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The 33rd edition of SummerSlam takes place on August 23 and WWE has already started booking blockbuster matches for their biggest event of the summer. While five matches are already booked for Monday Night RAW's roster, including the WWE and United States Championships matches, the company has only announced one match on the SmackDown side.
While Braun Strowman is guaranteed to face Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship, we have yet to know who will challenge AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Championship. Given that The Phenomenal One has so far had a phenomenal reign, as expected, we are sure to get a huge match for the Blue brand's secondary title as well.
In the past 32 editions of SummerSlam, the prestigious title was defended on all but nine of them, and this has resulted numerous iconic matches, including the memorable start to The Ultimate Warrior's reign in the inaugural event and Steve Austin's infamous win with a broken neck in 1997.
Before Styles defends his title in at SummerSlam and potentially steals the show, we take a look at some of the greatest Intercontinental Title matches in SummerSlam history.
#7 Chris Benoit vs Rob Van Dam (SummerSlam 2002)
SummerSlam 2002 was a show for the ages. Headlined by the first and only showdown between The Rock and Brock Lesnar, SummerSlam also featured the in-ring return of Shawn Michaels as well as the greatest opening match in the event's history.
What gets completely lost in the shuffle between these historic matches is a stunning effort between two of the best wrestlers of their time, Chris Benoit and Rob Van Dam. Their inter-brand Intercontinental Title match, while not the best outing for either man, was still a highly competitive affair. The brand supremacy component, however, made the match more important than it was.
This 16-minute clinic had everything — mat wrestling, high-flying moves, hard hitting and near-falls. Add to the fact that the match had the perfect heel verusus face dynamics, with RVD as popular as ever and Benoit still in the middle of his heel run, and fans had a match that could have stolen the show on any other night. Mr. Monday Night bested the Rabid Wolverine, and brought the title back to for good.
#6 Rey Mysterio vs Dolph Ziggler (SummerSlam 2009)
If one looks at the history of the Intercontinental Title in the 21st century, one can easily point out that Rey Mysterio's run with the title in the summer of 2009 was easily the pinnacle of his career. His rivalry and matches with Chris Jericho before SummerSlam were a piece of art, and his reign also ended in a little live TV gem against John Morrison.
Sandwiched between these two programs is a rivalry that not only helped retain the level of prestige brought to the title by Mysterio and Jericho but also helped bring a new young Superstar into the limelight, Dolph Ziggler. Their twin showdowns at Night of Champions and SummerSlam continued the trend of the great title matches that Mysterio was having as Intercontinental Champion at the time.
The match at SummerSlam, in particular, stands among the best title defenses of the Masked Legend's long career. Given the chance to open the show, the two had a thrilling encounter that featured 12 minutes of non-stop action. For the first time in his career, Ziggler looked like a star at the big stage and managed to make most of the opportunity given to him.
Ziggler might have lost a hard-fought battle, but this classic with Mysterio gave him the first great singles match of his career.
#5 Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler (SummerSlam 2018)
In 2009, Dolph Ziggler was still a rookie who was challenging for the Intercontinental Championship for the first time in his career. However, by SummerSlam 2018, he was a name synonymous with the said title, having held the title for a stunning six times. His rivalry with Seth Rollins for the title brought a new life to the coveted championship, and featured some of the best matches for the title in recent memory.
While their main event Iron Man match at Extreme Rules and another meeting on RAW a few weeks before that were great matches in their own right, none was as impressive as their grudge match. The two had a chemistry with each other, and it was on full display during the SummerSlam 2018 curtain-jerker.
With Dean Ambrose and Drew McIntyre in their corners, respectively, the challenger Rollins and the champion Ziggler wrestled the best SummerSlam Intercontinental Title match in years. Their 22-minute long classic set the stage for the show, with the crowd being on their feet for every single close call during the last stretch of the match.
Rollins' victory over Ziggler after a evenly-fought match marked not only the pinnacle of Rollins' babyface run, but also a pinnacle for the Intercontinental Title at the time
#4 The Rock vs Triple H (SummerSlam 1998)
The beginning of the Attitude Era completely changed the complexion of the WWE in 1998. Bret Hart had left the company on a sour note in 1997, and Shawn Michaels too retired after WrestleMania 14. In the weeks leading to SummerSlam, Steve Austin and The Undertaker, the two Superstars scheduled to fight for the WWF Championship in the main event, were the only two bona fide megastars left in the company.
However, even though WWE entered SummerSlam with only Austin and The Undertaker highlighting the brand, they had two more in The Rock and Triple H once the event came to its close. Focused around the Intercontinental Title that was around The Rock's waist for almost a year, he and Triple H had been feuding for almost three months, with both Nation of Domination and D-Generation X getting involved in the rivalries as well.
After fighting each other in a two-out-of-three falls match at Fully Loaded, the two came to SummerSlam with the sole aim of giving everything they had for the title and succeeded in doing so. Equipped with the ladder match stipulation, this 26-minute bout was easily the best match for both the youngsters as they bashed each other with every weapon in their arsenals.
Both D-X and The Nation tried their best to help their respective leader emerge victorious, and this ended up making the difference as a low blow from Chyna on The Rock allowed The Game to with the prestigious title for the first time. The Undertaker and Austin might have had a great match to close SummerSlam that year, but it was The Rock and Triple H who ended up stealing the show.
#3 Mr. Perfect vs Bret Hart (SummerSlam 1991)
Until WrestleMania VII, Bret Hart was only known as a tag team specialist, as one half of the legendary Hart Foundation along with Jim Neidhart. While their loss at Mania brought an end to the acclaimed pairing, it was also the start of a whole new career for The Hitman as a singles star and it all started with this brilliant match for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam 1991.
Before the show, Mr. Perfect had been an exceptional heel Intercontinental Champion for over 200 days and had successfully dispatched the challenges from the likes of Tito Santana, The Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich and Big Boss Man. Hart's popularity surge post-WrestleMania turned him into one of the biggest babyfaces in the company, and he was booked to challenge Perfect for the title at SummerSlam.
In the storied home for professional wrestling, Madison Square Garden, the two in-ring technicians had a type of match that had not been seen inside a WWE ring for years. With the perfect heel-face dynamics, the two charmed the crowd with mat-wrestling, submission moves and brawling, with Perfect controlling the match for majority of the time.
However, it was the underdog Hart who emerged victorious after reversing a Figure Four attempt into a Sharpshooter and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion. With Perfect retiring from active wrestling after the event, this match from SummerSlam 1991 was a true passing of the torch moment.
#2 Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon (SummerSlam 1995)
Between WrestleMania X and SummerSlam 1995, both Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon were constant presences in the Intercontinental Title scene. From their lengthy title reigns to their memorable feuds with the likes of Diesel and Jeff Jarrett, the two successfully managed to carry forward the legacy, if not enhance, the idea of the championship as a workhorse's title that was established by their predecessors.
Their rivalry with each other, however, was at the center of the title scene during this period, with the two both beginning and ending this long feud in Ladder Matches at WrestleMania and SummerSlam, respectively. While their match at WrestleMania X was a groundbreaking encounter, it was the sequel 17 months later at SummerSlam in 1995 that ended up the best match between the two Hall of Famers.
Even though there were only two ladders available in the match, Michaels and Razor made full use of them as weapons. The in-ring psychology, with Razor constantly attacking Michaels' leg throughout the match and the latter getting back up again and again, also made for heightened drama. After 25 minutes of solid action, a Sweet Chin Music from the top of the ladder and Ramon's infamous fall off of it led to Michaels finally avenging his WrestleMania loss in this worthy sequel to an all-time classic encounter.
#1 Bret Hart vs The British Bulldog (SummerSlam 1992)
There is little doubt that Brett Hart versus Davey Boy Smith is the best Intercontinental Championship match in SummerSlam history. This was not an ordinary midcard match for a midcard title on a big event like SummerSlam. It was the main event of WWE's biggest summertime event, and it featured two Superstars who themselves had a long history with each other.
The fact that a match for the Intercontinental Championship main-evented a show featuring a WWF Championship match between Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior is enough to warrant a special place for this match in the history of professional wrestling. Smith was at the peak of career, fighting in front of over 80,000 British fans, and he had the perfect dancing partner in Bret Hart to create magic inside Wembley Stadium.
Even though he was never among the smoothest workers, the Bulldog went toe-to-toe with The Hitman for over 25 minutes, matching his every move. The brothers-in-law literally brought down the house in a memorable encounter that ended with Smith managing to pin Hart in this own country to win his first singles title in WWE.
There have been several other great Intercontinental Championship matches at SummerSlam over the years, but none has even come close to this instant classic. Hart versus Smith isn't just the greatest Intercontinental Title match in SummerSlam history, but it is also one of the greatest SummerSlam matches of all time.
