Every Chris Jericho Intercontinental Championship Reign, Ranked
The Intercontinental Title is synonymous with being the belt for workhorses. Many legendary wrestlers have donned the iconic strap over the years from Shawn Michaels to Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat. However, Chris Jericho is the man to hold the belt the most during its legendary history.
Related: Every Shawn Michaels WWE Title Reign, Ranked
He has held it in WWE a staggering nine times, as well as also holding New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Intercontinental Title. Whenever someone thinks about the Intercontinental Championship, Chris Jericho is the wrestler who is always linked to it. So many reigns, of course, means some are iconic whilst others are underwhelming.
10 WWE: Sixth Title Reign (October 2003)
This is one of the shortest reigns in IC Championship history. On an episode of Raw, Jericho was facing reigning champion, Rob Van Dam, for the belt. Jericho secured his sixth IC Title victory with a helping hand from Co-GM Eric Bischoff.
Related: WWE: 10 Shortest Intercontinental Title Reigns Ever, Ranked
Said shenanigans resulted in fellow Co-GM Stone Cold Steve Austin setting up a rematch on the same night, this time inside a steel cage. This resulted in RVD getting revenge on Jericho and winning back the IC Title.
9 WWE: Third Title Reign (May 2000)
Again another short-lived reign for Jericho. Jericho and Benoit feuded over the IC Title during WrestleMania season with Kurt Angle also involved. The three faced off at Mania in a triple threat match with Benoit winning the IC Title.
The following month, Jericho won the belt on an episode of Smackdown to secure a third title reign. However, it did not last long with the two meeting the next week on Raw. This ended with Jericho losing the title in under a week, making it unmemorable.
8 WWE: Fifth Title Reign (September 2002)
In the early 2000s, the IC Title switched hand fairly often. This is why Jericho accumulated so many reigns due to holding the title for short periods of time and winning it back. This time Jericho beat RVD again on an episode of RAW to win the strap.
This reign lasted longer than the 2003 edition with RVD as Jericho held the gold for a fortnight before losing it on another episode of Raw to Kane. As a result, Kane held both the IC and Tag Team Titles.
7 WWE: First Title Reign (December 1999)
This one is memorable due to the fact that it was Jericho's first IC Title reign. Jericho defeated the first-ever woman to win the belt, Chyna, at Armageddon. He then went on to hold the title for 22 days and into the new year.
However, on an episode of Smackdown, Jericho was defending the belt against Chyna and the two pinned each other. This resulted in the duo being co-champions, however, WWE does not recognize this as a part of Jericho's first reign.
6 New Japan: Only Title Reign (June 2018)
Jericho won the IWGP IC Title from Tetsuya Naito at Dominion. This marked Jericho's first IC Title reign in NJPW and he went on to hold the title for 209 days. However, he only defended the title once during that time before losing it back to Naito.
Related: NJPW: The 10 Longest-Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions
Of course, the star power Jericho brought to the belt helped massively but the number of defenses was disappointing. His feud with Naito was highly entertaining and this reign would be so much more memorable if the two faced off more.
5 WWE: Second Title Reign (January 2000)
After becoming co-champion with Chyna, an outright IC Champion had to be decided. This resulted in Jericho beating Chyna and Hardcore Holly in a triple threat match to secure his second title reign.
His second reign lasted 35 days which is longer than a lot of his other times with the strap. It also resulted in a dream match between him and Angle at No Way Out. This ended in Jericho losing the title to Angle in an entertaining match.
4 WWE: Seventh Title Reign (September 2004)
This is the truly great territory. Jericho secured his seventh title reign at Unforgiven 2004 in a classic against Christian. The ladder match between the two for the vacant title is vastly underrated.
Jericho only held the title for 37 days, however, the quality of matches during this reign really makes it more memorable. He ended up losing the title to Shelton Benjamin at Taboo Tuesday in another great bout.
3 WWE: Ninth Title Reign (June 2009)
Jericho only held the title for 21 days but his feud with Rey Mysterio was an absolute classic. They had many battles for the IC Title during 2009 as they had an intense feud. Jericho won the belt from Mysterio at Extreme Rules.
Jericho continued the feud with Mysterio as he played the cruel heel role in trying to unmask Rey. This culminated in a Title vs. Mask match at The Bash PPV which ended up being a sensational wrestling match with Mysterio winning back the title.
2 WWE: Fourth Title Reign (January 2001)
At Royal Rumble 2001, Jericho defeated Benoit in an all-time classic ladder match to win the IC Title. This instantly made Jericho's fourth reign a memorable one as he secured it in such a great match.
Related: 10 Great Intercontinental Title Matches From The 2010s You Forgot About
Jericho went on to hold the title for over 70 days, which included a successful defense at WrestleMania X-Seven against William Regal. However, four days later he lost the title to Triple H on the Smackdown.
1 WWE: Eighth Title Reign (March 2008)
This was the longest and most iconic IC Title reign that Jericho had with WWE. Jericho won the belt from Jeff Hardy in a great match on an episode of Raw. He went on to hold the title for 111 days and was involved in an iconic feud.
That feud was with Shawn Michaels. Although the rivalry wasn't directly for the IC Title, it played a huge part. Jericho viciously turned heel on Michaels which resulted in Shawn getting revenge by costing Jericho his IC Title to Kofi Kingston.
