The 411 Wrestling Top 5 9.2.09: Week 38 - Intercontinental Champions

Posted by Michael Bauer on 09.02.2009

From Hall of Famers like Pedro Morales and Bret Hart to future Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels and to the legendary Randy Savage, 411's Wrestling Staffers rank their top Intercontinental Champions in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top Five!

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all these matches rank on people's list, we will create the 411 Wrestling Top 5 list. The scoring is very similar to the Wrestler of the Week as it looks like this:

#1 Choice – 5 points
#2 Choice – 4 points
#3 choice – 3 points
#4 Choice – 2 points
#5 Choice – 1 point
Honorable Mentions will break ties, but get no points.

Also, in the case of a tie, the most votes win, regardless of where it is listed in the individual Top 5. I will also use this rule in the event that one item is mentioned more often, but is one point behind. For example, one second place vote and two Honorable Mentions will defeat simply one first place vote.


So, on to this week's topic…
THE TOP 5 INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONS

The Intercontinental Title has long been seen as the stepping stone to one of the World Titles of the WWE. Hall of Famers of the past and future have the held the belt, led by Chris Jericho with nine title reigns. Of course, not every champion pans out. Just ask the likes of Rikishi and Santino Marella. Narrowing to a Top 5 means going throws many title reigns and champions.

So what did our group of writers select? Let's find out…


Shawn S. Lealos

5.The Honky Tonk Man - HTM started out in the WWF as a joke. He was a fan favorite that no one gave a crap about. Then he started begging the fans to like him and that became his gimmick. I hated this guy and the reason wasn't because he was annoying but because he held the IC Championship for 454 days, the longest any wrestler has ever held the title. Don Muraco and Pedro Morales held the belt for more days but HTM did that in 1 title reign. He was the champion for one year and three months and, unlike Randy Savage, Honky was not a fighting champion but a coward and cheater of the worst order. He won the belt from Ricky Steamboat by holding the bottom rope. He then ducked challengers and used Ric Flair's old tactic of getting intentionally disqualified or counted out to retain his belt. He didn't do this against the toughest challengers as a last resort, he did this against EVERYONE. Three months into his reign he had barely won any matches but still retained his belt and began calling himself the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. This earned the wrath of Randy Savage who would have beaten HTM at Saturday Nights' Main Event if the Hart Foundation had not run in causing the disqualification. He never lost his belt to Savage and caused quite a stir when he threatened to jump to WCW with the belt if WWF followed through with the plans to have Savage beat him. This caused the WWF to change plans and let Randy Savage win the World Title instead of Ted DiBiase, as originally planned. By the time the first Summerslam occurred fans hated HTM more than anyone in the federation and The Ultimate Warrior's 32 second victory for the IC title was the perfect payoff to the 454 day title reign. Santino Morella used HTM as a basis for his character's title run recently and ended up defending the belt against HTM, taking a page out of Honky's book and keeping the title by disqualification. Honky Tonk Man was not a great IC Champion but was a perfect bad guy and might be the most hated IC Champion ever.

4.Chris Jericho - Chris Jericho held the IC Championship for less days then anyone else on my list. As a matter of fact, 12 wrestlers have held the belt longer than Y2J. However, Jericho has held the championship more times than anyone else with 9 separate title reigns. I can overlook the fact that his reigns have only averaged around 35 days apiece, or less than a month a reign, because of the changing landscape of wrestling. No one understands that significant title reigns mean the length you hold the belt now and everyone in our ADD society wants a change every other month to keep them interested. Jericho won his first two IC titles from China, of all people, and those two reigns totaled 57 days. He won his third belt from Chris Benoit but only held it for 6 days before dropping it back. He won it back less than a year later from Benoit and held it for 72 days. He won it from RVD only to lose it 2 weeks later to Kane. His sixth reign didn't even last a day beating RVD and then losing it back to him on the same card. He beat Christian in a ladder match to win a vacant IC title and held it for 37 days before losing it to Shelton Benjamin. Four years later Jericho beat Jeff Hardy for the belt and had his longest title reign at 111 days before dropping it to Kofi Kingston. His most recent reign was a 21 day championship, winning it from and then dropping it back to Rey Mysterio. While he has not held the belt anywhere near as long as the other four men on this list, he is one of the best wrestlers to ever hold the IC title and 9 reigns is nothing to sneeze at.

3.Don "The Magnificent" Muraco - When I was a kid, the muscle men in the WWE could actually wrestle. The two I remember best were Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff and The Magnificent Muraco. I am listing Pedro Morales number two on my list so it should be no surprise I also list the man who ended both Morales' title reigns, Don Muraco. Not only did Muraco beat Morales for both of his championships but he held the belt for a combined 541 days, second only to Morales. I want to mention that I find it ironic that one of Muraco's (also nicknamed The Rock) biggest feuds as IC champ, outside of Morales, was against Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's dad, Rocky Johnson.

2.Pedro Morales - I know a lot of people are going to list Pat Patterson because he was the first IC Champion but he didn't make my Top 5. However, I am listing the third man to hold the title, Pedro Morales. Morales is one of the few wrestlers who actually was World Champion before ever winning the IC belt. Morales was a huge draw for the all-important Latino community and the WWE got him the World title by taking it off champion Bruno Sammartino and having Ivan Koloff serve as a transitional champion. In 1980 when Morales defeated Ken Patera for the IC Championship he became the only man to hold all three of WWF's major championships. His biggest feud was with the Magnificent Muraco who beat Morales after a 194 day reign. Morales regained the belt five months later, becoming the first man to hold the title twice and held it for a record setting fourteen months before dropping it to Muraco once again. He would never hold another title again but as the first WWF Triple Crown winner and the record holder for combined days as IC champion (619), he holds a place in history as one of the best.

1.Macho Man Randy Savage - I can't believe Randy Savage only held the belt one time because when I think of the Macho Man from my childhood I remember him as the IC Champion. That is probably because he held the belt for 414 days, second to only The Honky Tonk Man in average length per title reign. Unlike the HTM, Savage was a great fighting champion. I still remember watching the match, at the time it happened, where he won the belt by hitting Tito Santana with a foreign object. I watched religiously as one-by-one, his challengers were unable to take the belt from him including George "The Animal" Steele and their battle over Elizabeth. The title reign finally ended in the greatest match in professional wrestling history© against Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania III. The IC title was just a stepping stone because he won the World Title one year later. Savage only had one reign but is one of the greatest wrestlers ever and to me is the greatest IC Champion the WWE has ever seen.



Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Santino Marella - I'm not putting him in the Top 5 because I want to see how his reign looks with a little bit more history behind it, but there's no denying that Santino was at his comedic best when he had his second IC Title run in 2008.

Ric Flair - This is more of a "personal favorite" than it is an objectively great reign. I loved the little career resurgence that the Nature Boy had with the IC strap, as it allowed him to get in to the top of the card mix again, having matches with Triple H and Randy Orton that were more entertaining than they had any right to be.

The Ultimate Warrior - He's not a great in-ring performer, and he's a total loon, but you would be hard-pressed to find an IC Title reign that prepared a wrestler to be World Champion better than the Warrior's did.

5.The Honky Tonk Man - Honky gets bonus points in my book for being a kind of Intercontinental Champion that had never existed before and has never existed since. (In fact, given the short attention span of WWE creative these days, it may never happen again.) His extended reign with the belt that he mainly retained through count outs, disqualifications, and sweet, sweet cheating didn't really exist to make him a star. It existed to make whoever was ultimately going to beat him in to a star, and, when the Ultimate Warrior squashed the poor guy's brains out, that is exactly what happened. In an odd twist, though the title reign was never really meant to get him over, Honky was such a great performer that he got over regardless, and to this day he is still able to make a killing at conventions and on indy shows just by showing up, singing his song, and, on a night when he is feeling really generous, taking a bump.

4.Shawn Michaels - I know that there are a lot of people out there who don't think of Shawn Michaels as a great Intercontinental Champion because everything that he has done since he held the belt has overshadowed his time with the WWF's secondary strap. However, if you ignore HBK's career from 1996 onwawrd, it becomes abundantly clear that he has a resume that few other IC titleholders can match. Awesome feud with Bret Hart over the belt? Check. Great matches with Mr. Perfect for the strap? You bet. One of the best matches in Monday Night Raw history against Marty Jannetty? Yup. Revolutionary ladder matches against Razor Ramon? Oh yes. If any modern Intercontinental Champion accomplishes half as much, I will be amazed.

3.Pedro Morales - A lot of people forget about Pedro because everything that he accomplished in wrestling occurred prior to Hulkamania and he did not stick around after his wrestling career in an office role. However, even though he was never that much of an in-ring performer, at least from a kayfabe standpoint, Pedro was a heck of a Intercontinental Champion. He brought instant credibility to the still-new title by being a former World Heavyweight Champion who pursued it with the same vigor as he would have the company's top prize. Furthermore, he defended the title against tough customers in the forms of Billy Graham, Don Muraco, and Ken Patera. In doing this, he amassed the second longest uninterrupted Intercontinental Title reign in history, and, between his two runs with the belt, he has been IC Champion for more days than any other wrestler ever.

2.The Rock - Let's ignore his first run as a babyface that was put out of its misery by Owen Hart. What really gets Rocky this high on the list is his second run with the championship. Though it started off in a relatively weak fashion as Maivia was awarded the title when it was forfeited by Steve Austin, the Rock quickly made up for that by engaging in a feud with Ken Shamrock that managed to elevate both wrestlers. From there he moved on to Triple H, and the war that these two grapplers and their respective factions had with the IC strap as one of its focal points took two midcard wrestlers and solidified them as guys who were ready to take the next step up the ladder. Combine that with the fact that Rock was in the middle of perfecting his soon-to-be legendary promo style the entire time that he was holding the Intercontinental Title, and you had one of the greatest reigns in company history.

1."Macho Man" Randy Savage" - Oooohhhhhh yeah! From the second that he took the belt off of Tito Santana (who wasn't a bad champion in his own right), you knew that the reign of Randy Savage was going to be something special. The Macho Man was a completely different athlete than anything that the WWF was showcasing at the time, and he used his championship matches as the means through which all of those differences could be highlighted. Former WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, George "The Animal" Steele, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts all fell to the Macho Man during this period . . . but they would not be his ultimate challenge. What defined Savage's run with the title more than anything else was his historic feud against Ricky Steamboat, all the way from Randy crushing the Dragon's throat with a ring bell to their unforgettable match at Wrestlemania III. Even though he won in the end, Steamboat doesn't get the nod on this list because his role in the feud had more to do with the chase than it did with holding the title. Holding the title was was the Macho Man's job, and he did it better than anybody else in history.



Len Archibald

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Chris Jericho - No one has held the title more; I think that warrants a mention. The only reason I have him as an honorable mention is that his later work pretty much overshadowed his IC lineage.

Shawn Michaels - See Jericho, then multiply that by a million.

The Rock - See Jericho and Michaels, then multiply that by a BILLION. But his second run with the IC strap made The Rock...well, THE F'n ROCK.

5.Razor Ramon - The man known to most as Scott Hall is one of those guys who, if he stayed longer, would have probably made the honorable mentions list because I'm sure he would have been a world champion. But instead, here he is – forever bound by two particular matches that revolved the IC Title, Shawn Michaels and a ladder. What he did for the title was give it great credibility as a 4-time champ, and was one of the first "cool" heels that I can remember.

4.Bret "The Hitman" Hart - Yes, I realize that this, along with my #1, is a bit of a contradiction based on my honorable mentions – but hear me out. When Bret Hart challenged Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991, for me – it was a foregone conclusion who was going to win that match because for YEARS The Hitman was on the cusp of breaking out as a singles star. When he made Perfect tap in .000001 seconds after locking in that Sharpshooter, a legitimate star was made. He didn't need to win the WWF Heavyweight Title to be considered the best. Every single one of Hart's IC title defenses was considered huge deals, almost main-event caliber-type bouts; with the exception of one: you know, the one he MAIN EVENTED as Intercontinental Champion.

3.Mr. Perfect - My last three picks are those who I just could not see WITHOUT the IC Title; Mr. Perfect was another who should've been a WWF world champion (just goes to show you the monster amount of talent Vince had at his disposal from 1988-1993; seriously, those five years had more main event caliber talent in the MID-CARD than the Attitude Era.) I went on a tangent – oh, yeah, Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. The guy was an overselling, cockmouthed, uber-comi-serious technical GOD of the ring who went out of his way to make him and his opponents look like a million bucks. The fact that he was one of the greatest IC Champs of all-time just made it...Cliché, but "Abso-f'n-lutely Perfect".

2.The Honky Tonk Man - The man's gimmick is that he's the "greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time." I think that says it all right there. But Honky's year and a half long stranglehold of the IC title is the stuff of legend. How he basically stole the title from Ricky Steamboat (I was a crying and shocked sad little panda) – how he would get himself DQ'd or counted out at every turn, how he held up the title and inadvertently hot-shotted Randy Savage to the Main Event (and de-railing Ted DiBiase's golden opportunity to be WWF Champion) to having the living shit kicked out of him in 30 seconds by The Ultimate Warrior, everything about his reign was memorable. HTM's "Ultimate" annihilation and comeuppance, to me, is still by far the most satisfying conclusion to a wrestling storyline ever.

1.Randy "Macho Man" Savage - Long and established title reign? Check. Insanely popular character that could dish it on the mic and back it up in the ring? Check. A plethora of main-event caliber matches for said title that was soundly defended? Check. Properly used as a stepping stone to both establish up-and-comers and himself to the Main Event? Check. Defending the IC Title in a match that stole the show at the single most important wrestling show of all time, putting it in the whispered few greatest wrestling matches ever? CHECK. This is the bottom-line (tm, Steve Austin): Randy Savage, from early 1986 to March 1987 lived, breathed, slept, ate, dreamt, talked about, bragged about and was about the WWF Intercontinental Title. There was, and still is NO ONE in the history of the WWF/E that has done more to establish the (kayfabed) credibility, lineage and importance of that belt. When he bellowed "History BECKONS The Macho Man!", you knew he MEANT it. When he lost the IC Title to Ricky Steamboat in one of the top five greatest matches of all-time at WrestleMania III, even then as a kid – I didn't know what the world would be like without him as champion because he WAS that title. Savage made the IC Title "the worker's title", "the second-best in the world title" and "the stepping stone to the main event title" and did it all in ONE REIGN. There isn't anyone that is even close.



Julian Bond

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Honky Tonk Man - Simply put, no matter how unbelievable corny the gimmick was, this man is still the record-holder for the longest IC champ in WWE history. Period.

Chris Benoit - Benoit along with Chris Jericho can be said to be one of the reasons why the IC title gained a bit of its respect back in the early 2000s. His feud with Jericho back in the day, from their Submission-Only match to their 2 out of 3 falls bout to their excellent Ladder match, was easily one of the best EVER in regards to the IC title.

Jeff Hardy - When I was thinking of champs to put on here, I honestly didn't immediately think of Jeff Hardy in this list. But when I think about his crazy feud (with steel cages and ladders) over the belt with John Morrison (formerly Johnny Nitro) back in the day, his insanely great bouts in the last couple of years against the likes of Umaga and Chris Jericho and his significant first big singles win upsetting HHH for the belt, Jeff is definitely one of the most underrated IC champs…probably due to his involvement with some tables, ladders, and chairs.

5.Razor Ramon - There were essentially three people that were responsible for hooking me onto wrestling in the early to mid 90s: Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Razor Ramon. And with all three of these guys, the main reason I was glued to my TV screen was with their feuds during Intercontinental Title reigns. While Hart and Michaels are usually always recognized with the belt, I and others sometimes forget about how great Razor's reigns were. His feuds over the belt with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Diesel (Kevin Nash), Goldust, and of course Shawn Michaels were all near picture-perfect. The guy's definitely responsible for bringing greatness to the belt in the 90s.

4.Bret Hart - Bret may have not had as many matches and feuds while he was holding the strap as let's say Michaels and Ramon, but the handful of them that he did have were beyond great. His first major win at Summerslam against Mr. Perfect was awesome, his feuds with Shawn Michaels and Roddy Piper were good fun, and the grandest of them all was with the British Bulldog in the MAIN EVENT of Summerslam 92' in a really great classic and pretty unforgettable match.

3.Chris Jericho - Chris Jericho is solely the man whom I thank for making the IC belt awesome in the early 2000s during the Attitude era and for helping bring prestige back to it currently today. Without Jericho's sick, SICK feuds with the likes of Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and hell… even Chyna (he really did make her look like a million bucks in the ring!!), I wouldn't have thought too much about the belt during the other crazy hi-jinks during the Attitude era. And mainly because of his recent awesome feud with Rey Mysterio, Jericho has made the IC belt seem legit again after soooooo long of being not really being taken seriously. Hell even during the mid 2000s, the man was responsible for helping keep the title in place for his multiple excellent bouts against Christian and Shelton Benjamin. Jericho really technically should be number one on this list with currently being the one to hold the most IC Title reigns EVER (9 times!!), but I had to put two other IC title trend-setters right before him…barely.

2.Shawn Michaels - Simply this…Shawn Michael OWNED the IC Title in the 90s. While Ramon and Hart had great matches with the belt also in this time period, Shawn Michaels' run with the belt may it seriously seem like he literally owned the belt. The strap was on many others in the 90s, but it always seemed just right being around the waist of Michaels. His matches with Jeff Jarrett, Marty Jannetty, Bret Hart, and Tanaka were all horribly good bouts that had my eyeballs stuck to my TV screen. Then with the duo of crazy landmark ladder matches with Razor Ramon over the belt, Michaels had managed to simultaneously put Razor Ramon over horribly, made the IC title seem like the most important belt in the world, and earn his nickname as "The Showstopper". That equals one hellua champ.

1."Macho Man" Randy Savage - While everyone and their mama will give Savage props as the best IC champ EVER simply for his near-perfect bout with Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3, I tend to name him the best because he seemed like he was the one wrestler that really first put the IC belt on the map. When I think about my memories as a youth with watching Savage, I tend to remember the man being the IC champ and seriously barely remember (minus his match with Hogan) his reign as World Champ. His matches against people like George Steele, Bruno Sammarito, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Tito Santana, and of course Steamboat were all classics. No offense to the other champions before and after him, but Savage is the best because he was truly the "Intercontinental Champion" instead of just another dude with a belt around his waist.



Jeremy Thomas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Santino Marella - He brought us the HONK-A-METER. What the hell more do you want?

Pat Patterson - The first always gets points in my book.

Chris Jericho - Just like the first gets points, so does the most reigns. What hurts him is that most of his nine reigns were short ones.

5.Mr. Perfect - I'm one of those guys who believe that it is a God damned crime that Curt Hennig never got a run with the WWF's World Title. The good news is that we have his very memorable runs with the IC strap to hold dear. Mr. Perfect was a masterful champion and, much like another person on this list, was a guy everyone loved to hate. There were few things fans wanted more than to see someone shove that freaking towel down Perfect's throat and take the glorious Intercontinental Title away from his arrogant little fingers. He picked up the torch by winning a tournament after the Warrior had to forfeit the belt due to his World Title win, and then briefly dropped it to Kerry Von Erich before getting another reign that lasted over three quarters of a year. Hennig is one of those guys who really did a lot with his title reigns and I'll always remember him for them.

4.Pedro Morales - Pedro Morales held the Intercontinental Title a record 619 days between his two title reigns. That alone earns him a spot on this list somewhere. Byers is right in that a lot of people seem to forget him, but he did a hell of a lot for the belt by stepping down to take it up, defending it against some big names and by holding it for as long as he did. We bitch a lot about how unimportant the belt has seemed at times, but it never would have registered as much more than a blip on most people's radar without the work of Morales, and he deserves much respect for that.

3.Shawn Michaels - Long before Shawn was the WWF Heavyweight Champion, he was a fantastic IC Champion. He put a lot of guys over during his Intercontinental days and gets a lot of points for all the times he fought for the belt as a challenger, as much as the title reigns he did have. The only reason he ranks lower on this list then the two above him is that he largely was following in the spiritual footsteps of my number two pick by making his entire life about the IC belt and putting on nonstop thrilling title matches. Shawn may always be remembered for his World Title reigns first and foremost, but it's the secondary belt where he cut his teeth to prep for the main event.

2.Randy Savage - While there were a lot of great champions before him, Randy Savage was the guy who introduced the Intercontinental Title to me. This was well and truly his glory day as he held the title for an unbelievable 414 days and put on bad-ass match after bad-ass match. His loss of the title at WrestleMania III still deservedly ranks among the top 'Mania matches of all-time. Savage never looked back after he dropped the title and went onto greater heights of fame, but I always thought of these days as his true era of greatness and he will always be one of those guys permanently associated with the belt.

1.The Honky Tonk Man - The Intercontinental Title will always be associated with the Honky Tonk Man for me. Yes, the guy's a huge prick these days. Yes, he rarely beat his opponents clean...that's not in doubt. But that was what made him such a great heel champion. You loved--LOVED--to hate him. I loathe that he had to get his title reign ended to a guy like Warrior, but while he had it he was phenomenal as a champion you wanted to see lose but never did. Frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing a DVD just consisting of his title reign and all the near-losses he took, only to escape by the skin of his slimy, Elvis-impersonating teeth.



Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Mr. Perfect - A pair of great reigns that allowed Hennig to get himself and other people over: he was indeed "Perfect" for the IC Title.

Jeff Jarrett - In many ways, Double J was Perfect's successor: the cocky blonde heel that everyone wanted to see lose, but it took forever for him to lose it; also had one of the best IC title matches ever with HBK.

Razor Ramon - Four title reigns to his credit, two crazy ladder matches with Shawn Michaels that rank amongst the best IC title matches ever; Razor deserves mention, Chico.

5.Chris Jericho - The man with 9 IC reigns, none of which are impressive. Jericho's longest title reign was under three months, his man feud was with William Regal, and he lost the title on TV to Triple H. Jericho has often been used to pass the belt onto other people: Kurt Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, and Chyna have all ended Jericho's short runs. Despite this, Jericho has competed in two of the best IC title feuds of all time with Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio. His GAB match with Mysterio and his Ladder Match with Benoit belong on any "Best IC Title Match" list.

4.The Honky Tonk Man - The longest reigning IC Champion, Honky was a wonderful heel. Honky had the charisma to rile up a crowd and make them want to see him lose the title, to ANYONE. Despite this, Honky always seemed to escape with the title, whether it was disqualification, grabbing the tights or the ropes to aid with a roll-up, or intentional count-outs, Honky always left with the gold. Despite not being an honorable champion, he made the title mean something because he was willing to go to any lengths to keep it. When he finally lost the title, it was in under thirty seconds to the Ultimate Warrior, one of the best payoffs to an angle EVER. Honky's act was so great that HULK HOGAN would play the same character when he became a heel and won the WCW World Title, and it was even more successful then.

3.Shawn Michaels - Shawn pretty much owned the IC title like it was his birthright from 1992 to 1995. He's competed in some of the best IC Title matches, with Razor Ramon, British Bulldog, Marty Janetty, Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett. The Ladder Match at ‘Mania X was arguably the best IC Title match ever. What makes Shawn is unique is that he was able to play the "cocky, arrogant heel" champion AND the "underdog, crowd-pleasing babyface" champion. Few wrestlers have benefitted as much from being IC Champion as Shawn Michaels.

2.Bret Hart - One year. That's all it took. From Summer Slam 1991 to Summer Slam 1992, Bret was a perfect IC Champion. He one his first title in an incredibly memorable match with Mr. Perfect, one of the best and most dominant IC Champs ever. He defended the title almost every week against a variety of opponents, often stealing the show in the process. While he lost the title to The Mountie unceremoniously, he would beat Roddy Piper for it only a few months later. Aside from having a great match with Piper that was a brilliant example of storytelling, Bret got to PIN Piper, one of very few men to do that in WWE. His second title reign was much like the first, but had a much grander ending. In front of 80,000 plus, Bret defended and lost his title to The British Bulldog, a match that main evented WWE's second biggest show of the year. In the process, he had one of the all time great matches (basically by himself), got Davey Boy over, and got himself over to the point that he would be WWE Champion within a month.

1.Randy Savage - I honestly can't think of a real argument against Savage being champion. Macho Man and the IC Title had a symbiotic relationship: Savage was better for having been IC Champ, and the IC Title benefitted from being worn by Savage. Randy had one title reign, but it lasted over a year. In that year, he had great matches with everyone, poor workers (George Steele) and great workers (Ricky Steamboat) alike. His title reign ended in an epic match in front of wrestling's largest crowd at it's most epic event, and the match nearly stole the show from HOGAN VERSUS ANDRE! After losing the title, Savage was able to springboard to the WWF Championship in a year's time. Meanwhile, the IC title was firmly established as the "worker's" title and the "first step to the main event" title.



Scott Rutherford

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Santino Morella - More an inclusion because he COULD become one of the greatest ever in the image of The Honky Tonk Man. The Honk-a-Meter was brilliant and it had legs for another year and a half if they had the balls to run with it and when he did lose (a la JBL at this past WM) it would have been great. A missed chance but it can be done again.

5.Curt Henning - The man to re-established the IC strap as the "workers" title after reigns by The Ultimate Warrior, The Honky Tonk Man and Rick Rude derailed it from its status. You can argue about if he should have been elevated to the world title in the WWF but this was his place and really, this was a better fit for him instead of the gimmicky world title scene at the time.

4.Jeff Jarrett - Jeff, for a long time, was the most crowned champion ever and we were okay with that. Jeff was our staple 90's champion who engaged in many memorable feuds and had some pretty decent matches along way. While he managed to make it to World Champ status and is an entertaining wrestling character, he will forever being linked to his time as IC champion and for good reason, he was one of the best ever.

3.Chris Benoit - While he did reach World Title heights, Benoit became more known for being a strong and reliable second tier champion capable of putting on entertaining matches with anyone and elevating those who he worked with. It's quintessentially what an IC champion does and if he's any good, he'll raise above the pack as well. Some will bitch that I picked him at all, but he truly defines what being your #2 champion was all about.

2.The Honky Tonk Man - The longest reigning champ ever and oh how we hated him. We hated him so much that people paid tremendous amounts of money to see him get beat and when he did, it created one of the defining moments on wrestling history. Wayne Ferris knew how to work and he knew how to work the business and in doing so created a legacy with the IC title that may very well never be surpassed. Or put it this way, when people my age think of IC champions, he's ALWAYS near the top of the list

1.Tito Santana - A title is only as important as the person holding makes it. While the IC title had been bumping around for a while at the time Tito won it for the 1st time, his feuds with Don Muraco, Greg Valentine and Randy Savage elevated it to new heights. Others have made Randy Savage their top pick because he was the first wrestler to use it as a stepping stone to the main event but my argument is, if Tito didn't make the IC special to begin with, then Savages winning of said title would have meant next to nothing. Technically there have been better or more popular wrestlers to hold the title, but Tito made the title matter in the eyes of the fans and that means there was none better.



So with all said and done, here is the 411 Wrestling's Overall Top 5 Intercontinental Champions.

5. With 8 points: (1 2nd place vote, 2 4th place votes)


4. With 9 points: (1 2nd place vote, 1 3rd place vote, 1 4th place vote)


3. With 12 points: (1 2nd place vote, 2 3rd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 1 Honorable Mentions)


2. With 17 points: (1 1st place vote, 2 2nd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 2 5th place votes, 1 Honorable Mentions)


1. With 29 Points: (5 1st place votes, 1 2nd place vote)