10 Superstars who elevated the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship
No title in the history of professional wrestling has seen more ups and downs during its period of existence than the WWE Intercontinental Title. Once regarded as the Workhorse's Championship, the prestigious title has seen a number of dark phases at various stages, but has successfully emerged out of them in tremendous ways and has managed to establish and preserve a legacy of its own.
However, even though the title has made the careers of a number of WWE superstars since its inception in 1979, the opposite has also been true with a number of superstars. Since the title has fallen from grace quite a few times in the past, WWE has relied on a number of superstars to keep the title relevant and bring it back to importance, which is clearly visible on the quality of matches as well.
The current holder of the title, Seth Rollins, is one of the best superstars on the active roster and has done a good job in making the title feel important by defending the title in stunning encounters on a weekly basis. In the past as well, several superstars have done the same for the Intercontinental Title. Here are 10 such superstars who elevated the prestige of WWE's Workhorse Title.
#10. Pedro Morales
Traditionally, the Intercontinental Title has been seen as the stepping stone to the World Title. Several wrestlers, like The Rock and Triple H, used the Intercontinental Title to catapult themselves to the main event scene. However, there have been a few who won this mid-card title after a successful reign with company's top title, and Pedro Morales was the one who started this trend back in 1981.
During his second run with the company in the 1980's, Morales not only won the Intercontinental Title, but he became the first ever superstar to win it twice. Due to his status as a former World Champion, the Intercontinental Title gained prominence during the first half of 1980. His feuds with the likes of Ken Patera, Don Muraco and Greg Valentine produced some of the best matches during that period.
His second reign of 425 days was the longest individual reign before the Honky Tonk Man overtook him in 1988, and his cumulative total of 616 days as champion is still a record in the WWE. As the first ever superstar to hold every active title in WWE, Morales gave the Intercontinental Title that first push that it needed during his early days.