Photographic History of the Intercontinental Championship

2019 marks 40 years of the Intercontinental Championship, it was introduced in 1979 when Pat Patterson won it for the very first time in a kayfabe tournament in Rio De Janerio by defeating Johnny Rodz. Since ’79, there has been 83 International Champions, Chris Jericho has held the Championship the most amount of times (9) and The Honky Tonk Man is the longest reigning (454 days).

Following, is the photographic history of the Intercontinental Championship.

Disclaimer:

I tried to have each image for the year the wrestler won, apologies if the image is wrong.

Each wrestler gets one image HOWEVER The Rock, Triple H, John Morrison and Bad News Barrett have 2 because of their name changes and Chyna and Jericho were co Champs.

Inaugural Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson – September 1979

Ken Patera – April 1980

Pedro Morales – December 1980

Don Muraco – June 1981

Tito Santana – February 1984

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine – September 1984

Macho Man Randy Savage – February 1986

Ricky “The Dragonboat” Steamer – March 1987

The longest reigning Intercontinental Champion – The Honky Tonk Man – June 1987

The Ultimate Warrior – August 1988

Rick Rude – April 1989

Mr Perfect – April 1990

The Texas Tornado – August 1990

Bret Hart – August 1991

The Mountie – January 1992

Rowdy Roddy Piper – January 1992

The British Bulldog – August 1992

Shawn Michaels – October 1992

Marty Jannetty – May 1993

Razor Ramon – September 1993

Diesel – April – 1994

Jeff Jarrett – January 1995

Dean Douglas – October 1995

Goldust – January 1996

Ahmed Johnson – August 1996

Marc Mero – September 1996

Hunter Hearst Helmsley – October 1996

Rocky Maivia – February 1997

Owen Hart – April 1997

Stone Cold Steve Austin – August 1997

The Rock – December 1997

Triple H – August 1998

Ken Shamrock – October 1998

Val Venis – February 1999

Road Dogg – March 1999

The Godfather – April 1999

Edge – July 1999

D’lo Brown – July 1999

Chyna – October 1999

Chris Jericho – December 1999

Co Champions – Jericho & Chyna – January 2000

Kurt Angle – February 2000

Chris Benoit – April 2000

Rikishi – June 2000

Eddie Guerrero – September 2000

Billie Gunn – November 2000

Jeff Hardy – April 2001

Kane – May 2001

Albert – June 2001

Lance Storm – July 2001

Christian – September 2001

Test – November 2001

William Regal – January 2002

Rob Van Dam – March 2002

Booker T – July 2003

Randy Orton – December 2003

Shelton Benjamin – October 2004

Carlito – June 2005

Ric Flair – September – 2005

Johnny Nitro – June 2006

Umaga – February 2007

Santino Marella – April 2007

Kofi Kingston – June 2008

CM Punk – January 2009

John “Bradshaw” Layfield – March 2009

Rey Mysterio – April 2009

John Morrison – September 2009

Drew McIntyre – December 2009

Dolph Ziggler – July 2010

Wade Barrett – March 2011

Ezekiel Jackson – June 2011

Cody Rhodes – August 2011

Big Show – April 2012

The Miz – July 2012

Curtis Axel – June 2013

Big E Langston – November 2013

Bad News Barrett – May 2014

Luke Harper – November 2014

Daniel Bryan – March 2015

Ryback – May 2015

Kevin Owens – September 2015

Dean Ambrose – December 2015

Zack Ryder – April 2016

Roman Reigns – November 2017

Seth Rollins – April 2018

Bobby Lashley – January 2019

Finn Bálor – February 2019

Shinsuke Nakamura – July 2019