Having an undisputed belt is awesome. But one unified belt is boring. Minor belts and regional belts makes it more interesting. We have plenty of minor belts, like the USA Wrestling Belt, boxing’s WBO, WBC, IBF belts, mma’s UFC belt etc.
But most of these belts are under different promotions it’s hard to match fighters due to various factors. Now under the new WWF promotions, we have full control so fighters can’t duck other fighters. No excuses.
One of these minor belts is the Intercontinental Belt. It’s almost the same as the undisputed WWF belt, but with a twist. You can only get the belt on an annual tournament. And you have to defend it every year via the tournament.
Unlike the usual belts where you have to defend it one challenger at a time. This belt, you have to defend it against 7 others. Or if a champion cannot defend and join the tournament then he may select another representative to defend it. But it has to be a fellow countrymen. Why you may ask? Because on the tournament only one fighter per country can join.
Now this creates a dilemma for nations with multiple fighters. If they can’t decide on a champion they have to fight for the slot.
Another dilemma is for the future Undisputed champ. If he wishes to join the annual tournament he might find himself in the middle of a busy month, defending the Undisputed while fighting for the Intercontinental belts.
The new WWF rules states that only the number one contender, the minor belt champion(current Intercontinental, the USA Champion, the Weight Class champions) can fight for the title, except during the tournament in which every participant is automatically a contender for the Undisputed Title.
Crazy right? It’s a nation’s pride to have one of your fighters have this intercontinental belt, but as an Undisputed Champion, you are risking your WWF belt too.
Are you excited yet?
Anyways the year 2000 will be the first of this tournament. 8 Nations will fight for the Intercontinental Cup voted by the Fighting Community: USA, China, France, Scotland, Italy, Iran, Japan and Samoa.
The match up are randomised which concludes to these matches on the first round:
- USA vs Iran
- Japan vs Canada
- Italy vs Scotland
- France vs China
Most countries had already have their representative. Hogan automatically qualifies as the US fighter since he is the current USA Champ. France will be represented by the undefeated European legend Andre the Giant. Iran have chosen the Iron Sheikh as their champion. Rowdy Piper has volunteered for the Scottish poeple. The rest of the countries have yet to decide which fighter to select.