5 Worst Intercontinental Champions

[King Kamala 0]

I did this in the Greatest thread but I've decided to switch it up a bit and change my list. And it's always more fun for me to discuss the worst rather than the best. I'm not counting guys who only had it for one or two nights.

 

 

5. Rocky Maivia (First title reign as the Blue Chipper)

 

4. The Godfather

 

3. Road Dogg

 

2. Billy Gunn

 

1. Albert

 

 

Discuss.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I think this thread can only begin and end with Chyna. Nobody else comes close to her level.

[garfieldsnose 0]

Honky Tonk Man, imo, was one of the worst. Albert wasn't the worst because he had talent.

[humanoid92 0]

I'm not going to count the one day guys (Mountie, Douglas) and the current Marella reign since it's only just begun, although that one surely has the potential to end up on here.

 

Worst 5 in that they were pointless ideas to begin with:

 

1) Godfather

2) Albert

3) Road Dogg

4) Test

5) Billy Gunn

 

Godfather and Road Dogg held it for two weeks and was pointless Russo crap when the title literally changed hands every couple weeks in the first half of 1999. Albert has since proven himself to be talented, yes, but at the time there was no reason whatsoever for his reign. The IC Title is usually not a "big guy" belt and with the ongoing Invasion angle, there are about twelve other guys that would have been better suited to be the champion during that time. Storm vs. Albert still ranks as one of the most random IC Title matches ever. Test and Billy Gunn both suck and were way past their point of relative usefulness when they won the Title. The Test vs. Edge US/IC unification was lame.

 

Worst 5 as far as people that were over but their IC reigns didn't amount to crap:

 

1) Chyna

2) Umaga

3) Austin

4) Kane

5) Ahmed

 

I don't think Chyna needs to be explained. Umaga's reign was the definition of pointless. Kane's reign was a product of a bad angle that went down because they had no idea what to do with the main event scene after WM X-7. Kane vs. HHH should not have been an IC Title program to begin with. So Kane beats him and then randomly drops it to Albert a few weeks later. Ahmed was over, but for those of you that knock Shawn, Ahmed didn't drop it in the ring either. Also, though not entirely his fault, I see this as the start of the decline of the title's worth. Goldust was the last good solid IC Champ from that era, and when he dropped the title to Ahmed he lost all the momentum he had been building and never came close to getting it back.

 

People will probably bitch at me for Austin, but really, what the hell did he ever do as IC Champ? The Owen storyline leading up to Summerslam was fine, but even though it wasn't his fault, he still ended up winning the thing in an embarrasing way, and immediately having to forefit it. Then he predictably squashes Owen in a five minute match to regain it, and a few weeks later he throws the belt in a river. I'm not seeing the greatness there. His rise to the WWF Title would have been just fine if he had never become involved in the IC Title picture; in fact, it may have even been a lot smoother.

 

When all is said and done, over the last decade, most IC Title reigns have either been bad or irrelevant. Even the typical traditional IC Title candidates like Owen, Benoit, Angle, Jericho, Edge, Christian, Regal, RVD, etc. never really got the great reigns they deserved because of the way things were booked. Taking away talented guys like that who were misused, here is what I believe to be the list of people that were bad, undeserving, or simply irrelevant IC Champions: Mountie, Douglas, Shamrock, Val Venis, Road Dogg, Godfather, D'Lo, Chyna, Rikishi, Billy Gunn, Kane, Albert, Test, Carlito, Nitro, Umaga, and most likely Marella. There are plenty of other guys whose reigns I'm not a big fan of, but I think these are the best picks as far as people who probably had no right to get their hands on the title in the first place.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I think this thread can only begin and end with Chyna. Nobody else comes close to her level.

 

Quoted 'cause it's the motherfuckin' truth.

[cabbageboy 0]

5. The Godfather (A total Russo era push, didn't really last very long...not any good as a wrestler either. I considered D'Lo for this spot but he did at least sorta unify the IC and Euro, so he has that going for him.)

4. Road Dogg (Another lame Russo era push, almost the same exact time. He held it for maybe two weeks before jobbing it to Goldust.)

3. Albert (Agreed. I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish with this push.)

2. Umaga (I doubt anyone will back me up on this, but Umaga's IC title run was totally pointless, he never defended the title at all, and the ONE time he did was against a plant "fan" in Santino Marella and he jobbed. Instead of trashing Marella, trash the guy who actually jobbed to him.)

1. Billy Gunn (Terrible, god awful push where he actually beat Eddie and then Benoit cleaned his clock immediately after that. Also, Chyna was involved so that raises him even further.)

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Kane/Albert had a sick-ass IC title match or two. Plus Albert had the so hideous it's cool "Uncle Kracker" theme music.

[Guest Greg Valentine]

When all is said and done, over the last decade, most IC Title reigns have either been bad or irrelevant. Even the typical traditional IC Title candidates like Owen, Benoit, Angle, Jericho, Edge, Christian, Regal, RVD, etc. never really got the great reigns they deserved because of the way things were booked. Taking away talented guys like that who were misused, here is what I believe to be the list of people that were bad, undeserving, or simply irrelevant IC Champions: Mountie, Douglas, Shamrock, Val Venis, Road Dogg, Godfather, D'Lo, Chyna, Rikishi, Billy Gunn, Kane, Albert, Test, Carlito, Nitro, Umaga, and most likely Marella. There are plenty of other guys whose reigns I'm not a big fan of, but I think these are the best picks as far as people who probably had no right to get their hands on the title in the first place.

 

While I agree with most of the names you listed, I gotta argue a few of your points. I thought Carlito and Johnny Nitro's recent reigns really helped to elevate them and establish them in Raw's upper mid card. Carlito got a big boost from ending Shelton Benjamin's long reign in his first night on Raw and Nitro's 3 or 4 month reign helped get him over significantly. Of course, Carlito's straggling the bottom of the card with Ric Flair now (who coincidentally ended Carlito's reign) and Johnny Nitro hasn't quite recovered from the breakup of MNM but I think this is more the fault of some bad booking. For a few months during each of their reigns I thought both had the potential to break out as future stars. While they may end up irrelevant in a few months, I would argue that neither were bad or undeserving champions.

 

I also thought Shamrock and Venis perfectly fine IC Champs. I thought the belt helped to get both over, even if both of them only held it briefly. People still remember Shamrock's short run in the WWF and I would argue part of that was because of some strong booking, including his winning a one night tournament on Raw to win the IC belt. Venis, I can understand why he would make people's lists but I think his two short reigns helped establish whatever legacy keeps him on the Raw roster to this day.

 

I gotta agree with everyone's assesments of Umaga, Godfather, Albert, Billy Gunn, Rikishi, and Road Dogg. I hated hated hated the angle where Road Dogg and Billy Gunn won the titles that the other was feuding for. Hated it.

 

I'd also like to submit the Jericho/Chyna co-championship reign as one of the worst of all time. One of the most illogical, unintelligible angles I've ever seen done.

[humanoid92 0]

That's fair and I can see your point. With guys like Shamrock, Venis, Carlito, Nitro, etc., it's not like they tarnished the legacy of the belt or anything. But I do think they're beneficiaries of a certain era of booking. They were around during periods where you might see 6-10 different IC Champions per year where every other midcarder seems to get a turn with it. It's not that they're bad wrestlers, but with their place on the card, if they were around during a time when the belt actually meant something, could you really see them being serious contenders? Maybe, but I don't think so. It's not their fault, and once they got the belt they did no better or worse than anyone else. I just used them as an example of people that might not have ever gotten the title in the first place if not for bad booking. I just think when it comes down to it, their reigns were irrelevant.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"I also thought Shamrock and Venis perfectly fine IC Champs. I thought the belt helped to get both over, even if both of them only held it briefly."

 

Shamrock and Venis were much more over before they won the IC title. In fact, Venis winning the title marked the beginning of the end for him. Shamrock had already run his course by mid '98.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

HHH's post WM X-7 reign was horrendously pointless as far as the belt helping to make the wearer. Especially when he (and Austin) whoomped down on Team Extreme for relatively no reason. I don't even really care that Kane got it after that. I'm a bit of a Kane mark.

 

And I think people forget who was supposed to end Godfather's IC reign in 99 that mayhaps have finally been the start of a really good push.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

I'm not feeling the "Chyna is the worst IC Champion of all time" argument, unless it's based on the "woman holding men's title = bad" paradigm. I thought that her first reign was perfectly acceptable.

[Enigma 0]

1. Chyna

 

2. Albert

 

3. Road Dogg

 

4. The Godfather

 

5. Rikishi

[Art Sandusky 0]

That's fair and I can see your point. With guys like Shamrock, Venis...

NOT VAL VENIS!!!!

 

Anyway, I agree with Johnny Longpost up there.

[King Cucaracha 0]

HHH's post WM X-7 reign was horrendously pointless as far as the belt helping to make the wearer. Especially when he (and Austin) whoomped down on Team Extreme for relatively no reason. I don't even really care that Kane got it after that. I'm a bit of a Kane mark.

 

Let's not forget Jeff Hardy's 6 day title reign.

 

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Test's Alliance reign yet. Unless it's been forgotten. I forgot he'd even held it.

[Guest CorporateMankind]

I think The Mountie would have made a decent champ for a while , but with only being champion for a few days , he has to rank somewhere on this list.

[SteakGrowsOnUecker 0]

I thought Hunters IC title run in 96 was pretty terrible. I don't remember him even winning a match after he won it. It did nothing for him at all.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah HHH was initially a mediocre IC champ but he isn't anywhere near bottom 5 ever by any means. As far as Chyna, I explained in the other thread why I didn't put her in the bottom 5. At least her run was notable on the show, and dare I say the Jarrett and Jericho matches were actually pretty solid for what they were. Yeah there was the co-champ crap with her and Jericho, but I didn't know how to rate that in order to list it. Chyna also won the title again in 2000 briefly before Eddie won it and turned on her, which was a terrific angle.

 

Good god, I honestly forgot Test even held the title at all. In fact I thought he was US champ at that Survivor Series unification against Edge.

 

No one will want to hear this, but during that same era I hated Regal's IC title run. His feud with Edge produced a few truly awful snoozers, but I can't put Regal in the bottom 5 since his Power of the Punch gimmick during that time was at least hilarious.

[King Kamala 0]

While looking at the list of Intercontinental Champions on wikipedia, I forgot that Goldust held the title again in '99. While his first title reign in '96 was actually pretty underrated, the fact that I can't remember his second reign has to put it somewhere in the lower echelon of IC champs.

[RonL21 0]

I'm not going to count the one day guys (Mountie, Douglas) and the current Marella reign since it's only just begun, although that one surely has the potential to end up on here.

 

Worst 5 in that they were pointless ideas to begin with:

 

1) Godfather

2) Albert

3) Road Dogg

4) Test

5) Billy Gunn

 

Godfather and Road Dogg held it for two weeks and was pointless Russo crap when the title literally changed hands every couple weeks in the first half of 1999. Albert has since proven himself to be talented, yes, but at the time there was no reason whatsoever for his reign. The IC Title is usually not a "big guy" belt and with the ongoing Invasion angle, there are about twelve other guys that would have been better suited to be the champion during that time. Storm vs. Albert still ranks as one of the most random IC Title matches ever. Test and Billy Gunn both suck and were way past their point of relative usefulness when they won the Title. The Test vs. Edge US/IC unification was lame.

 

Worst 5 as far as people that were over but their IC reigns didn't amount to crap:

 

1) Chyna

2) Umaga

3) Austin

4) Kane

5) Ahmed

 

I don't think Chyna needs to be explained. Umaga's reign was the definition of pointless. Kane's reign was a product of a bad angle that went down because they had no idea what to do with the main event scene after WM X-7. Kane vs. HHH should not have been an IC Title program to begin with. So Kane beats him and then randomly drops it to Albert a few weeks later. Ahmed was over, but for those of you that knock Shawn, Ahmed didn't drop it in the ring either. Also, though not entirely his fault, I see this as the start of the decline of the title's worth. Goldust was the last good solid IC Champ from that era, and when he dropped the title to Ahmed he lost all the momentum he had been building and never came close to getting it back.

 

People will probably bitch at me for Austin, but really, what the hell did he ever do as IC Champ? The Owen storyline leading up to Summerslam was fine, but even though it wasn't his fault, he still ended up winning the thing in an embarrasing way, and immediately having to forefit it. Then he predictably squashes Owen in a five minute match to regain it, and a few weeks later he throws the belt in a river. I'm not seeing the greatness there. His rise to the WWF Title would have been just fine if he had never become involved in the IC Title picture; in fact, it may have even been a lot smoother.

 

When all is said and done, over the last decade, most IC Title reigns have either been bad or irrelevant. Even the typical traditional IC Title candidates like Owen, Benoit, Angle, Jericho, Edge, Christian, Regal, RVD, etc. never really got the great reigns they deserved because of the way things were booked. Taking away talented guys like that who were misused, here is what I believe to be the list of people that were bad, undeserving, or simply irrelevant IC Champions: Mountie, Douglas, Shamrock, Val Venis, Road Dogg, Godfather, D'Lo, Chyna, Rikishi, Billy Gunn, Kane, Albert, Test, Carlito, Nitro, Umaga, and most likely Marella. There are plenty of other guys whose reigns I'm not a big fan of, but I think these are the best picks as far as people who probably had no right to get their hands on the title in the first place.

Ahmed Johnson shouldnt be on that list...He didnt have it that long because Ron Simmons gave him a freak injury that wouldve put anyone out..

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

1. Chyna - This was just a joke and the sad thing is that it really hurt Jericho who was red hot at the time. To make things even worse, she got ANOTHER useless title reign later on in 2000.

 

2. Test - I forget how many times he actually had it, but it displayed one of the major problems with the whole Invasion. Titles that would change hands every week. It happened with almost every belt, including both world titles (Jericho & Angle had reigns that didn't last even a month). What makes Test so bad though, is it is an example of an even bigger problem of the Invasion, namely midcard losers from the WWF getting pushed over ECW/WCW that were far more over and more valuable.

 

3. The Godfather - This came during early 1999 which was probably the worst period in the history of the title overall other than the time it was merged with the World Heavyweight Title, with the title switching every couple of weeks. This one was the worst because like Test, Godfather was an opening card act who had no business being near the title.

 

4. Road Dogg - This one is a little different in that Road Dogg actually was over enough to the hold the belt. The only problem is that he won it completely out of the blue after months of targetting the Hardcore title and his partner going after this one. Although he wasn't very talented, he probably wouldn't have been that bad a champion for a short period, except the booking was completely idiotic and the reign didn't make any sense at all.

 

5. Billy Gunn - At a time of several other worthwhile contenders challenging for the belt (Eddy Guerrero, Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit among them) they put the title on arguably the worst wrestler in the promotion two years after he last meant anything. It was a complete farce watching him go over guys who even the markiest of the marks knew could kick his ass back to the Hadean. Fortunately they wised up before too long and had Benoit destroy him along with his WWF career (he'd never be taken seriously again) at Armageddon 2000.

 

I wouldn't put Umaga as one of the five worst, because even though it was a terrible run for the title, it did serve a purpose. Him winning the belt was designed to make him look stronger for the heavily hyped Trump match at Mania, and while it may have only been partially successful there was at least a logical reason behind it, unlike most of the above.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

While looking at the list of Intercontinental Champions on wikipedia, I forgot that Goldust held the title again in '99. While his first title reign in '96 was actually pretty underrated, the fact that I can't remember his second reign has to put it somewhere in the lower echelon of IC champs.

Raw after Wrestlemania, I actually attended live. Goldust got a great reaction from the live crowd as I recall.

 

What make Chyna's reign terrible is that she won the title by pinning Trish Stratus in a tag match.

[King Kamala 0]

Has there ever been a good title reign that came after a person won a singles title in a tag bout?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Has there ever been a good title reign that came after a person won a singles title in a tag bout?

 

Rock's second of two title reigns in 2000 was decent.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

The Rock had a nice run after winning the belt at King of the Ring 2000. It was overshadowed by the HHH/Steph/Angle love triangle but was good nonetheless. If nothing else, he did have a kick ass match with Benoit at Fully Loaded a month later.

[cabbageboy 0]

I wouldn't actually call Chyna's brief 2000 IC run pointless. It served a point in the Eddie/Chyna breakup angle and Eddie rolling her up and pinning her was hilarious.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Val Venis had a good title reign as he was heeling it up against Rikishi and had that awesome cage match. After that, he had a VASTLY underrated feud with Foley. I wish they would of stuck with Val, as I always thought he was a solid performer.

 

 

And while Road Dogg's IC title reign was unmemorable, it wasn't "horrible". I thought the Road Dogg IC title win/Billy Gunn HC title win was a decent storyline that I wish they ran with more.

[Matt Young 0]

5. The Godfather (A total Russo era push, didn't really last very long...not any good as a wrestler either. I considered D'Lo for this spot but he did at least sorta unify the IC and Euro, so he has that going for him.)

4. Road Dogg (Another lame Russo era push, almost the same exact time. He held it for maybe two weeks before jobbing it to Goldust.)

3. Albert (Agreed. I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish with this push.)

2. Umaga (I doubt anyone will back me up on this, but Umaga's IC title run was totally pointless, he never defended the title at all, and the ONE time he did was against a plant "fan" in Santino Marella and he jobbed. Instead of trashing Marella, trash the guy who actually jobbed to him.)

1. Billy Gunn (Terrible, god awful push where he actually beat Eddie and then Benoit cleaned his clock immediately after that. Also, Chyna was involved so that raises him even further.)

 

Umaga did defend the belt against Jeff Hardy in a rematch.

 

 

While looking at the list of Intercontinental Champions on wikipedia, I forgot that Goldust held the title again in '99. While his first title reign in '96 was actually pretty underrated, the fact that I can't remember his second reign has to put it somewhere in the lower echelon of IC champs.

 

Goldust actually held the title on 3 occasions.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm drawing a blank on Foley vs. Val in the post 2000 IC title era. I do remember a Val vs. Mankind feud in late 1999 but Foley himself in his book said that the feud mostly sucked due to him not being motivated and/or injured.

[Guest TheFabulousJakey]

I'm not feeling the "Chyna is the worst IC Champion of all time" argument, unless it's based on the "woman holding men's title = bad" paradigm. I thought that her first reign was perfectly acceptable.

 

Agreed; If anything, having such a controversial champion put over the title, in my opinion. Remember Jericho's promo the night after she won it, listing several former Intercontinental Champions (for some reason the only name I can remember is Rick Rude)?