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There have been 72 different champions. [[Chris Jericho]] had the most reigns with nine. [[Pedro Morales]] held the championship for a record total of 619 days and [[The Honky Tonk Man]] had the longest uninterrupted reign at 454 days, from June 2, 1987 until August 29, 1988. [[Shane Douglas|Dean Douglas]] had the shortest reign at 13 minutes 52 seconds. [[Chyna]] is the only woman to win the title. The youngest champion was [[Jeff Hardy]], who won the championship at 23 years old. The oldest champion was [[Ric Flair]], who won the championship at [[Unforgiven (2005)|Unforgiven 2005]] at the age of 56. There have been nine vacancies throughout the title's history.
There have been 72 different champions. [[Chris Jericho]] had the most reigns with nine. [[Pedro Morales]] held the championship for a record total of 619 days and [[The Honky Tonk Man]] had the longest uninterrupted reign at 454 days, from June 2, 1987 until August 29, 1988. [[Shane Douglas|Dean Douglas]] had the shortest reign at 13 minutes 52 seconds. [[Chyna]] is the only woman to win the title. The youngest champion was [[Jeff Hardy]], who won the championship at 23 years old. The oldest champion was [[Ric Flair]], who won the championship at [[Unforgiven (2005)|Unforgiven 2005]] at the age of 56. There have been nine vacancies throughout the title's history.


The most recent champion is [[Wade Barrett|Bad News Barrett]], who was is in his fourth reign before he the title was vacated on June 30, 2014 after Barrett suffered a shoulder injury. He won the championship by defeating [[Big E Langston|Big E]] at [[Extreme Rules (2014)|Extreme Rules]] on May 4, 2014 in [[East Rutherford, New Jersey]].
The championship is currently vacant. The most recent champion [[Wade Barrett|Bad News Barrett]] suffered an injury on Smackdown on June 24th, 2014 (aired June 27th), and the title was announced as vacant on the following Raw. Also announced on Raw, a battle royal will be held at the Battleground pay-per-view for the vacant championship.


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 01:46, 1 July 2014

WWE Intercontinental Championship
File:WWE I-C Title.png
The current Intercontinental Championship belt
Tournament information

The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is the secondary title of the promotion. Although generally contested on the midcard at WWE shows, matches for the title have, on occasion, headlined pay-per-view events.[3]

History

Inaugural champion and WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson.
The Honky Tonk Man, whose year long-plus (454 day) reign as champion is longest in history.
Record nine-time champion Chris Jericho.

WWF North American Heavyweight Champion Pat Patterson became the inaugural champion on September 1, 1979. It was said he had unified his title with a South American Heavyweight Championship, in a tournament in Rio de Janeiro,[4] though this tournament was never actually held.[5][6]

On October 17, 1999, Chyna became the only woman to hold the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Jeff Jarrett at No Mercy.[7][8] Following the World Wrestling Federation's purchase of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001,[9] the title was unified with the WCW United States Championship at Survivor Series 2001, causing the United States Championship to become inactive. The United States Champion, Edge, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Test.[10]

Following the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was further unified with the European Championship in a ladder match on July 22, and the Hardcore Championship on August 26. The Intercontinental Champion, Rob Van Dam, defeated the European Champion, Jeff Hardy, and the Hardcore Champion, Tommy Dreamer respectively.[11][12] As a result, Rob Van Dam was named the last European and Hardcore Champion.[13][14][15] Then at No Mercy 2002, it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Kane, causing the Intercontinental Championship to become inactive.[16] However, in May 2003, the title was reactivated by Raw co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was recommissioned to be a secondary championship to the Raw brand. Shortly after, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by the SmackDown brand, making the title its counterpart. During the 2009 WWE Draft on April 13, 2009, reigning champion Rey Mysterio was drafted to SmackDown, making the Intercontinental Championship exclusive to that brand.[17] On October 2, 2011, at Hell in a Cell, Cody Rhodes introduced a modified version of the classic belt design with the white strap, with an added modern WWE "scratch logo" and other embellishments.[18] Since August 29, 2011, when all WWE programming became "Supershows" featuring wrestlers from the full roster, the title has been defended on both Raw and SmackDown.

Reigns

Most recent champion Bad News Barrett
Main article: List of WWE Intercontinental Champions

The inaugural champion was Pat Patterson, after allegedly unifying his North American Championship with a "South American Heavyweight Championship" in a September 1979 tournament in Rio de Janeiro that never actually happened.

There have been 72 different champions. Chris Jericho had the most reigns with nine. Pedro Morales held the championship for a record total of 619 days and The Honky Tonk Man had the longest uninterrupted reign at 454 days, from June 2, 1987 until August 29, 1988. Dean Douglas had the shortest reign at 13 minutes 52 seconds. Chyna is the only woman to win the title. The youngest champion was Jeff Hardy, who won the championship at 23 years old. The oldest champion was Ric Flair, who won the championship at Unforgiven 2005 at the age of 56. There have been nine vacancies throughout the title's history.

The championship is currently vacant. The most recent champion Bad News Barrett suffered an injury on Smackdown on June 24th, 2014 (aired June 27th), and the title was announced as vacant on the following Raw. Also announced on Raw, a battle royal will be held at the Battleground pay-per-view for the vacant championship.

References

  1. ^ Dean Douglas' Reign
  2. ^ WWE WrestleMania I (DVD). WWE. 1985-03-31.
  3. ^ See: WrestleMania VI, SummerSlam (1992), In Your House 3 and In Your House 8: Beware of Dog.
  4. ^ "Pat Patterson's first reign".
  5. ^ "Intercontinental Title Tournament Finally Uncovered", April Fool's joke from WWE.com
  6. ^ Intercontinental title history, from TheHistoryofWWE.com
  7. ^ Lilsboy (May 2005). "The truth about Chyna". The Sun. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  8. ^ Laurer, Joanie. If They Only Knew, 299.
  9. ^ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. Acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". WWE Corporate. 2001-03-23. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  10. ^ "Survivor Series 2001 results". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  11. ^ "WWE Raw - June 22, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  12. ^ "WWE Raw - August 26, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  13. ^ "Rob Van Dam's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  14. ^ "WWE European Championship history". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  15. ^ "WWE Hardcore Championship history". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  16. ^ "No Mercy 2002 results". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  17. ^ Plummer, Dale (2009-04-14). "RAW: Drafting a fresh start for the WWE". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  18. ^ Buridck, Michael (2011-10-02). "WWE "Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes def. John Morrison"". Retrieved 2011-10-04.
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