Shining a Spotlight 12.04.08: The Intercontinental Championship

One of the keys to the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance was that you had a dozen promotions with each saying their guy was the “World” champion. After their formation, they had their “World” champion but still kept most of the secondary titles. The U.S. belt, in particular, had several incarnations, most famously Jim Crockett’s version and was defended in what was then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

However, Vince McMahon Sr still wanted something to set him further apart from the NWA. While people have always painted the idea that Vince Sr would never have gone along with his son’s plans for wrestling, the fact is that when it comes to spinning history, working supposed allies and making some hard-nosed decisions, the apple really didn’t fall far from the tree. After all, it was Vince Sr. who first made the decision to split his northwestern promotions away from the NWA and set up shop for himself. He wanted something else to keep it going, his own secondary championship and that’s what led to the birth of the Intercontinental Championship.

You have to admit, when it comes to names, the IC title has one of the best in wrestling. Sure, you had North American and U.S. belts and such but “Intercontinental” just had that extra flavor that rolled off the tongue. Just saying the name made the title itself feel more important and gave it weight. Of course, it helped that those it was given to were able to validate it massively.

It’s always surprised me that the IC title has remained in such prominence with WWE since we all know how Vince has a problem backing stuff he himself didn’t come up with. Of course, the reasons for this are pretty simple as WWF/E did need a secondary title so Vince saw no need to change that when he took over. But it also helped that the IC belt really was an example of how men make the title as much as the title making the man.

The recent release of a DVD showcasing the best of the belt’s history reminded me of the great lineage this belt has. Indeed, recent DVD releases have had guys like HHH and Shawn Michaels talking about what an honor it was to be given the IC title and that it seemed to mean more to them than even the main belts. HHH summed up that it was “the workhorse title,” that while it may not have gone to the biggest star in the company, it generally went to the best wrestler. Sure, that didn’t always work out but it was more the rule for the majority of the title’s run.

The DVD keeps with kayfabe that Pat Patterson won a tournament in 1979 in Rio De Jenario to win the first title. In truth, WWWF simply combined a couple of American belts to form the IC title and gave it to Patterson, a good star with them. From there, the title would be moved around other guys at the mid-card level who proved themselves worthy as good champions: Ken Patera, Ted DiBiase, Greg Valentine, Tito Santana and others. They each brought something to that title, making it really meaningful and so fans bought into its importance. As HHH said, these guys really put it out there working hard and an IC title match was a big deal all around WWF shows.

The highlight of this ‘80’s run was of course Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat. Savage had one of the longest title reigns ever, 13 months and took on all comers in some great battles that sold him as a terrific star. He boosted himself to monster heel status when he did a brutal attack on Steamboat, crushing his throat with the ring bell from the top rope with Steamboat selling it so well even most smarts thought he was really injured. It culminated in their classic battle at Wrestlemania III which Steamboat won in wonderful fashion and seemed ready to keep it going for a while.

That didn’t happen, of course and the reasons why vary depending on who you ask. Some say Hogan got upset at Steamboat and Savage stealing the show and wanted them punished. Other say Steamboat wanted some time off to see to his newborn son and they didn’t want the belt put on the backseat that long. The old legend is that Steamboat was going to drop it to Butch Reed at a TV taping but Reed didn’t show up that night (although some say he was indeed there) and so they settled on joke wrestler the Honky Tonk Man.

It’s still amazing twenty years later that HTM, one of the most ridiculous performers ever, has the record as the longest-reigning Intercontinental champion. It wasn’t meant to be as plans were for him to drop the belt to Savage in early ‘88 but politics got in the way so HTM kept the belt while Savage got the World title. Honky Tonk was, in many ways, the perfect heel champion: Cocky, arrogant, acting like he was so much better than he was, getting himself disqualified or counted out to keep the belt, in short a guy folks would pay for the chance to see lose.

It finally happened at the first SummerSlam as Honky was going to defend against Brutus Beefcake but they changed it up with Beefcake being “injured” by Ron Bass and Honky issuing an open challenge to anyone. So, in what remains my all-time favorite mark-out moment, the Ultimate Warrior hit the ring and proceeded to destroy HTM in thirty seconds to win the belt to one of the biggest pops you’ll ever hear. The irony was delicious as the longest IC reign was ended in the shortest ever title bout and Warrior would be boosted big-time by it. It would also set up the “SummerSlam curse” where for the first five years, the IC title would always change hands.

The list of workers who held the IC title and went on to become WWF/E champion is a long one with some huge names. But there was a flip side to that: the title would often be held by men who didn’t seem quite ready for the big belt but fit the IC title quite nicely. Curt Henning is a good example. Don’t get me wrong, Henning would have been a good WWF champion and the fact he never held it does seem to mar the whole “Mr. Perfect” thing. But he did incredibly well as the IC champion, a terrific fit for the championship with his skills and arrogant persona. He did suffer the SummerSlam curse as he dropped the belt in only five minutes to Kerry von Erich in 1990, which was to be a boost to Kerry. Unfortunately, his personal demons were still in full force and WWF realized he wasn’t dependable so put it back on Henning for a long reign. He’d hold it for even longer before finally dropping it to Bret Hart at their classic Summer Slam ‘91 match, which is even more incredible to watch knowing Henning was in serious pain at the time.

Early 1992 showed another facet to the championship, one that’s popped up a few times since: That it could be given to workers who had passed their prime but still got a nice push. Pedro Morales had been a case of it in the early ‘80’s and it was the same with Roddy Piper. True, Piper was a guy who was always over, he didn’t need a title to help that but it was still great to have him win the belt in 1992. I still remember the wonderful pop he got when he beat the Mountie and he did well carrying the title for a few months. True, he was always meant to be a placeholder to put it back on Bret at Wrestlemania but it was nice to finally see the Hot Scot wearing a WWF title. Bret would hold it until SummerSlam when he dropped it to Davey Boy Smith in what remains the only time the IC title has been the main event of a major PPV. Of course, Smith would drop it fast to Shawn Michaels who proved once again how a man can help the title as much as the title helping the performer with his wide defenses.

Michaels would be stripped of it in late 1993 for reasons that vary depending on who you listen to. That would lead to a man who would really make the title work, Razor Ramon. It’s interesting to see that Scott Hall was always a guy who had the right ingredients to be a star (tall, muscular, good ring work) but it just didn’t come together until he took on the Razor personality.
While the man has become something of a sad joke to fans now, he was a huge star back in ‘93 and that belt just fit around him perfectly. True, his reign was aided by his connections to the Clique but Hall was truly a great champion, over with the fans and defending against all comers, especially the ladder match with Michaels. His loss to Diesel helped set Kevin Nash up as a major star (we can debate whether that was actually a good thing in the end) and even Jeff Jarrett and Goldust got boosts as champions because they’d beat a big guy like Ramon for the belt. Make no mistake, those five IC title reigns helped sell the belt as incredibly important.

Of course, there were duds in that time like Shane Douglas who has the dubious honor of holding the record for the shortest IC reign: given the belt by an injured Michaels and losing it to Ramon fifteen minutes later. Ahmed Johnson was a fair pick but injuries cut his reign short and while Marc Mero was good, he just didn’t seem right. Hunter got back on top with his win in late ‘96 but when the rookie Rocky Mavia won it by fluke, it didn’t do anything to really help him. In fact, his rise boosted the “Die, Rocky, Die” mentality, which would lay the seeds for the Rock.

The title remained in prominence for a while with Owen Hart and Austin holding it and HHH and the Rock elevating themselves to true star status with their feud for it. But in 1999, something changed. The title suddenly began finding itself around people who really didn’t deserve it like Road Dogg, Val Venis and hell, even Chyna. A lot of that can be blamed on the fact Vince Russo was pushing his control and showed off some of his “hot shotting” of title that would later be a sad staple in WCW. Things did bounce back a bit in 2000. Yes, the belt changed hands more times in that year (twelve) than any other and on guys who really didn’t deserve it (Rikishi) but they were mostly good changes with Angle holding the title along with the European belt and Benoit and Jericho having great matches for the title, culminating in a terrific ladder match at the 2001 Royal Rumble. HHH would get it back to keep in prominence and Jeff Hardy held it briefly to boost himself as a singles guy. Christian and Edge would also have a great feud for the belt and later in 2002 would be RVD and Eddie Guerrero.

But in 2002, WWE made a very big mistake, one of many that year. As part of the plans to give RAW its own champion, Eric Bischoff announced the IC title would be merged with the World title, which of course was HHH’s. So the IC belt was gone and instantly a gaping hole was left in the programs on the mid-card. With HHH’s dominance of the world title, there seemed little else for the rest of the guys on the show to do. With the IC title, guys had some shot of being boosted or something to fight for but without it, we just had random feuds with no point.

Thankfully, WWE realized their mistake and brought it back in 2003 in a battle royal between former champions won by Booker T, who’d never held the title before (don’t ask me). It did seem to suffer from that absence, the idea that it wasn’t needed taking away some of its luster. But it still got a good push with Christian, RVD and Jericho trading it about. In 2004, the belt returned to its old position of elevating a performer as Randy Orton held it for seven months, really setting him up as a true star in fans’ eyes. After Edge and Jericho, Shelton Benjamin also got a long title reign although it wasn’t as notable as it could have been with not that many big show defenses. Still, it was nice to see the title around someone for a long while and did make it bigger when Carlito won it in 2005. Like Piper years before, Ric Flair’s reign as champ was pretty much a reward for a veteran as it was great seeing Flair with a championship belt again.

We got some more trading afterward that made the title seem more irrelevant again culminating in Santino’s debut as a “fan” to win it. Much like the Rock so long ago, fans didn’t take to this bright and clean Italian face as champion so he dropped the belt only to morph into an entertaining heel. After Umaga got it back and we got Hardy and Jericho’s record eight title, Kofi Kingston won it which seemed to be another sign of a new guy elevated by the title. Of course, he’d drop it fast as Santino won it back in that intergender tag match and did well with it as the arrogant heel. William Regal would win it in what seemed to be another case of a veteran rewarded and in his home nation as well.

The title’s lost its luster, there’s no denying that. Part of that is due to the changing times and fan base. Long reigns on the style of Savage or Honky Tonk or even Henning just aren’t common anymore and it’s harder to get behind a belt when it changes hands a lot. Also there’s differences in how promoters are, not as big into long-term planning. But there’s still something about the IC title that makes it special. While it bounces around, those who hold it still come off better just by having that title with them. It can still be used to elevate new guys like Kofi and Santino and reward veterans like Regal. The issue of the DVD shows WWE does recognize the belt’s history and one can hope they recapture a bit of that past glory where this belt truly was a reward for whoever held it. Maybe it’s not the “workhorse” title but it still means something to whoever holds it and to a lot of fans as well. Like its title implies, the Intercontinental championship spans a wide range of history of appeal and can hopefully do so for a long time to come.

Also around 411mania:

The Fink shifts wrestlers between TNA and WWE

Whacky Wrestling Theory imagines other possible WWE brands

Truth B Told examines repeated angles

Chin discusses the Importance of indy wrestling

Evolution Schematic looks at Ric Flair in video games

Wrestling Bard has a nice comparison between tag teams of the present and past

For the Record pushes the Rock for President. Hey, got my vote

The Shimmy looks at the biggest players of the biggest WWE PPVs

Wrestling Doctor looks at masked workers

Tim Does his Take on the first wrestling awards of 2008

Thoughts From the Top Rope looks at HBK/Taker for Mania 25

Piledriver Report shares some wrestling memories

Don’t forget Ask 411, Fact or Fiction, Column of Honor, Triple Threat, 3 R’s and all the rest.