What Happened To The INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP? 

As someone who's been watching since the late 80's... I think it lost prestige in 99 when it was being hot potatoed from wrestler to wrestler. In random non-advertised matches too

Its jumped the shark when the WWF/E decided to make the WCW title more important and even to some degree the US Belt.

I really love and have intense nostalgia for Randy Orton's reign. I really despised him as a kid. Orton and JBL were probably my most hated heels back then, which means they were great at being heels.

I feel like none of the belts feel like they mean anything anymore, creative is jumping from star to star so fast that they don't know what to do with them so they just change belts far too much, or in Brock's case it isn't defended more than once a year.

Am I the only one that likes the oval version? I have fond memories of Jericho, Benoit, Angle, Guerrero, etc. holding the belt when I was a kid. Maybe it's nostalgia but then again I never really liked the Tag Title designs back then but I looked forward to the IC and Tag matches so much. The IC belt seems to ebb and flow. It seems like it has hot periods and then cools off for awhile.

Too many secondary titles, which is a reason why I think the world title is now not as meaningful, since there's 2 of them. Also too many title switches and not enough lengthy reins.

The brand split and the doubling of Championships made them all less important.

Sometime, I would like to see an Elimination Chamber match for a vacant Intercontinental Championship, where each participant is from a different continent. Excluding Antarctica, for obvious reasons. Tagline for the match: “6 Competitors. 6 Continents. 1 Champion.”

The last time the intercontinental title meant something was when The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and Daniel Bryan feuded over it on smackdown in 2016

Awesome video Dave!!!! Especially like the new lighting and background.

I was there in Rio De Janeiro when Pat Patterson won the title. Let me tell you something. It was a hell of a match. Super bloody. Tons of high spots.

Ahh yes. The Hack Break Skid. A wonderful WWE Champion for a refined era!

Spot on. Growing up I always held the Intercontinental title in high regard. Guys like Razor Ramon made the title mean so much. Now a days the title is a mere empty shell of what it once was. That new design was the final nail in the coffin. The black leathered IC title that Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels etc had was the best looking belt of all time.

It jumped the shark when Stone Cold surrendered the belt and threw it into the lake and told Rock to go scuba diving to get it... funny segment but it really hurt the titles prestige and it never fully recovered

"I am the champion of all the continents!" Santino Marella.

I love the IC title. When I was kid I was watching Bret Hart wrestle multiple matches a night at times and the idea put in my head was that the title was for the "wrestler of wrestlers". Not just technical skill but that drive and devotion. Like Bret and Cody taking about it as if it was the only title in the company.

Long story short... you’ve just earned a subscriber.

I think ALL of the WWE Championships have lost their prestige! They're being treated like hot potatoes on a constant basis! (Although, I'm happy to see Drew McIntyre as WWE Champion... For now!)

1. Call me crazy, but I LOVE the Intercontinental Championship design from the Attitude Era. I personally grew up with it. Growing up, it was my 2nd all-time favorite WWE Championship. It's sad how much it's been devalued over the years. 2. In my personal opinion, I think the Intercontinental Championship started falling off during the Attitude Era (I'm not blaming talent like Chyna, Billy Gunn, Val Venis, Jeff Jarrett, etc). Granted, there's been dips throughout the years (during the Ruthless Aggression Era and the beginning of the PG Era), but I always thought it still had prestige. Names like Edge, Christian, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin, Randy Orton, Ric Flair & Rey Mysterio were very amazing champions. Plus, the matches that were for the belt were some of the best of the best. 3. Sadly, as the PG/Modern Era has gone on, the legacy of the IC Title has been trashed on. Excluding champions like Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre, The Miz, Cody Rhodes & Dolph Ziggler, the people that did hold the belt were either "eh" to "bleh". Just sad.

I think, at least in my opinion, that the reason why the IC belt (and pretty much every other belt on RAW or Smackdown) feels so devalued is because of Vince's ass-backwards thinking that in order to get a guy over you have to put a belt on him. Whereas HBK said in his book that the way to make a belt more prestigious is to put it on a guy who's already over. I think it was either he or HHH who said "the title isn't supposed to make the guy(feel important), the guy's supposed to make the title(feel important)". I tend to agree with that line of thinking, I know I certainly was more interested in a title if the wrestler holding it was someone I already liked, or at least seemed like a big star.

Sometime after Randy Orton’s Intercontinental title run. Personally I feel the US title since it was introduced has felt more important than the IC title. Particularly since it was often the title used to build up the next main eventer more often than not. Runs by Booker T, Cena, Eddie, Benoit, Owens, and even the shield all used the US title as the platform to the main event. There are even those who didn’t quite make it but you could see we’re being positioned as the next big stars like Lashley, Swagger, Miz, etc. To me the IC title has been living off a legacy made in the 80s and 90s that it hasn’t signified since the end of the Monday night wars.

The absolute truth. Growing up, I remember when the IC strap had honor, prestige, and class. Wrestlers such as Tito Santana, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, and Curt Henning wore and defended that strap with class and pride. Nowadays, WWE title reigns are a complete farce.

My favorite IC Champions were Mr. Perfect and Ravishing Rick Rude...How could you forget Rick Rude.....:(

The early years were legends. Hart. Savage. Henning. Rude. Numerous should have been world champion.

Very interesting and informative. I really did associate the intercontinental championship with being the work horse belt and full of long lost prestige that has since been forgotten. It probably has to do with my early memories of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr Perfect and Razor Ramon as title holders. It never occurred to me that this may never have been the case for much of the title's existence. I just thought that it went through a decline during the attitude era and picked up a little bit when Jericho, Benoit and Guerrero arrived and would have a decent platform in the early part of the ruthless aggression era with RVD, Orton, Benjamin and Christian. I think that it comes down to the ideas and meaning that you imbue a title with. The fact that this sentiment surrounding the intercontinental championship has been around for so long probably reflects the desire for mid-card feuds and championships to have more purpose, importance and depth and not feel like something thrown together to fill time.

I agree with the IC belt being the "workhorse belt" back in the day. In keeping with that theme, I always felt the Winged Eagle was more, for lack of better description, the "merchandise belt", given to the more marketable wrestlers, like Hogan and Warrior. This would help explain why guys like Michaels and Hart were able to hold both.

Two words: 1999 and Chyna. Beginning of the end.

Bro....you responded to EVERY comment. That level dedication is not to be taken lightly or be ignored

It's definitely fallen from grace over the last couple of years and lost it's meaning. It no longer serves as a stepping stone to the WWE Championship or Universal Championship. It's barely defended. It had MORE relevance and prominence in the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era. I would LOVE to see it return to prominence & used as it was as a stepping stone. They NEED to give the option of Trading Up to the WWE or Universal Championship as in give the option to trade in for a shot at the WWE or Universal Championship or continue to defend it. Digging the Jombi vibe.

People who have held the title since Miz and Ziggler made it main event worthy (while Ambrose and AJ Styles were feuding over the main title with James Ellsworth): Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Lashley, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Braun Strowman, and Sami Zayn. Of that group, Ambrose, Nakamura, and Strowman really wasted their opportunities, and Zayn was never given a chance. Plus at the same time, Ziggler killed the US title, so neither midcard belt had good standing.

The belt lost all meaning when it changed from the white strap

It's really sad because the Intercontinental Championship was the Workhorse title for guys that were coming up into the main event or guys solidifying themselves as a upper-mid card

when they gave the belt to Dean Douglas, that was the turning point

I also feel that the Attitude Era diminished the IC title's value, but got some value back during the early stages of the Ruthless Aggression Era with guys like RVD, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Randy Orton

Thanks for the Bret Hart's detour!

I was 10 years old when I was treated to tickets to the old Boston garden to see Randy Savage win by count out over Tito Santana, 5he match was so good, my dad bought tickets for the rematch the following month where Savage would hit Tito with a foreign object to capture the title. He was lucky to make out of the building alive lol

All the belts have been devalued since the brand split. There should be ONE World champion, ONE Intercontinental champion, ONE cruiserweight champion, and ONE set of tag team champions. If the NWA could do it in the territory days with one World champion, WWE can do it between 2 shows.

Too many title changes, some under ridiculous circumstances. We started to see a return to the old greatness with Cody's reign. Hopefully the IC title can become a powerhouse again. I remember when an Intercontinental title match was a TV main event worthy. I would like to see that return. Plus: Thank you for bringing up Tito Santana. The guy was a workhorse in WWF in the eighties and into the nineties. Always thought he should have had one more run with the Intercontinental belt. He was the go to guy for helping young performers reach the next level, his match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 8 proved that. Great worker, fun to watch, you go Tito!

When I started watching wrestling in 2000, the two Canadian Chris's were feuding over the IC belt. That was a feud for the ages and established the IC title in my mind as something special.

Second world title really was the stone that sank the ship. But, I'd agree the redesign was a death knell. Also, "Heart Break Skid" had me DYING. Thanks for the laugh.

I think it's safe to say that Gunther is putting in a shift and making this championship feel important again. Most definitely, King Dave Knows Wrestling!

I LOVE this Dave. Thank you. EVERYTHING you said was spot on. Please bring back the ONLY design that TRULY matters!!!!!!!!!!! I'll even settle for the green and silver one that Valentine had at WM1 as I own them both.

Going by the true definition of "jump the shark", it would be when wwe decided to put it on Chyna, because that was a crazy, unrealistic idea that didn't do anything to improve the significance of the IC title. But since most people think "jump the shark" means when something starts going downhill and never recovers, that would be when Stone Cold forfeited the title to the Rock because he only wanted to have the world title. In essence, he was saying the IC title wasn't worth having.

It comes down to WWE playing Hot Potato with the title, not featuring it in PPV matches, not featuring it in meaningful storylines, and not giving the matches that DO feature it time to become classics. Miz was truly making the title relevant, but every time they remove it from him, the next person doesn't keep the momentum going.

Before watching the video, I'll save it jumped the shark in 1999 when literally every midcarder started getting it and a new guy got it every 2 months.

My favourite when Jericho-Benoit feud.. Randy 2004 reign.. The Miz recent years

The attitude era

Hard to pinpoint exactly when the IC title lost its meaning. But now we've actually gotten to the point where none of the championships mean as much as they used to. There are so many of them.

Hey why is the ic title so prestigious? Dave: hold up fam it was never prestigious to begin with....

They need to do with more people what they did with the Miz. The miz was the best to hold that title in arguably 2 decades, definitely the best IC champion of the last decade for sure.

The guy in the thumbnail killed it. This whole Shawn/Dean/Razor fiasco made it look worthless.

I completely agree. It’s also my favorite belt. As much as I love Austin and Rock, that was the real downfall IMO. Throwing it into the river like it was nothing, hurt the belt. It showed that there was only one prize to care about. Then there was the explosion of belts, especially when WWE bought WCW. Lightweight, European, US, Women’s Champ, and Hardcore. Far too many championships in that period, only made worse with then brand split, and two top tier belts (world and heavyweight).

One of the biggest reasons that so many of the early IC champs didnt go on to be world champion, is because the world title wasn't coming off of Hogan until he wanted it to (left to make movies) The IC title was the highest achievable level between Jan '84 to Mar '88. Even after that, several interim champions were former IC champs (Savage, Warrior) until the Undertaker and Flairs runs. Then Savage and Bret Hart. Quick drop to Yoko, and boom... Hogan again.

The IC belt used to pretty much mean you were the Midcards best. I looked it at as just a step below heavyweight championship. It was a way for guys who weren’t maineventers yet but were killing it in the midcard. And when 2 man power trip was goin and HHH held it, it made it feel even more meaningful to me.

I always held in high regard till around 2003 or 4. After that it never really elevated anyone to the World Title. It just passes back and forth to mid carders that never get higher than that.

I agree with you about the attitude era. Not only the design, but the addition of the European and hardcore title devalued it.

Great video. I would agree along the Attitude Era being the one to diminish the IC Title. At the time, there were so many other Titles, WCW Heavyweight, Cruiseweight, US Title, Hardcore Title, European Title, Light Heavyweight Title, that it seemed to become something of an after thought or to be put on anyone that people wanted to see on TV. The long reigns of people like Warrior, Mr. Perfect, Honky Tonk Man, Bret Hart seemed to become rare. Towards the end of this era, long reigns like those of Randy Orton, Edge, and The Rock propelled them to main event status restoring some prestige, but then it went back to feeling like a mid card Title and an afterthought. I hope WWE can restore this again with the new recent design change, but so far, this has not been the case

The Brand Split and having it as a dedicated belt for only one show is what killed it. When WWF and WCW merged, the IC belt was definitely above the United States Championship still - but when they have one mid-card belt per show, it means that the IC is now the equivalent of the US, and we all just have that base feeling of that not being right. I mean, it's even in the names: Intercontinental vs United States, which one sounds more impressive? This is the same problem they're facing with the WWE vs Universal Championships - neither are World Heavyweight Titles so they already feel less important than they should be as the top belts, but the fact that there are *two* top belts just diminishes their importance. This is what they got right during the first Brand Split, by having Stone Cold as the World Heavyweight Champion be a free agent that could appear on either program. And that's how to make it special again: keep the brands, but let the champions and titles float. Make a big deal about a Raw star invading Smackdown to challenge the IC champion, make it a prestige and rivalry thing between the two brands. Unify the top belt, make the IC as the definite #2 belt, plus two tertiary titles - or if you wanted to make certain belts not float to give people a reason to tune in every week, have the tertiary titles stick to their brands (and then you could have an interesting plot line where someone from one brand holds the other's TV title - the kayfabe scandal!) In short, the best way to make it prestigious again is to make it and the top belt unique again.

It might be interesting, albeit uhhh also kind of impossibly time-consuming, to at least compare the Intercontinental champion list to the general roster and see how many of those champions at least competed for the world title, having some sort of main event run, compared to non-title holders. I imagine the belt would still mean you were significantly more likely to be a world champion someday than not holding the belt! Undertaker perhaps notwithstanding

Muraco was a fantastic IC champion. When my friends and I watched wrestling at the Spectrum, we all wanted to see Muraco-Snuka a whole lot more than Backlund vs Afa. Maybe we are all just attached to whoever we saw first with the belt.

The WWF Title was in fact defended regularly. Every night to be exact. Just not on television, except for Saturday Night’s Main Event. That was the genius of having Hulk Hogan as champ. If you wanted to see him a/o the title, you had to buy a ticket to the show.

Mr. Perfect gave the belt value. It wasn't a stepping stone belt, the best "workers" had the IC strap

That belt lost a lot of meaning when Shawn Michaels lost his smile

Val Venis, Road Dogg, Goldust and Godfather started the downfall

Also worth mentioning, by the late 90's the WWF had three secondary titles: IC, Euro, and Hardcore. The promotion didn't really do much to set the IC title above the other two. As many have already pointed out, the glut of title only got worse as they expanded to have two world titles as well, a trend that continues to this day. It's just hard to get excited about it when it doesn't seem to mean anything. Actually, I'd say that is true about all the titles. The last person to have a really meaningful, industry defining reign as a world champion was Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30.

I believe it became a nonfactor title when Austin called it "garbage piece of tin" and literally threw it in a river.

The new lighting makes your videos look a lot more professional

I haven't watched this yet, but in my opinion it was when WWE Retired it, after they brought it back it never had the same feel to it. I think modern WWE also really de-valued it since very few feuds in the last decade involving the I.C. Champion were actually about the title.

This was THE belt and champions I rooted for in the 90s. Brett and Razor 💪🏾

I always thought the Ladder Match between Razor and HBK was a high point for the Intercontinental title. I think the decline of the IC title really started with the acquisition of WCW and the WCW lineage US title.

I remember making an IC belt out of cardboard and paper when i was a kid, all the kids form our neighborhood would wrestle for the belt on the weekends with what seemed like 24/7 rules. Title matches would start with a sudden clothesline to the back of the head. Another point was that all of us wanted to be either Macho Man, Tito, The Dragon, and as soon as Warrior came, then everyone wanted to be the Warrior. In my opinion all those kids who grew up in that time probably were Warrior fans and the IC title was the best tiltle, cuz hardly anyone liked Hogan or Andre. It's sad because the 3 titles were regarded as the gold in those days, and being a Kid you actually thought of it as real gold and I could not understand why wrestlers would desecrate gold, which Mr. perfect did to the WWF Tiltle and Steve Austin did with the IC Title. Now days all the titles are worthless, just a prop to wear into the ring, tired of watching a guy with no personality being champion(Brock Lesnar)

I liked the original design (with the black strap). But I feel that changing designs was inevitable, as it's very much of the time period it was designed in. That being said, they could have been less drastic about the alterations. I'd also say that it's an accumulation of bad things, rather that one particular incident that's devalued the title. Also, having one roster with as few titles as possible, would definitely help the situation. As the more titles you have the less value each holds. I also think certain stipulations should be involved with holding the title (as in how often it should be defended). I also get why there's two secondary men's titles (two roster's and large mix of mid-upper mid card guys), but there needs to be at least some distinction between the two titles.

The WWF Intercontinental Championship was at its peak in the late 80's and throughout the 90's, it was one of the best belts in pro wrestling without question. Only the early 2000's seemed to have one of the last great runs before it became mediocre!

Austin tossing the title into the River was bad but the IC Title really started to lose it's lustre years later when the champion would lose non title matches week after week and the Victor would not then pursue a title shot.

It lost a lot of prestige in 1999 but redeemed itself in 2000 with Angle, Benoit and Jericho as IC champion. Once WWE split the brands in 2002 it started to really diminish, so much so that they merged it with the World title in 2003.

I was expecting magic tricks😂 It looked like you were going to do that for a sec😂😂😂😂😂

Warrior, Hart, and Razor gave the belt the same pedigree as the world title.

I liked the belt design during the attitude era. The one design prior was also great as well. A tie between both but none the less, great video

You stated that the ultimate disrespect was possibly when Austin threw the belt into the river, I'd say him literally handing the title to the Rock, stating that he had bigger fish to fry was more disrespectful.

It’s funny I like most of people thought when Pat Patterson became the first champion I thought he actually won the belt in a tournament in Brazil. But like decades later he came out and said the tournament never happened cause there’s no record of it. I even tried looking for it once too but nothing online about the tournament. U kno it was one of them phantom title matches

There's too many championships in WWE now a days you just don't know who's the absolute best. We need one main champ, one secondary champ, one women's champ, and one tag team champions.

2004 was the last time that belt meant anything. Shelton and Orton's reigns really helped elevate the belt in that time period.

Very Nice research brother! I love watching theses types of videos even though I know a lot about Wrestling it’s always good to know more. Never realized that so little about of winners went on to win the WWF Belt. Btw when I read the list Hack Break Skid and Hunter McMahon lmao 😆, Nice 👍! Thought it was misspelled then I realized it was intentional! Thank You 🙏 for the Video!

Personally, I believe the WWF InterContinental Championship lost its prestige in the Attitude Era, but not after WrestleMania 14 because The Rock had a long 265 day reign and great matches against Ken Shamrock and Triple H, instead, the WWF IC Championship lost its prestige on March 15, 1999 episode on Raw when Road Dogg won the championship, then 14 days later he lost it against Goldust on the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania 15, and then 14 days later he lost it to The Godfather, and from then on it started to change hands every 2 weeks. The WWF InterContinental Championship changed hands 11 times in 1999, 12 times in 2000, 12 times in 2001, 9 times in 2002 before it got unified with the World Heavyweight Championship in the 2002 No Mercy and retired for 7 months before coming back on Judgment Day 2003. It Changed hands 44 times in 3 years and 42 months. All the WWF Championships in the Attitude Era were basically hot-potato championships that changed hands every 2 weeks. The WWF World Tag Team Championships changed hands 17 times in 2001.

This is crazy but the Miz was the last *great* champ for the division. The guy made it seem like he loved the belt and never treated it as an afterthought. It jumped the shark the minute they started passing it to Seth and Roman just to make them Grand Slam Champions. Once the Miz was separated from that, I can't name a single "great" IC champion... which is nuts considering we've had Balor, Lashley, Nakamura, and Zayn a champs since then.

Any title that gets swapped around so often, will lose its luster. New Japan is the only company that does this right. I do think the Attitude Era downgraded the IC title. A mid card belt holder doesn’t have to go on to earn the top prize in order to legitimize its value. Look how great the NWA TV title was with Arn, Tully, and Rotundo.

Great video! I agree that the Attitude Era played a big role in the downfall of the title, I mean around 1999, the Godfather, Val Venis, Double J...Chyna.. Nothing against these guys but yeah. Even when guys like Jericho and Benoit fought for the title, it still changed hands farrrr too often to really establish them as real Intercontinental Champions and not an Hot Potato Champs.

The Intercontinental Belt and the WCW TV title were the two belts I cared about when I first watched Wrestling. Those were the two belts that you most likely would see defend the belt on regular TV.

not saying this because i like seth but the title started losing it's relevance when seth lost the title he lost it to dean ambrose , to then bobby lashley , then finn balor , then back to bobby then back to balor and balor was barely used on tv to even be seen with the belt then he lost it to nakamura and we all know how forgettable that title reign was and then it went to braun then to sami and now to vacant honestly R.I.P ic champion , it just needs to go back to the miz

1999 is when the IC belt started to lose prestige. Up until then a majority of the belts champions went on to become top stars. In 1999 that isn't the case. It was a bunch of mid-card wrestlers who never rose to that top status. Plus in 1999 is when the belt started to switch champions often.

I think you were spot on when said that the intercontinental belt was the belt fo technical wrestlers and by extension the world championship was a very simple style that was only defended in Pay per views....it meant that for the weekend shows and on Mondays, the main focus was on the IC Strap. It made for it really being its own thing. I think ultimately as Vince started moving away from the “big men” champs due to the steroid scandal, he needed get World Champions by raiding the IC champions. It became a secondary belt by the mid to late 1990s...then finally when the merger happened, all of these belts came in, and i think the resulting glut kinda ruined what special thing the IC belt had.

MITB killed the IC title. It's actually simple. The IC title had the appeal to be the title you gave to a future world champion (Warrior, Austin, Rock, etc) and that now is the role of the briefcase

I think the moment when the Intercontinental Championship lost its sparkle was when WWE stopped caring about it: you could argue Chyna's run is good or bad until you are blue in the face, but the fact is that good or bad they cared for creating a storyline around the belt. I remember in the early 2010's when people like Barrett and Big E were holding the championship and they wouldn't get singles matches or feuds at Wrestlemania and it actively held them back from getting pushes because they were stuck on the pre show. The IC title can exist with briefcases and second world titles if it is treated as special. And for a long time in the 2000's the powers that be never treated it with any dignity, and are only in the last few years trying to make it feel special again.

Ultimate Warrior and Shawn Micheals our the 1st to pop in my head when thinking about the intercontinental title

The belt doesn't make the wrestler, the wrestler makes the belt.......but the way most champions are booked now a days makes it tough

Real late to the party here, but here are my thoughts anyway: 1. The original prestige wasn't so much built on "work", but, like all good wrestling, on compelling story. Pedro's back-and-forth with Muraco was a truly vicious feud, and fans couldn't get enough of these guys trying to kill each other. Same with Muraco and Snuka (yeah, Superfly off the cage was for the belt), Valentine injuring Chico and trying to break his leg, blowing it off in the cage, and yes, Steamboat-Savage was a lot more than a match. It was the Dragon after revenge for Macho trying to actually kayfabe murder him with a bell on the damn throat, putting him out of action for months. They don't make heat like that anymore. 2. Decline started with the introduction of more "secondary" titles. European, Hardcore, Lightheavyweight, when it seems like everyone has a belt, nobody seems like a champion. This is the 97-98 timeframe. 3. Lesser characters winning the title. This began with Shamrock losing to Road Dogg. Everyone loves Doggy Style sure, but he's a tag team guy. This was the end, in mid-1999. And 4. This goes right along with #3, in 1999, the final nail in the coffin: constant hot potato. Remember point #1? Feuds and heat? You can't generate that in a 6-day reign. A title change is the culmination of a chase, a challenger climbing the mountain and chucking the champ off. When there is literally no chase, nobody cares when you catch the champion. We want to see hungry wolves climbing mountains, they gave us lazy dogs hopping up onto the couch. ...and that's my take. When they lost sight of what made it what it was, the downward spiral began in late 97, and the corpse was in the ground by the end of 99.

I am so glad we got Miz and Ziggler to hold it in recent years. They’re my favorite IC champs of this era

Few title reigns have made it relevant since. 1. The Chris Jericho vs Rey Mysterio feud in 2009. 2. Cody Rhodes' reign in 2011 3. The Miz after 'Talking Smack' These are the only times post-WWF where the Intercontinental title was more interesting than the World titles imo. Good United States reigns I would consider: 1. John Cena in 2015 2. MVP in 2007 3. ??? Had WWE stuck with the Rey Mysterio/Samoa Joe in 2019, this could've made elevated the title.

Great video! This is one recommendation RU-vid got right! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

When they merged the Hardcore and Euro titles into it, then it into the World Title to fan Hunter's ego, then brought it back to resounding nothing.