WWE Intercontinental Championship

Originally the second-most important title in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the WWE Intercontinental Championship is now the secondary championship on its RAW brand. While the top superstars on RAW usually seek the WWE Championship, wrestlers who are not in the main event can vie for the Intercontinental Championship, which has been around for more than 25 years.

Facts & Trivia

• The wrestler with the longest Intercontinental Championship reign is the Honky Tonk Man, who held the title for nearly 15 months.
• The Ultimate Warrior was the only wrestler that ever won the WWF Championship while still Intercontinental Champion.
• The wrestler with the shortest Intercontinental Championship reign is Dean Douglas, who was awarded the belt from an injured Shawn Michaels, only to lose it to Razor Ramon on the same night 11 minutes later.
• The most times the title has been won by one man is seven, by Chris Jericho beating the prior record of six held by Jeff Jarrett.
• Pat Patterson became the first Intercontinental Champion with the claim that he had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. However, such a tournament never actually took place; the title was just awarded to Patterson.
• The only woman to win the Intercontinental Title was Chyna. Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho and Val Venis, holding the title three times.
• The youngest IC Champion was Jeff Hardy.
• Chris Jericho and Chyna are the only wrestlers to have held the IC Title at the same time. The two became co-champions after a controversial ending to a match between them led to the Intercontinental Championship being vacated by Jericho and then awarded to both superstars, under the stipulation that both wrestlers would lose the title if one of them lost during a defense. Chris Jericho would later win a triple threat match including Chyna to become sole champion once again.
• The Intercontinental Championship is now exclusive to the RAW brand. The WWE United States Championship, which was reactivated in 2003, serves as its counterpart on the SmackDown! brand.
• In 2003, the belt received a facelift of sorts - namely, a nameplate was added, a change which had been made to every other WWE championship belt after the introduction of the unified WWF/E Undisputed Championship belt.
• In 2002, when the Intercontinental Championship was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship, it was done so because, in RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff's words, "One Show, One Champion", possibly referring to the fact that GM Bischoff may have viewed the IC title as a sort of second World title.
• Certain superstars have won the Intercontinental Championship after winning the WWE Championship, including Pedro Morales, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kane, and Ric Flair.