The IC Championship Title Defence Tracking Thread

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A lot of talk about the IC title and its place and important of late made me think of this, a thread in which title matches can be spotted, and how champions are doing can be compared to their predecessors. The WWE might not care about their midcard title these days, but bloody hell, some of us old fogeys still do.

To start, here is a run down of the number of IC title defences each of the 88 Champions had televised. By televised, I mean on TV or PPV, and the regional 80s shows count, but, say, an appearance in Ohio Valley Wrestling with the belt doesn't. This was dependent on resources such as HistoryofWWE and Cagematch, so if we just take it as read that all title reigns before, say, 1990 have "circa" next to their number of title defences. Some may have slipped through the cracks.

Also, by defending, I mean they are the champion going into the match, so this includes TV matches where the champion lost to the challenger. Just straight up IC title matches.


Wrestler/number of IC title defences on TV

1= Pedro Morales AND Randy Savage 49
3. Chris Jericho 41
4. Don Muraco 38
5. Ultimate Warrior 37
6. Razor Ramon 34
=7 Tito Santana AND The Miz 33
9. Shawn Michaels 30
10. Dolph Ziggler 29
=11 Mr Perfect AND Honky Tonk Man 28
13. Chris Benoit 27
=14 Bret Hart AND Greg Valentine 26
16. Jeff Jarrett 25
17. Shelton Benjamin 24
18. Gunther 22
19. Rob Van Dam 21
20. Edge 20
=20 The Rock AND Wade Barrett [ 19
=22 Jeff Hardy AND Christian 17
25. Eddie Guerrero 16
=26 Triple H AND John Morrison 15
=28 Rick Rude AND Seth Rollins AND Kofi Kingston AND Big E 13
=32 Texas Tornado AND Goldust AND Dean Ambrose 12
35. Owen Hart 11
=36 Pat Patterson AND Cody Rhodes AND Diesel 10
=39 Ken Shamrock AND Val Venis AND William Regal AND Curtis Axel AND Santino Marella 9
45. Kane 7
=46 Ken Patera AND Rey Mysterio AND Ric Flair AND Albert AND Kevin Owens AND Chyna AND Umaga AND Roman Reigns AND Balor AND Nakamura AND - 6
=56 Roddy Piper AND Bulldog AND Godfather AND Apollo Crews AND Drew McIntyre AND Ricochet AND Current Champion Sami Zayn 5
=62 Ricky Steamboat AND Ryback AND Carlito AND Road Dogg AND AJ Styles AND Luke Harper AND Lance Storm
=69 Kurt Angle AND Booker T AND D'lo Brown AND Billy Gunn AND Zeke Jackson AND Rikishi 3
=75 Marc Mero AND Ahmed Johnson AND Test AND CM Punk AND Lashley 2
=81 Stone Cold Steve Austin AND Marty Jannetty AND Braun Strowman AND JBL AND Daniel Bryan AND The Mountie AND Zack Ryder AND Big Show AND Dean Douglas - 1

There is some contention about TV/non-TV in the early 80s around some of Pedro and Randy's matches but even so they are well ahead of everyone else. And so you can see the Dean Douglas to Pedro/Macho Man scale of IC title holders.

Now, some who could have been great were done in by circumstances, and some are artificially raised by hotshot booking.

The frequent TV Tropes of IC Champions

The Fighting Champion - defends against all comers, frequent defences on TV. Usually fan favourites.
The Shamrock - A big deal gets the belt, is instantly jobbed out in non-title matches.
The Cursed - Someone who should be a big deal gets the belt, but real life f***s up what should been a sure fire thing.
The Shiny New Toy - Someone gets the belt because WWE really loves them lots right now, but gets bored soon after and they drift aimlessly to a loss.
The Rock - Someone low on the card gets the belt and rises up to the main event through their interactions with the title.
The Miz Needs Something To Do On This Card - Used far too often.
The Thank You Reign - Someone gets an unexpected reign to thank them for being a solid hand elsewhere for years.

Not every title reign fits into these tropes but the vast chunk of them do.

Before we focus on the current and future, I will look back at the previous IC Champions in the next few posts.

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The pre-WrestleMania Champions


PAT PATTERSON

Patterson was the first ever IC champion, and he won the belt in a mysterious tournament. Or he was named IC Champ, you decide. Pat had a series of defences on the regional TV shows, including against Dominic Denucci and Johnny Rodz, before his loss to Ken Patera.


KEN PATERA

The forgotten IC Champ (he’s not in the HOF), Patera’s stats are padded by defending the belt on TV against jobbers. He did defend the belt against Gorilla Monsoon and Ivan Putski.


PEDRO MORALES
Two time holder


Morales defended the belt in a number of sub 5 minute TV matches against undercard names – Charlie Fulton and Larry Dee for example. His run was headlined by feuds against Greg Valentine and Don Muraco (with whom he swapped the title). Others who got TV title shots included “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd, Stan Hansen, Sgt Slaughter, both Moondogs, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Adrian Adonis and Mr Fuji.


THE MAGNIFICENT (DON) MURACO
Two time holder


The first real TV villain IC Champ, Muraco’s feuds with Pedro Morales and Superfly Snuka were famous. His feud with Rocky Johnson, who came just short in several title matches, is less recalled. Muraco’s Houdini Act meant he would often defend the title against “lesser names” and give them unexpected hope before crushing their dreams. For example, SD Jones on one episode of Championship Wrestling, who had Vince McMahon talking up how the match could “change SD’s life” before Muraco crushed his head into the canvas. A pivotal early champion, crowds were screaming for him to get what was coming to him.

TITO SANTANA
Two time holder

Popular midcarder of the 80s and early 90s, Tito Santana won the belt off Muraco, had a memorable feud with Greg Valentine, and then dropped it to the Macho Man. In between that, he was a regular defender of the belt on TV, against the likes of Mr Wonderful, David Schultz, The Iron Sheik and Jesse Ventura.

GREG “THE HAMMER” VALENTINE

Only held the belt once, but his stats for TV defences are padded by the likes of matches against Joe Mirto and Mario Mancini who were never going to do anything.

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Hogan and Friends Era



“MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE


Only held the belt once, albeit for 13 months, so his circa 45 TV title defences are by far the most impressive number for a single title reign. Savage did the then frequent thing of defending on regional TV against lower card challengers but even then, he had frequent matches with Tito Santana (who became something of Savage’s personal jobber at the time), as well as his famous feud against Ricky Steamboat. He also had TV defences against Jake Roberts, the Honky Tonk Man (then a face), George Steele, Bruno Sammartino (on the Network last I checked), Paul Orndorff and the man, the myth, the legend... Billy Jack Haynes. Despite being a heel, Savage was a proper fighting champion, and managed to still have a number of matches as the number one contender to Hulk Hogan at the same time. The standard bearer.


RICKY “THE DRAGON” STEAMBOAT

Steamboat’s run was cut short when he asked for time off due to the birth of his son. Even then, he managed 4 defences in that time, 2 more than Shinsuke Nakamura managed in twice the time in 2021. Besides the Honky Tonk Man, his most notable defence was against Hercules.


THE HONKY TONK MAN

Honky Tonk spent most of his reign losing by count out to the likes of Beefcake or Macho Man and making the fans utterly irate. This of course led to his comeuppance, being murdered in 30 seconds by Warrior. He remains the longest reigning champion of all time, at 14 months.


ULTIMATE WARRIOR
Two time holder


Warrior enjoyed a lot of squash matches. The crowd cheered as he destroyed no namers for the title. Or the Honky Tonk Man, who was as good as a jobber post-title run. A title feud with Andre was one of the Giants last big runs. Elsewhere, outside of the squashes, Mr Perfect and Haku provided some enjoyable opposition for a man on a hurry to win a bigger title.


RAVISHING RICK RUDE

Rude got the belt so he could drop it back to Warrior at Summerslam 1989 to give Warrior a big moment. Rick Rude being who he was, he managed to give the Warrior one of the best matches of his entire career, and the best that didn’t include Randy Savage in it. Besides jobber showcases and various Warrior matches around the country, Rude did also defend the belt against Hacksaw Jim Duggan.


MR PERFECT
Two time holder


My favourite wrestler of all time! He was throughout the 90s the name checked by fans for great IC Champions of the past. Some people just look like they were born to wear the belt, and Curt Hennig was one of them. Just as well, as injuries meant he didn’t defend the belt during the latter half of his second reign as much as he otherwise would have. Perfect’s feud with the Texas Tornado was the highlight of his 1990, and he had big title matches with Bossman, Roddy Piper, and Rocker Shawn Michaels, before losing the belt in an all time classic to Bret Hart.

TEXAS TORNADO

Was IC Champ for three months in 1990. Did very little of note with the belt, but did get to show up on PPV (Survivor Series 1990) with the belt, despite having lost it in a taped show days earlier. This bit was written months ago, honest.

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The New Generation



BRET “HITMAN” HART
2 time holder


Bret liked his reigns to be those of the fighting champion and circa 26 title defences in a combined 9 months is pretty decent going. Especially as Hart cut down on the jobber showcases, instead giving himself showcases by defending the belt against nearly all of the midcard at the time. And we mean all the midcard, this was Big Bully Busick’s time to shine. Matches against Ted DiBiase and Rick Martel were good ones, and he had a shockingly good match with Skinner. He lost it in a great match, having won the belt twice in great matches.


THE MOUNTIE

Won the belt on a house show when Bret Hart suffered from fever. By fever, I mean contract negotiations. He defended the belt 2 days later on PPV, against Roddy Piper. It didn’t go well for him. Poor old Jacques didn’t even get to carry the belt to the ring, as Jimmy Hart did that. The definition of a warm body title reign, only there as a get around.


ROWDY RODDY PIPER

The only singles gold in WWF/E for one of their legends, and according to both Piper and Bret, Piper only took the belt so he could lose it to Bret. (And I believe it, as Roddy made it quite clear through his life that he absolutely loved Bret Hart, and was in fact one of the only wrestlers to try and visit Bret when he had his stroke.) He won it in a nice moment, he lost it in a nice moment, that’s sometimes all you need. In between, Repo Man got a title shot. That was nice for him.


BRITISH BULLDOG


Won the belt in another Bret Hart classic, this one at Wembley Stadium. Whilst a good wrestler, Davey Boy suffered post-weed memory issues and stage fright, and so was carried through the entire match. He was not in a good place at the time, and the short run was made even shorter when he got busted with steroids right when Vince was under investigation. Before losing the belt to Shawn Michaels, Repo Man (again!) and Louie Spicolli got title shots. Spicolli should have been a contender, what a waste of a life.


SHAWN MICHAELS
3 time holder


The man who would tell you Shawn Michaels was the best IC Champion of all time, Shawn Michaels had a number of title defences, but mostly against the lower card and lower. Max Moon, Dan Dubiel and so on. With the creation of Monday Night RAW, Michaels defended the belt against the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Marty Jannetty and Crush. His long run was more appearances than defences – he nearly had more defences for his shorter second and third reigns combined than for his first. Famously vacated the belt twice.


MARTY JANNETTY

Won it in a famous match, defended the belt against Bam Bam Bigelow. He lost it at a house show.


RAZOR RAMON
4 time holder


The man who defined the IC Championship in the 1990s, Scott Hall was unsurpassed in his own number of TV title defences by his successors from the time he lost his final title, to the time Chris Jericho had his 2008 comeback tour. If he hadn’t been helping to patch up the tag division and the main event at the same time, he might have easily overtaken Pedro Morales record. Razor’s best known for his ladder match with Shawn at Mania X of course. Others who got TV title shots included Yokozuna, Tatanka, Owen Hart, King Kong Bundy and Chris Hamrick. Wait, what? Hall made the belt seem a big deal with his desire for it, and his frequent TV title defences.


DIESEL

Only held it for a summer, so 10 TV title defences is quite impressive. OK, so 2 of them were against PJ Walker. That’s still incredible! (Geddit?) Gary Sabaugh got his moment in the sun. Lex Luger got a shot. A very young Chris Kanyon got a shot!


JEFF JARRETT
6 time holder


The man who called himself the Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, Jarrett’s biggest run of defences came in the Attitude era half of his reigns, when he defended the belt weekly and with Russo booking, there was the potential for him losing the belt at any given time. OK, maybe not to Chaz, but Kane, X-Pac and Al Snow were all credible title contenders he avoided losing the belt to. Swapped the belt with Dlo Brown and a very young Edge. In his 1995 runs, he had a weird moment with Bob Holly, and also defended against Savio Vega and Bob Backlund. His In Your House match with Shawn Michaels is worth a watch.


DEAN DOUGLAS

Won the belt by forfeit, lost it to Razor Ramon 11 minutes later. I’m not a fan of The Franchise and even I think he got jobbed here.


GOLDUST
3 time holder


Goldust was used more as a man with the belt than a man who defends the belt, which is a shame, as you’d think Dustin Rhodes had a fighting champion run in him. When defending the belt, he had a variety of opponents like Hakushi and The Undertaker. His 1999 comeback was strange. He announced it was part of a big story, then promptly jobbed to The Godfather a week later.


AHMED JOHNSON


Popular when he won the belt, but had only defended it against Bart Gunn and Rock Warner (?) when he suffered an injury.


MARC MERO

Won the title in a tournament, defended it against Goldust and then promptly lost to Triple H via a Mr Perfect heel turn.

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The Attitude Era


TRIPLE H
4 time holder

Triple H never really had the great IC title run I think he wanted. He was always better chasing the belt. The cruel irony was that when he chased the belt all summer of 1998 and finally won it (in a very good ladder match) he immediately suffered a knee injury and had to vacate the belt. His run in 2001 was there to help push the Austin/HHH feud which never ended up happening, again to injury.


THE ROCK
2 time holder


The Rock is the poster child for IC title success, with his reigns going from the lower mid card to the reaches of the main event by the end of their duration. Surprisingly for such a famous reign where it seemed like he just held onto the belt many times, The Rock actually rarely defended the belt on TV during his 1998 run. 10 times in 9 months in fact. But his presence, and the number of challengers stalking him for the belt at any given time, gave the illusion of it being fought for more than it actually was. See, presentation is important! The Rock’s first run with the belt, as a rookie Rocky Maivia, had the better opponents (Vader, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Savio Vega) when he was a green newcomer, so the matches were decent but prime Rock a few years later would have produced bangers. The second run was focused around Ken Shamrock in the first half, and Triple H in the second half, with the odd defence against Ahmed Johnson and X-Pac bulking up the reign. Tom Brandi got a title shot once, too.


OWEN HART
2 time holder


A deserving IC Champ, his runs are overshadowed by the neck injury to Stone Cold Steve Austin at Summerslam 97. This was a sad ending to a decent first run, which included the first ever WWF TV triple threat match (a concept ECW had success with), a surprisingly competitive match which saved Bob Holly’s career, and a short match with Scorpio which could have been a dream match if only it went longer. There was also the obligatory Foley/Hart match, and those two had great chemistry. Somehow Owen managed to squeeze four defences into his second run, which only lasted a month and was there so he could get squashed by Stone Cold. Owen Hart was scheduled to win the IC title the night he was killed, but as The Blue Blazer, so that may not have been the proper IC title run he deserved either.


STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN
2 time holder


Austin’s two reigns were lousy. One defence, and that was against The Rock in a fun but bonkers squash at DX In Your House. However, we can forgive him that, given he badly injured his neck in the match he won the belt in, and this derailed all of his and their plans for him with the belt. By the time Austin was cleared to go in the ring again, he was on the fast track to the WWF Championship, so his run with the IC belt was crushed by circumstances. Forfeiting the belt so he could go get the world title was also a bit of a shitty end to his second reign.


KEN SHAMROCK


Looked like a champion, defended the belt several times over a four month reign, but never really set the title scene on fire. Possibly because he spent a lot of time jobbing to contenders in non title matches. Don’t do that. If you want your singles champion to lose to a contender, that’s what tag matches are for. The title was lost in a mediocre match to Val Venis which summed up the reign. At least he got to merk Billy Gunn.


VAL VENIS
2 time holder


Val’s first reign was a cup of coffee in Russo land. He defended against Billy Gunn, and promptly lost to the Road Dogg. Val then wandered aimlessly in the midcard, which even Mick Foley losing clean to him on PPV couldn’t help. But then in 2000, he had an attitude change. No, not his 2022 one. Ahem. He teamed up with Trish Stratus, cut out all the smut, changed his theme tune and became serious ass kicker Val Venis, and in doing so actually had the best run of his career. He won the belt back in the midst of a bloody feud with Rikishi, and had his and the big Samoans best match, an IC title Cage match. No sooner was this feud ended than he started one up with Latino Heat, lost the IC title to Chyna, and fell down the card after being a censor man for a while. His IC reigns were much like his career, if you’d had the June-July 2000 Val Venis the entire time, it would have been amazing. Instead of forgotten.


ROAD DOGG


I don’t know why Road Dogg won the belt, or why he lost it a fortnight later. I do know that he fit 4 title defences into a fortnight, and looked like a man delighted to be holding the 2nd biggest title in the company. Which, to be fair, he no doubt was! He even managed to squeeze a successful WrestleMania title defence into this run, which made it being retconned out of existence the next night even stranger. A case of the crowds latching onto someone, only for WWE to go “let’s go with our original plan instead, which we have just invented/remembered”.


THE GODFATHER


A carriable worker with a popular midcard gimmick, they gave up on Road Dogg’s IC title run, only to give The Godfather a 5 week reign instead! Godfather had a comedy match with Goldust (read – not funny at all) on PPV for the belt, and defended it against The Blue Meanie. A nadir for the belt.


EDGE
5 time holder


Edge surprised everyone by winning the belt at a house show in Canada the night before Fully Loaded 1999. He surprised fewer people by losing the belt back to Jeff Jarrett on the PPV, in a fine match. This was the trailer for future things to come for Edge, and he won the belt back properly at Summerslam 2001 in a thriller against Lance Storm. Only to promptly lose it to Christian. He won it back in a good ladder match, only to promptly lose it to Test. He won it back in one of Test’s best matches, only to lose it in short order to William Regal. Do you see a pattern here? Edge was used for short sharp shocks with the belt, and when he finally beat Orton in 2004 for his 5th reign, injury derailed it. As a result, he has the most great IC title matches to shortness of reigns.


D'LO BROWN


D’lo Brown was the first Euro-continental Champion (holding both belts at once), and was over like rover with the crowds. It seemed like he was on the verge of superstardom, but WWF got bored, as they were prone to, and he lost both titles after a month. He never saw the belt again, or much of a push, and was never the same after the Droz accident a few weeks later.


CHYNA
3 time holder


Chyna trailblazed her way to the IC title, beating Jeff Jarrett to become the first and only female IC title holder. She was protected considerably in this first run, only defending the belt on PPV against Chris Jericho. Her second reign was as co-holder of the belt with Jericho (it’s a long story), and she defended the belt against Hardcore Holly. Her reigns grew shorter, the third was the shortest of the lot, lasting just over a week before she lost it to her then beau Eddie Guerrero. Barring the Jericho matches which were far better than they had any right to be, Chyna’s runs were more about the imagery of her holding the belt.


CHRIS JERICHO
9 time holder


The man who has had more IC title reigns than most people have had wins on the main roster. Chris Jericho prided himself on being a Macho Man style fighting champion. He managed 14 TV title defences in 2 months during his first run with the belt (which counts as two reigns due to the whole co-champion thing). This was against everyone from Kurt Angle to Viscera. Even Gangrel got a shot at the belt, and promptly beaten.

His third reign with the belt only lasted a weekend, and Jericho still managed to fit THREE TV DEFENCES of the goddamn belt in that time.

He had calmed down by his fourth reign. After all, he had just won the belt in a hellacious ladder match at the Rumble. So then he only defended it twelve times on TV in 3 months. This included feuds against his ever-present rival Chris Benoit, as well as Eddie Guerrero and X-Pac (who never actually won the title). Others who got to look good in title matches included both Hardys, Raven, Perry Saturn and Crash Holly.

Chris Jericho returned to the belt in 2002 in a fortnight long reign he fit three title defences into. And in 2003, when he held the belt for an hour. And in 2004 when he held it only to have a classic with Shawn Michaels and then put over Shelton Benjamin clean. Or in 2008 where he had it to lose to Kofi Kingston. Or in 2009 during his heated feud with Rey Mysterio.

The latter two saw fewer defences as they were title runs for feud plot points. But yes, Jericho was a standard bearer for making the IC title seem important. He also defended the belt against a dozen future Hall of Famers, a number which will rise in the future with the Hardys, Goldust, Kofi, Rey and The Big Show yet to be inducted.


KURT ANGLE


Held the belt briefly for storyline purposes.


CHRIS BENOIT
4 time holder


Brushing past this one ASAP, Benoit was used as the model IC Champion at the time, defending the belt frequently against a number of opponents, having high class matches on PPV and making the title look important.

RIKISHI

Held the belt for sixteen days. Didn't win any of his 3 defences by pinfall (DQ, count out, defeated). His best moment came after he lost the belt. Rikishi considers this the worst title reign of all time, but it wouldn't even be the worst in 2000 by the end of the year!


EDDIE GUERRERO
2 time holder


Eddie Guerrero was nursing injuries during his first reign, so his ten defences were mostly in plot driven matches that didn’t showcase his talents. When he cleaned up and returned to the WWE, his sobriety was rewarded with an instant IC title reign. This lasted a month, but was a sign of much higher things to come for the popular Guerrero. He defended the belt 6 times on TV in that month, including a Battle of the Frog Splashes match with D’lo Brown, around a feud with RVD based around that same move.


“THE ONE” BAD ASS BILLY GUNN


Had an absolute bomb scare of a three week title reign. Hurt Eddie Guerrero winning the belt, nearly injured Val Venis’s neck in a defence, dropped Chris Benoit on his head in the match he lost the belt in. Lost the belt before he managed to do serious damage, was never given that big a push again. For ages, he was talked up online as a perfect potential IC Champion. Then he had the belt and absolutely sucked.

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Invasion and Belt Retirement


JEFF HARDY
5 time holder


Surprisingly won the belt in a match with Triple H in 2001. As Triple H won the belt back for plot reasons on the next RAW, I can only guess that Trips himself wanted to give a small rub to the Hardys here. That was it until his return to the WWE in 2006, when he swapped the belt with Johnny Nitro, before going on a run with the belt. He didn’t defend it that often before losing it to Umaga. Jeff then spent time off for rehab before being brought back to end Umaga’s title run prematurely because Umaga was busted for wellness offences. Ironically, this Jeff Hardy run then ended prematurely because HE was busted for wellness offences! Over a decade later, Jeff Hardy had a surprise 5th run with the belt, beating AJ Styles for it. This prompted a great three way ladder match for the belt with Sami Zayn getting involved.


KANE
2 time holder


Defended the belt against all of Team Reck (of Awesomeness) before dropping it to Albert. Had a second run in 2002 which was used to get rid of the IC title for good…


ALBERT

Given the belt in 2001 as Jim Ross and friends raved about Albert and thought he could be the next big thing. He had potential but never got it together in the WWF and despite defending against a number of WCW invaders, Albert got lost in the shuffle and found his push entirely derailed by the influx of better talent.


LANCE STORM


If I can be serious for a minute, Lance Storm winning the title was a mark out moment for many of us at the time. No longer would the Intercontinental Championship be an arena for offbeat shenanigans. Lance, who looked the part, got off a few decent title defences against the likes of Perry Saturn and Scotty 2 Hotty. In another time, he could have had a standard bearing long reign with the belt. In this moment, he held it a month and lost it to Edge, and never returned to that position on the card.


CHRISTIAN
4 time holder


Christian won the belt in 2001 in his feud with Edge. He held the belt in 2003, to lose it to Booker T, only to win it back when Booker T got injured. He got a 4th reign in 2012, which existed solely to transfer the belt from the heel Cody Rhodes to the heel Miz. Christian was very popular but only ever held the IC title so he could give it to someone else, or in one case, as a break glass emergency.


TEST


Had a very short run with the belt in 2001. Matt Hardy got another title shot in this time. It’s either him or X-Pac for most IC title shots without a victory. A nothing reign in an era with lots of throwaway title runs.


WILLIAM REGAL
2 time holder

A man who breeds class into any wrestling segment, Regal looked the part and talked up the title but never had that reign you might expect from him. His 2002 run was fun (the power of the punch) but was over focused on Edge. Though his match with RVD is good fun, with Regal having a receipt for every one of RVD’s mistimed kicks. In 2008 he squashed Santino in London for the belt, his biggest moment, but he was injury stricken and couldn’t have the title run we all know he wanted to have with the belt.


ROB VAN DAM
6 time holder


Mr Monday Night, Rob Van Dam held the belt on six occasions, and like his ECW TV title run before, clearly wanted to be a Macho Man style fighting champion. The flipside to defending the belt often is you can lose it quickly, which RVD swiftly did each time. His first three reigns, all in 2002, saw him defend the belt against the likes of Booker T, Brock Lesnar and Tommy Dreamer, with none of the reigns last longer than a month and a half. He returned to the belt in 2003, to put over Randy Orton, and swapped the belt with Shelton Benjamin in 2006.


In 2002 the WWE decided to retire the IC Championship. This was widely seen as a terrible decision that they regretted when they saw the vast number of fan complaints. To the point that in 2003, Stone Cold Steve Austin announced that the belt was returning and we would never speak of its hiatus again.

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Ruthless Aggression


BOOKER T

Held the belt briefly before injury took it away. They never gave him it back, and he became more synonymous on Smackdown with the US title instead.


RANDY ORTON

Orton had an 8 month title reign which turned him into a main eventer waiting to happen. He didn’t defend the belt that much though, 9 times in that period on TV, so the benefit for the title came from being ever present on TV in the top angle. The match against Cactus Jack is easily the most famous from this run, so we’ll point to less famous defences against Val Venis and Shelton Benjamin. Still, this was a Rock style push up the card title run.


SHELTON BENJAMIN
3 time holder


When he won the belt in 2004, it seemed like this was the first step in a future main event career. It never worked out like that, and Shelton’s first run with the belt remains his biggest push in WWE. He managed 15 title defences in half a year, including against Maven, Snitsky and Rob Conway. Also Chris Jericho and Christian for slightly better matches. In 2006, when he seemed like he was about to get a bigger push, he swapped the belt with Rob Van Dam, then found himself on the outside looking in. He did get an US title run in 2008, but his career never reached the heights it could have.


CARLITO

Held the belt in 2005, infamously didn’t defend it for 2 months solid before losing it on PPV to Ric Flair. A waste of a run. Am I speaking about the title reign or Carlito’s entire career?


RIC FLAIR


Held the belt far too late in his life, when he was nearly 60, and broken down. You can easily imagine Ric Flair as a fighting champion in the 80s. You don’t need to imagine it as he bloody well tried to be one in 2005. And somehow, broken down Flair managed to fit in a cage match for the belt, and matches against the likes of Edge and Rob Conway. In between that he lost non-title matches to Triple H, and a crazy TLC match against Edge for the world title. His “thank you” reign with the belt did go on far too long. Despite all of that, he managed to defend the belt more than Carlito did, he made it look more important than Carlito did, and he had better matches than Carlito did. Which is damning.


JOHN MORRISON (AKA JOHNNY NITRO)
3 time holder


I’ve paired him by his most common WWE name even though 2 of his 3 reigns were under the Nitro moniker. Morrison’s first reign was meant to push him up the card, but it was so sudden a jump from tag wrestler to IC champ that the fans didn’t take to it. Awful promos didn’t help. He swapped the belt with Jeff Hardy, before floating over to ECW to reinvent himself.

Morrison’s third reign came years later in 2009, as a break glass emergency champion. There was some contretemps between Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler (rumour at the time had Rey refusing to lose the belt to Dolph) and when Rey got hurt/wellnessed, Morrison stepped into win the title. He then carried on the IC title holder tradition that year of beating Dolph Ziggler on every show. He also gave Eric Escobar a wee shot at the title too, before losing to Drew McIntyre. Morrison’s another one of those names who seems like they’d have been a prototype IC Champ but never got the proper chance with the belt.


UMAGA
2 time holder


The late Samoan Bulldozer won the belt twice. Having won it as a storyline prop the first time, he did nothing but lose it to Santino Marella to put over Bobby Lashley, the IC title being about the 6th most important thing in the feud at best. Freed from the McMahon feud, Umaga promptly squashed Santino to win back the belt, and looked like he was going to have a Vader style run with the belt, only to get popped for pills and made to drop the belt. What a waste. His Summerslam three-way with Carlito and Mr Kennedy is surprisingly fun.


SANTINO MARELLA
2 time holder


Had a fluke run with the belt in 2007 which no one liked. Had a flukier run with the belt in 2008 when he unleashed the Honk-a-Meter which everyone loved. Heel Santino being far better entertainment. There was only so long you could go with Marella as champion, and after his inevitable showdown with the Honky Tonk Man, he lost the belt to William Regal.


KOFI KINGSTON
4 time holder


Kofi Kingston falls into the modern day repetition of multiple reigns with little to show for it. He won it off Chris Jericho in 2008 but lost it in a mixed tag match before he could do much with the belt bar defend it against Paul Burchill. He won it off Drew McIntyre so he could transition the belt to Ziggler, then off Ziggler so it could go to Wade Barrett, and finally off The Miz so it could go back to Wade Barrett again. He was and remains the guy WWE use to put over the guy they wanted to use.


CM PUNK


CM Punk’s 2009 run with the belt was not the great run people had hoped for. In fact, he barely had it when he dropped it to JBL.


JBL


JBL had it for a few weeks as a last hurrah before retirement. His back was shot so he couldn’t wrestle much.


REY MYSTERIO
2 time holder


Rey won the belt off JBL in a quick match and then went onto have a series of matches with Chris Jericho, including a title vs mask match. He then started a feud with Dolph Ziggler, before injuries/wellness ended his interactions with the IC title.

[msc]

A Whole Bunch of Chosen Ones...


DREW MCINTYRE


Drew Mac won the belt in 2009 and was talked up as a future main eventer. He became one, eventually, but not in 2010 and this run which promised much, fizzled out quickly. Indeed, he only defended the belt once between February and losing it in May, and that was against a jobber! On his return he skipped the IC belt run stage as they had him slumming it as silent bodyguard heel until they remembered to let him talk and he suddenly became a charismatic main event face.


DOLPH ZIGGLER
6 time holder


Dolph Ziggler beat Kofi Kingston seven times in IC title matches between August 2010 and January 2011, before Kingston proved that no one beats Kofi Kingston in eight title matches in a row. Ziggler’s first run did wonders for his career, turning him from a joke midcard character into a proper upper midcarder who could wrestle. This became his career for the rest of time. His runs with the belt were marked by multiple matches with the same opponents: first Kofi, then The Miz, then finally Seth Rollins. No matter fan opinion of Ziggler (which has zig zagged over the years), there’s no mistaking the importance the man puts on the IC title. His best run post-2010 might be his 2018 run when he had an Iron Man Match with Seth Rollins. His feud with The Miz for the belt in 2016 also was considered a possible PPV main event.


WADE BARRETT
5 time holder


A man who had terrible luck with the title. His first run was used to put over Ezekiel Jackson. His second run, which started off as a serious push, got waylaid by yet another Miz push, only for them to reverse that decision 24 hours later, only for Vince to decide to put the belt on Curtis Axel! In 2014 he won it as Bad News Barrett only to suffer an injury right as he was destined to move up the card. In 2015 he held it going into the WrestleMania ladder match but was down the list of interest.


EZEKIEL JACKSON


Held the belt for 2 months, which by most peoples estimate, was 2 months too long.


CODY RHODES
2 time holder


Made a big deal of wanting to be a fighting old school champion when he won the belt, and promptly went 3 months without a single TV defence. By this point, the midcard snuck through the cracks on TV easily, even if you were a champion. He won it back and then lost it again.


BIG SHOW


Won the belt so we could say he had a WrestleMania Moment. Urgh. Lost it in a moment which became a meme, stepping on a table by accident during a tables match.


THE MIZ
8 time holder


The Miz held the belt 8 times. Surprisingly he only won it for the first time in 2012, on RAW 1000, and that was a three month reign where he took on Rey, Cody and his common nemesis Kofi Kingston. He traded the belt over 24 hours with Wade Barrett in 2013 during an aborted face turn, then had two weird runs, including his second 24 hour only run in 2014.

It was his 2016 run with the belt that made Miz better known with the belt, as he won it the night after WrestleMania and held it for the next six months, defending it against the likes of Kalisto and Darren Young, before getting involved in yet another feud with Dolph Ziggler.

He then swapped the belt with Dean Ambrose, before his biggest moment with the belt, pinning Roman Reigns to win it. Soon after that he lost the belt to Seth Rollins, and he hasn’t been near it since.


CURTIS AXEL


Won the belt in 2013 in part of a push where he concussed Triple H and referred back to his famous Perfect dad. He defended the belt against Chris Jericho, perennial IC loser Kofi and R-Truth before the Axel experiment died.


BIG E
2 time holder


Held the belt twice. The first time, they seemed to give up on him soon after winning it, and a mediocre time on the roster was ended by his losing to Bad News Barrett, who was the shiny toy of the moment. At the end of 2020 he won the belt again, and looked like he would have a good run with it. He defended the belt many times against Apollo Crews, before Apollo Crews changed his gimmick and won the belt. A decade in, I am still to be convinced WWE know what they have with Big E.


LUKE HARPER


The late great Mr Brodie Lee, Jon Huber had a chance to show the WWE his singles abilities in 2014 with a cup of coffee IC title run. Despite looking the part, and having a great series of matches with Dolph Ziggler, the WWE gave up on the idea of pushing Harper soon after. A decision which only becomes more infuriating with his tragically early death.


DANIEL BRYAN


Bryan wanted to be a Macho Man style champion, he even referenced the trope on TV. Sadly, his brain was scrambled and he had to temporarily retire for two years. During his second big WWE run, he feuded for the belt but never won it, much to my surprise as I was sure he held it during the Thunderdome era. AJ Styles held it for 2 ½ months instead, and I don’t recall that reign being as long as that either! As a result, Bryan never got the chance he deserved with the belt. A familiar story.


RYBACK


Won the title with a scary powerbomb on Sheamus. Had some messy matches for the title with The Big Show before Kevin Owens decided the Ryback face experiment had to end.

[msc]

The Modern Era


KEVIN OWENS
2 time holder


Won the belt months into his WWE run, and went into a memorable feud with Dean Ambrose. Their best moment was the Last Man Standing match for the belt at the 2016 Royal Rumble. He won it back off Ambrose and held it going into a 7 man ladder match, which was won by an underdog. Since then, he had a few US title runs but is long overdue a title run of some description. Especially now he is doing far better career work.


DEAN AMBROSE
3 time holder


Ambrose swapped the belt with Kevin Owens above, but managed to get a number of good matches out of his run. His second reign lasted longer but had fewer matches – in fact the only non-Miz related televised defence was against Baron Corbin, a match shifted to the WrestleMania pre-show, making Dean Ambrose the only non-injured person to go from WWE Champion to not even on the WrestleMania card. He won it back as a heel in 2018 but lost it in short order in a triple threat match, before leaving the company. Looked like the champion but rarely did much with the belt.


ZACK RYDER


Held the belt for 24 hours. It clearly meant a lot to him. More than his career prospects meant to the WWE.


ROMAN REIGNS


Roman held the IC title for 2 months in 2017-18 and had an underrated reign. He defended the belt regularly, 7 times on TV in 2 months, and produced many great matches for the belt, including proper bangers against Cesaro and Samoa Joe. Even his Jason Jordan and Elias matches were quite good if memory serves. Then he lost the belt fairly clean to The Miz. Exactly the sort of IC title run you want from a main eventer, eventful, but short and with a purpose to its finish.


SETH ROLLINS
2 time holder


Rollins did his best to make the IC title mean something in 2018, when fans thought he should be in the main event instead. His matches with Ziggler, Miz and Balor, across two title reigns, felt like big deals, but alas the lasting memory is the godawful Dean Ambrose heel turn.


LASHLEY
2 time holder


Held it for two brief cups of coffee to put Balor over.


BALOR
2 time holder


Held it briefly twice. The first time was sandwiching Lashley reigns. The second time, he won it and felt like he could be the Macho Man style champ, only to be immediately depushed and then lost the title to Nakamura.


NAKAMURA
2 time holder


Nakamura held the belt, and defended it briefly. Then he won it again, and injuries got in the way, so he had 2 defences in the space of 5 months.


BRAUN STROWMAN


Won the belt, then lost it immediately in a 3 on 1 handicap match. I mean, at this point its clearly not the wrestlers fault the belt is slipping, but WWE.


SAMI ZAYN
3 time holder


Held the belt at the start of the pandemic before taking a hiatus. Returned and won the belt in a thrilling ladder match, and made the IC title feel like his favourite cuddly toy. Then lost it to Big E, but where he raises the game is that he spent a year bemoaning the loss of his beloved title, and trying to find some way to get it back again. A little more of that would help modern presentation of the belt. He finally won it back in 2021, only to promptly lose it again to Ricochet in his first defence, with the aide of a Jackass.


AJ STYLES


Had a 2 month run during the pandemic, which had long TV matches and seemed like it was going to make the title important again, before they suddenly gave the belt to Jeff Hardy. WWE suffering from a case of shiny new toy syndrome yet again.


APOLLO CREWS


Had a forgettable run last year. Defended the belt a few times.

[msc]

RICOCHET


Won the title against Sami Zayn. Defended the belt against Zayn, both in enjoyable TV matches. He then defended the belt on Smackdown, missing WrestleMania, but having a fun TV match against Angel and Humberto. The problem with Ricochet’s run was that even as he tried to rehabilitate his career on Smackdown, he got used to job out on RAW! The left hand didn't care what the right hand wanted in modern WWE, and their champions were injured by it. Ricochet attempted to be a fighting champion, but WWE got bored with that in the end, and he lost the belt in a good match to Gunther after 5 defences. Was still one of the better reigns in recent history.



GUNTHER

Current IC Champion

[msc]

Apr 15, 2022 20:28:22 GMT -5 @dax said:

I think that makes three successful title defenses for Ricochet? Is that more than Apollo and Nakamura combined?

Sounds like you need this thread full of IC title goodness!

Ricochet successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship for the third time last night on SMACKDOWN, rather comfortably beating Jinder Mahal. Always nice to find someone absolutely lower on the pecking order than you, I guess!

This puts Ricochet at 3 IC defences, same as Hall of Famers Kurt Angle, Rikishi and Billy fn Gunn.

To lose the belt, he will go to 4 defences at worst, putting him level with Ricky Steamboat, Road Dogg, Luke Harper (RIP) and Lance Storm. A number of fun short reigns there.

Somehow, no, Apollo Crews managed to get to 5, and I have no memory of any of those matches - the things which happen when Commander Azeez provides the same finish every match! Nakamura only managed 2 defences in 6 months with his last injury-hit title run, not that he defended the belt much in his first non-injury hit run either tbh.

Still hard to determine which trope champion Ricochet will end up being. He feels like a Shiny New Toy, but he's clearly trying to go the Fighting Champion route. Everyone wants to be The Rock but thats a pipedream.

He at the very least hasn't Ezekiel Jackson'd the belt.

[Deleted]

Great work, msc!

[papagiorgio]

Do you have a list of Randy Savage title defenses on tv? That seems like a lot considering there was not as much tv or PPV exposure back then. I don't recall him defending a ton on say Superstars or Prime Time Wrestling back when I was watching as a kid. Saturday Night's Main Event seemed like where he would defend the most, but that show was once every several weeks. What "regional" tv shows are you talking about?

[Deleted]

Ken Patera isn't in the HOF?

Not even in one of those group Legacy induction things?

What the f***? That dude was awesome!

[msc]

Apr 16, 2022 9:25:30 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Ken Patera isn't in the HOF?

Not even in one of those group Legacy induction things?

What the f***? That dude was awesome!

Not even in the Legacy wing. It's very odd.

Apr 16, 2022 9:06:21 GMT -5 papagiorgio said:

Do you have a list of Randy Savage title defenses on tv? That seems like a lot considering there was not as much tv or PPV exposure back then. I don't recall him defending a ton on say Superstars or Prime Time Wrestling back when I was watching as a kid. Saturday Night's Main Event seemed like where he would defend the most, but that show was once every several weeks. What "regional" tv shows are you talking about?

PRISM, MSG Network, stuff like that. From WWE Network, old Sky repeats, they seemed to be shown in their local markets and would have Gorilla and Bobby (for example) introducing the best taped matches from house shows. For example, the Randy Savage/Bruno Sammartino match was taped for NESN network, WWF taped their appearance at the Boston Garden and showed several matches on local Boston area TV, and those are counted. (My main issue with those is that there may actually be far more of them for the early champions than we have records for 40 years later.)

[msc]

Although - a quick steward's check of the top 2 on Cagematch finds a counting error, and Savage and Morales are actually level on 49 each.

For the record: Randy Savage (Bob Marcus, Tito Santana, Andre Malo, Santana, Santana, Andre Malo, Sal Gee, Rick Hunter, George Steele, Serge Jodoin, Santana, Santana, Bob Marcus, Jerry Monti, Jimmy North, Eric Cooper, Paul Orndroff, Frankie Lane, Mark Faban, George Steele, Terry Morgan, Mario Mancini, Pedro Morales, Tory Martin, Tony Garea, George Steele, Dan McGuire, Steele, Steele, Sivi Afi, Billy Jack Haynes, Honky Tonk Man, Ricky Steamboat, Ricky Steamboat, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Nick Kiniski, Steve Gatorwolf, George Steele, Bruno Sammartino, Randy Sharpe, Ricky Steamboat, Jerry Allen, Bruno, Steamboat, Sivi Afi, Jim Powers, Steele, Steamboat)

[avenger]

It feels like comparing pre-1995 and post-1995 are comparing apples and oranges, with 1995 itself being a period of flux.

Before 1995, there were between 0 and 5 PPVs a year, and up to five Saturday Night's Main Events (which the I-C champ might not even defend at), and 2/3 shows a week which would be jobber squashes with a superstar v superstar main event, where the I-C champ would defend every so often, and would often be facing jobbers themselves, occasionally these would be billed title matches, but are they really serious defences?

1995 changes everything. In Your House sees PPV count more than double, and the invention of Nitro removing the squash matches, which the WWF quickly followed changed the type of matches the I-C champ had.

[Eunös ✈]

Really liking this thread.

Good job

It's always interesting to look at the list and be like "I hey I forgot they were champion".

2 names I'm quite surprised have not been IC champion are John Cena and Sheamus, the only Title both need to become Grand Slam Champions.

[hbkid718]

Awesome thread. When I do my facts, I like to mention how many defenses the Champion has, so I have a similar list for all previous Champions so I can compare.

[CMWaters]

Apr 16, 2022 11:25:43 GMT -5 Eunös ✈ said:

Really liking this thread.

Good job

It's always interesting to look at the list and be like "I hey I forgot they were champion".

2 names I'm quite surprised have not been IC champion are John Cena and Sheamus, the only Title both need to become Grand Slam Champions.

Sheamus they missed the boat on. Imagine him with the white-strap IC title.