Spotlight on the Intercontinental and TNT Championships
Intercontinental Championship
The workhorse title. The stepping stone to the main event. The Intercontinental Championship is steeped in history. Many Hall of Famers have held it, beginning with Pat Patterson, who won it in a tournament in Rio De Janeiro, unifying the North American Heavyweight Championship and the South American Heavyweight Championship, to Macho Man and Ricky Steamboat, who put on a classic at WrestleMania 3, to the likes of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold, during the Attitude Era, to Kane, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero, and Booker T in the early 00s to current stars like Sami Zayn, Ricochet, and current champion, Gunther.
Many of these champions went on to hold a World Championship within WWE, some went on to hold major gold elsewhere, some reached their ceiling with the IC Championship. Which brings me to Gunther. What does the future hold for him? Does he follow suit and win the World Heavyweight or Universal Championship? I think he does. He is bringing prestige back to the title. He did the one think Vince wanted Keith Lee to do which as get into shape. If he keeps going down the path he is, he’ll be in the Hall of Fame. He has the look, he has the mic skills, the full package. I look forward to what the future brings for him and the Intercontinental Championship.
TNT Championship
The TNT Championship is AEWs version of the Television Championship, and currently serves as the promotions secondary title, with Luchasaurus as the current holder. The workhorse title, Tony Khan had plans to have the title be held by some of the promotions big names that weren’t being used in the main event. And it started off well, with the first 3 reigns being Cody twice, and Mr Brodie Lee, and continued to have promise with Darby Allin’s first reign, Miro and Sammy Guevara.
But since then, the former champions haven’t been pushed any further up the card, and the Championship being hot potatoed over the last 12 months. Hopefully, with time, the TNT Championship can gain the recognition of other Television and mid card Championships. AEW have a strong mid card to give relevance to the title. Luchasaurus holding the title should be a good thing, as long as Christian Cage stays with him as a mouth piece. I hope with him holding the title, it’ll be the end of the short reigns, but we’ll have to wait and see.
PPV + PLE Content. Northern Adelaide suburbs resident with a lifelong passion for professional wrestling since the age of 14. What drew Rhys to wrestling was the antics of Eddie Guerrero and the freestyles of John Cena, and has been hooked ever since. Currently, Rhys watches WWE and AEW programing. This passion for wrestling has led to Rhys writing for PW Down Under, where he has become the resident PPV guy.
