This week the WWE celebrated the 40th Birthday of the prestigious Intercontinental Championship. This belt has a long-storied history in pro wrestling. Winning the belt used to mean that you were considered a work horse. While the World Champ was the top guy, the man holding the IC Title could give you the match of the night.
The 1st ever IC Champion was Hall of Famer Pat Patterson who won the belt in tournament that unified his WWF North American Heavyweight Championship and the South American Heavyweight Championship. Ever since then the belt has been held by a list of Hall of Famers who contributed to the legacy of belt. We here at Ring Time have decided to you give you our top 5 Intercontinental Champions of all-time.
Razor Ramon also known as Scott Hall held the Intercontinental Title 4 times over his career. He was the champion for a combined total of 438 days. Razor started his WWF career as not just a bad guy but “The Bad Guy”. As he evolved to a babyface his career started to look up and fans started to appreciate his character. He won his 1st IC title by beating Rick Martel to capture the belt that was vacated by Shawn Michaels.
He and Shawn would go on to have one of the defining matches of their era for the coveted IC belt. At Wrestlemania X, Michaels and Ramon engaged in a legendary ladder match to determine who was the true IC Champion. After his feud with Michaels, Razor would have entanglements with the likes of Diesel and Jeff Jarrett over the belt.
Pedro Morales maybe one of the most overlooked all-time greats in wrestling history. When we talk about who is in your top 5 or 10 a lot of times Pedro is missed. He is the 1st Triple Crown Champion in WWF history. Morales a Puerto Rican Superstar who made his way to the top of the card when it was not common for a man of color to be in the main event in pro wrestling.
Morales was the first ever 2-time Intercontinental Champion and held the belt a record 619 total days over his 2 stints as champion. He some of the early high profile matches with the belt in the early days of the title and adding credibility to the belt by being a former World Champion who held the new title.
Mr Perfect easily could have been at the top of this list. There are not too many stars that are so closely associated with the Intercontinental Championship than Curt Hennig. The longest reigning IC Champ of the 1990s with 404 days as champion set the standard at the beginning of the decade. Hennig saw rivalries with Hall of Fame talents such as Kerry Von Erich, Greg Valentine, British Bulldog and Bret Hart for coveted title. The old saying is “the title doesn’t make the man, but the man makes the title”. That was not truer than with Curt Hennig.
The only 1-time champion on this list, Randy Savage might be the most important person to ever carry the title. Savage had the first high profile Wrestlemania match for the IC Title when he defended it against Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania III. During his 14-month reign as Intercontinental Champion Savage is credited with bringing a higher-level credibility and visibility to the belt. He helped the WWF’s expansion as the company was able to run 2 towns in the same night as Hogan could main event one show and Savage could main event the other with the IC belt.
Nobody has held the IC title more times than Chris Jericho. One of the most decorated champions in the history of pro wrestling has found the Intercontinental belt around his waist a record 9 times. Last man to hold the belt at the end of the 1990s and a staple of the title in the 2000s. Facing everyone from Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, HHH to Kane for the belt over his various reigns.
Written By
Keith B. Holt
Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr
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