before I get into my response, I want to prefix this by saying that I think Sin Cara, Stardust and Zack Ryder are three talented guys, who have worked hard and deserve a match at Wrestlemania just as much as anyone else.

However, I dislike like random people being added into a match for the sake of it. I especially dislike it when it happens at Wrestlemania. I don't dislike the three wrestlers mentioned above. As I said, let them compete at Wrestlemania. But I don't understand putting a bunch of guys in a match like this when they have done literally nothing for ages. I can't even remember the last time Ryder appeared on Raw. And as for Stardust. I like Cody Rhodes. There was a time where I though he could achieve big things. But he hasn't really done much lately and this just seems very thrown together.

I would have been happy with a simple fatal four way match between KO, Zayn, Ziggler and Miz. The other three I assumed would just be in the battle royale.

[EmperorWu]

Wait wait wait. I went to bed during this match so I didn't get to finish the episode. You're telling me they are legit going with these guys at Mania or something?

[Str8Shooter]

Meh, we all knew this was going to be a multiman clusterfuck for months now. They for some reason think they need to get everyone on the show somehow, I don't know why the Andre Battle Royale couldn't have counted for most of these guys though, then again I don't know how the pay scale works for Mania.

I'm happy for Ryder/Cody/and Sin Cara for getting a chance, and I know they're all going to be working their asses off being in an actual match at Mania now.

In summation, who really cares? It's a spotfest ladder match, Owens likely wins, we move on to a 1 on 1 next month and the month after with Zayn and Owens.

[The Legend]

It was one thing when it was going to be Owens vs Zayn vs Neville vs Miz or Ziggler. That would have been a multi-man match that wouldn't have been as good as Zayn vs Owens, but at least it made some sense and wouldn't have been a total joke, but the randomness of this match is just sad.

[Hanley!]

In summation, who really cares?

Nobody. But they could have. Which is my problem with this match.

I was against the multi-man title match to begin with because they've got a compelling singles match that they could do instead, because people can't get as personally invested in the multi-man match, because they're putting Ryback and Kalisto in a singles match and they won't be as well received in the position, and because we already have a match that serves just to get extra names on the card and don't need a second one.

But now they've just turned the title match into even less of a draw by adding guys who - while talented - are jobbers who haven't been prepared for that spot and who won't be embraced in that spot by fans with a snap of the fingers.

The thing is on this Wrestlemania card, this match is not a huge cause for anger or concern. I'm not furious about this or anything. I don't think anyone is. It's just another reason to not get excited.

It's a little demoralising how the most prevalent arguments defending WWE these days tend to be things like 'it's just a midcard match, it doesn't matter' or 'we always knew they would do it this way anyway, so why complain'. Basically arguments that aren't actually a defence of the decisions at all, just a reason to brush any disappointment under the rug.

I've always been of the position that no matter how far they drop their standards, we don't have to drop ours. Even if we weren't expecting anything better, there's no harm in calling a bad decision a bad decision.

[Tom]

Surely it would have made more sense to have Owens vs Zayn one on one and booked the US title as a multi man ladder match? What match sounds more appealing: Owens vs Zayn or Kalisto vs Ryback?

That is not to say that the US title should have been defended in a multi man match because at this stage multi man ladder matches are just an excuse to get people on the card. But at least Owens vs Zayn would have been a singles match that had story behind it and given time could have been an excellent match. Though in saying that, knowing WWE's inability to manage time at Mania they probably would have got 5 mins so it may work out better in the long run!