What was the point of the Intercontinental Championship?

[desjardins]

Spoiler: Disclaimer

Disclaimer: I ain't watch wrestling consistently since the early to mid 90s. I occasionally watch AEW now days to see Ms.Jade remain undefeated

What was the point of having an intercontinental championship back in the day.
I remember dudes like Mr.Perfect and other non jobbers getting the belt and as a kid I basically viewed it as a JV belt. Was it just that simple or is it more nuanced than that?
Like does an intercontinental champion get some kind of preference for World Championship title shots or something

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

The kayfabe point of it was always "higher place on the card" which meant "more money" or "a larger purse" depending on who was doing the commentating. It would also mean that you are in the world title mix. They didn't do title vs. title matches often but usually once a guy lost the I.C. title he'd then end up getting a world title shot.

The real reason was

1. They had different touring schedules at their peak. The I.C. champion whether it was Pedro Morales or Macho Man etc.. could headline the B-show. It allowed them to put on more shows per year and more revenue.

2. The belt was something for the guys to go after and theoretically if you got up to that point in the card then you probably would make more money because you'd be main eventing house shows and you'd probably be selling more merchandise once merchandise became a big factor in the 80s.

 

[desjardins]

The kayfabe point of it was always "higher place on the card" which meant "more money" or "a larger purse" depending on who was doing the commentating. It would also mean that you are in the world title mix. They didn't do title vs. title matches often but usually once a guy lost the I.C. title he'd then end up getting a world title shot.

The real reason was

1. They had different touring schedules at their peak. The I.C. champion whether it was Pedro Morales or Macho Man etc.. could headline the B-show. It allowed them to put on more shows per year and more revenue.

2. The belt was something for the guys to go after and theoretically if you got up to that point in the card then you probably would make more money because you'd be main eventing house shows and you'd probably be selling more merchandise once merchandise became a big factor in the 80s.

Thanks for the reply. So basically it was a means to make certain wrestlers more marketable and set them up for a bigger stage.

 

[jadillac]

Spoiler: Disclaimer

Disclaimer: I ain't watch wrestling consistently since the early to mid 90s. I occasionally watch AEW now days to see Ms.Jade remain undefeated

What was the point of having an intercontinental championship back in the day.
I remember dudes like Mr.Perfect and other non jobbers getting the belt and as a kid I basically viewed it as a JV belt. Was it just that simple or is it more nuanced than that?
Like does an intercontinental champion get some kind of preference for World Championship title shots or something

What's the point? What you mean?

How dare you disrespect the "hot & steamy night Pat Patterson had in Rio" when he became the first ever IC champ.

Lol.

But nah it's pretty much what @Eric Brooks said

 

[Crude]

The kayfabe point of it was always "higher place on the card" which meant "more money" or "a larger purse" depending on who was doing the commentating. It would also mean that you are in the world title mix. They didn't do title vs. title matches often but usually once a guy lost the I.C. title he'd then end up getting a world title shot.

The real reason was

1. They had different touring schedules at their peak. The I.C. champion whether it was Pedro Morales or Macho Man etc.. could headline the B-show. It allowed them to put on more shows per year and more revenue.

2. The belt was something for the guys to go after and theoretically if you got up to that point in the card then you probably would make more money because you'd be main eventing house shows and you'd probably be selling more merchandise once merchandise became a big factor in the 80s.

I’ll also add it is sometime used as a trial run to see how upper card to upper mid card guys are received as champion to see if they can be the top guy.