...win the Intercontinental Championship and break The Honky Tonk Man's record of having held it for 454 days? It's a record that still stands, and unlike Bruno or Backlund or Hogan's record of holding the WWF Championship for years and years, this is a record that could still be broken in this day and age. IMO, it's a really strong way of pushing Cesaro as the newest Paul Heyman Guy right off the bat (although it would take over a year for him to set the new record), and one that has the productivity of giving Cesaro a slow-burn push to the top rather than the "He's talented and over! Push him to the world title now!" knee-jerk reaction that I see in a lot of places. I mean, think about it. Brock Lesnar just broke the streak. I realize HTM's record for being the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time isn't quite as distinguished as Taker's 21-0 record was, but it's still a record, and one that's lasted for over two decades. If Cesaro wins the Intercontinental Championship and then breaks HTM's record, that will allow Heyman when the time comes to tout about how his newest client (assuming Heyman hasn't added any new clients by then) has now smashed a record that went unbroken for 27 years, thus further proving what an eye for talent Heyman has and how people almost always prosper under his managerial services.
Thoughts?
It's a brilliant idea for a number of reasons:
1) Cesaro is at the point in his career where holding the top midcard title makes sense. He's a former US Champ. A smart thing to do for him at the moment would be to have him capture the IC title. I would also have him conclude his year-plus long reign against the WWEWHC and win it, becoming only the second man to hold both the WWE Title and the IC Title, before surrendering and vacating the IC title without ever losing it.
2) The IC Title is slowly gaining some prestige back. Some people aren't hearing the pop Big E gets and aren't seeing that the kid has done a decent job of being IC Champ. The prevailing belief seems to be that, since the IC isn't defended at every PPV, it's a pointless belt. This prevailing belief is wrong. The top titles in the company have never (despite the "30-Day Rule" that's sometimes touted) been defended monthly at PPV's (or on Raws, Smackdowns, at house shows, etc.). By the way, the prestige isn't making Big E better; Big E is the one bringing some shine to the IC Title.
3) The idea of breaking the record is hugely appealing because then we have three of the most Heyman guys being: a) the longest-regning WWE Champion in 25 years; b) the guy who broke the Streak; and, c) the longest-reigning IC Champion in history. It cements further the idea that Heyman is the greatest manager of all time (especially when you consider that it will probably be at least a decade before you get another year-long WWE Championship reign again)
4) Having a hugely-long reign with regular defenses by Cesaro brings prestige both to Cesaro (for going over some of the top guys in the company) and to the IC Title (for being sought after by some of the top guys in the company). Now, in order to make it work, we can't limit his defenses to guys like Axel, Kingston, Big E, Swagger, etc. You're going to have to have main event types "come down" to go after the belt, if for no other reason than to show up the arrogant "Swiss Superman", and I mean guys like Sheamus, Orton, Bryan, and Cena. I think a feud between Reigns and Cesaro for the IC belt (that Reigns never wins) not only helps both guys (gets Reigns ready for main event competition while Cesaro look tremendous by not losing the title), but also previews what could be an amazing WWEWHC feud in the future. As for some of you who will no doubt say that those guys would never "job" or "be buried" by Cesaro.......get real. We're not talking about Hogan here. We're talking about the new breed of guy who is more in line with what HHH thinks than what Kevin Nash thinks, which is that they'll do what is "best for business", not just in kayfabe, but in real life.
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