The Great Eight: The Top 8 WWE Intercontinental Champions

Welcome to a very special The Great Eight. The caliber of talent that has held the Intercontinental Championship made this a really hard list to make. I have a solid list of 20 wrestlers, and I hated leaving so many of them off the list. But that is what my job is, so this is the list you get! Some of the guys just missing the cut included Rock and Triple H. And while they did use the title to reach greater heights, I think both men are more remembered for what they did after holding the belt.

The Intercontinental Championship has long been called the workhorse title. And going through this list, you will see why. So many of the champions were some of the best workers in the company during their time. Many of them also went on to be WWF/E Champions, as the Intercontinental Championship was used as a test to see if you could draw. I grew up in the prime for the title, starting in the early 90s and going through to the 2000s. There were so many great champions who would use the title to establish themselves and get propelled up the card.

So, let’s look at the top 20 Intercontinental Champions, and thank you for indulging me with a supersized list.

Fun Facts:

Since its debut in 1979, there have been 191 reigns across 94 champions.
Chris Jericho holds the record for most reigns with nine.
Gunther holds the record for longest reign and most combined days as champion, at 666 days.
Dean Douglas has the shortest reign, with less than a day.
The first three men to have a third reign with the title achieved it in succession. Razor Ramon beat Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Jarrett beat Razor Ramon, and Shawn Michaels beat Jeff Jarret.

Ranking Explanation:

My main criteria when ranking will be the quality of matches, what the wrestler did with/for the belt, time spent as champion, and if the wrestler exemplified the workhorse ability that has been tied to the belt.

Much like most lists that would include Chris Benoit, he won’t be ranked here. Same with Pat Patterson due to the murky waters around whether he was actually involved in ring boy scandal or not. And while he has always denied his involvement, and I know as a gay man he made an easy scape goat. And also, there are enough stories floating around that make it enough for me to pause.

Plugs

I don’t use social media, but you can follow me on Spotify, where you’ll find playlists covering every decade from the 1950s to the 2000s. As well as several genre-specific playlists.

Disclaimer:

This is my list; if you don’t like it or have a different list, awesome! Please share your own list and opinions in the comments section. I welcome open discourse about this wacky art we all love. It is an art form, so it is subjective; we all have our opinions on it, and all of them are valid. So, if you want to share your thoughts and opinions, don’t insult others for their opinion. There is already enough negativity in the world; let’s not add to it. And with that, on to the list!

The List

Honorable Mentions:

Jeff Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, Cody Rhodes

8: Pedro Morales

While he wasn’t the first, Pedro is the one who brought real prestige to the title. Morales was the fourth WW/WF Champion, having won the title in 1971 and holding it for 1,027 days. After a hiatus from the WWF, he would return in the 1980s to become the third Intercontinental Champion.

He would have two reigns, both ended by Don Muraco, for a total of 617 recognized days. That is enough to put him in second place for most combined days. As I said before, Morales brought real prestige to the title.

That doesn’t take away from the caliber of the talent involved in the division before. But like Becky Lynch, IYO SKY, Bayley, AJ Lee, and Asuka all want the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, making it seem like a bigger deal. The same thing happens when one of the first WWF World Champions wants a piece of the title.

Morales is getting the spot for that prestige more than anything. His reigns are very important in the history of the title. And while he wasn’t a bad worker by any means, he wasn’t on the same workhorse level as the rest of the guys on this list. The fact that he has the second most combined days as champion gets him on this list above others as well.

7: Razor Ramon

What if Scott Hall had been able to defeat his demons? Remains one of my biggest questions in wrestling history. He had everything Vince looked for. He had the size, a great look, was charismatic, and great in the ring.

His four runs as Intercontinental Champion showed he was more than capable of being a top guy. He could have been used to break up Diesel’s year on top. His two ladder matches with Shawn Michaels were pure art. And due to a mandate to not use the ladder as a weapon in the second one, two totally different matches.

Despite never being given a run at the top in the WWF or WCW. Ramon more than proved himself as one of the top workers of his day and more than deserving of his spot on this list.

6: Mr. Perfect

Curt Hennig was the only wrestler who could fully embody a name like Mr. Perfect. He made everything look so effortless. Very few wrestlers have achieved the same level of talent as he had. AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart are the only ones that come to mind.

It’s a damn shame he was never given a run at the top in the WWF or WCW. But his runs as Intercontinental Champion really helped to define the belt as the workhorse belt. While guys like Hogan were on top, Mr. Perfect was holding things down right below them.

While there were a few workhorses before him (Rick Rude, Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, and Randy Savage). Mr. Perfect started a lineage of champions known for their in-ring abilities. His talent, both in the ring and out, is more than enough to put him on this list.

5: Randy Savage

The second real workhorse type champion (after Santana), Savage burst into the WWF in 1985, and in less than a year was the Intercontinental Champion.

He is also one of only two people on this list to hold the title only once. That 414-day reign was a blueprint of what the Intercontinental Championship should be. He worked his ass off to not only build his name, but the prestige of the belt.

He used his time with the belt to prove he could be a main eventer. (Back then, the Intercontinental Champion headlined the B run of House Shows.) And by doing so, he helped the title become 1A to the WWF Championship. Not a small feat to accomplish when Hogan was on top.

That success would also be the reason he never held the title a second time, because one year later, he would win his first WWF Championship. His time spent elevating the title and himself is a fine example of maximizing every opportunity. His work with the belt and his undeniable talent nabs him the number five spot on this list.

4: Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho grew up dreaming of being an Intercontinental Champion (and Tag Team Champions with Owen Hart). That dream would not only come true, but come true a record-setting nine times. The Miz is only one championship win away from tying his record. For now, Jericho’s name is forever linked to the belt he dreamed of holding.

Jericho had long established himself as an amazing in-ring talent and one who was loaded with charisma at that. Honing his skills in Canada, CMLL, SMW, WAR, Germany’s CWA, ECW, and WCW. He came into the WWF as a can’t-miss prospect. It took him a few months to adjust to the WWF’s style. Once he did, all bets were off.

He might be past his prime now, but from the mid-1990s through the 2010s, Jericho was always one of the best wrestlers on the roster, and one of the most entertaining as well. That talent propelled him to countless championships. But his work with the Intercontinental Championship helped to keep it relevant, as the company tried to push it down the card.

Whether you love or hate him now, you can deny his talent or his importance in shaping the legacy of the Intercontinental Championship.

3: Bret Hart

Speaking of workhorses and talents that very few have matched. Bret Hart is one of the finest examples of a pro wrestler who has ever existed. Hart’s matches were so different than every other match on the card. They had a sense of realism to them. Hart always looked like he was in a fight. It wasn’t always “pretty,” but that was by design. In a real fight, things get ugly.

Like Savage, his time in the Intercontinental Championship division wasn’t long. But over two reigns and 290 days, Hart added to a very prestigious legacy of hard work. Fans knew they were in for a treat whenever his music hit.

The Pink and Black attack was in its prime during the 1990s, using the talent he learned in his dad’s dungeon and honed on the icy roads of Canada and in The Hart Foundation. Bret Hart fully embraced and embodied the workhorse mentality and professional wrestling. The only thing holding him back from being higher is the short time he spent in the division before moving on to higher aspirations.

2: Shawn Michaels

The Heartbreak Kid, Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels. While Hart was the solid, technical, reality-based worker. Michaels was able to meld the emerging high-flying style with a technical skill set and a large dash of WWF Showmanship.

His work with the Intercontinental Championship was what helped him break free from his days as a Rocker and form fully into HBK. Across three reigns, and 406 days (enough to tie him with Mr. Perfect for the tenth most combined days). Michaels helped to keep the Intercontinental Championship in its 1A slot.

His matches with Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett helped to heat the crowd up for the main events. Main events that he himself would be a part of, not too long after. Again, the only thing separating Michaels and Hart on this list is the time spent with the title itself. Much like most of this time period, Hart and Michaels were two sides of the same coin, and their work helped to define the early-to-mid 1990s of the WWF.

1: Gunther

666 days. 666 days of banger, after banger, after banger. Gunther had already held the NXT UK Championship for 870 days. And had barely lost since signing with the WWE. But when he beat Ricochet in June of 2022, I don’t think many thought he’d be the one to finally break Honky Tonk Man’s record.

Not only did he break it, but he shattered it by 212 days. His reign helped to bring back the idea of the workhorse title. His motto is “The Ring is Sacred.” And he exemplified that motto and the ideals of the Intercontinental Championship with every defense.

The Triple-Threat with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus at WrestleMania will stand the test of time. It is up there with Michaels vs Ramon in a Ladder Match, Savage vs Steamboat, Jericho vs Regal, RVD vs Regal, and Piper vs Hart.

Gunther, like so many before him, used the title to show he deserved to be on top, and only a few short months after losing it, he would win his first World Heavyweight Championship. And he also did his best to elevate the title while holding it. Helping to return prestige to the title and make it relevant again.

His record-breaking run, his in-ring work, his embodiment of a workhorse mentality, and his work to elevate the title all go together to make him number one in my book.

Preview:

Tune in next week when we look back at the Top 8 European Champions!