10 Wrestlers With The Most Reigns As WWE Intercontinental Champion
The WWE Intercontinental Championship has a long storied history in pro wrestling. To many fans, the Intercontinental Championship represents the workhorses of this great sport. For decades, incredible performers like "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, and The Rock have all used the title as a stepping stone to the WWE Championship.
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Some performers never have the honor of being Intercontinental Champion. Other performers are only lucky enough to hold the coveted championship once. Then, there's an elite class of superstars who have reigned as Intercontinental Champions on various occasions. The upper echelon of that class reads like a who's who of professional wrestling history.
10 Razor Ramon: 4
Razor Ramon is near the top of many fan lists of greatest performers to never win a World Championship. Despite never reaching the very top of the wrestling business though, Razor Ramon left his unforgettable mark on WWE's mid-card. Ramon is one of the most iconic and memorable Intercontinental Champions in WWE history.
Furthermore, he competed in and won perhaps the most famous Intercontinental Championship match ever against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X. By the time "The Bad Guy" left WWE in 1996, his four Intercontinental Championship reigns were a record.
9 Edge: 5
Today, Edge is an 11 time World Champion and a WWE Hall Of Famer. However, in the early 2000s, Edge was a mid-carder bursting at the seams with main event star potential. As a result, Edge became a common fixture atop WWE's mid-card. He would often compete for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Edge's five reigns as WWE Intercontinental Champion were all dress rehearsals for the much larger role he would one day occupy. There's perhaps no "Rated R Superstar" without the foundation that Edge laid during his various runs as Intercontinental Champion.
8 Triple H: 5
By the time the Ruthless Aggression era was in full swing, Triple H was a former multiple-time WWE Champion and the gatekeeper to the World Heavyweight Championship. That's honestly the version of Triple H that most fans remember. Before that though, Triple H was a perennial contender for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
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His iconic feud with The Rock centered around both men's pursuit of the Intercontinental Championship. At SummerSlam 1998, Triple H and The Rock competed in a memorable Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship. By 2002, Triple H would be a five-time Intercontinental Champion.
7 Jeff Hardy: 5
Jeff Hardy has been a top star in the wrestling business for a decade and a half now. In The Attitude Era though, Hardy was one half of perhaps the most popular tag team ever, The Hardy Boyz. At first, the WWE office had Jeff's older brother, Matt, earmarked for greater future success. Those plans would change though. It didn't take long to see Jeff's undeniable star quality.
In 2001, at the age of 23, Jeff Hardy became the youngest Intercontinental Champion in WWE history. By the time 2020 rolled around, Hardy was a wiley veteran collecting his fifth WWE Intercontinental Championship win.
6 Wade Barrett: 5
In 2010, it seemed as though a new age was on the horizon in WWE. That year, Wade Barrett and a group of upstarts known as "The Nexus" ran roughshod on WWE's roster. The storyline made the group and its leader, Barrett, immediate main eventers. At the time the entire group seemed destined for greatness but Barrett in particular looked like a future World Champion.
Sadly, due to some dirty backstage politics, Barrett would never reach his once high potential. Instead, he would be destined to rule WWE's mid-card for most of his career. Five reigns as Intercontinental Champion are nice, but Barrett deserved at least one run as World Champion.
5 Rob Van Dam: 6
During the late 90s, ECW housed pro wrestling's best-kept secret, Rob Van Dam. By 2001, the genie was out of the bottle and Van Dam could no longer be denied. As part of the WWE roster, Van Dam quickly became one of the most popular performers in the business. He was rapidly pushed to the top of the mid-card, winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship on multiple occasions.
Van Dam was an amazing Intercontinental Champion, holding the title on six separate occasions.
4 Jeff Jarrett: 6
Jeff Jarrett is one of the most polarizing performers in wrestling history. Many of Jarrett's detractors point to the fact that his father pushed him to the top of his promotion as a way to discredit him. While that is true, once Jarrett got to WWE in 1993, he proved that he was an excellent performer in his own right. Jarrett would win his first Intercontinental Championship in one of the best Intercontinental Champions of all time against Razor Ramon.
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By the late 90s, Jarrett was no stranger to the Intercontinental Championship. Perhaps the most memorable of Jarrett's six runs with the title came in 1999 when he dropped the belt to the first woman Intercontinental Champion ever, Chyna.
3 Dolph Ziggler: 6
In the 80s, the WWE Intercontinental Championship earned a reputation for being the "workhorse championship." At the time, the title was reserved for only the best workers in the wrestling business, with a few exceptions like The Ultimate Warrior being made. As time passed, the title slowly started to lose its exclusivity. Before long, some less than deserving performers were holding the title.
WWE has made several attempts over the years to restore the championship's status. With his six solid championship reigns, Dolph Ziggler has done his part to keep the Intercontinental Championship prestigious. Furthermore, Ziggler's superb in-ring ability makes him a great addition to the title's legacy.
2 The Miz: 8
When The Miz first started his pro wrestling journey, the smart money wouldn't have been on him becoming one of the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time. Nonetheless, here we are. Miz worked his way from the absolute bottom of the totem pole to become one of WWE's go-to performers.
As an eight-time Intercontinental Champion, Miz helped re-establish the title as a top prize on multiple occasions. It's been a few years now since The Miz has had his sights on the Intercontinental Championship, but one can only imagine it's a matter of time before it's in his possession again.
1 Chris Jericho: 9
Chris Jericho is on the shortlist of candidates for being the greatest performer ever. Jericho's list of accomplishments over the past three decades is hard to replicate. He's been a champion in nearly every promotion and has managed to reinvent himself countless times. One of the many feathers in Jericho's cap is holding the record for the most WWE Intercontinental Championship reigns ever at nine.
During his time in WWE, particularly in the earlier part, Jericho used his runs with the Intercontinental Championship as a way to prove he had more to offer. Luckily, Jericho would be allowed to contribute more to WWE while also establishing himself as one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions ever. Additionally, Jericho was the first performer to ever win both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships.
NEXT: 10 Best Intercontinental Champions, Ranked By Promo Ability
