WWE should give IC belt more respect

With WrestleMania XXX in the rearview mirror, WWE will make the turn and begin the road to WrestleMania XXXI at the ‘‘Extreme Rules’’ payper-view.

Usually a card highlighted by a last-man-standing match for the WWE heavyweight championship, the 2014 version of ‘‘Extreme Rules’’ likely will mark the start of a new era in WWE. Cesaro is two victories away from earning the No. 1 contender spot for the Intercontinental title and is the odds-on favorite to face Big E for that strap at ‘‘Extreme Rules.’’ Against a huge opponent, Cesaro will get the opportunity to show off his incredible strength and give Paul Heyman yet another championship.

At the same time, WWE immediately will inject credibility into the Intercontinental title for the first time in a long time and hopefully give Cesaro a long title run.

If you look back 25 years, you see names such as Tito Santana, Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage as Intercontinental champs. It wasn’t uncommon to see an Intercontinental title match as the highlight of a show, and WWE got away from that.

With Cesaro and Daniel Bryan being the two most decorated superstars in WWE, the focus clearly has gone back to wrestling and the quality of the in-ring work.

There seemed to be an effort to get the tag-team division back on track, too, but that seems to have derailed again.