6 Intercontinental Championship reigns of 2018 & their ratings

The Intercontinental Championship is one of the most prestigious belts in the WWE, and it is a dream of WWE Superstars to have that title around their waists. Chris Jericho holds the record for the most number of title reigns at 9, followed by the Miz and Dolph Ziggler.

There have been 80 Intercontinental Champions in WWE history, with Seth Rollins entering this list in 2018. In 2018, the Intercontinental Championship which is exclusive to Monday Night RAW changed hands 5 times

Seth Rollins won the title on 2 separate occasions in the year 2018, with his first title win coming at WrestleMania 34, followed by another championship triumph at SummerSlam 2018. Dean Ambrose is the current IC Champion. He defeated his former Shield brother, Seth Rollins at TLC to become a 3-time Intercontinental Champion.

This year, all 3 members of The Shield held the title at one point, and with the year about to end, here are my ratings for the Intercontinental Championship reigns of 2018.

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#1 Roman Reigns

Days held in 2018 - 22

Lost to - The Miz (RAW 25)

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 2

Roman Reigns had won the Intercontinental Championship in late 2017, and started the year 2018 defending the title against Samoa Joe in a singles match. The two Samoans gave us a brilliant match, which saw the Superman retain his title in the end.

Reigns next defended the belt against the Miz on the 25th anniversary of RAW, and in order to get out of the IC title picture ahead of WM 34, the creative team booked the Miz to win the belt from Roman, though in an unclean manner.

Overall, The Big Dog gave us 2 stellar matches in his 22 day title reign in 2018, and so I give his reign a B+.

Grade - B+

#2 The Miz

Days held in 2018 - 76

Lost to - Seth Rollins (WrestleMania 34)

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 2

The Miz defeated Roman Reigns to become an 8-time Intercontinental Champion, and defended his title first against The Big Dog in a rematch. The Miz used his heelish tactics to put away Roman Reigns. However, the IC title was sidelined for a while ahead of the Elimination Chamber PPV, which saw the Miz competing in the first ever 7 man Elimination Chamber match.

Though the Miz lost that match, he developed a rivalry with two of the other 6 competitors in Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. The three men had a memorable feud which saw them battle in all possible permutations and combinations on RAW, before having one of the best triple threat matches at WrestleMania 34, which saw the Miz's reign end at the hands of The Architect.

The Miz once again was successful in elevating the prestige of the title, and so I give his reign an 'A'.

Grade - A

#3 Seth Rollins

Days held in 2018 - 72

Lost to - Dolph Ziggler (RAW, 18/6/18)

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 8

Seth Rollins transformed Monday Night RAW to Monday Night Rollins during his first IC title reign. Rollins had defeated the Miz and Balor to win the championship belt at the Grandest Stage of 'em All in 2018.

Rollins defended his title first at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV in April against Samoa Joe, The Miz, and Finn Balor in a fantastic ladder match.

He retained his title against Finn Balor in an iconic match on RAW the next week, followed by a match of the night candidate against the Miz at Backlash.

He then made open challenges on RAW every week, which saw Mojo Rawley, Kevin Owens, Jinder Mahal, and Elias step up to Rollins on different occasions. Seth's reign came to an end during one his open challenge matches against Dolph Ziggler, where The ShowOff stole the title out of nowhere from Rollins.

This was one of the best title reigns of the year, and the creative team needs to be commended for booking Rollins' reign. I give this reign an "A+".

Grade - A+

#4 Dolph Ziggler

Days held in 2018 - 62

Lost to - Seth Rollins (SummerSlam)

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 2

In one of the most shocking moments on RAW, we saw Dolph Ziggler defeat a red hot Seth Rollins to win the Intercontinental Championship. Since Ziggler was a heel, we did not get enough title defenses during his reign, but Ziggler took the title to the next level when the WWE Creative allotted the main event position of the Extreme Rules PPV to the title held by him.

Now, this PPV had several dream matches like AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns vs Bobby Lashley on the card, yet the Iron man match between the two closed the show.

The two superstars gave their best, but this match was hijacked by the audience in attendance. Dolph managed to retain the title at Extreme Rules, but lost it to Rollins at the following PPV, SummerSlam.

Dolph Ziggler reinvented himself with this title reign, and showed the WWE Universe why he is the Show-stealer. I give this reign a 'B+'.

Grade - B+

#5 Seth Rollins

Days held in 2018 - 119

Lost to - Dean Ambrose (TLC)

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 5

If Seth Rollins' first reign was one of the best of all time, his second reign with the belt was just the opposite. Though The Kingslayer had some fantastic title matches with Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin (TLC match on RAW), the WWE sidelined the title when Rollins was involved in The Shield's story-line.

The title almost got irrelevant at that time, and at times fans demanded some other RAW superstar be crowned champion. Rollins lost the belt to Dean Ambrose in what was one of the worst matches of his career.

This title reign of Rollins was just a disappointment for all the fans, and so I give this reign a 'B' grade.

Grade - B

#6 Dean Ambrose

Days held in 2018 - 14

Lost to - N/A

Title defenses on TV in 2018 - 1

WWE launched Dean Ambrose in a completely new avatar in August 2018. They transformed his look from a Lunatic Fringe with weird hair to a macho man with a jacked up body.

This new look of Ambrose screamed a heel turn, though the WWE used him as a face during The Shield's storyline. Dean Ambrose even executed one of the best heel turns of the year on the night when Roman Reigns announced his hiatus.

Now that Ambrose has only held the title for only 2 weeks, it is hard to rate his title reign as he has defended his title only once, against Tyler Breeze. So, I will just give a grace grade of 'B+' to Ambrose's reign, hoping that the Lunatic Fringe will have a memorable reign with the title in 2019.

Grade - B+