Top 10 Intercontinental Title matches in WrestleMania History

This Sunday night at WrestleMania 34, The Miz will be defending the Intercontinental Championship in a triple threat match against Finn Balor and Seth Rollins in only the second triple threat for the IC Title in WrestleMania history. The first one, back in 2000, also involved the European Championship, which technically makes this the first pure IC Title triple threat match at a WrestleMania event. It will be the 24th defense of the Intercontinental Championship in 34 WrestleManias.

A quick history: The IC Title was defended at the first 11 WrestleMania events. They skipped WM XIi and then it was defended at the next 6 events. After WrestleMania x8 in 2002, it wasn’t defended for 6 straight WrestleManias, and in its return to the event, the title changed hands in only 20 seconds. It has been defended three times in a Ladder Match, and the champion walked in with the belt and successfully defended it (including disqualifications and count outs) in 12 of the 23 matches, putting it at just over half.

Will Seth Rollins or Finn Balor succeed in being the man to tie it up at 12 successful retentions and 12 successful title changes? We will find out this Sunday. In the meantime, let's weed out the best of the best and see which comes out on top.

#10 Tatanka def. Champ Shawn Michaels via count-out (WrestleMania IX, 1993)

Shawn Michaels had dropped Marty Jannetty the year before and started his run as a heel. The previous WrestleMania saw him open the show in a good match against Tito Santana. Here, he takes on another stereotype, defending his Intercontinental Championship against Native American Tatanka.

By this point, Shawn was over a year into his time as a bad guy and had dropped Sensational Sherri, the woman who turned him into the “sexy boy” as his valet. In fact, his manager for this match was Luna Vachon, while Tatanka was led to the ring by Sensational Sherri herself.

To note, this was before he started using the superkick as a finisher, although this match ended with a disqualification. Tatanka was on a winning streak but they wanted to keep the title on Michaels, so this happened. Imagine a time where Tatanka is being protected in a match against Shawn Michaels. This is the best match from what is remembered by most as the worst WrestleMania ever. It’s a really good one, though, and worth checking out, especially if you want some classic early Shawn Michaels singles action.

#9 Rey Mysterio def. Champ JBL (WrestleMania 25, 2009)

This was a nothing of a match on what was a pretty bad WrestleMania, but Rey Mysterio’s special gear for the year was a play on Heath Ledger’s Joker look, so that was pretty awesome.

JBL had a short-lived run as Intercontinental Champion, and this would turn out to be his retirement match. He beat CM Punk about a month earlier to become a “Grand Slam” champion, likely a “thank you” before his retirement.

Mysterio pinned him in 21 seconds. This was the first time the title was defended since WrestleMania x8 in 2002 -- they went 6 years without a title defense, and then gave us 21 seconds. After losing, JBL famously grabbed the microphone, screamed “I Quit!” and was never seen or heard from again.

Well, that’s not true. He did some extremely good commentary for a few years, and then took a break, and then came back and did increasingly bad commentary until his departure in 2017. This match is significant, and on this list, because of its brevity and the fact that it was an unannounced retirement match. It was also the first time Rey Mysterio would win the Intercontinental Championship.

#8 Champ Chris Jericho def. William Regal (WrestleMania x-Seven, 2001)

While this wasn’t an extraordinary match by any means, it was the opening match of what most people have deemed not only the best WrestleMania of all time but the best PPV event of all time.

The crowd was on fire for Jericho and they had a quick, fun match to get the Houston, Texas audience even more riled up than they already were for this massive event. It was also the culmination of an incredibly enjoyable and often funny storyline/feud between the two men, as William Regal was still the Commissioner of the WWF at the time.

They did go on to have a couple more matches, including the infamous Duchess of Queensbury Rules match the following month at Backlash, which saw Regal win (not the title, though, as Triple H had recently taken in from Jericho) by changing the rules to fit whatever he wanted to do.

Interestingly enough, a few weeks later on the UK-only PPV Insurrextion, they had a rematch of the DoQ Rules match, and Jericho won. Usually, when they go to England, the Englishmen get to win, even if they’re bad guys, because the crowd is so excited to see them.

#7 Zack Ryder def. Champ Kevin Owens and 5 others in a Ladder Match (WrestleMania 32, 2016)

The most recent match on our list is also one of three ladder matches that will be featured. For the second year in a row, WWE decided to get a bunch of people on the card by adding a 7-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. In this instance, Kevin Owens was forced to defend his title against Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Sin Cara, Stardust, Sami Zayn and eventual winner Zack Ryder.

Most people wanted this to be the big Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn match (and it would have been perfect), but WWE had different plans. Owens would lose the title after Ryder just beat out both Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn (the two other big crowd favorites in the match) to grab the title belt.

One major reason that this match earns a spot on the list is that not only was it a fun spotfest with bodies flying everywhere, but Zack Ryder finally got his WrestleMania moment after years of working his butt off to try to get one.

His father jumped the barricade and celebrated with him in the ring afterwards as well. Sadly, the reign wouldn’t last long, as The Miz would begin his quest to become the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time the following night, as he pinned Zack Ryder on the RAW after ‘Mania to procure the gold.

#6 Daniel Bryan def. Champ Bad News Barrett and 5 others in a Ladder Match (WrestleMania 31, 2015)

This would be the final WrestleMania match for Daniel Bryan until this year’s event. He retired not too long after this match as well. Officially, it was almost a year later that he retired, but only a month after this title win would we see him in his final match (until this year!), where he teamed with John Cena to defeat Cesaro & Tyson Kidd.

The other members in this match were Bad New Barrett, Stardust, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, and Luke Harper. Many people were less than thrilled to see Bryan at this position on the card for multiple reasons. For one, he was way above the IC Title and all of the other wrestlers in the match.

He did state later on that his goal was to make the Intercontinental Championship a big deal, and that he wanted to essentially make it the World Title of SmackDown. This was before the most recent brand split. The second reason that people (myself included) were upset was that everyone clearly wanted Bryan to main event for the second year in a row, and especially wanted to see him take on Brock Lesnar.

This was after the infamous Royal Rumble match that Bryan wasn’t even a part of. They even teased him getting the spot when Reigns put his title shot on the line at Fastlane, but Bryan was unable to wrest the number one contendership away from Roman. Three years later and Roman is once again facing Brock Lesnar in the main event. At least this time Bryan is in a more high-profile match.

#5 Chris Benoit def. Chris Jericho and Champ Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 2000)

The third and final multi-man title match on this list is a rather interesting one. Just like all of the other matches on the show (except for whatever The Cat vs. Terri Runnels was) this was not a singles contest. It was under triple threat rules with both the Intercontinental and European Championships up for grabs.

Kurt Angle came into the match as a double champion and left, as everyone expected, without any of his gold except for his Olympic medals. Chris Benoit would win the first fall, which was for the Intercontinental Title, and Chris Jericho would take the second fall and the European Title.

This was an extremely good match featuring two of the best in the world at the time along with future great Kurt Angle, who was competing at his first WrestleMania. Angle had only been around for about 7 months at this point and was already proving that the only thing between him being a rookie and him being one of the greatest ever was time.

This was an extremely fun match on a show that gets a lot of hate. WM 2000 wasn’t an amazing show, but the atmosphere was fun and it was a pretty light, easy card to get through.

#4 Bret Hart def. Champ Roddy Piper (WrestleMania VIII, 1992)

Now we’re getting into the classics. These are tough calls because it’s a mixture of figuring out the best matches in-ring combined with the story behind them and the historical significance.

I would call this the third best match on the list (behind numbers 1 and 2) but its historical significance is lacking. This was just a really great match between two of the best pro wrestlers of all time.

Piper and Hart didn’t have a gripe or a grudge (this was babyface vs. babyface) and Piper had only very recently won the title at the Royal Rumble, a match that saw him as the replacement for Hart, who had gotten injured and couldn’t get his rematch against The Mountie, who had just defeated him to win the title.

Piper won the belt and ended The Mountie’s reign at just 2 days, and it was on for WrestleMania. Hart was on his way up the card (he would become WWF Champion for the first time by defeating Ric Flair in October of that year) and Piper was on his way out as an active competitor in the WWF.

This was Piper’s last match until he wrestled Jerry Lawler at King of the Ring 1994, over two years later. Piper would only wrestle a handful of other matches for the WWF (including the Backlot Brawl with Goldust at WrestleMania XII) before leaving for WCW in 1996. One thing that does give this match historical significance is that Hart defeated Piper clean via pinfall, and became one of the very few men in history to do so.

#3 Champ Ultimate Warrior def. WWF Champ Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania VI, 1990)

hogan warrior — Hulk Hogan hits a clothesline on the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI

This is a historically significant match because it was supposed to be a passing-of-the-torch moment with Hogan giving Warrior the keys to the castle. It was also a title vs. title match, with both Hogan’s WWF Championship and Warrior’s Intercontinental Championship on the line.

The match was good, among the better matches in both men's careers. The atmosphere in the Skydome in Toronto was amazing and the crowd noise was off the charts. You think Rock/Hogan 12 years later in the same building got a huge response? Watch this one. I was considering putting this match at number 2 on the list due to the history, but upon further thought, this match isn’t as historically significant as you’d expect.

This wasn’t actually a passing of the torch moment, as Warrior was unable to hold the ball, and never truly became the face of the company and the guy that Vince McMahon was looking for to replace Hogan with when his time was over. Hogan would continue to hog the spotlight for a few more years, in and out of the WWF Title picture.

Warrior vacated the title after winning this match, allowing Mr. Perfect to win his first title in the WWF later that month. This was essentially the peak of Ultimate Warrior’s career, although he would stay with the WWF for a couple more years in a featured role and had a few matches that were far better than this one. The match is remembered well, by myself included, and deserves a spot in the top 3. It’s also the only time the IC Title was defended in the main event of WrestleMania.

#2 Ricky Steamboat def. Champ Randy Savage (WrestleMania III, 1987)

Many people would put this match at number one on the list without even giving it a thought. It’s an extremely good wrestling match between a pair of extraordinary wrestlers. It took place on one of the biggest and most important WrestleMania cards in history. The storyline leading up to it, with Savage destroying Steamboat’s windpipe with the ring bell, was beautiful in its simplicity and made the crowd want Steamboat to vanquish the villainous Savage like you wouldn’t believe.

This match, being cemented in wrestling lore as one of the all-time classics (and it is), is also not very historically significant. It happened a long time ago, sure, but that’s really it. Steamboat held the title for 65 days before losing it to the Honky Tonk Man. He never won another title in the WWF, and after losing in the first round of the WWF Title tournament at WrestleMania IV the following year he would be gone.

He returned for the majority of 1991 and didn’t do anything of note (this was the infamous “The Dragon” time period) but spent the rest of his active career with WCW before retiring in 1994. Savage would never hold the IC Title again and did the exact opposite at WrestleMania IV. Instead of losing in the first round, he won the whole tournament. Amazing match, amazing memories, amazing WrestleMania moment.

#1 Champ Razor Ramon def. Shawn Michaels in a Ladder Match (WrestleMania X, 1994)

hbk — Michaels dives off the ladder in one of the most classic images in WWE history

This match is one of the definitive matches in WrestleMania history. It’s one of the best matches of all time (WrestleMania or otherwise) and it is part of a classic rivalry. Shawn Michaels bookmarks this list, and it’s amazing what a difference a year makes.

He was good, but not great, in 1993. By 1994, Michaels had already begun to make a case to be called the best wrestler in the company, and his stock would only rise from there. This match was for Razor’s title, but two belts were suspended above the ring.

Late in 1993, Shawn Michaels had been stripped of the belt when he was suspended for medical reasons (read: steroids). When he returned in 1994, he claimed to be the true champion since he had never been defeated for the title, and carried his own IC Title belt around.

This was rectified in their classic WrestleMania X ladder match. This was the best match on a show that also featured Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in what is often considered to be the best PPV opening match in history (not just WrestleMania history). Razor would go on to be a successful multi-time IC Champion and later moved to WCW and helped form the nWo. Shawn Michaels, well, we all know what HBK has done since then. This is the epitome of greatness. This is one of the greatest matches in WWE history, one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history, one of the best matches ever for the Intercontinental Championship --- this is number one on the list.

Edited by Arvind Sriram