Chris Jericho is one of the most accomplished names in the entire wrestling industry, starting his illustrious career in WCW, winning the Cruiserweight Title several times. He is also the inaugural AEW World Champion, helping to build that company from the ground up. Most of his success came in WWE, with him winning several World Titles, Tag Team Titles, and most notably, Intercontinental Titles. In fact, he holds the distinction of being the Intercontinental Champion a record number of times, being a nine-time titleholder, with only The Miz being close to that. However, despite currently holding the record, his reigns with the belt were usually lackluster, and he is far from being the greatest IC Champion of all time.
Chris Jericho’s Early Intercontinental Title Reigns Had Few Memorable Moments
Due to being a prominent name in WCW, Jericho climbed the ranks quickly into his WWE run, winning the IC title just a few months in by defeating Chyna at the 1999 Armageddon PPV. It was a strong match, though it wasn’t anything special. This first reign would last just over 20 days, as it was vacated following an awkward stage in which he and Chyna acted as co-champions, which was a bit of a mess. He would become the official champion again but held it for just a month. He defended the belt frequently, but it was in forgettable and short TV matches against the likes of Viscera, Hardcore Holly, and Gangrel, without really having a feud.
Around this time, there was a lot of hot potato being played with WWE’s midcard titles, with Jericho holding his third IC belt for less than a week in May of 2000. All these reigns were short and did no favors in helping Jericho to feel like a big star following his debut, with this early stint in WWE feeling like a waste. He managed to remain relevant, being in and around several title scenes, but it would take until the 2001 Royal Rumble to win it back in a ladder match. This would start his longest reign to date, at over 70 days, however, his trend of short and forgettable defenses continued.
Chris Jericho Had Several Short And Inconsequential Intercontinental Title Reigns
Jericho became embroiled in the Invasion angle, eventually finding himself in the World Title picture over the next year. After main eventing WrestleMania and being Undisputed Champion, he returned to the IC belt in 2002, but once again had a short reign, with a pointless two-week stint as champion. Even with his time in the main event scene, this didn’t do anything to elevate the IC gold. His next reign came in 2003 when he defeated RVD in the main event of Raw in a strong match. However, due to Eric Bischoff helping him win, Steve Austin announced a rematch, with RVD winning the belt back almost immediately. The power struggle of Raw between Austin and Bischoff overshadowed the belt and made Jericho’s 6th reign feel pointless. This stung even more as this broke the record for most reigns of the championship, and it couldn’t have felt any less important.
Nearly a year later, Jericho furthered that record once again by defeating former tag team partner Christian in a Ladder Match at Unforgiven 2004. Once again, Jericho wasn’t booked strongly, with few defenses, losing it just a month later. By that point, in just less than five years and over seven reigns, Jericho had held the belt for just 188 days combined as recognized by WWE, which is completely farcical. Comparisons can be drawn to how Charlotte Flair’s title short reigns mean nothing in today’s WWE, and the same goes for Jericho back then.
There Have Been Several Greater Intercontinental Champions, Despite Jericho’s Record
After some time away and a return, Jericho won his 8th title in 2008, with it stretching to 111 days, but in that time, he lost a lot of non-title matches and rarely defended the title on TV. Even with a long reign, it wasn’t good, although he did put over Kofi Kingston in dropping the belt, which was effective. His last reign came in a great feud with Rey Mysterio, where he would hold the title for just three short weeks, but the rivalry was certainly a highlight.
Aside from the Mysterio feud, very few of his Intercontinental Title reigns had any truly memorable rivalries, matches, or moments, with him not holding the title long enough to become a strong or dominant champion, often losing non-title matches and cheating his way to no-contests, DQs, or cheap wins. His time as champion was rarely entertaining or useful, with his other work in WWE being much superior to his time as Intercontinental Champion. With The Miz currently just behind with eight reigns, it would be a good choice to have him eventually break the record, as he was a much more important champion.