WWE Intercontinental Championship

WWE Intercontinental Championship
The current design, introduced in October 2011, revives the classic 1985 – 1998 faceplate, with the white strap used sporadically during the 1990s. This image is of a 1990s replica belt featuring the old WWF logo.
Details
Current champion(s)	Cody Rhodes
Date won	August 9, 2011 (aired August 12, 2011)
Promotion	WWE
Brand	WWE SmackDown
Date established	September 15, 1979
Other name(s)	*WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship[1] *WWF Intercontinental Championship
Past design(s)
Statistics Most reigns Chris Jericho (9 times) First champion(s) Pat Patterson Longest reign The Honky Tonk Man (454 days) Shortest reign Triple H (unification) Oldest champion Ric Flair (56 years, 205 days) Youngest champion Jeff Hardy (23 years, 222 days) Heaviest champion Rikishi (400 lb (180 kg)) Lightest champion Rey Mysterio (175 lb (79 kg))

The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is the original secondary title of the promotion. Currently, it is the secondary championship exclusive to the SmackDown brand. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition.

History

Following the title's introduction in 1979, Pat Patterson became the inaugural champion on September 15,1979. The title's creation came as a result of Patterson defe ating Ted DiBiase to win the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship and defending the title in an apocryphal tournament to be unified with a South American Heavyweight Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[2] The title later became known as the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

On October 17, 1999, Chyna became the first and only woman to hold the Intercontinental championship by defeating Jeff Jarrett at No Mercy.^[3][4] Following the World Wrestling Federation's purchase of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001,^[5] the title was unified with the WCW United States Championship at Survivor Series 2001, causing the United States Championship to become inactive. The United States Champion, Edge, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Test.^[6]

Following the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was further unified with the European Championship in a ladder match on July 22, and the Hardcore Championship on August 26. The Intercontinental Champion, Rob Van Dam, defeated the European Champion, Jeff Hardy, and the Hardcore Champion, Tommy Dreamer respectively.^[7][8] As a result, Rob Van Dam was named the last European and Hardcore Champion.^[9][10] Then at No Mercy 2002, it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Kane, causing the Intercontinental Championship to become inactive.^[11] However, in May 2003, the title was reactivated by Raw co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was recommissioned to be a secondary championship to the Raw brand. Shortly after, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by the SmackDown brand, making the title its counterpart. During the 2009 WWE Draft on April 13, 2009, reigning champion Rey Mysterio was drafted to SmackDown, making the Intercontinental Championship exclusive to that brand.^[12] On October 2, 2011, Cody Rhodes, the current champion, re-introduced the classic belt design with the white strap (albeit modified with the current WWE scratch logo) at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.^[13]

Reigns

Main article: List of WWE Intercontinental Champions

The inaugural champion was Pat Patterson, who became champion before unifying his North American Championship with a "South American Heavyweight Championship" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 1979. Chris Jericho holds the most reigns with nine. The Honky Tonk Man is the longest reigning champion at 454 days while Triple H is the shortest reigning champion by unifying the title with the World Heavyweight Championship immediately after winning. Chyna is the only woman in history to win the title. The current champion is Cody Rhodes, who is in his first reign. He defeated Ezekiel Jackson for the title at the August 9 tapings for the August 12 edition of WWE SmackDown.^[14]

References

1. ^ WWE WrestleMania I (DVD). WWE. 1985-03-31. 
2. ^ "Pat Patterson's first reign". http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322358. 
3. ^ Lilsboy (May 2005). "The truth about Chyna". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/article160155.ece. Retrieved 2007-04-12. 
4. ^ Laurer, Joanie. If They Only Knew, 299.
5. ^ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. Acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". WWE Corporate. 2001-03-23. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2001/2001_03_23.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
6. ^ "Survivor Series 2001 results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/history/2001/results/. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
7. ^ "WWE Raw - June 22, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/020722.html. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
8. ^ "WWE Raw - August 26, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/020826.html. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
9. ^ "WWE European Championship history". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/euro/. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
10. ^ "WWE Hardcore Championship history". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/hard/. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
11. ^ "No Mercy 2002 results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/nomercy/history/2002/results/. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
12. ^ Plummer, Dale (2009-04-14). "RAW: Drafting a fresh start for the WWE". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/04/14/9103546.html. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
13. ^ Buridck, Michael (2011-10-02). "WWE "Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes def. John Morrison"". http://www.wwe.com/shows/hellinacell/2011/morrison-rhodes. Retrieved 2011-10-04. 
14. ^ "WWE News: Smackdown spoilers 8/12 - Results & Notes from Tuesday's Smackdown TV taping leading to Summerslam". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2011-08-10. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_52014.shtml. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 

External links

Professional wrestling portal

• Official WWE Intercontinental Title History
• Wrestling-Titles.com: Intercontinental Championship
• WWE Intercontinental Title Belts: A Guide to the Gold