WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray recently gave WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque for returning “a lot of shine” back on the WWE Intercontinental Championship again. Championships in WWE have not been something very important in a long time. Roman Reigns held his championships for so long that they combined them into one and created a new one. Who is champion and what championship they hold hasn’t mattered.
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However, that has changed recently. GUNTHER’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign of almost 650 days has made the championship matter. GUNTHER is always defending it and will defend it against anyone willing to step up. In that, it makes it different from Reigns’ long reign because GUNTHER is a fighting champion.
Bully Ray Credits Triple H for Restoring Credibility to WWE IC Title
On a recent episode of Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray says the one who deserves the credit for elevating the Intercontinental Championship is none other than WWE creative head, Triple H and his booking is what helped to elevate the championship. Bully Ray said on Triple H’s booking:
“The championship is hot because once Triple H fully took over creative, even before he fully took it over, even when Vince disappeared the first time, I felt that they were putting a lot of shine and heaping a lot of praise and credibility on the IC Championship. Vince came back, GUNTHER was still staying the course, Vince leaves again, and I think Hunter has really put the pedal to the metal with this championship.
“Because I believe he believes that if there is a championship out there, it has to mean something. You know how I feel about championships of professional wrestling. There are entirely too many championships that mean absolutely nothing and don’t have a carved-out identity. The IC Championship now has a definitive, carved-out identity, the same for us when we were kids.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Triple H has made a huge impact on how WWE looks and feels. It isn’t perfect and some Superstars have fallen by the wayside at times. However, for the most part, he has been able to book Superstars in an interesting way. Three of the best examples are Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and of course, GUNTHER. None of them would be in the position they are in today if Vince McMahon was still booking.
Triple H made the focus of the challenging Superstar not to beat GUNTHER. Their focus is to take the championship. It made the championship the goal, not just the win. This is a far departure from how Reigns is booked. GUNTHER is the longest reigning Intercontinental champion of all time, but it hasn’t come easy to him. He has gone to war with some of the best wrestlers in WWE. However, Gunther always walks away with a win.
On this week’s Raw, a Gauntlet match was held to determine who would face Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER at WrestleMania and some of those wrestlers fought for a shot at the Intercontinental Champion. The Gauntlet match consisted of the winner of each match moving on to the next match until they made it to the end. It featured Ricochet, JD McDonagh, Bronson Reed, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Chad Gable all trying to move onto the next round. Zayn defeated Reed, Nakamura, and Gable to win the match.
Zayn will now face GUNTHER at WrestleMania for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Zayn was recently a guest on WWE’s The Bump where he talked about believing in himself and not letting self-doubt or a series of losses define him. He also admitted having the fans behind him helps with that.
“There’s a lot of different kinds of WWE Superstars, there really are. Some people are super cool, and some people are super strong, and some people are just super good-looking or whatever it is. There’s a million reasons why the fans would love you. I don’t really know what mine is other than just being myself, for better or for worse it’s the only thing I’ve ever been able to do. Is to just kinda being able to be able to be myself
“… It’s the feelings that you put out there and the WWE Universe feels them back and they give that back to you. That’s kind of been everything to me, it means really more than I could ever put into words, to be honest with you. It means everything.”
– H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Zayn has all the fans behind him. He is another person who has been booked very well under the Triple H era of WWE. He moved to the top of the card and became one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE because of his excellent work in the Bloodline storyline.
Zayn is the perfect underdog in WWE. Everyone who steps into the ring with GUNTHER is the underdog, but Zayn has what it takes and the fan support to come out on top.
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Zayn and GUNTHER will have their match for the title during WWE’s WrestleMania XL Weekend. The two-day mega event will be held on April 6 and 7. In an already stacked card, their match has a possibility of being the best match of the night, but also the best match of WrestleMania.
About WrestleMania XL
When: April 6-7, 2024
Where: Lincoln Financial Field (One Lincoln Financial Field Way, Philadelphia, PA 19148)
Pricing: Tickets available now at Ticketmaster
Broadcast Distribution: Peacock
About: WrestleMania returns to Philadelphia for the first time in 25 years and the very first time at Lincoln Financial Field on April 6th and 7th, 2024 for this 2-day event! Witness your favorite Superstars from Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown as they take the stage at the showcase of the immortals!
Were you hoping Zayn would win the Gauntlet match? If not, who did you want to win? Do you think Triple H is responsible for making the Intercontinental Title credible again? Do you think Zayn is the one who will finally dethrone GUNTHER? Let us know on social media if you think this match will lead to GUNTHER and/or Zayn winning the World Heavyweight or the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship later this year.
SOURCE: Busted Open Radio, Wrestling Inc., WWE’s The Bump, Wrestling Inc.
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