Top 3 WWE WrestleMania matches for the Intercontinental Championship
WrestleMania, the Grandest Stage of Them All, is less than two months away. With two matches already scheduled to take place, things are looking great.
There was a time when the Intercontinental Championship was one of the most prestigious titles in World Wrestling Entertainment. It was once a title that the WWF would put on a superstar that it wanted to push to the main event scene. It was used as a stepping stone to the WWE Championship.
It has been a witness to some of the greatest feuds and rivalries in wrestling history, and the biggest stage has seen plenty of them. With another WrestleMania around the corner, we will take a look at the three best Intercontinental title matches in WrestleMania history.
#3 Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper - WrestleMania VIII
From my perspective, this is the first truly great match of Bret Hart's WWF singles career. Everyone talks about the match from SummerSlam '91 where he wins his first Intercontinental Title from Mr Perfect as Bret's breakthrough as a solo star, but for real, this is his first real, bonafide classic.
A few months prior to this match, then-Intercontinental champion Bret got sidelined with a bad case of the flu and dropped the title to The Mountie in order to take some time off and recuperate.
The Mountie then lost the belt to Roddy Piper at the Royal Rumble, in what was itself a fun match, mostly because it ended with Piper winning his one and only WWF singles title. Bret came back, asked his old pal Hot Rod for a title shot at WrestleMania, and we get this friendly bout which rapidly descends into a bloodbath.
There was some decent mat wrestling, some intense brawling in and out of the ring, a great character moment from Piper near the end where a pang of conscience kept him from smashing Bret's skull in with the ring bell, and another classic finish when Bret walked up the turnbuckles while Piper has him in a sleeper hold and flips over, pinning Piper and regaining the title.
Bret liked that spot so much he dusted it off and used it to pin Steve Austin at Survivor Series '96. After losing the title, Piper hands the belt to Bret, raises his arm, and they share a manly hug. It's freaking poetry.