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WWE's Intercontinental Championship is one of the most prestigious titles in the history of wrestling. Newer fans will balk upon hearing the claim, but older fans know it to be true. There was a time when the greatest wrestlers in the world would compete for the honor of being Intercontinental Champion.
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The Intercontinental Championship used to be the title the best technical wrestlers would compete over. While Hulk Hogan would battle a long list of foes for the World title, top-notch wrestlers such as Tito Santana, Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, and Bret Hart wrestled for the Intercontinental title.
Some believe WWE is trying to re-create the old feel of the championship these days. WWE's best workers, such as Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Dolph Ziggler have all competed for the Intercontinental title so far in 2018. Dolph Ziggler is set to defend his Intercontinental Title yet again in the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view against Seth Rollins yet again.
With the prestige of the Intercontinental belt in mind, here are the 8 wrestlers who have won the title more than anyone else.
8. Triple H (5-time Intercontinental Champion):
Triple H is one of the most decorated Intercontinental Champions of all-time. In fact, Triple H won the title even before the Attitude Era really kicked in. His first Intercontinental Championship win came in October of 1996 when he defeated Marc Mero for the belt. He was still in his Connecticut blue-blood gimmick at the time, known then as Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
The next time he'd win the title was from the Rock in 1998. He then went on to win the title twice in 2001 and then his 5th and likely final time in 2002.
Despite winning the title 5 times, Triple H's combined days spent as Intercontinental Champion is only 200, averaging only 40 days per title reign. During one of his reigns, he was both Intercontinental Champion and Tag Team Champion, holding the belts with Stone Cold.
You can see Triple H face Jeff Hardy with the Intercontinental Title on the line here:
7. Wade Barrett (5-time Intercontinental Champion):
Wade Barrett won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time while he was the leader of the Nexus stable in 2011. He defeated Kofi Kingston to win the belt.
He'd defeat Kofi Kingston again in 2012 to win the title for the second time. He then went on to drop the title to the Miz at WrestleMania 29 but won it back again the next night on Raw.
By the next time he'd won the title for the 4th time, he had adopted his "Bad News" Barrett persona. He defeated Big E for the belt at Extreme Rules 2014 but vacated it 2 months later due to a shoulder injury. He won it back for the 5th and final time from Dolph Ziggler in early 2015.
You can see Wade Barrett face Dolph Ziggler here:
6. Edge (5-time Intercontinental Champion):
Adam "Edge" Copeland is a 5-time Intercontinental Champion. He first won the title at a house show in his hometown of Toronto in 1999. He'd lose the title to Jeff Jarrett the very next night, however.
His second run with the belt came over 2 years later when he defeated Lance Storm for the gold. He would then lose the belt to his old tag-team partner, Christian, before winning it back from him. Shortly after that, Edge lost the belt to Test and then regained it shortly after, bringing his title-winning tally to four.
Edge's 5th and final time with the Intercontinental title was when he defeated Randy Orton in 2005. He was forced to vacate the title due to injury soon after, however, and would never win it over the course of the rest of his career.
You can see Edge and Ric Flair compete in an Intercontinental Title Match here:
5. Jeff Jarrett (6-time Intercontinental Champion):
Jeff Jarrett is a 6-time former Intercontinental Champion. This is part of the reason he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Jarrett's first 3 reigns with the belt came in 1995. He traded the belt back and forth with Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels at the time.
His 4th, 5th, and 6th reigns with the belt all came in 1999. He defeated Godfather for the belt, lost it to Edge, managed to get it back, then lost it to D-Lo Brown and regained it for a final time. Finally, Jarrett lost the title to Chyna in his last match with WWE.
You can see Jeff Jarrett and D'Lo Brown take each other on in the Intercontinental Title bout here:
4. Rob Van Dam (6-time Intercontinental Champion):
Rob Van Dam is a former 6-time Intercontinental Champion. He's arguably one of the most popular wrestlers ever to wear the title around his waist.
RVD won the title 5x in 2002-03 and then won it again for a 6th and final time in 2006.
In 2002, he defeated William Regal, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit for the title. During that year he also lost the title to Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho, however.
In 2003, RVD beat Christian and Chris Jericho for the title. He lost the belt that year to Chris Jericho and Randy Orton.
His final time winning the title came in 2006. He defeated Shelton Benjamin for the championship at the Backlash PPV that year.
See Rob Van Dam take on Chris Jericho in a brilliant performance here:
3. Dolph Ziggler (6-time Intercontinental Champion):
The current Intercontinental Champion is also one of the most decorated champions in the title's lineage.
Dolph Ziggler is a 6-time Intercontinental Champion. His first run with the belt came in 2010 when he defeated Kofi Kingston. Ziggler then won the title on 3 occasions in 2014. He defeated the Miz twice and Luke Harper once for the Championship that year. Ziggler lost the it to the Miz, Harper, and Wade Barrett that year as well, however.
He won the title for a 5th time from the Miz in 2016. Finally, he defeated Seth Rollins for the belt on June 18th, 2018 to become a 6-time champion.
2. The Miz (8-time Intercontinental Champion):
The Miz is an 8-time Intercontinental Champion. He's also only 3 weeks away from passing Pedro Morales as having spent the most combined days with the title. Considering he is on Smackdown and the Intercontinental title is on Raw, however, Miz could be waiting a while to break Morales' record.
Miz first won the title from Christian in 2012. His next run with the belt came when he defeated Bad News Barrett for it at WrestleMania 29.
He would win the title twice in 2014, first winning the vacated belt in a battle royal and then later dropping it to and regaining it from Dolph Ziggler. Miz would win the title twice in 2015 as well. He defeated Zack Ryder for the belt and then lost his match with Ziggler losing the title in the process. He regained it from Dolph Ziggler again.
The Miz defeated Dean Ambrose in 2017 and Roman Reigns in 2018 for his 7th and 8th runs with the title.
You can see highlights from the career of the Miz here:
1. Chris Jericho (9-time Intercontinental Champion)
Chris Jericho has won the WWE Intercontinental Championship on nine different occasions. Fans of New Japan Pro Wrestling are aware, however, that Jericho also won their version of the Intercontinental Championship earlier this year when he defeated Tetsuya Naito.
Jericho feuded over the title with Chyna in 1999, defeating her for the belt, to start his first two reigns. He'd win the belt a 3rd time by defeating Chris Benoit in 2000. Jericho would defeat Benoit for the belt again to start his 4th reign in early 2001. His 5th reign started in 2002 when he defeated Rob Van Dam for the belt. He started his 6th reign in the fall of 2003 when he again defeated Rob Van Dam to win the title.
Jericho's 7th run with the belt came in 2004 when he defeated Christian in a ladder match for the vacated title. In 2008, he would win the title for an 8th time by defeating Jeff Hardy. Finally, Jericho won the title for a 9th and final time at the Extreme Rules PPV in 2009 when he defeated Rey Mysterio, while also unmasking the Luchador.
You can see Jericho and Jeff Hardy battle here:
