12 Best Intercontinental Champions in WWE History (Ranked)

Having first been introduced in 1979, the Intercontinental Championship is one of the most prestigious titles in WWE and the list of men who have held the gold features some of the top names to have ever passed through the company in its history. Sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to bigger things, the title has often been used as a tool to elevate a wrestler to the next level, getting them used to the pressure that comes with being a champion before the company decides whether to push them into the main event scene, although, in some cases, some of the best Intercontinental Championship never made it to the very top.

Whether the peak of someone’s career or something that pushed them forward to further success, the Intercontinental Championship has given fans countless memorable moments and matches during its existence, and some men truly stand out above the rest when it comes to their time with the gold. So, let GIVEMESPORT take you through the 12 best Intercontinental Champions ever.

12 Edge

When talking about how the Intercontinental Championship can take a wrestler to the next level, Edge has to be someone who immediately comes to mind. As it goes, when he shocked fans by capturing the Intercontinental Championship from Jeff Jarrett at a house show in Canada, the Rated R Superstar wasn’t meant to take home the title with the road agent calling an audible on the night that resulted in a new champion. Still, it went a long way in proving that Edge was someone who was to be taken seriously going forward.

From there, he was able to call himself Intercontinental Champion a further four times, including defeating Randy Orton and Christian in title matches, with his last IC Championship win coming in 2004, just under 18 months before his iconic first WWE Championship win over John Cena in January 2006.

11 Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam is someone who did his absolute best to make the Intercontinental Championship worth fighting for during his time with it. RVD had a total of six reigns with the title and certainly has the match catalogue to equal any other wrestler on this list, vying for the championship in some instant classics that summed him up as a performer.

In terms of prestige, Van Dam was also the titleholder who defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy and Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer respectively to unify the Intercontinental Championship with their respective gold, adding another layer of honour to the mid-card title.

10 Jeff Jarrett

Jeff Jarrett’s successes with the Intercontinental Championship all came within a relatively short space of time. After defeating Razor Ramon at 1995’s Royal Rumble, Double J would go on to win the title a further five times, putting him in joint third for most reigns with RVD and Dolph Ziggler.

All coming while he was a heel, Jarrett was perfect for the role of the cocky mid-card champion. He’d defend it against some of the company’s top faces, including his aforementioned role in giving Edge his first big title triumph in front of his hometown crowd. Jarrett was a very strong character who WWE could rely upon when needed and that showed in his routine capture of the prestigious championship.

9 Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes has always been someone who values the history of professional wrestling and his reigns with the Intercontinental Championship show how much he respects the lineage and history of the title. As many fondly remember, Rhodes was the man who brought back the classic title design of the 1980s, this time with a white strap that would last until 2019.

Having two stints with the gold, Rhodes’ first championship reign was 236 days before he lost out to The Big Show. While his next title reign was much shorter and only included one defence, Cody had already become one of the best champions in recent memory at that point and certainly did his bit in reminding everyone what the Intercontinental Championship means.

8 Jeff Hardy

Throughout his entire WWE run, Jeff Hardy was never someone to hold onto a championship for particularly long. However, The Charismatic Enigma has had an incredibly successful career that includes five separate Intercontinental Championship wins. From his first reign in 2001 to his last in 2020, it’s the opponents that Hardy overcame to claim the title that stands out.

Beating Triple H to earn his first go with the championship, Jeff’s later wins saw him defeat Johnny Nitro, Umaga and even AJ Styles to reclaim the gold and remain a persistent threat whenever he was in and around title contention.

7 The Miz

For those who grew up watching WWE in the 2010s, there is no name more synonymous with the Intercontinental Championship than The Miz. Some will criticise the ‘A-Lister’ for not being as standout as others on this list when it comes to his in-ring performances, but how can we not mention him when it comes to this prestigious title?

Holding it a total of eight different times, Miz is only one Intercontinental Championship reign away from tying the record for most IC Title wins in history. Between two separate two-year periods (2012-14 and 2016-18), the 43-year-old was routinely relied upon to re-establish the belt at times when it was perhaps lacking the importance of years gone by.

6 Bret Hart

Bret Hart is about as good an in-ring worker as you can be, and his ability came to the forefront during his time in the Intercontinental Championship scene. Having two reigns, his first began with an excellent win over Mr. Perfect and ended shockingly when he lost to The Mountee. Still, after Roddy Piper had become the next champion, Bret wasn’t going to let his time with the gold end there, defeating Hot Rod to reclaim the belt.

He played his part in history too, being the champion who The British Bulldog needed to overcome at a packed Wembley Stadium in one of the most beloved title switches in its history. Overall, the Hitman is never a bad choice to hold any championship, and he certainly gave his all to put on great matches over the Intercontinental Title.

5 Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels is remembered as a legend of the industry, and rightly so. The now 59-year-old is a former multi-time world champion and a WWE Hall of Famer, but it was his time with the Intercontinental Championship in which Michaels first showed just how good he could be as a singles star.

Having great matches often came naturally to HBK, but we must mention his iconic Ladder Match with Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X. He’s one of the first names that comes to mind when thinking of the classic Intercontinental Championship and the title was the perfect first step in his solo career that saw Michaels reach true superstardom.

4 Mr. Perfect

Earlier, we mentioned how sometimes even the best Intercontinental Champions never got to call themselves co-world champions, and Mr. Perfect is the best example of this. Many will never understand how Curt Hennig was never the WWF Champion, but his Intercontinental Championship reigns speak for themselves in terms of his excellence.

Holding the belt for 406 days across two different reigns, Perfect’s first stint with the Intercontinental Championship saw him mainly focused on Tito Santana, the man he beat for the gold before his second included quality encounters such as his retentions over Shawn Michaels, Big Boss Man and Roddy Piper.

3 Chris Jericho

The record holder. Chris Jericho has an astonishing nine reigns with the Intercontinental Championship and, for a long time, it looked as if no one would get close to matching Y2J. A couple of people have since come within one or two reigns of Jericho, but it’s simply impossible to diminish the greatness of his work with the Intercontinental Title.

He first won it from the only woman to ever hold the mid-card title, defeating the legend that is Chyna in 1999, and, although none of his stints with the gold were particularly lengthy, his first and ninth reigns were a decade apart. This leaves him with a myriad of classic feuds and matches with a whole range of opponents that helped create the legacy that the Intercontinental Championship has today.

2 Randy Savage

Randy Savage only had one run with the Intercontinental Championship, defeating Tito Santana in February 1986, yet his reign could easily be argued to be worthy of top spot on this list. At 413 days, he defended the title an impressive 25 times in just over a year, welcoming all comers from George ‘The Animal’ Steel to Jake Roberts and even Bruno Sammartino.

Then, when it came time for the Macho Man to drop the belt, he did so in some style. Putting the gold on the line at WrestleMania III, the match between Savage and Steamboat is regarded as one of the best in company history. It was unlike anything regularly seen on WWE programming at that time and perfectly capped off a legendary Intercontinental Championship run for Savage.

1 Gunther

Gunther is a throwback to eras gone by. The Austrian got his hands on the title at a time when it certainly wasn’t at its hottest, and few could have ever predicted the reign that followed his title win in June 2022. Gunther has always valued honour and prestige in professional wrestling, and he made the Intercontinental Championship feel like the most important prize in the world at points during his 666-day reign.

The Ring General had built the title up to the extent that opponents like Sheamus and Chad Gable made chasing the championship their top priority, but no one could topple Imperium’s leader, and he was seemingly unbeatable at one point in time. By the time Sami Zayn became champion at WrestleMania 40, Gunther had restored the glory of the title, and for our money, this makes him the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever.