Professional wrestling has a long list of championships that have been created, defended, and forgotten over the years. WWE is well known for creating new titles or adapting old ones. One of the most prestigious championships that are currently being defended on WWE television is the Intercontinental Championship. It was created in 1979, with the inaugural champion being WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson.
Since its inception, there have been well over 150 different men that have held the title. The Honky Tonk Man won the title in 1987 and holds the record for the most days as champion with 454 days. There have been some memorable champions in the past, the list includes Razor Ramon, Shawn Micheals, Chris Jericho, The Miz, and that is just to name a few. With the number of people who have held the championship, there are also quite a few people that fans have easily forgotten about.
10 Ric Flair
According to WWE, Ric Flair held the record for most World Championships ever won at 16 title reigns. He did, however, have only one run with the Intercontinental Championship back in 2005. He won the championship at Unforgiven 2005 when he defeated Carlito via submission.
Flair held the title for 155 days and lost it to Shelton Benjamin who was already an established champion in the past. He is one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business and all of his successes overshadow his short run with this title.
9 Dean Douglas
Dean Douglas, better known as Shane Douglas, wrestled in almost every single promotion that was around in the '80s to the early 2000s. He wrestled with WWE for a short period of time in 1995 where he was featured in a match with Razor Roman. Douglas ended up winning the Interconitial Championship due to forfeit when Shawn Micheals was not able to compete in their match.
In comes Razor to challenge him in Micheals's place. He defeated Douglas at In Your House 4: Great White North, and held the championship for a while after that. Douglas only held the championship for a few hours, making it a very forgettable run.
8 Road Dogg
WWE Hall of Famer and one-half of the legendary tag team The New Age Outlaws, Road Dogg, carried the Intercontinental Championship for a two-week period in 1999. He defeated Val Venis on an episode of Raw Is War to earn the title.
He ended up losing the championship to Goldust on another episode of RAW, making the significance of his short title reign easily forgettable. Road Dogg ended up becoming a multiple-time World Tag Team Champion, but this title reign was his only individual championship outside of the Hardcore Championship.
7 Billy Gunn
Road Dogg's tag team partner Billy Gunn ended up winning the Intercontinental Championship one year later on an episode of SmackDown. Gunn and a few others were feuding with the faction of The Radicalz and he ended up defeating Eddie Guerrero to win the title.
Much like Road Dogg, Gunn's championship reign was short-lived as it only went on for a little over two weeks. He was defeated by another member of The Radicalz in a match at Armageddon 2000. That was also the only championship that he won individually outside of the Hardcore Championship.
6 Albert
WWE's Head Trainer for NXT, Matt Bloom, has wrestled under many names throughout his career, and one of the more prominent ones was Albert. He was a big man, with incredible strength and intimidating facial piercings. In 2001, Albert defeated "The Big Red Machine" Kane in a no disqualification match to win the Interconitial Championship.
He only held the title for about a month before losing it to Lance Storm on an episode of Raw Is War. Even though Albert was with WWE on multiple occasions, this was his only championship in the company. Given his size and booking, that might come as a surprise to some fans.
5 Test
In the late '90s and early 2000s, Test was involved in some major storylines for the WWE. He played a huge part in the early days of the on-screen relationship between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Then during the Invasion storyline, Test aligned himself with WCW which is when he won the Intercontinental Championship.
He held the title for a little less than two weeks. He defeated Edge to win it but lost the championship when Edge defeated him at Survivor Series that year. It would be the most important championship that Test would hold in his WWE career.
4 JBL
Shortly before his in-ring retirement, WWE Hall of Famer and former WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield won the Intercontinental Championship. It was the last championship that he won and it solidified him as a Grand Champion in WWE.
JBL defeated CM Punk on an episode of RAW in March of 2009. He would then go on to lose the championship to Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 25 a few weeks later.
3 Curtis Axel
As the son of wrestling legend "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, all eyes were on Curtis Axel when he made his professional wrestling debut. During his time in WWE, he was featured in some interesting storylines, most of which involved him being in the lower to the middle of the card. Fans might forget that he was actually a pretty entertaining Intercontinental Champion.
He won the championship in a Triple Threat Match with The Miz and Wade Barrett at the 2013 Payback event. He held the championship for well over 150 days until he lost it to Big E Langston on an episode of RAW.
2 Rikishi
Speaking of men that come from legendary loins, the big man Rikishi is a member of the famous Anao'i wrestling family. Even though the WWE Hall of Fame star had an amazing career, he only held one championship individually. He was a multiple-time World Tag Team Champion, but in the year 2000, he became Intercontinental Champion. Rikishi, however, would only hold the championship for two weeks before dropping the title to Val Venis.
1 Ezekiel Jackson
In 2007, WWE signed the 6'3, almost 300-pound super athlete Ezekiel Jackson. Given his size and abilities, big things were expected from him and, within a few years, he became the final ECW Champion. Following the brand's closure, Jackson would attempt a singles run, but when that went nowhere, he joined The Corre, alongside Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel. However, tensions would rise and Big Zeke would find himself going after Barrett's IC Title.
In 2011, Big Zeke defeated Wade Barrett at the Capitol Punishment PPV to win the Intercontial Championship. He would go on to defend it successfully for a few months until he lost it to Cody Rhodes. This was his last big accomplishment in WWE before having an array of injuries that led to his departure.